Advice on composting weeds please!

[Joe]

I am by no means a master composter so would like to pick your brains if possible. Here's the deal:

We've just got a new allotment plot that has about 3 months of weed growth (which, given the warm autumn we've had is a fairly substantial amount of organic matter). Now, I currently have one compost heap that I'd like to compost all the weeds on, so I need to do hot composting to kill off the weeds' seeds. The first few layers have so far been alternating between shredded newspaper, kitchen scraps and the weeds - including a fair amount of soil that's been too hard to get off the roots/rhizomes as we've pulled them up.

If I want to get it to heat up I think I'll need to get some p!ss on there and probably some lime, but will I ever manage to get the temperature up if there's already a fair amount of soil in the heap? Or should I just abandon it when I've cleared all the weeds and start a new heap for my future kitchen scraps, grass clippings & cardboard & newspaper?

Any thoughts or ideas welcome.

[Shirley]

I thought that soil wasn't good in the compost heap

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organic ... ost_pf.php
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/compostg.htm

[Millymollymandy]

I've been putting weeds plus the soil attached to the roots into my compost bins. They aren't flowering at the moment so there shouldn't be any weed seeds. However if there were I personally would not worry, because weeds galore are going to germinate in the veg patch/flower beds anyway! We can't get our bins hot enough to kill off seeds and just put up with things like tomatoes, dill and pumpkins self seeding all over the place.

[Boots]

Manure helps to heat up a compost. With that much carbon you could easily go a heap of straight chook muck, or maybe soak the centre of the pile in a manure tea (soak horse/cow manure in buckets and sit/stir till rich and runny) then cover with black plastic or hessian to contain and increase heat.

Am not sure if you have an open or closed system... By heap, I guess you mean open?

If you don't have access to animals, then the suburban alternative would probably be - as you said - urine. But you'll need a fair bit of it! The odd twinkle just won't do... You might find it more effective if you pulp your paper in it...

I'd hold off on the lime.... Not in a compost heap. If you soil needs liming and your clay level is high then apply directly to the soil now while your compost is still cooking. Adding organic matter to your soil will give you a lot quicker result than lime will though - if you are after quick vegie crops.

Whatever the case, you want to dry the weeds in the sun first and place them inside the pile (rather than on it) then cover them completely.

I have no problem with soil in a compost, and I will often use soil from 'finished beds' in order to start the next batch. If anything should go in smelly, I always cover with a bit of soil too. I tend to make quick compost though, and soil obviously helps with that. Also if you want a big batch of good seed raising mix, add some coarse sand instead of the soil.



Now, you have raised a question for me...

Do English allotments have outhouses or enviro-loos at them?

[Rohen]

No loos we pee on our crops

[Boots]

Well... and ya call us colonials...

Ever thought of building a seat and whacking a bucket under it?

[Joe]

Thanks for all your advice.

We have a toilet on the allotment site that's connected to the main sewer. However, I'm so close to the site that I can just go in a bottle at home and then carry it over to the plot. Although I may get some funny looks from the other plotholders as I haven't seen any of them walking about the place with bottles of p!ss - rather a conservative bunch I think... maybe I'll have to transfer the bottles to the compost heap under cover of darkness ...but then that means building up a small collection of full bottles at home between trips, which is not going to please the wife... this organic growing lark isn't as easy as I first thought

[Merry]

This could be the basis of a really good farce -
the mishaps that could befall you in the transfer of numerous bottles of golden liquid -
the misunderstandings and trouser dropping possibilities -
the mind boggles

[Boots]

hmm, ok... been thinking... (Don't panic, I didn't think for long)

How about you save yourself a heap of hassle and just forfeit a bottle of beer on it... or if that is too painful, grab some yeast, mix that up and insert heat with that?

The thought of you attempting to sneak down to your allotment at night, with bottles of amber fluid clinking about, has me a little concerned... I don't imagine folks will just cheer at you, like they would here?

[Millymollymandy]

If you have a shed at your allotment just do it in a bucket, then chuck it on the compost! That's what we do occasionally whilst out in the garden.

[Ranter]

Our site has an enviro-loo, but only for us ladies...

[Joe]

The thing that concerns me most about this whole covert urine transfer lark is the thought of getting run over while crossing the road between the house and the allotment site...

Imagine the police calling at home to break the news to the wife "...there was just one more thing madam. We, um, ah, we found eight litres of bottled human urine in your husband's possession...". I don't think I could do it to her.

The beer idea might be a goer though - I was just about to brew up another batch of the old "Slug Bait" anyway so depending on the quality there could be lots going begging

[Rough Jack]

Gidday

Well blessama soul. When I suggested on a Yankie forum putting poos and things like that onto my garden they through their hands up in shock horror. Shock that anyone would even think of using such things and horror at the thought of all those nasty little bugs near what they eat.

Then I come on here and I read about Poms sneaking around in the middle of the night like burglars just to get some slash on their garden.

This internet world sure are diverse to say the least.

[Millymollymandy]

You've come to the right place Jack!

[hedgewizard]

Joe, weeds are OK to compost provided
a) you hoof out anything persistant like ground elder, nettle, dandelion etc, and
b) nothing has had time to set seed.

Takes nerves of steel though!