What to compost

[Borlotti]

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.

[Borlotti]

[Fork]

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

[aquilegia]

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.

[Dandytown]

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.