If you have ever composted you will know that it is not the most glamorous of pastimes but things are about to change thanks to Lakeland.

Composting is something that most gardeners feel strongly about and regularly dispose of their gardening waste in a compost bin or pile throughout the year but you don't have to be a gardener to compost.

Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.

You can choose from fruit and vegetable shapes; Strawberry, Green Apple or Tomato or the ceramic crocks in White or Floral pattern.

All crocks have an activated carbon filter inside the lid which neutralises odours for up to 4 months; replacement filters are avilable. There are also compostable bags available which can be placed inside the crocks making it easier to keep them clean. The bags are completely biodegradeable and can be thrown on the compost heap where they will break down within 90 days.

What can I put in my Compost Crock?

• Vegetable Peelings
• Fruit Peelings and Cores
• Tea Bags
• Coffee Grounds and Paper Filters
• Flowers
• Crushed Egg Shells
• Cardboard Egg Boxes
• Paper
• Lint from the Tumble Drier
• Prunings from Household Plants

What shouldn't I put in my Compost Crock?

• Meat
• Bones
• Fish
• Dairy Products
• Cooked Vegetables
• Fatty or Oily Food
• Walnut Shells

Brighten up your kitchen by choosing one of these lovely Compost Crocks.

• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• Wormeries - Wormeries are used outdoors to compost your kitchen waste. They are neat and unobtrusive and all you have to do it add the worms and let them do all the hard work. Throughout the composting process the wormery will also produce a steady supply of liquid plant feed.Tweet ...
• Bokashi Kitchen Composting - This system transforms ALL food waste, including cooked food, meat, fish and cheese, into compost. It is small enough to keep in the kitchen and it does not smell. While the waste is breaking down it also produces liquid which can be drained off and used as a feed for garden and house plants.Tweet ...

Keeping your garden looking great can come at a cost, here are some ideas to keep your garden "green":

• According to the Energy Saving Trust using sprinklers to water your garden can use up to 18 litres of water per minute, more water than a typical family of four will use in a day.

• Fit your hosepipe with a trigger gun to reduce the amount of water you use.

• When possible use a watering can to significantly cut water waste

• Water in the evening or early morning to extend the length of time before the soil dries out and therefore allowing the water to reach right down to the roots

• Giving your plants a good soaking once or twice a week is much better than watering a little, more often.

• Buy a water butt and collect rainwater to water the garden. As well as being "greener" it is also more beneficial to the plants.

• To find out more about setting up a water butt visit the Waterwise website.

• Make your own compost, once you've got your bin, home compost is essentially free
• Use compost as mulch to help preserve moisture, replenish nutrients and keep weeds down. Spread a 5 centimetre layer around the base of your plants
• Mix fine compost with an equal amount of sharp sand and brush into your lawn after forking thoroughly
• Don't use compost around soft-stemmed plants and wait until young plants are more established
• Take a look at our Composting pages for more information on how you can recycle your kitchen and garden waste

• Try not to use harmful pesticides and herbicides by using organic controls

• Bury some plastic containers around the garden, fill with beer and place a loose cover over the top. Slugs will be attracted to the beer and drown. Replace the beer every few days.

• Lay a piece of cardboard, thick newspaper or old carpet over weeds to smother them.

• Certain plants can repel pests, plant them at the same time as the edible crops to prevent pests getting a foothold:

  • Planting marigolds and garlic in with your roses and tomatoes to deter aphids.

  • Grow carrots and leeks together to drive away each other's pests.

  • Plant nasturtium with cabbages; the nasturtiums will attract the caterpillars and leave the cabbages alone.

  • Grow dill to attract aphid-eating hoverflies

• Don't be too fussy about weeds; if they are not taking over and don't look too bad then leave them, remove the flower heads to stop them producing weeds.

• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...
• Bokashi Kitchen Composting - This system transforms ALL food waste, including cooked food, meat, fish and cheese, into compost. It is small enough to keep in the kitchen and it does not smell. While the waste is breaking down it also produces liquid which can be drained off and used as a feed for garden and house plants.Tweet ...

You can use your kitchen waste to produce compost either indoors or outdoors. Indoor composting us carried out with Bokashi and outdoor composting can take place either with worms or in the traditional way using wooden or plastic composters.

To find out more about conventional composting have a look at our Composting Garden Waste article.

Bokashi

Bokashi is a Japanese term that means "fermented organic matter". It is a bran-based material that has been fermented with Effective Micro-organisms liquid concentrate and then dried.

To start you simply sprinkle the Bokashi into your container and begin adding your kitchen waste. For every 30mm or so of scraps add a handful of the bran until the bin is full. Be sure to replace the lid each time you add to it to keep in smells and to help the fermenting process. Once the bin is full seal and put it away for a 10-14 days. Whilst it is sealed the Bokashi ferments the organic matter into a form that breaks down really quickly.

Once complete the "pickled" waste can be added to a conventional compost heap or used in the garden to improve the soil. If used directly on the garden, bury it beneath a layer of soil and leave for about two weeks before planting in that area.

