Build a composting area

Build a composting area in a corner of your garden and you'll never regret it. In goes kitchen peelings, garden prunings and autumn leaves; out comes lovely, crumbly black gold, rich and ready to spread on the garden to feed your plants.

Once you get into composting, one bin just isn't enough: three is the ideal (one to fill, one to rot and one to use), then there's leafmould to make, and a green cone and wormery for kitchen scraps. You'll find a fantastic range of composting equipment in your garden centre, so come in and have a browse.

Setting aside part of your garden as a purpose-built compost area makes it easy to screen off with trellis, and very efficient: keeping everything in a simple square means you have plenty of room for wheelbarrows and, if you pave it, it's much easier to keep clean.

Place your open bins alongside each other, as you'll be forking heavy compost from one into the next. Then put leafmould bins opposite, allowing plenty of air circulation. Wormeries need a sheltered spot – tucked between your bins is ideal – but a green cone prefers it open and sunny, so put it by the entrance where light is best.