vii: Sage Advice
Getting started with composting Callum Halstead
I have now been living in my new home for a few months, tending my plants and dreaming of what the garden might look like one day. At this early stage, very few of the choices about what I do next are my own. The elements are very much in control, and it would be foolish of me not to comply with nature's wishes. The garden is dictating where I should start, and what must be done in order to progress. Firstly, I must water, water, and water again. The blasting winds of the Fife coast strip moisture from my potted plants daily, often toppling them like skittles and scattering them across the lawn in the process. I had hoped to keep them potted for a bit longer, while I settle on a planting plan. However, it has become abundantly clear that the only way I can guarantee my plants' short-term survival is to get them into the ground, providing them with a larger rooting environment, good anchorage, and access to groundwater. Over the past week or so, I've spent my evenings creating new flower beds to provide these plants with temporary homes. This is a physically demanding and time-consuming job. Having cut and lifted numerous strips of turf by hand, my flimsy wrists and elbows are
all but ready to give up on me. But seeing my progress is galvanising, and I know it will be worth it. Keeping a positive mental attitude has been key, not least because the 'soil' I'm exposing from beneath the lawn is bone-dry and completely impoverished; it looks more or less like moon dust. I can't say that I'm surprised, as grass roots are notoriously efficient at soaking up every last drop of water in the soil. To prevent much of this bare and parched earth from ending up somewhere out in the North Sea the next time the wind whips up, I need to incorporate some good organic matter to improve the soil's structure, lock in some moisture and, crucially, transform the bed into somewhere that my plants will enjoy living while I make decisions about their permanent homes. The urgency necessitates that I buy ready-made compost this time. However, chances are that the soil will need to be improved throughout the garden— whatever I choose to do with it —so it looks like composting will be the next job on the list. The sooner I can get started on that, the better. There are numerous options available to gardeners making their own compost, ranging from simple compost bays— cobbled together for free using salvaged wood and 31
