Composting our daily kitchen and garden waste is a good way to recycle but it is also a good natural product to add to beautify our garden. There are steps you can take to create good quality compost for your garden.

1- Buy a large composting bin from your local garden centre. Some local councils will sell them at a lower price, or alternatively you can build your own.

2- Make sure it is on level soil and is in a well-drained, sunny area of your yard. If it is placed on soil the microbes and insects can break down the waste also, and it will be better for drainage and aeration. If you don’t have soil in your yard, place a thick layer of soil at the bottom of the bin instead.

3- Compost should be ready in around six or nine months, as it takes a while to break down the products. Once it is broken down and fully composted, it will look a very dark brown, almost soil-like and have a spongy texture. Place this compost in your flowerbeds, vegetable patches and pot plants to enrich the soil and help retain moisture.

For compost to work effectively you first need to have good ingredients. You need ingredients that are rich in nitrogen and carbon to get the perfect balance.

Nitrogen rich greens are- old vegetable plants, grass cutting, vegie peelings, animal manure from vegetarian animals like rabbits, tea bags and coffee grounds

whereas Carbon-rich browns are- shredded or crumpled paper, wood twigs or stems, fallen leaves, egg boxes, hay or straw and wood shavings.