Life, Death and Decay: The Science of Compost

The Science of Compost: Life Death and Decay in the Garden takes you on a journey into the underworld of composting. Doberski explains the science of what goes on but also promotes interest in the living organisms who provide the ’hard graft’ of transforming waste organic matter. It can be hard to envisage the hundreds, thousands or millions of different organisms involved but The Science of Compost reveals the secrets of this hidden world. Gardeners are familiar with the magic of compost and it is easy to see what goes in - organic waste - and what comes out - wonderful, friable and fertile compost - but what magic causes that to happen? Doberski explains what kind of ’mysterious’ and complex chemical, physical and biological processes contribute to make composting effective. He covers the structural nature of decaying and dead plant material, the micro-organisms and invertebrates contributing to decomposition, and the combination of chemical, physical and biological factors which determine rates of decay. Although not a practical manual of composting, by explaining the science of what goes on in composting Doberski provides pointers to gardeners for getting composting right.

Dr Julian Doberski has three degrees: BSc Zoology (Southampton), MSc Forestry (Oxford) and PhD Biological control using fungi (Cambridge). He has thirty years of teaching at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (all levels) - which latterly became Anglia Ruskin University (1992) (teaching Ecology at degree level) and a year teaching A Level. He jointly published a resource pack for A level ecology students plus various scientific research and science in education papers. He is currently retired.