Compost at home

Compost is rotted plant waste. It feeds plants, loosens soil and holds water, and it turns the peels you throw away into something you would otherwise buy. Any household can make it in a corner of a balcony.

What goes in

Greens (wet, rich in nitrogen)	Browns (dry, rich in carbon)	Keep out
Vegetable and fruit peels, used tea leaves, coffee grounds, fresh garden cuttings, old flowers	Dry leaves, shredded paper and cardboard, sawdust, cocopeat, dry grass	Cooked food, oil, meat, fish, bones and dairy (they smell and draw rats), diseased plants, pet waste, plastic

The method

Choose a container with holes in the sides and base: a clay pot, a plastic bucket with holes drilled in it, or a stack of pots. In a garden, a pit or a heap works.
Start with browns: a 5 cm layer of dry leaves at the bottom.
Add the day's kitchen waste, chopped small, and cover it each time with an equal amount of browns. The cover is what prevents smell and flies.
Keep it as damp as a squeezed sponge. Add water if it is dusty, more browns if it is wet.
Stir once a week to let air in.
When the container is full, set it aside to finish and start a second one.

How long it takes

In warm weather, a well-kept pot gives finished compost in about two to three months. In winter it takes longer. It is ready when it is dark and crumbly, smells like earth after rain and no peels can be recognised. Sieve it and return the large pieces to the next batch.

Fixing problems

Bad smell: too wet or too many greens. Add dry leaves and stir.
Flies: food is exposed. Always cover fresh waste with browns, and cover the pot with a cloth.
Nothing happening: too dry or too little green material. Sprinkle water and add fresh peels.
Ants: the heap is too dry. Moisten it.

Using compost

Mix one part compost into two parts soil when filling pots.
Spread a handful around each growing plant every three to four weeks.
Soak a handful in a bucket of water overnight and use the strained water as a mild liquid feed.

Collect dry leaves in sacks every autumn. They are the "browns" that most homes run short of, and they keep for the whole year.