For many the compost bin is hard work and not often it creates gorgeous humus for improving soil. I would hate to guess how many compost bins I have looked into that are a sloppy smelly mess. Here are a few quick solutions that make composting easy – and with households discarding hundreds of kilograms of compostable waste every year it’s a resource going to waste.

Quick composting solutions

• Wrap scraps in a few sheets of newspaper and bury in the garden. These will break down quickly feeding the soil and worms as they do. If time is an issue, place parcels of waste in the freezer until there’s time to bury them. (Not suitable if there’s a dog in the backyard that digs and eats everything)
• Reserve a part of the vegie garden for burying scraps daily. They will compost down very quickly and improve the soil at the same time.
• Invest in a worm farm. Composting worms are bred especially for eating food scraps at a fast pace. Worms will eat their weight in food every 2 days. Worm castings are one of the ultimate soil improvers for the garden.
• In bed composting systems are ideal for larger vegie gardens. When a crop is finished, weeds are usually pulled and spent crops discarded somewhere. Take advantage of organic matter by laying it on the soil surface. Then apply a thin layer of sheep manure and a thick layer of composting mulch. The extra nutrients from the manure and mulch will ensure it will break down quickly and in a matter of weeks this bed will be ready to plant out again.