Great gardening needn’t cost the earth, which is why National Trust experts are working in partnership with Yorkshire Bank to show gardeners how to tap into a fantastic free source of nutrients for their gardens this autumn.

At least a third of the contents of most household bins could be composted at home – which means that each household could save over a third of a tonne of waste from being sent to landfill each year.

Not only is this kinder to the environment – it also saves money. By composting all kitchen fruit and vegetable scraps, green garden waste and even waste paper and cardboard, the average household could produce up to 440 litres of useable compost each year.The cost of an equivalent volume of branded peat-free soil conditioner from the garden centre could cost over £40.

Research by Yorkshire Bank has shown that 39 per cent of Britain’s gardeners who took part in a recent survey currently make their own compost. To help even more people get started, Richard Todd - Head Gardener at the National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire - shares his composting secrets in a new short film produced by Yorkshire & Clydesdale Bank and the National Trust as part of their joint Greener Gardens initiative – now live on http://www.ukgreenergardens.com

Richard demonstrates how to make your own low-cost compost bin from scrap pallets, as well as how to get the right mix of greens and browns in your compost. He also gives advice onhow to make bestuse of home made compost in the garden.

Richard said:

Support from Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank has also meant that a number of composting projects have started at National Trust gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

These include:

• ‘in-vessel hot’ composters that have been built at properties across Wales, including Erddig near Wrexham and Llanerchaeron in Ceredigion, [breaking down any food waste from the Trust’s catering outlets to add to rich compost]
• an increase in composting in the South East of England at Monk’s House, Emmett’s garden, Hatchlands and Quebec House
• machinery to chip and shred branches at Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland which - supplemented with 60 tonnes of horse manure - produces around 100 tonnes of usable mulch
• a public demonstration area at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire as part of the estate’s mass-composting facilities.

Future videos to catch on http://www.ukgreenergardens.com will feature more priceless advice including how to save water, grow your own food, organic gardening and how to look after wildlife in the garden, all featuring National Trust experts passing on years of knowledge in a simple, easy to follow way. These videos will be on the website over the next few months.

Other areas of the Greener Gardens initiative include: plant recording across 80 key Trust gardens - enabling the Trust to identify the rarest and most threatened plants and ensure that these are propagated for the future, and the Greener Gardens Fund – supporting initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of maintaining Trust gardens, such as rainwater harvesting, re-instating old wells and composting on an industrial scale.