Liquid is also produced from the buckets which should be drained off and used as a probiotic plant feed.

Because the unit is sealed it does not produce any odour and does not attract vermin. It is best to have two bins; one you are filling and one which is fermenting.

Items that can be "pickled" include fresh fruit and vegetables, prepared foods and leftover ready meals, cooked and uncooked meat and fish, cheese, eggs and coffee grounds.

Wormeries

Wormeries are used outdoors to compost your kitchen waste. They are neat and unobtrusive and all you have to do it add the worms and let them do all the hard work. Throughout the composting process the wormery will also produce a steady supply of liquid plant feed.

Unlike conventional composters Wormeries allow you to compost cooked vegetable leftovers, dog hair, apple peel, cardboard etc as well as the usual raw kitchen scraps.

The best composting worms are reds and dendras and you should use a combination of the two. The more worms you have the faster the compost will convert, on average you should aim to have a kilogram of worms to each cubic metre of waste. The worms can eat half their body weight in waste each day and they neutralise odours as they work. Every couple of weeks or so they can produce a dozen baby worms so you should not have to buy any once your system has stabilised.

Composting has never been easier but if you want to find out more here is a selection of books from Amazon which will tell you everything you need to know:

• Wormeries - Wormeries are used outdoors to compost your kitchen waste. They are neat and unobtrusive and all you have to do it add the worms and let them do all the hard work. Throughout the composting process the wormery will also produce a steady supply of liquid plant feed.Tweet ...
• Bokashi Kitchen Composting - This system transforms ALL food waste, including cooked food, meat, fish and cheese, into compost. It is small enough to keep in the kitchen and it does not smell. While the waste is breaking down it also produces liquid which can be drained off and used as a feed for garden and house plants.Tweet ...
• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...

After one of the longest and coldest winters most of us can remember, the first shoots of spring are slowly starting to emerge. And while it is still too early for the nation’s gardeners to start preparing the beds and borders in their gardens, there is plenty to be done indoors, particularly when it comes to seeding.

However despite many of us pledging to get back out and into our gardens this year, barely a third of gardeners are aware of the serious environmental issues surrounding the use of peat.[1]

Nowadays, with environmental concerns high on everyone’s agenda, choosing your compost is as important as the seeds you select.

Every year, 3 million cubic metres of peat is used in the UK for horticultural use and sales of multi-purpose compost. But the extraction of peat releases Significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, as well as damaging lowland raised peat bogs, which are home to many rare animals and plants. Just under half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted in the atmosphere each year as a result of peat extraction from UK sites alone; that’s comparable to the total emissions of over 100,000 homes. [2]

Fortunately there are environmentally friendly compost solutions available , and in the following video, gardening guru Diarmuid Gavin shows you how to make your garden green in every possible sense - using peat-free compost to reduce your carbon footprint and preserve our valuable peatland habitats and wildlife.

For more information visit www.direct.gov.uk/buyingcompost ( live from 8th March)

Copy this link into your browser to watch Diarmuid's video: http://www.linkto.tv/iframe/show/uuid/dirO6G44RTM

[1] One Poll Survey, over the period 27028 Jan 2009, 2000 respondents

[2] The UK’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory records emissions of 420,000 tonnes a year for peat extraction from UK sites. However, 57% of the peat that we use in the UK is imported, mainly from the Republic of Ireland and the Baltics.

• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...
• Green Gardening - Give your garden a green makeup this summer; saving you money and cutting down on waste. Keeping your garden looking great can come at a cost, here are some ideas to keep your garden “green”Tweet ...
• Make your own Compost - Composting can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it and the best part is that it can consist of any organic material that we all have access to every single day from the lawn, the garden, and the kitchen.Tweet ...

Wormeries use both cooked and uncooked kitchen scraps so nothing is wasted.

The best composting worms are reds and dendras and you should use a combination of the two. The more worms you have the faster the compost will convert, on average you should aim to have a kilogram of worms to each cubic metre of waste.

The worms can eat half their body weight in waste each day and they neutralise odours as they work.

Every couple of weeks or so they can produce a dozen baby worms so you should not have to buy any once your system has stabilised.

• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• Make your own Compost - Composting can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it and the best part is that it can consist of any organic material that we all have access to every single day from the lawn, the garden, and the kitchen.Tweet ...
• Bokashi Kitchen Composting - This system transforms ALL food waste, including cooked food, meat, fish and cheese, into compost. It is small enough to keep in the kitchen and it does not smell. While the waste is breaking down it also produces liquid which can be drained off and used as a feed for garden and house plants.Tweet ...

Leafmould is ideal for use as a soil improver, mulch or potting compost. Here's what to do:

• Fill black polythene bags with wet leaves
• Tie a knot in the top of the bags
• Puncture a few holes in the sides of each bag
• Place the bags behind the garden shed for a year

Next autumn the rich organic material can be used to improve the soil and mulch the surface after planting.

