I have one big heap, that doesn't seem to do much, took out the big branches and burnt them when we had a communal bonfire. Have put some horse manure/straw there with all the weeds and old plants and covered it with plastic sheeting. Also have a box thing that everything is thrown in and put some accelerator in it but it doesn't seem to do much. I now have managed to fix together my black dalek like bin and would like to do this properly. I have loads of long grass and stinging nettles I could hack down on the neglected site next to me, is that a good idea, or shall I just be lazy and wait for the next delivery of Council compost. I don't take my veg. left overs from home as don't have a car, but just put them in the green recycling bin. I also have loads of marestail which I have been leaving in the sun to dry out and then compost it, maybe I should start putting that in black sacks. Question is would grass and stinging nettles make good compost or do I need to add other things to it. Also rhubarb leaves, just chucked them under the red currant bushes, or can they be composted. Thank you knowledgeable people.
Too much grass and your compost bin will be slimy....you need a mixture of things the activate it correctly...old egg boxes, shredded paper,mixed in with your green stuff....nettles make a good activator for your compost heap
Grass and nettles are fine to compost. You could mix those with straw, paper/card or even slightly chunkier compost to make sure they don't go slimey. Rhubarb leaves are fine to compost.
I don't really like the black dalek bins. I find they don't work well as the compost often is far too wet and not enough air gets into it.
I have three bins that I made with old bits of wood. Pallets work well if you can find any. I'm rubbish at DIY, but they work brilliantly! I add to one and leave the others to it, other than turning regularly (at the moment about every 1-2 weeks, whenever I mow the lawn).
Also Mr Aqui pees on it regularly, which is a brilliant activator.
For me, all the nasty perenial weeds and the nettles get chopped up a little and go in a barrel of water to make a liquid feed which I dilute a little.
You can really notice the difference after watering the plants with the feed.