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I’m only just starting to get into gardening and we have a lot of garden waste to try to deal with (including a lot left by the previous owners). In the last few places I’ve lived, the previous occupants have always left a big pile of garden waste and it’s just sat there. Turns out you actually need to put in some effort to make compost - it’s really a big organic system that needs nurturing. Also, it does take a long time; months to years, apparently - but I’m not quite there yet so I’m no expert.


There are so many opinions on how to compost that it can be hard to know where to start!

In this gardener's opinion, however, Charles Dowdings' teachings on compost are absolutely fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6CGj7xpFE


I can finish compost in as little of 30 days in the right time of year, with the right inputs.

Cold compost process takes a couple years, hot compost takes months.

Hot compost is great for kitchen gardens, cold compost is great for food forests.

Hot Compost is bacteria dominant.

Cold compost is fungal dominant.


It takes nurturing if you want to speed up the process, but this is optional.

If you have long-standing piles of organic matter in a sunny location, make a garden bed there and you'll be blown away by how fertile the soil is.


> a big pile of garden waste

That's called a midden and it's a great way to get rats.




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