[Lincs Lottie]

Hi there,
I'm a complete novice to gardening and allotments. 
Yesterday I heavily pruned a Buddleia. 
Can I put the branches/stems/leaves in my compost bin?  I have only just started my compost bin so don't want to put anything on there that won't break down. 
I also have a few Ceanothus (sp?) prunings can they go in the compost too please?
I am binning any weeds but not sure what other garden items are suitable for the compost.
Many thanks.
LL x

PS also do nettles go in the compost or the bin? Thanks.

[Trillium]

Buddlieas can go in the compost but I'd first cut up the branches/twigs smaller into say 2-3" pieces and that way they will compost faster. You could use garden shears for this job. Same with the other plants.

Nettles are iffy, just make sure no roots get in there. Mostly I'd make nettle tea with the leaves and stems. Put some water into a bucket you have a lid for, (wearing strong gloves) push in the nettle stalks and leaves and just set the cover on to hold back the eventual stink. And stink it will but it will yield a very nutritious plant feed in a few weeks.

Pretty much any plant can go into the compost but if you have flowers with seed heads, best to snip off the seed heads and bin or save seeds separately. Some weeds with no seed heads or roots can go in as well, chopped up. But never put in pernicious ones like bindweed, marestail, goutweed, etc that can easily reroot. Those can get mooshed into the nettle tea bucket to dissolve into useful feed.

[jrko]

woody stuff can go in but as said chop it up.  Smashing it up with a hammer to break the bark & tough texture up helps as well.

Nettles are fine as long as you dont put in root or flower/seed heads.  I just bung all my nasty weeds into water for 4-6 weeks in a lidded black bin.  No light and water immersion will ruin almost every weed going.  Then add to the pile.

try and pick up Bob Flowerdew's little book on composting.  You can pick it up for a few £ second hand on Amazon (other books on composting and online retailers exist )

[Lincs Lottie]

Thanks for your replies.
I'll have to nip to the cheapy shop to get a lidded bucket.
If I drown all weeds in it, can I still use the liquid as a feed or is that only for nettles? 
Also, does it require diluting before use?
Thanks.

[sunshineband]

The liquid is fine for feed -- dilute about one of this to ten of water 

[Trillium]

You can add any pernicious weeds to it, just be sure you have enough water to immerse them. You might need to weight it down as well, a scrap piece of board and a rock will do.