Composting

Composting is the closest thing to free soil food there is. Your peelings, grass clippings and cardboard go in one end, and after a few patient months a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling material comes out the other. It feeds your beds, cuts your bin bags and closes the loop in a way that feels quietly satisfying.

These guides cover home composting for UK gardens: the greens-and-browns balance, choosing a bin, fixing a heap that has gone wrong, making leaf mould in autumn, and how it all feeds into a no-dig plot. No special kit and no jargon, just what actually works in our damp, changeable climate.