What do people put in thier compost ?, is it ok to put weeds in, i dont mean docks or roots, ive heard nettles(apart from roots) are good in compost, is that true?
Nettles are excellent, so are any weed stems and leaves - cut them before they flower though.
Hi Phil
apparently the young plants hold more neutriants, i read it some where but for the life of me cant find the quote but i also use them theres a good long lane nr here and just chop enough to make a layer
carl
Hi Phil,
This is taken form the home composting guide,hope it helps.
Can be composted.
Grass cuttings.
Hedge clippings.
Weeds,
old plants & garden cuttings.
Vegetable wastes.
Branches & Twigs (cut into pieces).Fallen leaves.
Most kitchen waste,such as Veg & fruit remains,tea bags & coffee grounds.
Cut flowers & house plant remains.
Crushed egg shells.
Newspaper.
Nettles are excellent and so is Comfrey, many allotments grow some to use as compost accelerator... again leaves and stems... if you want to grow some get Bocking 14 clone which does not have such deep roots and so is easier to remove if you change your mind.
;D
It's not the roots so much as the fact that Bocking doesn't set viable seed, normal comfrey seeds itself all over the shop
Thanks Merry Tiller, I had often thought about that, as it needs the deep root to bring the goodies from the subsoil!, I have some normal and do get the odd self set but they are easily spotted and dug out before they become a real problem, even old plants are easier to shift than Horseradish!
:)
We eat a lot of lemons and oranges, and their skins go into the compost. Some say they don't rot down, but they seem to disappear all right - faster than eggshells, anyway. I also tip the contents of the vacuum cleaner in, and now we have a paper shredder, that's going in too. Even old cabbage stalks seem to give in eventually.
I cannot believe how wonderful my current lot of compost is. I have a cold and messy heap that receives no attention at all, but every two years it produces the most wonderful moist, brown, crumbly substance, and this is its moment, now.
You're very patient
Quote from: artichoke on May 12, 2006, 22:10:46
...and now we have a paper shredder, that's going in too...
Why are you composting a paper shredder and how long do they take to rot down? ;D
I compost everything on the above lists and I even stick perrenial roots in. i just wait longer and have a bit more sifitng to do but waste not want not.
I thought citrus was a no no for the compost bin ??? I also thought leek leaves were too until someone on here said otherwise ???
Left confused now ::) :(
I stick cirus peal in - I get loads through the five-a-day for infants scheme. Supposedly the worms don't like it but I have been putting it for years and it has all disappeared. Have loads of brandlings as well and they don't half work quick (bad grammar I know)
There are some stange ideas about what can go into a compost heap,a gardening "expert" on the radio always says you must not put potatoe peelings on because you will get wireworms living in the compost !!! I have always included kitchen waste (not meat) and never had any problems.
The only thing I get from putting potato peelings in are potato plants.
Quote from: redclanger on May 13, 2006, 08:52:53
The only thing I get from putting potato peelings in are potato plants.
Same as i was well surprised :o
I never ever put eggshells in my compost - they're too precious as a slug/snail deterrent to me :) I save them through the year, well dried on top of the combi-boiler in the pantry, then they're roughly crushed and handfuls used in the planting holes of tender plants and around them. Rings of Confidence, like ;) ;D
Bits of old woollen jumpers go on mine too, but usually they have been used as base for hanging baskets or pots first. Must be real wool of course.
Yes! I've only just caught on to the fact that clothes can be composted. I have so many real wool or pure cotton clothes that are not good enough for Oxfam but I can't bear to throw them away, and this could be the solution to the problem.
I have just taken over a second plot that has never ever been dug (new field) and I plan to strim it and smother the weeds with layers of newspapers, old clothes, rotting wood, cut grass, earth etc as a Hugel bed or "lasagne" bed. It will look terrible for a bit, but you should see the few other plots in this space so far. One man has built himself a shed out of bits of wood and tarpaulin and sits there for hours contemplating his space, which is covered with old toys, oil drums, broken tools and towering weeds, and good luck to him.
Yes, I am patient with compost as someone said, because I have three bins and two heaps, so there is always some ready to use.
PS My husband composted a flamingo once, to use the bones for teaching students, and a great composting friend of mine puts his dead lambs (and once a fox that had fallen into one of his water buts and drowned) into his heaps.
My allotment has turned into a horsetail plantation but I'm not downhearted :'(
I've been chopping off the shoots with the hoe/ snapping the heads off by hand and up till now have been putting it all on the 'bad' weed pile/mountain.
Will these shoots turn into new horsetail plants (given half a chance) or would it would OK to add them to the compost - or would you not risk it AT ALL?
Thanks
Soak some nettles in a large bucket of water to make an infusion. Diluted it makes a great feed.
PP
Anything organic will compost: the world isn't knee deep in dead Horsetail plants, and as they have been around since the Carboniferous Period we would be otherwise! Try to compost a few in a compost bag or three, one inside the other to avoid puncture, we do this with couch and it makes an excellent mulch after 2-3 years... and no I haven't reintroduced couch even when I used some after one season and the couch was still recognisable as pieces of root!
;D
I agree: starting off my current allotment, I bagged up all the nasty weeds with persistent roots such as creeping buttercup, couch grass, bindweed, dandelion, docks, nettles (What a depressing list) and three years later put them back into the soil with a great deal of vengeful satisfaction as a nice brown mixture which certainly did not spring back to life.
That allotment is reasonably clean now - just needs regular hoeing for weed seedlings and a close watch around the edges where the communal grass paths creep into the plot.