© BBC/Glenn Dearing/Geffrye MuseumGardeners' World presenter Monty Don has warned households to be careful about putting certain things on the compost heap to avoid attracting rodents.
Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don has warned households to be careful about putting certain things on the compost heap to avoid attracting unwelcome rodents.
On the Gardeners' World Winter Special, which aired on Wednesday 20th January, Monty explained that people should not add meat, fats, cooked materials, potato, rice or pasta to their compost pile as it will draw in a crowd of rats.
"The real secret of compost is life to soil," he told viewers. "You can add almost anything that's lived to a compost heap. But don't add meat, fats or cooked material. Particularly cooked starches like potato or rice or pasta. The main reason for that, is not that it won't decompose because it will in time, but it will do so more slowly. It will attract rodents. You will get rats."
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A compost heap is not only a nutrient-rich food product for your garden, but it will help to keep your soil's pH balance in check, improve soil structure and maintain moisture levels, too. So what can you add to your compost? "Almost everything else from the garden and the house can go on," Monty says.
Some of the best ingredients for a successful compost heap include kitchen waste, particularly egg shells and banana skins, dried leaves, grass clippings, manure, peelings, coffee grounds and tea leaves.
Last year, Monty Don urged people not to buy mass-produced plants grown in peat, explaining that garden centres who stock them are "actively choosing to do harm".
Writing in his Gardeners' World magazine column, the presenter said: "If you don't care about this you are sticking your head in the sand, not least because it will affect the quality of life for your children and grandchildren. For gardeners, this means we have to consume less and think more about the connections... never buy peat in a potting compost."
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