[yaxley]

Well thanks been some great replys on here my compost is in a bin made from pallets 8 foot long 3 foot wide and as deep as i can get it and at the moment it is very hot turned it the other day it was very hot steaming and rotting well add most things to mine ash, waste veg trimmings ,shredded paper, tea bags, leaves, hair ,spent grain ,horse manure ,straw,the contents of the vaccum cleaner ,grass clippings some weeds and im very happy with it at the moment ...

[maxie]

I had a major weed problem on my plot when i got it,dockins were rife,creeping buttercup,fat hen you name it.So i built a massive heap out of all the weeds and i dont think it killed a single weed,the dockins were still growing in it!
I had to bag all my weeds and take them to the tip and still no weeds go on my compost heap as i dont want them back in force like they were.
I think you need a fair sized heap to heat up as even when i get a trailer load of cow manure in and stack it for a couple of years it never seems to get very hot,not like some of the farmers giant muck heaps that seem to steam away nicely.

[simonwatson]

I know my heap won't get hot, so I take all the weeds and put them in a black plastic bag and leave it on top of the heap. When the sun hits the bag it cooks them good and proper. At the end of the season the contents of the bag, now a nice black mess, get mixed into the heap. I once took at bit of the contents, mixed it with compost and put it in a pot to see what grew. Nothing did.

[maxie]

I know my heap won't get hot, so I take all the weeds and put them in a black plastic bag and leave it on top of the heap. When the sun hits the bag it cooks them good and proper. At the end of the season the contents of the bag, now a nice black mess, get mixed into the heap. I once took at bit of the contents, mixed it with compost and put it in a pot to see what grew. Nothing did.

Ive got chickens now,all my weeds go in their run for them to eat and scrat through,its a win,win situation 

[compostqueen]

Having chooks is a brilliant way of dealing with weeds. It makes weeding all the more pleasurable as you have a huge pile of weeds then you don't. Sorted    Then they generously leave you some poop to make your compost with. Eggs too. What could be better 

[maxie]

Having chooks is a brilliant way of dealing with weeds. It makes weeding all the more pleasurable as you have a huge pile of weeds then you don't. Sorted    Then they generously leave you some poop to make your compost with. Eggs too. What could be better 

You said it compostqueen if id had them years ago they would have sorted my weed problem out a lot faster than i did,with the added benefit of keepin the pests down.

[Armleywhite]

I have a couple fo the daleks for general composting, but I make a very palatable coffee out of the dandelion roots. 

[devonbarmygardener]

That's interesting. I make marmalade out of dandelion petals - the rest of the plant goes to the chooks!

[habanerohead]

Hey,

I've made a rolling composter (210 L), and I've got a good source of coffee grounds. In summer we can put maybe 50Kg of grounds in with maybe a litre of night water (as Bob Flowerdew calls it) and a few bits of cardboard box, and in about 3 days you could light your fag on it! It seems to be ready to use in about 6-8 weeks. Obviously any woody stuff that's been put in needs longer, but we've got a holding area where fungus gets it's chance to have a go at that.
We've put quite a lot of the fine stuff straight on the plot and I don't know if it's a coincidence, but the worm population seems to have boomed since we've been doing that.
The plot was in bad need of soil conditioner and added nourishment in a short space of time, and for my money hot composting has done the trick.

Cheers.

[samnorfolk]

i have a dalek composter in my garden that has been having all the food peelings , grass cuttings chucked in it, it has been there over a year and did seem quite wet when i checked it out. Im now putting a pallet composter together and thinking of composting in that so i can give it a turn now and again.

[mumofstig]

You do need to mix in plenty of cardboard, toilet roll tubes, egg boxes or torn up/shredded paper with

food peelings , grass cuttings

A good mix won't be too wet

[maxie]

I have a couple fo the daleks for general composting, but I make a very palatable coffee out of the dandelion roots. 

Make mine a tea please 

[Ivor Backache]

http://www.klickitatcounty.org/SolidWaste/fileshtml/organics/compostCalc.htm

Try this calculator. It lists a number of different things that can be composted and the unit can be a bucket, barrow anything, so just put a 1 in the unit column. Increase the units of each type to get a figure of 30.(it calculates everything automatically) eg a unit of vegetable waste requires 6 times the amount of newsprint to get a balanced decomposition. Of course it not always possible to do this but I have applied the general principles and get compost much faster than years previously. I store all my newspapers and cardboard at the allotment and it is available when green vegitation is abundant in summer.

[devonbarmygardener]

A handy hint Ivor

[Welsh Merf]

Great Ivor! That link has been saved for future use!