Composting 101: Reduce Waste and Boost Your Garden

Composting might seem like a simple garden chore, but for UKSN members it represents something more powerful – a step towards genuine self-sufficiency, sustainable living, and better preparedness. Whether you're running a Charter, setting up a community allotment, or just looking to reduce household waste, composting is a practical and highly effective tool that delivers benefits across the board.

This guide walks you through the core principles of composting, with tips tailored to the UK climate and a few bushcraft-ready ideas to make your composting journey a success whether you’re in your back garden or out on a UKSN camp.

Why Composting Matters to the UKSN Community

At its heart, UKSN is about resilience, mutual aid, and reconnecting with skills that our ancestors would have taken for granted. Composting might not be the flashiest of topics, but it’s foundational. It reduces landfill waste, improves soil health, and creates a closed-loop system where nothing goes to waste.

For anyone looking to build a more self-sufficient lifestyle, composting is a gateway skill. It's free, low-tech, and works just as well in a suburban garden as it does on a remote woodland.

What Is Composting?

Composting is a natural process where organic materials like food scraps, garden waste, and cardboard break down over time into a nutrient-rich soil conditioner called compost. This “black gold” boosts soil structure, helps retain moisture, and feeds plants naturally – without needing chemical fertilisers.

Unlike the contents of a green wheelie bin, compost stays local. It’s an on-site solution that turns today’s waste into tomorrow’s crops.

Getting Started with Composting

Choosing Your Setup

You don’t need fancy equipment to start composting. Here are your main options:

• Compost bins – Available from most councils at a discount, these are ideal for gardens. They keep compost tidy and speed up decomposition.

• Open heaps – Great for rural or Charter setups. Just pick a shaded spot, pile your materials, and let nature do the work.

• Wormeries – Best for smaller spaces or flats. Worms turn food waste into compost and liquid fertiliser.

• Bushcraft compost pits – On camp or in wild areas (following Leave No Trace principles), a compost pit can manage biodegradable waste during longer stays.

Top Tip: Keep your bin or heap directly on soil to allow worms and microbes easy access.

What You Can Compost (Green vs Brown Materials)

A healthy compost heap needs balance. You want a mix of:

• Greens (Nitrogen-rich) – Think fresh materials: grass clippings, veg peelings, fruit scraps, coffee grounds.

• Browns (Carbon-rich) – Dry materials: cardboard, paper, straw, twigs, leaves, shredded paper.

Avoid: Cooked food, meat, dairy, oily foods, and anything synthetic. These attract pests and don’t break down well. The ideal ratio is about 50/50 greens to browns by volume, but don't stress too much – nature is forgiving.

Composting Through the UK Seasons

Composting is a year-round activity, though things slow down in winter. Here's how to manage it:

• Spring/Summer: Decomposition speeds up. Stir your heap regularly and keep it moist.

• Autumn: Leaves are in abundance – gather and shred them to boost your browns.

• Winter: Cover your bin or heap with cardboard or old carpet to retain warmth. Add less, but still turn occasionally.

UKSN Tip: If you’re operating a Charter allotment or garden, designate a communal compost station with signage and guidance. It’s a brilliant teaching tool and waste-reduction method.

Common Composting Problems and Fixes

Even the best compost heaps can hit a snag. Here’s how to troubleshoot the common issues:

• Smelly compost? Too much green, not enough brown. Add shredded cardboard and turn the heap.

• Dry and not breaking down? You’ve got too much brown. Add greens and a bit of water.

• Pests? Avoid adding cooked food and always bury food scraps beneath other layers.

• Taking ages? The pile might be too small or not being turned enough. Stir it with a fork weekly and add more greens to heat things up.

Bushcraft Applications for Composting

On longer outdoor stays or at Charter events, composting still plays a role. Here are a few ways to integrate composting into UKSN bushcraft activities:

• Create compostable latrines using sawdust and carbon materials in long-drop style toilets. These break down safely over time.

• Use natural materials like bracken, grass, or leaf litter as brown input for compost bins set up at long-term camps.

• Pack out or bury biodegradable waste on wild camps using shallow compost pits, provided it's legal and environmentally safe.

Composting and the Prepper Mindset

For those in the prepping side of the UKSN world, composting isn’t just about gardening – it’s about control. If you’re growing even part of your own food, compost ensures you aren’t dependent on external fertilisers or chemical solutions.

In a long-term grid-down scenario or simply a cost-of-living crisis, compost can keep your soil fertile and productive year after year. That’s true resilience.

Kid-Friendly Composting for Families

Teaching children how compost works is an excellent entry point into broader sustainability and self-reliance. It’s hands-on, messy in a fun way, and encourages responsibility.

Ideas for families:

• Let kids add food scraps to the bin.

• Build a mini wormery using a clear container to see decomposition in action.

• Use compost to grow their own veg – from potato towers to small tomato plants in buckets.

Using Finished Compost

Once your compost is dark, crumbly, and smells earthy, it’s ready to use. This can take 3 to 12 months depending on conditions.

Ways to use it:

• Mix into garden beds to improve soil health.

• Top-dress lawns or allotments for a natural nutrient boost.

• Use as potting mix when blended with sand or coir.

• Mulch around trees and shrubs to retain moisture.

Using your own compost is a satisfying moment – you’ve closed the loop, reduced waste, and improved your land without buying a single plastic bag of shop-bought compost.

Building a Community Around Compost

At its best, composting is a communal effort. Whether it’s at Charter events, in shared gardens, or with neighbours, composting brings people together around a shared goal: healthier soil, less waste, and stronger communities.

UKSN Charters are in a unique position to lead by example. Hosting composting workshops, swapping surplus compost, or creating local composting co-ops are simple steps that support both environmental and social resilience.

Final Thoughts

Composting is more than just a gardening technique. It’s an entry point into the kind of lifestyle that UKSN champions – one rooted in sustainability, self-reliance, and connection to the land.

It’s easy to start, almost free, and entirely legal across the UK. And it scales – from a single wormery in a flat to a large open heap at a rural Charter site.

If you’ve not yet added composting to your skillset, there’s no better time than now. Start small, stay consistent, and watch how this humble practice transforms both your soil and your outlook on waste.

Join the UKSN Composting Conversation

Already composting at home or at your Charter? Share your tips, hacks, and success stories on the UKSN Facebook Group or at the next event. From pallet-built bins to community composting projects, let’s inspire each other to dig deeper.

Together, we grow more than food – we grow community, skills, and resilience.

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