Home composting demonstrations

Roscommon County Council is encouraging all householders with a garden to start home composting organic waste this Spring. Organic waste including teabags, fruit/vegetable peelings and garden clippings can be easily composted at home along with your waste newspapers and cardboard. Composting can reduce your household waste by up to one third – this is good for the environment and will also help you to save money. There are numerous benefits to composting, including providing a nutrient rich soil improver, while at the same time helping to protect the remaining fragile bogs across Ireland by avoiding peat based garden fertilisers. In order to help those starting on the road to composting and to assist already keen composters, Roscommon County Council is holding free home compost demonstrations at Farmers Markets during the month of April. The compost demonstrations will outline ways of producing good compost at home and will include set up of your cone, the do’s and don’ts of composting and trouble shooting. People will also have the opportunity to drop-in at any stage during the day for compost clinics where they can ask the experts for advice on starting composting or how to solve any problems with their compost bin. Roscommon Farmers Market Friday April 18th 10 am – 1 pm.  Demonstrations at 10.30 am, 11.30 am, 12.30 pm presented by Nuala Madigan from the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. Drop-in compost clinics open all day. Boyle Farmers Market Saturday  April 19th 10 am – 2 pm. Demonstrations at 11am and 1 pm presented by Bill Hester from Croghan Organic Centre. Drop-in compost clinics open all day. The Compost Workshop in Roscommon Town also features a demonstration on Wildlife Gardening DIY Workshop. With the increase in loss of natural wild habitats for animals, learn how you can turn your garden into a haven for wildlife. The demonstration will include log piles, ponds, bird boxes, bat boxes, chemical free gardening, water conservation tips and much more. ‘There’s no better time to start composting than right now,’ says Suzanne Dempsey, Environmental Education Officer, Roscommon County Council. ‘With the good weather approaching, people with a garden will be mowing the grass, weeding and trimming and the long evenings mean that it will be easy to pop out to the garden at the end of the day with vegetable peelings and other leftovers.’ Roscommon County Council is offering subsidised compost bins to householders to further encourage their composting efforts. Compost bins are tidy, relatively cheap and available from Roscommon County Council at a reduced rate of €40 (plus Kitchen Kaddie). To order a home compost bin please contact Roscommon County Council on (090) 66 37262. Compost bins are also available for sale from civic amenity sites in Roscommon Town, Boyle and Ballaghaderreen. All householders are welcome to attend the compost workshops. Compost workshops are ideal for householders who are interested in composting but don’t know where to start or those who have already started composting and who would like to share their experiences, or find a solution to any difficulties they may be having.