[oakridge]

In the 70s and 80s I used to subscribe to the excellent, but now defunct, magazine, The Grower.  It had a regular very good cartoon one of which featured two people in a large glasshouse and on says; 'we call these our Rolls Royce lettuce because we spray them 47 times.

Anyway, because I have plenty of space something going into the compost bin fresh may not get to the end of the process for up to 18 months, but I am constantly amazed that cabbage leaves can come through all that heat and moving about still green.  It does make you wonder whether they really were sprayed 47 times.

I was originally going to post this story about a week ago but every time I got near the PC I could not remember what it was that I wanted to say.  What a joy is old age.

[mumofstig]

I have no experience of your point about cabbage leaves not rotting,


but lots of experience of your last point 

[Plotmaster]

Umm what was I going to type...... I will remember if it's important 

[mumofstig]

I will remember if it's important
.

.

.

.

.
eventually 

[oakridge]

It wouldn't be so bad if we couldn't remember that we've forgotten.

[Fairy Plotmother]

Ummmmm!........oh yes! Chop them up first.

[oakridge]

I did, honest, they are just little green bits looking as fresh as when they were bought.

[Plotmaster]

Are you sure it was a cabbage and not an artificial plastic plant 

[Snoop]

The problem for me isn't so much the leaf part as the veins and stumps. They seem to take forever to break down. I'm thinking of getting Mr Snoop to take this year's sprout stumps and the like to the tip. Either that or see if they'll go through the shredder, but I don't hold out much hope of that.

[Christine]

I don't mind the stems staying around in the compost heap as they stop it collapsing into a morass if I don't turn it often enough. If they aren't rotten enough when I come to use they go back to start the next heap or maybe if brown enough to the bonfire heap.

I believe the real answer is to seriously beat them up before composting. So I'm told.

[oakridge]

Our shredder will take branches etc. up to 45mm so most brassica stems. (I have just had to add 'brassica' to the Google dictionary - no edification these computer thingies)  The compost is moved 8 or 10 times before it is actually used.

[GrannieAnnie]

The problem for me isn't so much the leaf part as the veins and stumps. They seem to take forever to break down. I'm thinking of getting Mr Snoop to take this year's sprout stumps and the like to the tip. Either that or see if they'll go through the shredder, but I don't hold out much hope of that.

They go through our shredder okay!

[sunshineband]

I used to bash the stalks up with a club hammer before putting them in the compost ... until I cracked a paving slab whilst doing it lol

[ARPoet]

I give things like sprouts stalks to my grandson and a 4lb lump hammer.. he loves knocking 7 bells out them.

[DD.]

Sling them in your bean trench!