THE MODERN MINT BLOG
“Compost-making doesn’t need to be hard work, costs almost nothing, and the only secret ingredient you need is patience.”
Ken Thompson, botanist and author of Compost.
Run by Garden Organic, International Compost Awareness Week aims to help people who don’t compost learn how to do it.
Join a compost group for International Compost Awareness Week.
For a really quick guide on how to compost, here it is:
Take something that can rot. Put it into a pile outside with other materials that have the ability to rot. Leave it there (as Ken Thompson said in the quote above, ‘patience is the secret ingredient!) Eventually, if you leave it long enough, you will have compost.
Not so hard to do, is it?
Why is it fantastic to make compost?
It is great for your garden. Compost is made from the plant material that you take away from the garden in the form of prunings, grass clippings, flowers and leaves.
By recycling them on a compost heap you are turning them from material you don’t want into something that a plant can make use of. It will give plants valuable nutrients to help them grow, help retain moisture and warmth in the ground and will reduce weed growth by covering bare soil, so stopping weeds germinating.
That is why compost is known as ‘black gold’ because it is so precious in the garden. The best gardener will tell you she never has enough!
Three actions you can take to reduce your impact on the world are the following:
- Compost
- Grow vegetables (for which you will need compost!)
- Plant a tree
Notice what is top of the list?
We hope you will support International Compost Awareness Week. If you have more questions about compost and how to do it, there are some fantastic resources out there. Do check out the following links…
More On How To Make Compost
Garden Organic – What Can I Compost?
Modern Mint – Compost = Place Together
Green Action Centre – Why Should I Compost?
Garden Organic – Composting Myths (highly recommended!)
Ken Thompson – Compost
Modern Mint – Seed Sowing Compost
International Compost Awareness week runs until this weekend. If you have further questions on how to compost, please contact Modern Mint and we will be happy to help.
Modern Topiary, the Book, at Garden Media Guild
My book about topiary, Modern Topiary, has been mentioned on the Garden Media Guild newsletter…. As the screenshot says, the book can be read for free online here. At the bottom of the screenshot, it looks like another Garden Media Guild member has a book out called ‘A Year In A Cottage Garden’…. so if that is where your garden heart lies, check that out too! And at the top of the screenshot, it looks like I was listening to Pelleas et Melisande, by Debussy. What a classy chap I am, listening to classical music as I reply to emails. …
Start of the Whitby Topiary Library
I have been offered a space here in the centre of Whitby, south-facing aspect, with some raised beds in, so that I can make a Topiary Library. In my head, a topiary library is a place to showcase the common (and then not so common) shapes you can make out of topiary. With classical topiary plants, as well as some more unusual pieces. This Topiary Library can act as a reference for people to learn more about pruning and clipping. The space is small but the aspect is great and the beds are deep enough to put some plants in. …
Delivery After Dark – From the Makers of The Amelia Project
Last week I spent most nights stood in cold water streams on the moors of North Yorkshire, helping to film a new project called Delivery After Dark from the makers of the Amelia Project. I worked on the Amelia Project back at the end of 2024, lending my terrible vocal talents to a small part in the episode Didius Julianus. But this project is something new – and exciting! – and thankfully only needed me to be filmed, rather than to actually say anything. But not only did I have to stand in cold moving water at midnight, I also …