Topic: Weeds

[caroline7758]

Does anyone take all the weeds they dig up off their site? I seem to be accumulating piles of weeds in various states of decomposition but every pile seems to have healthy looking re-growth as well, even when it's been covered in plastic for ages. I've always wanted to "get my own back" by getting some use out of the weeds, but it seems like such hard work to get decent compost from them that I'm seriously thinking about just bagging them all up and taking them to the tip!

[Flighty]

Mine all go on the compost heap, which I only empty once a year.

[pumkinlover]

I've always composted but I add a balance of lots of other material. Sometimes I wonder if  it is a good idea because of weed seeds as I do not have a "hot" heap. Some people on our site take weeds away. Good luck.

[Flighty]

This may be of interest - http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_pf.php

[Crystalmoon]

I never add weeds to my compost bins, I take then away from the site. My plot neighbour composts weeds & each year her plot seems to be getting more weedy! xJane 

[shirlton]

We take ours away after they have stood on a grid for a while to get the soil off them

[Robert_Brenchley]

I sling everything in the daleks. As long as it goes in before it flowers, there aren't any seeds, and if there are, I put a couple of inches of grass mulch over it. That gets them.

[manicscousers]

I drown some then throw them on the heap  ;D

[Digeroo]

I rather believe if you remove the weeds from the site you are taking away trace elements from the plot.  If it grew once it will grow again.  

I buried my compost under my broadbeans, it is now one of the least weedy areas of the lottie.

[Deb P]

I have a separate black dustbin for 'bad' weeds. I put couch grass, dandelions, docks and thistles in there and leave it with the lid on until everything dies. It then goes only compost heap for another six months and does not regrow. Back on the soil it goes! ;D

[katynewbie]

I think it was antipodes who said, on another thread somewhere, 'what is on the plot stays on the plot' good advice! I have a huge heap on my plot where all the nasties go, it is covered with a tarp at the moment and after a year or so will have gone down to some reasonable stuff to use, I hope. On our site people used to remove all sorts, eventually it looked like soil erosion as everything was being taken away and binned rather than used to improve soil condition.

[Ellen K]

I sling chickweed and diddly weeds in the compost bins, horrible giant weeds go to waste.  But as others have said, you can ferment weeds and then tip the whole brew onto the compost heap.  I have done this on occasion.  WARNING: Be prepared to explore new depths of horrible pongs.

[antipodes]

I stick the 'orrible ones into a black binbag and leave it in the hot sun for several weeks. After that the bag will be filled with a pongy slimey mess that I then chuck on the compost heap. There are so many other ways in which the weeds grow, I am pretty sure it's not my compost which I only use sparingly anyway.
Only things I put on the site waste heap is any unhealthy matter (mildewed squash etc), potato and tomato waste, or anything that is too big like usually the brassicas that I cut down, their tough stems are too hard to compost really.

[caroline7758]

An interesting mix of answers- thanks, everyone!
I decided to keep the weeds @on site@ as I'd have to bag them up to take to the tip, which would be more work. I'm going to put none-seedy stuff (except bindweed) in the dalek I have on the plot, and the rest in a pile under the apple tree, covered in black plastic and forget about them! If in a couple of years there's some good compost at the bottom, all well and good!