Composting Advice

[Mike13]

I am currently taking compost out about 10-15 wheelbarrows worth already. I keep being pestered by a few bumblebees , maybe their nest was in the heap.
I agree to keep the weeds out. Some of the privet stems that I thought were too small to shred were actually sprouting, even though they had had no light over the winter and into summer!

 

[scbk]

I more take the view, lob it all in, it'll be fine


This guy is quite interesting:

 

[cwhaley]

@Mottie and @Mike13 -- thank you, I'll just dump the foliage of the weeds in there. Normally when they appear in borders I just hoe them at the roots and they break down into the soil, so I don't get through too many. Lots of grass clippings and veg peelings, though.

It's brown material I struggle with. All I can get hold of is corrugated cardboard and newspaper. Hopefully this is okay, as I don't have any dead leaves

 

[JohnD]

If you have a lot of wet green grass, I find it helps to mow without the box, on a sunny day, and leave the cuttings to dry out before putting on the heap. In weather like this they will be dry in a few hours. If the grass was very long you may need to spread and turn it with a rake. The mower will collect it up for you when dry, and it will not clog or stick like wet grass. Wet grass that is unmixed seems to rot wetly rather than forming good compost. You can also mix grass cuttings with horse muck if the animals are kept on wood shavings bedding. I like that because it does not smell unpleasant and is very absorbent. The surface dries so it will not easily support weeds. When I had an infinite supply I used to mulch with it once it had cooled. It rots down in half a year and the birds and worms tidy it away. It will also provide useful pieces of baler twine.

If you have a big rotary mower you can also spread leaves on the lawn and it will shred and collect them.

A large heap that heats up well will kill weed seeds, though you need to turn edges to middle. Mix or layer cut weeds with grass cuttings which get very hot. If you leave pulled or hoed weeds in the sun for a day or two this will dry the roots and they will not regrow.

 

[Odds]

You can buy a chemical to water into the compost bin to help break it down quickly; forking the mix over will help, too, and you can add wood chips and bark to go alongside the cardboard. Leaves are okay but add little to the pot; used teabags and eggshells are always useful, if you've a mind to.

 

[cwhaley]

If you have a lot of wet green grass, I find it helps to mow without the box, on a sunny day, and leave the cuttings to dry out before putting on the heap. In weather like this they will be dry in a few hours. If the grass was very long you may need to spread and turn it with a rake. The mower will collect it up for you when dry, and it will not clog or stick like wet grass. Wet grass that is unmixed seems to rot wetly rather than forming good compost. You can also mix grass cuttings with horse muck if the animals are kept on wood shavings bedding. I like that because it does not smell unpleasant and is very absorbent. The surface dries so it will not easily support weeds. When I had an infinite supply I used to mulch with it once it had cooled. It rots down in half a year and the birds and worms tidy it away. It will also provide useful pieces of baler twine.

If you have a big rotary mower you can also spread leaves on the lawn and it will shred and collect them.

A large heap that heats up well will kill weed seeds, though you need to turn edges to middle. Mix or layer cut weeds with grass cuttings which get very hot. If you leave pulled or hoed weeds in the sun for a day or two this will dry the roots and they will not regrow.

Some good points there, thanks. I actually only use the rotary mower if the grass has got long (which I rarely let it). Coming into Spring with the first mows I collected a lot of grass as I gradually brought he height down. Now I use the cylinder mower and leave the clippings on the lawn to break down into the soil. I can get mowed grass from my neighbour.

Good idea about leaves. I have a good number of laurels so when I trim these back (due another trim) I will scatter the leaves and go over with the rotary mower to 'hoover' them up. Hopefully it doesn't matter that they're fresh? Some sites mention "old, dead leaves".

I didn't consider turning the edges to the middle. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them if I'm honest, so will fold in as the pile grows.

 

[cwhaley]

You can buy a chemical to water into the compost bin to help break it down quickly; forking the mix over will help, too, and you can add wood chips and bark to go alongside the cardboard. Leaves are okay but add little to the pot; used teabags and eggshells are always useful, if you've a mind to.

Get through plenty of egg shells and tea bags! I'll break them up and put them on. Do they go on with brown or green layers?

