Great long undigested stalks, half rotted etc. I know I should shred stuff before it goes in, and turn the heap, but I am extremely weak and weedy I just don't have the strength to chop and turn, nor do I fancy forking out for a petrol shredder (no electricity on the plot)
Can anyone suggest a way of composting using as little musclepower as possible - or should I just leave my heaps for longer and hope they turn into friable compost in their own good time? I am using the half-rotted stuff on my beds and it seems OK, but I would like to be able to produce proper compost
Hi Sprout,I'm afraid I don't turn mine either! Like you I either use the half rotted stalks (I bury them in the top of the bed so the neighbours can't see 'em!)or I chuck them back for a second go! The plants don't seem to mind and the runner bean roots seem to make a bee-line for them and often come up at the end of season with a sprout stalk dangling.The time I did make some really good stuff I took the time and trouble to chop stuff up by hand as it went in,I used shears on any soft stuff,grass etc.and short handled pruners on the woody bits and stalks and it did work.
Good morning Sprout and Carole B, I think composting is like life the more effort you put into it the more you get out of it. But as you say the big bits rot down in the end.
When I had a bigger garden than I do now, I had three bins: 2 large and one smaller.
From what I understand, there's two schools of thought when it comes to composting, which are:
AEROBIC and ANAEROBIC.
The difference between the two is generally all about one method of decomposition results mainly fromt he action of bacteria that require oxygen and flourish within 48-65C. These bacteria work very fast and given the right conditions, will produce useable compost within about a month - i.e. AEROBIC.
The other method, the bacteria don't require oxygen, and therefore don't generate heat, so the decomposition is far slower - i.e. ANAEROBIC.
SO, if you pile everything up and just leave it there to decompose, it'll take a while, and the stuff on the outside will take even longer kind of thing....
If, however, you pile eveything up and turn it over into another pile after about 7 days, it will have reached a high temperature within 3 days, and by turning, you'll introduce lots more oxygen.... and it will heat up yet again, and so on and so forth.
Obviously, for good compost you've got to get the 'mix' of stuff in there fairly balanced as well.
I'm of the Old Herbaceous 'school of thought' on this one - the more you put into it, the more you'll get out.
And I've got a FAB book on the subject if you're as completely 'anorak' as I was then to want to know all about it - just let me know.
Kindest Regards,
Wellie
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. The good they do is inconceivable....
I have four bins and turn out from one into the other, they are quite small about 30 inches square and four feet high, home made bays from scrap wood and cover the tops with old carpet.
Some questions that I have?
1. How long before dandelion tap roots couch grass roots breakdown in compost.
2. I have been using liquid gold (1 part pee four or five parts water to pout on as an activator) how good is it??
3. Composting rhubarb leaves, the definitive answer please burn or compost?
Cheers
Compo ( I know with a name like mine I should know everything!!)
Hi Compo,
I would not put Dandelion and certainly not Couch grass on the compost heap until they have been drowned. I generally immerse them in water for a time and they go black. In that stage they are unlikely to regenerate. With masses of Couch I generally leave on the path and when dried out I burn them and then add the ash to compost heap.
The normal dilution of liquid gold is 1 part LG to 10 parts water.
Rhubarb leaves are fine and this age old bit about them being poisonous is only partially true.
Rhubarb leaves have a high Oxalic Acid content which may well be poisonous to eat but on the compost they are fine just so long as you do not use too many at the same time. They are unlikely to acidify your compost but if you have any worries on that score sprinkle some wood ash before you put the Rhubarb leaves on. Wood ash is generally of high PH and is as alkaline as Rhubarb is acid so the two kind-of neutralize out.
Good advice Johnboy thanks...what about the Dandelion that has alredy gone on to the heap, leave it for a year or two to fully rot? I have space to foget about one of my bays for a year or two if that is needed.
Hi Compo,
Most perennial weeds can and often regenerate in the compost and the difficulty is handling that compost as you are likely to distribute a load of root cuttings which as sod's law decree's always grow. So my only advice is to be most careful especially with Couch Grass if you have it present.
The Book is called COMPOSTING The Organic Natural Way, by Dick Kitto (Thorsons Publishing Group) Looks like it's 1988.
Old-fashioned, but packed full of:
Basic principles of compost making.
Practical composting.
How to use compost.
Green Manure.
Organic Fertilisers.
Odds & Ends
and it's the best book I've read on the subject, if you're truly wanting the low-down !
Wellie
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. The good they do is inconceivable....
I have 2 bins, clean and dirty e.g. seeds, perennials
There is no trouble with the clean stuff. The dirty stuff, when we empty it, will be laid out annd allowed to grow then sprayed with glyphosate.
I don't see any trouble with the tops of perennials as long as you don't include seed heads or roots.
At the moment the luscious weeds are being recycled via a rabbit-keeper and we get the clear-outs.
Allan
I'm pretty weedy and pretty lazy too!
I have two conventional compost bins outside the back door that get the kitchen waste, cardboard and any garden waste that I can't be bothered to take to the end of the garden (told you I was lazy didn't I?). Once one of these is full and not going down fast enough to add new stuff, I leave it alone and start the next one. About four/five months later it's about a third full of truly lovely compost, made by the worms and woodlice that appear in the bin and by the slugs and snails I rehome in there.
At the other end of the garden I have two large bins made of recycled old shed. They're about 4' square. These get all the rest of the garden waste - unseeded annual weeds, trimmings, remains of plants, sods of turf. About twice a year I start to fork the full one into the empty one but I usually find that about halfway down is reasonably good compost (poorer quality than the kitchen waste lot, though). So I just get the unrotted stuff out and start piling the new composting material on top of it.
Neither of these systems are your traditional composting methods- they don't get hot at all, yet they both produce perfectly useable compost. I think as long as you're patient and have enough material to just keep piling it on, nature will do its work and it will be broken down. The only thing I've found that really inhibits the process is lack of water. Smelly, wet compost is alleviated by mixing in torn up cardboard.
One thing I have learned recently is that most different kinds of cardboard will break down well and this saves it taking up space in your rubbish bin!
I just don't have the strength to chop and turn, nor do I fancy forking out for a petrol shredder (no electricity on the plot) 
