Composting Masterclass with Monty Don

The real superpower of compost is that it gives life to soil. Compost is made from material that is digested by organisms and microbes that occur naturally in native soil. Worms, beetles, nematodes, and bacteria all play a role in creating compost. You can make compost using a simple recipe.
Compost ingredients:
You can add almost anything that has lived to a compost pile. There are a few exceptions, though. Do not add meats, fats, or any cooked material-especially starches like potatoes, rice, and pasta. But almost all other waste from the garden or house can go into the pile, including kitchen scraps like vegetable and fruit peels and even eggshells.
The most common compost-pile additive is grass clippings. These are OK to include in the pile (as long as they are chemical-free), but remember that this is green material and very high in nitrogen. If you only use green material, or too much green material, your pile will be a wet, sludgy mess.
That’s why it’s important to include brown material in the pile as well. High in carbon, brown material includes dried leaves, garden debris, paper, egg cartons, and ripped-up cardboard.The ideal compost-pile ratio is 50% green material to 50% brown material.
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[@FireflyOnTheMoon]

Cooked foods are perfectly fine to add if you are in a rural areas and don't mind pests on the bin. Cooked food will make perfectly fine compost

[@catherineengle4196]

Amen Monty!

[@drdavidpellegrino4270]

Hello friend how are you doing today

[@debbyshapiro2125]

BRILLIANT

[@markboschman1188]

I'd like to see more of Fine Gardening x Gardeners' World

[@FinegardeningMag]

Thanks! We're working on it... : )

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

​@@FinegardeningMag when

[@patricioorellana2007]

Te pareces mucho a mi papá que ya esta fallecido, saludos desde CHILE

[@gig_viktor]

С Наступающим Новым Годом! Радости и Улыбок! От Виктора.

[@shanepasha6501]

"..., but don't add meat, or fat, or cooked material,.."
Why not? if I have an enclosed compost bin, and no rodents have access to the material, then why not. Or, is there another reason?
Thank you in advance.

[@FinegardeningMag]

Aside from the smell and attracting wildlife there are two reasons: meat and animal products in general will take longer to break down than vegetable and carbohydrate items. Also, while cooked meat is unlikely to cause a problem, meat can be contaminated with a number of bacteria that will thrive in the warm, humid environment of a compost heap. These include E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Listeria bacteria, all of which are harmful to humans. You do NOT want these bacteria colonizing your compost pile and soil.

[@davfree9732]

I worked a rotational composter called the Neter in the Eden Project. Their compost was dry and acrid to smell, because they kept adding high pH items and buttery sauces.
They also added meats. Meats are different to garden waste in that they contain fats that the things that break down grass and wood will not touch until it's outer surface stabilizes to a pH they are comfortable with, and even then they will not consume it as fast as the material around it. In other words, it doesn't break down as quickly as the garden waste.
On top of the harmful bacteria, know that council run sites have to pass a test where they can demonstrate the compost with meats in it reached a high enough temperature over several days to eliminate those bacteria. That is hard to do in smaller garden compost piles and requires intensive work and attention to what the pile is doing over time.
If you have a food waste bin, send your meats to the council site and keep the easy to break down vegetables for yourself. It will make your compost break down faster and provide your meat to the council whose staff will send it to a compost processing site that composts on an industrial scale.

[@jenmcgrath3750]

What episode is this.

[@drdavidpellegrino4270]

Hello friend how are you doing today?

[@user-xf3ek1pu1f]

He is just a T.V. presenter says someone who has worked in Horticulture for 44 years

[@jan-tz6sm]

he is more than a TV presenter. Even without formal education on horticulture, he has taught millions of people the right way of gardening!

[@peterbuckley1794]

I'm cooking a dog