 

[StephenOak]

It's brown material I struggle with.

I know someone through the local reuse group. She has a garden and an allotment, so has lots of greens but not enough browns. I have a large garden with lots of mature trees & bushes, and my compost & leaf mould end up with woody bits. What I sieve out I give to her.

So that might be a source of browns for you.

You can buy a chemical to water into the compost bin

I got some free with a purchase and the main ingredient is something that supplies nitrogen. As the OP has plenty of greens his compost will be nitrogen rich and such a chemical would be pointless.

Leaves are okay but add little to the pot;

Nope. Leaves, or something like them, is essential in compost to supply the carbon the bugs need.

If you have just leaves then you would be making leaf mould and that is quite different.

used teabags and eggshells

You need to be careful about tea bags. For decades the bag part has been c. 25% plastic. So when the bag decomposes this would break down into lots of small bits of plastic.

I know that some manufacturers have changed the way the bags are made but I don't know the details. We (95% of the time) use loose tea, but any tea bags are torn open and only the contents added to the compost.

Egg shells do not biologically break down in a compost bin, but the compost moving breaks them up physically. So they are far from essential but they will add some chemicals, principally calcium, to the compost.

Do [egg shells and tea bags] go on with brown or green layers?

Ideally you don't have layers but a mix. If you have a compost box in the kitchen then put all the kitchen stuff in there. Most of it will be peelings, bits of veg, etc, and so will be nitrogen rich or greens. Tea leaves are carbon rich and so count as browns.

When I add the contents of our kitchen compost box to the compost bin in the garden I just lift up some of the garden cuttings and dump the lot underneath.

 

[cwhaley]

Thanks a lot, will add them to the brown mix along with shredded leaves. We only drink Yorkshire tea and they now use "plant-based" bags, so thankfully no plastic. We used to use loose tea but the "tea lady" who delivered it to my parents, who we collected it from, gave it up due to lack of demand.

 

[Mottie]

I transport my grass cuttings from home to the allotment for composting and we have an unlimited supply of wood chippings from tree surgeons on our site. Would the chippings be ok for the brown layer?

 

[StephenOak]

We only drink Yorkshire tea and they now use "plant-based" bags, so thankfully no plastic.

Good to hear. The plastic in tea bags came to prominence some years ago and I know that some manufacturers said they would change.

We used to use loose tea but the "tea lady" who delivered it to my parents, who we collected it from, gave it up due to lack of demand.

I can see that. We buy our ordinary tea (Assam, Darjeeling, etc) from a supermarket and there is a large section of tea bags, with just half the bottom shelf for loose tea.

we have an unlimited supply of wood chippings from tree surgeons on our site. Would the chippings be ok for the brown layer?

Very much so.

I shred anything firm that goes into my compost and because of the nature of my garden that means I end up with more browns than greens and some of the browns are noticeable lumps. Also when I collect (c. 2 cubic metres of) leaves in the autumn I just sweep them together and gather them, so I end up with bits of wood in there.

Because of this I sieve both of these, with a 20mm sieve and at a later stage with a 10mm one. All the stuff that comes out is taken by someone who has a garden and an allotment, so lots of greens but not enough browns. She has been doing that for (5? 6? more?) years, so it obviously works for her.


Another example. A friend's garden was mostly lawn and she had several large piles of malodorous grass at the edges. She got a large dalek and her son & I loaded it with quite a bit of the grass and wood chipping at the same time (one doing the grass and the other doing the wood) so that it was reasonably well mixed.

To make it work best, I had shredded a load of wood and then run this through 20 & then 10 mm sieves to select only wood pieces that were quite small, thus maximising the surface area. I also suggested that he (the son) put a garden fork in and stir it once or twice a week, which he did.

A while (4? 6? weeks) later I was over there and my friend and I put the rest of the grass in. In that short time the previous material had basically all broken down and turned into nice dark compost. This was near ideal conditions, the grass was already pretty rotted, fine wood, well mixed, summer, turned quite a bit. So it won't work that well always but wood chipping will certainly do the job.

 

[JohnD]

horse muck if the animals are kept on wood shavings bedding.

It absorbs nitrogenous urine, the balance varies. Horseowners will be grateful if you take it away.