Topic: Clearing and composting

[EnglishRose]

I visited my new allotment plot last night.

At the moment it's covered in very tall 'grass' (think 5ft high straw-style grass rather than lovely green lawn grass).  My plan is to cut down the grass then lift up the top layer of soil/grass roots and put it all in a compost heap at the back of the plot before I start to dig over the soil.  However, I'm sure I read somewhere that there's a type of grass that should never be put in a compost heap because it'll just multiply and make the plot even more weedy when I use the compost.  How do I know whether my 'grass' is suitable for composting? ???  What else do I need to know about starting a compost pile?

Apologies for asking such basic questions - I really don't have a clue what I'm doing yet!

[irnhed]

New plot.  Exciting stuff.

Perhaps you're thinking about Couch Grass?

If you've got it on the plot, you shouldn't rotivate it or chop it up in other ways, as the wee bits all grow into nice, new plants, making the problem much worse.

If you dig up the grass, you need to look at the roots.  If they're 'just' from the one plant, downwards, it'll be 'normal' grass.  If you've got tubers spreading out all over the place, it'll be couch.

I'm sure if you try a search here, or on the web, you'll get a better explanation, and some photos.

Not sure about composting it.  Logically, I'd think you're right - the bits will just grow.

However, if the compost pile is well structured, it should get hot enough to kill off the plants.

I haven't got a scooby-do about compost pile construction.  I just pile mine up.

I'm sure someone will be along with a compost master-class at some point.  Best of luck.

[Chrispy]

Yes, couch grass has thick white spreading roots, easy to spot if you dig a bit up, don't think it grows 5ft tall.

How recent has the plot been used? 5ft straw type grass could be grazing rye, sown as a green manure by the last plot owner.

If your are going to dig the root up with the top soil, I would stack it upside down in it's own pile rather than using up space in your compost heap.

[EnglishRose]

Yes, couch grass is what I was thinking of - I've just had a look at a couple of pics and don't think it's couch grass, which is excellent news.

Grazing rye sounds plausible. I was told that the plot had been left vacant for "a couple of months" but I'm guessing that it's more likely to have been a year or so judging by the state it's in and the height of the 'grass'.  I'll post a pic if I can ever work out how to get them to upload!

What's the reasoning behind stacking the grass sods upside-down: is it so that they don't grow roots again?

[artichoke]

They stifle each other and, with any luck, die; after a time they can be dug back in as compost to improve the soil.

[pigeonseed]

If you shake off lots of the soil, and the weather stays dry, it might well break down to some very nice fibrous compost. That's what happened in my garden, it's taken over a year to break down, but it's useful stuff, in a fibrous sort of way!

There will probably be a zillion grass seeds in it, but personally I think you might as well use the useful compost and live with having to weed the baby grass plants next year.

That's also true of couch as well - it's tough, but it dies eventually, especially if you cover the heap with tarpaulin.

[chriscross1966]

If you shake off lots of the soil, and the weather stays dry, it might well break down to some very nice fibrous compost. That's what happened in my garden, it's taken over a year to break down, but it's useful stuff, in a fibrous sort of way!

There will probably be a zillion grass seeds in it, but personally I think you might as well use the useful compost and live with having to weed the baby grass plants next year.

That's also true of couch as well - it's tough, but it dies eventually, especially if you cover the heap with tarpaulin.

There was a fair amount of couch in the lawn I've destroyed this year at the house I bought in March. I ran a rotavator through it set on shallow, then pulled the rather mashed turves off and put them all in a 1-ton dumpy bag, it hasn't sprouted much at all and I fully expect it to be useable as rather good topsoil next year (cos the rest of my soil is rubbish ATM) Couch dies if it is strangled for light  within a year, so COvering in plastic mulch an dplnting aggressive things to clear it (squashes, potatoesbig cabbages etc) will pretty much do for it, though not the bindweed, though it will draw it to the surface..... I've not done a proper dig through any of my plot and although yes, I have some weeds, they're nothing like as bad as I was expecting and a couple of hours hoeing a week is steadily killing off most of them... Whoever takes my plot on next year (well this autumn probalby) will be inheriting a useable 10-poles (or atleast 9 of them are, there's a bit around the fruit bushges at the back that needs more attention than I've got time to give it) , but it's not the weed infested wasteland I inherited where it was 10 hours of strimming before I discovered I had a shed at the bottom....

chrisc

chrisc

[EnglishRose]

Right, tarpaulin it is then - both for the plot once it's cleared/dug over and for the monster compost heap I shall be creating.  It's going to be a plastic wonderland by the sounds of things!

And there was me imagining a pretty, Country Living-esque plot full of rambling roses and neat lines of vegetables.  ;D

[antipodes]

If you can get hold of a composter or make one out of palettes, it will be much tidier!
Don't forget to compost as much as you can - I add all my household waste (peelings, rotten fruit or veg, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, some paper) as well as the garden waste.
With weeds, you can do what I and some others do: put the weeds first into a sealed black bin bag and leave them out in the middle of the plot. The sun will rot everything down in the bag, and in a few weeks you will have a brown slimy, weedy mess that you can then add to the compost heap. The extreme heat makes sure that the weeds have thoroughly cooked before composting. It also speeds up the composting process.
Good luck with the new plot!   ;)

[Digeroo]

We have another type of persistent grass which grows quite tall.  Rather than the white roots of couch it has long brown roots.  It is even worse than couch for getting rid of.   Tough grass can take quite a long time to break down in the compost bin so if you can I would have a separate bin for it.  Though it will need some greener stuff to get it going well.

I think I would be tempted to burn off a section of the grass if that is allowed so you can get something planted asap. 

Good luck with the plot.