Composting for the weedy?

[supersprout]

My compost is a disgrace :'(

Great long undigested stalks, half rotted etc. I know I should shred stuff before it goes in, and turn the heap, but I am weak and weedy :-[  I just don't have the strength and stamina at the mo to chop woody stalks and turn the heap, and it would take some persuasion to fork out (ha ha) for a petrol shredder (no electricity on the plot)  

Can anyone suggest how I might make good compost with minimal musclepower - is it worth investing in one of these roll-about composters? or should I just leave my heaps for longer and hope they turn into friable compost in their own good time? Would a shredder be a good investment after all? I am using the half-rotted stuff on my beds and it seems OK, but I would like to be able to produce proper compost. Hope you have some good ideas :D

[supersprout]

[Palustris]

Unless you are trying to impress your neighbours with your composting skill, what does it matter? Either leave it longer or remove the unrotted stuff when you do use it and put it back on the bottom of the new heap or bury it when you want to improve your soil.

[artichoke]

Hi, SS. Careful, or you'll make the rest of us feel ashamed of our compost heaps. I know that some people have well-made bins and take turns to fill them and they reach a great heat, kill all weed seeds, etc....but my allotment heap is one heap that everything goes onto, and after a year or two I scrape the most recent rubbish off the top, and underneath is absolutely delicious stuff, and as palustris says, if there are undigested bits in it, push them aside while you help yourself to the good stuff, then start again. It is concealed by a hedge of jerusalem artichokes, and it is my business what it looks like behind them.

Having said that, I also have a special offer from the council, a swing-bin (I have driven into it once too often, as I try to hide it down a narrow alleyway/carport out of tiny picturesque - I hope - flowery back yard, so it no longer swings) into which kitchen waste and every worm I can find goes. I tipped it upside down last week and out came the most wonderful stuff absolutely leaping with worms. That is what is now on my lasagne patch. In addition I have a huge black dustbin, also for kitchen waste, which is fairly horrible, smelly and slimy, and full of strange white worms that I don't introduce (apparently I should add lime and they would go away, but as they are also decomposers I don't) but eventually that too turns into lovely crumbly compost.

[Robert_Brenchley]

AS people have said, don't worry about it. I give things like brassica stems two years (ie sling them back in a dalek for a second year), everything else, half-rotted or no, goes on my spuds, and they thrive on it. There's never anything left of the compost by the time I life them.

[supersprout]

;D ;D ;D
I feel much better about my disgraceful compost now. I'll take all your advice and NOT WORRY, and just keep recycling those pesky stems until they fall apart and ignore the little gremlin that says 'good compost is like crumbly chocolate' ::) and settle for happy veg and leaping worms ;D

Thanks for the reassurance folks (sigh of relief, not feeling so weedy now) ;) :)

[supersprout]

Ooh, I came across a great tip this morning!
Lay out your brassica stems on the path and drive over them before composting :o :D

[katynewbie]

 :o

Cant get the car on the plot...I just bash them with a hammer!

;)