composting

[dewisfamily]

when composting weeds and other things on my allotment is there anything i should not put in my compost bin ?

[dewisfamily]

[SMP1704]

Hello

What to compost - depends who you ask!

As a general rule, avoid meat & diary products.  Some say avoid cooked food in general as it attracts vermin, but my experience is that they are just as happy with a raw, veggie diet!

With regard to weeds, I don't put in hard to shift stuff like bindweed and horsetail.  Others will leave it out the dry/drown in a bucket of water then add to the bin - the choice is yours.

The more you can chop up whatever you add to the bin, the quicker it will break down.

Enjoy

[dtw]

Make sure the weeds don't have seeds!

[Unwashed]

In theory if your compose heap gets hot enough - so lots of air and not too wet or dry - weed seeds will be killed, though it doesn't work for me.

I throw everything on my heap, couch and bindweed included, but I make a good effort to shake all the soil off, and I usually leave it to bake in the sun for a bit before it goes on the heap.

The only thing that doesn't go on is rotten onions because that just spreads the problem.

I do have a bit of trouble with fat hen seeds remaining viabale, but they're easy to weed out by hand.

[Tee Gee]

This link might help; http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Compost%20heap/Compost%20heap.htm

[cornykev]

Talking weeds only, I wouldn't put in Couch grass, Dandlions, Marestail and Bindweed, my bins are in a Sunny area and we get more Sun than most but still don't get hot enough to kill these weeds, I also don't put in spud peelings.
    ;D ;D ;D

[GlentoranMark]

Talking weeds only, I wouldn't put in Couch grass, Dandlions, Marestail and Bindweed, my bins are in a Sunny area and we get more Sun than most but still don't get hot enough to kill these weeds, I also don't put in spud peelings.
    ;D ;D ;D

Now you tell me, I've a compost bin full of baby potatoes  :'(

I've built a couple of worm bins, I now feed everything to the worms. Flies/ maggots love it but the compost and liquid is far better and quicker to produce than a regular bin.

[Tee Gee]

I do put my spud peelings in but there are peelings & peelings.

We use a peeler rather than a knife to peel our potatoes meaning we damage the eye (the growth source) when we peel so we have no problem with potatoes growing.

Whereas with a knife; the peeling is invariably thicker and the eye is not damaged so there is the potential for re-growth!

[kt.]

This is a good site from the environmental agency:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/index.html