Topic: pondering perennial weeds

[Ceri]

I've been thinking about those nasty weeds you really shouldn't put on the compost heap.  Instead of burning/binning, could you not dump them in a spare waterbutt until they rot down completely, then use that as a tea tonic, or tip it all on the compost heap as a wetter/activator in the summer?  Probably stinky but possible?

[gavin]

Hi Ceri - yup!  No probs - apart from the length of your arms, cos the stink is truly "wonderful"!

But there's not many weeds I do that for - only ground elder and bindweed on my plot.  The couch, docks, dandelions, coltsfoot, creeping thistle - I chuck all those straight on the heap.

Sure, some of the root bits regrow when the compost goes back on the bed, but as soon as the "blown-in" weeds are hoed off, so are the ones I've introduced (and when they are very small, too).  It's no more work, I don't thnk.  

Hmm - but I wouldn't like to be so lazy in a garden, I suspect.

All best - Gavin

[ina]

I agree Gavin, except for the couch grass, that and bindweed, I collect and take home for disposal (bonfires are not allowed here). All other weeds go on the compost. I used to worry about spreading weeds through compost but I did a try-out on one veggie bed and I did not notice any more weeds there than in the other beds. So now I use my compost from weeds and all in the whole veggie plot.