In recent years there has been a move towards planting up more containers in the garden. At one time the only container gardening was the occasional hanging basket.

More people have transport and more disposable income that enables them to visit the big horticultural shows. To see garden designers using containerised plants on their stands or small garden plots creates the desire to copy. Garden makeover programs on television also tend to include a selection of containers.

If you're looking for another way to make a positive impact on the planet, in addition to recycling, look no further than the wonderful world of composting. In basic terms, composting is the act of breaking down organic food and yard waste into a potent soil amendment called humus. But actually, composting is a bit more. It is about providing an environment where this process occurs quicker, usually in a compost bin or compost tumbler, and with the correct ratios of certain organic matter - you can't just go throwin' everything in and hope for the best.

Composting really is an art. Depending on your climate and time of year, your pile may need more or less of certain things to achieve the optimum carbon to nitrogen ratio for the organic matter to properly break down. Also, composting is not a free-for-all for your food scraps and waste. There are many things that are no-no's as far as the compost bin goes, including meat and bones, grease and oils, dairy products, fecal matter (that's right, no poo), diseased plants and weeds. Actually, it may be better to give a list of compostable items, so here goes:

When starting to compost, one must ask, which exactly is better the compost bin or the compost tumbler? Really, it all depends on who you ask and what their current lifestyle is like. For instance, does this person have the time to commit to their compost and garden? More importantly, do you? Whatever your answer will be may well dictate whether you'll go with purchasing a compost bin or tumbler. Let's take a few factors into considerations to help you decide:

Compost bins are easy to use and are just as easy to put together with little parts or none at all. Popular compost bins like the Garden Gourmet and the Expandable Worm Tower, both which can be found on Composters.com, require little parts and take no more than 20 minutes to put together. Those who use bins find it both therapeutic and satisfying to be personally turning their compost with a pitchfork; no one ever said that a little bit of the outdoors could hurt you! For composting bins like the Expandable Worm Tower, it's the worms that do most of the work. All you would have to do is take the finished compost that the worms have produced (known as worm castings, black gold, or even just rich soil), distribute it around the soil of your garden, fill up the trays with more organic matter and dirt and repeat!

Why?

Organic gardening compost solves many problems. So much so that it's tempting to wax philosophical on the merits of making compost. Compost isn't just a gardening topic. It relates to conserving energy, reducing pollution, protecting the environment, feeding the hungry, reducing waste ... and we could go on. See what I mean about philosophical?

Many times, maybe even most times, valuable organic gardening compost is made from household waste that would end up in a landfill. Now that's a waste ... burying valuable raw materials in expensive landfill space.