A good garden compost needs to be nutrient rich so keeping an eye on what goes in your compost bin is good practice, a mixture of nitrogen rich materials (grass cuttings, soft plant matter and kitchen waste) needs to be mixed with a mixture of carbon rich materials (bark, cardboard and paper) to a ratio of 1:2. Grass clippings need to be mixed with other materials to avoid compaction and stagnation.

In summer, compost can be used to top dress your borders (mulching) to help retain moisture and to keep roots cool.

Compost heaps can aerated by turning the heap or using a specifically designed compost aerator tool.

Do not put any roots onto the compost heap as these may harbour disease. Spring to early summer waste will produce good compost for the autumn.

In a very wet season cover the heap or composter with polythene to prevent the materials getting waterlogged.

Grass cuttings, hay, kitchen waste including tea bags (some modern tea bags use plastic bags and these need to split open to access the tea), leaves, manure, straw, weeds (avoid pernicious weeds and weeds gone to seed), wood chips, saw dust, shredded paper, human and animal hair, corn cobs and stalks, twigs, coffee grounds, raw fruit, comfrey leaves, cardboard, egg boxes, gerbil/hamster/rabbit bedding.

Pet waste, plastics, pernicious weeds, bones, fatty foods, human waste, diseased plants, chemically treated wood, cooked food, coal and coke ash, cat litter, glossy magazines, baby nappies. Meat and dairy items will start to smell bad unless your compost heap/bin is tended to regularly and is of sufficient temperature to break them down. It may help to speed up the decomposing process if these items were blended first.

A Wormery is an easy, efficient system of converting food waste into liquid feed and rich organic compost through the natural action of worms. The Wormery is divided up into a number of chambers, one of which houses the worms. Drop your daily kitchen waste into the bin, the worms feed on the food waste and convert it into concentrated liquid feed and Bio-rich organic compost.

The wormery can handle ordinary kitchen waste such as peelings, cooked and uncooked scraps, teabags, eggshells, paper kitchen towels, even shredded newspaper etc. It will produce a strong, nutrient rich liquid feed which you dilute with water prior to use as an excellent plant food for house plants, garden flowers, shrubs, vegetables or as a lawn feed, and a rich organic compost.

Throughout history the art of composting has played its role in many societies with references made to inscriptions on tablets during the Akkadian Dynasty (2329BC - 2120BC) to the writings from the early Roman era AD23 - 79.

In 1940 Sir Albert Howard made the breakthrough when he published a paper called 'An Agricultural Testament'. This English botanist had spent 29 years in India as an advisor originally sent to pass on his knowledge of western techniques and found that the techniques already being used there were superior to his own ways. Based at a government funded farm at Indore he went on to modernise and revolutionise their methods and created the Indore technique which changed the face of composting.

The Indore technique is a method of making compost that comprises the fundamental basics needed. A layer of leaves and weeds, a smaller layer of manure then a layer of topsoil repeated until the heap was of a big enough size, kept moist and turned regularly was deemed to be the best way of getting a quality compost.

It is easy today to get started composting on whatever scale you need as there is so much advice out there and places to get equipment and accessories from. Even properties that have the smallest gardens can compost adequately. Biodegradable bags, composting sacks, kitchen caddy's, soils sifters and organic accelerators to name but a few are all on the market aiming to make your composting experience stress free. Of course the die hard few out there will continue to compost with maximum effort using tried and tested methods but for those beginners or for those who have little time on their hands there is nothing wrong with cutting a few corners. In today's ecological state it is vital that we all do our bit to help our planet and composting is a large part of that. We already recycle all of our goods with the help of our local councils so why not recycle the waste we have and turn it into something to help not only our gardens but our planet. Composting in a garden is much more efficient than sending it all to a landfill, as landfills do not offer the correct environment for the waste to decompose correctly. They compact the waste so much that air can not infiltrate the heap thus creating a release of the gas methane which is harmful to the planet's atmosphere. In a garden the correct amount of air can circulate thus decreasing the methane released and giving you a perfect product at the end for use in your garden. It is vital that we all do our bit to lower greenhouse gases and composting is a perfect way of doing this whilst ensuring your garden is given luxury treatment with this nutrient rich food.

To pee or not to pee: That is the question.

Allotment holders like me are used to peeing into a bucket (sorry), but what do we do with it? Well, its nitrogen rich and great for speeding up the rotting process of your compost. Especially if you have a lot of woody material. Add it to your heap in small quantities and keep an eye on the pH levels. Remember urine is 95% water and its free. If your still not convinced, nitrogen compost accelerators are available at your local garden centre or online.