This image is the cover for the book Compost: Specialist Guide, Home Gardener's

Compost: Specialist Guide, Home Gardener's

A complete reference to making and using compost to reduce environmental impact and garden sustainably for beginning, veteran and organic gardeners.

In recent times, people have become much more ecologically aware and also more keen to minimize their carbon footprint. This, coupled with the pressure from governments to recycle household waste, means that creating and using garden compost is becoming almost essential knowledge. This guide gives gardeners all the information they need about starting to make their own compost, storing it and using it. Information on different types of compost -- what they consist of, what they are good for and how they are best stored -- is given, before moving on to explore in detail how to create your own compost. Guidance is also given for those who wish to construct their own compost bin. There are specific chapters explaining wormeries and green manuring, as well as a wealth of information on seed and potting composts.

David Squire

David Squire has worked for many years as a gardening writer and editor. He has contributed to numerous gardening magazines and is the author (or co-author) of more than 80 gardening and plant-related books. His books include four titles in the new Home Gardener's Specialist Guide series (Fox Chapel Publishing) plus The Scented Garden (Orion) which won the “Quill and Trowel Award” of the Garden Writers of America. David trained as a horticulturist at the Hertfordshire College of Agriculture and at the Royal Horticultural Society, where he was awarded the Wisley Diploma in Horticulture. He was awarded an N.K. Gould Memorial Prize for his collection of herbarium specimens of native British plants. In 2005, this collection of plants was accepted by the Booth Museum of Natural History to become library and museum exhibits. He has a passionate interest in the uses of native plants, whether for eating and survival, or for their historical roles in medicine, folklore and customs.

Fox Chapel Publishing