• Make your own Compost - Composting can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it and the best part is that it can consist of any organic material that we all have access to every single day from the lawn, the garden, and the kitchen.Tweet ...
• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...

You can even re-cycle the leaves which fall during Autumn to make wonderful leafmould which is an ideal soil improver.

Compost is what happens when leaves, grass clippings, vegetable and fruit scraps, woodchips, straw, and small twigs are combined, then allowed to break down into a soil-like texture. Compost introduces and feeds diverse life in the soil, including bacteria, insects, worms, and more which support vigorous plant growth.

Compost is multi-faceted but not intended as a fertilizer. It offers only a relatively low proportion of nutrients, yet what it does is close to magical. In its finished form as mulch, it reduces evaporation, reduces or prevents weed growth, and insulates the soil from extreme temperature changes. Mulch also keeps the upper inches of the soil cooler in daytime and warmer at night.

Regardless of the particular ingredients, making compost is akin to making bread or beer; soil-digesting bacteria like yeasts need warmth, moisture, air and something to feed on to keep them alive and growing. Almost all of the practical problems associated with making compost stem from too much or too little of those basic factors.

Compost is created from layers of grass clippings, leaves, weeds, kitchen scraps and, if available, farm animal manure. If you have meat eaters in your home, don't use their meat scraps as they will attract rodents. Also, do not use litter from your dog or cat; it doesn't break down properly and contains too many pathogens.

Over the years, composting has gotten a reputation for being a time-consuming job, but this is not necessarily the case. You don't need to build a big box or turn the pile every so often. A barrel, a hole in the ground or a pile on top of the ground is satisfactory.

The important requirement is to be sure the waste material is covered with soil, so it doesn't attract rats, other rodents or flies. You can build your layers directly on the ground, without any frame at all; if you use a container, be sure it is well ventilated.

The trick to successful compost is balancing ingredients high in nitrogen; fresh grass clippings, other fresh, green plant matter, most kitchen scraps - with those high in carbon; leaves, straw, dried grass, washed eggshells, wheat germ or other milled grains that have become too rancid or old to use, and any dried, brown plant matter. Too much nitrogenous matter yields an anaerobic, smelly pile. Too much carbonaceous matter results in a pile that never heats up. The ideal ratio is one part nitrogen to three parts carbon.

Start with a layer of small twigs, no large branches, a couple of inches deep; this will help your pile to breathe. Then, keeping in mind the 1 to 3 ratio of nitrogen to carbon, add a layer of mixed plant material. You may enrich the pile with horse or cow manure. These materials don't break down; they simply add nutrients to the final product. Then lightly water the pile so it's evenly moist. Too much water will interfere with aeration; too little water and the pile won't ferment. If your pile sits in the open, you should cover it if heavy rains are forecast. An 8-inch layer of straw mulch spread over the top of the pile serves the same purpose.

Alternate layers until the pile is 5 feet high by 5 feet wide by whatever length you choose. A properly made pile that is loosely packed and well aerated will reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees within a few days. It should smell like wet hay. If the pile fails to heat up, pull it apart and redo it by adding layers of fresh green matter. If the pile becomes anaerobic (is too wet to aerate), pull it apart, let it dry out, use it as mulch and start a new pile.

After three weeks, the pile will have shrunk in size; this is normal. Dig into the pile with a fork and completely turn it over until the contents are redistributed; the idea is to put unfermented particles in contact with those that are further along. Let the pile rest, so the temperature will rise again. Turn it a second time five weeks later, let it rest a few weeks and, with luck, you'll have a rich, crumbly pile of "black gold."

• Wormeries - Wormeries are used outdoors to compost your kitchen waste. They are neat and unobtrusive and all you have to do it add the worms and let them do all the hard work. Throughout the composting process the wormery will also produce a steady supply of liquid plant feed.Tweet ...
• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...

This system transforms ALL food waste, including cooked food, meat, fish and cheese, into compost. It is small enough to keep in the kitchen and it does not smell. While the waste is breaking down it also produces liquid which can be drained off and used as a feed for garden and house plants.

I'll test it out for a few weeks and post another blog to let you know how I get on.

To find out more about home composting have a look at our article here.

I bought my system from EvenGreener for £50 for two units. Click here to order your system.

• Compost Your Kitchen Waste - Composting your kitchen waste has never been easier. These days there are composters designed to handle each specific task.Tweet ...
• Wormeries - Wormeries are used outdoors to compost your kitchen waste. They are neat and unobtrusive and all you have to do it add the worms and let them do all the hard work. Throughout the composting process the wormery will also produce a steady supply of liquid plant feed.Tweet ...
• The Pretty way to Compost your Kitchen Waste - Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps that would normally be thrown away with the normal household waste. You can, of course, put your scraps in bowl or bag and transfer them to your compost heap or green bin but the prettier way is to use one of these Compost Crocks from Lakeland.Tweet ...