@English_girl_in_France I do not put weeds in my bin. You can but as long as they are not perennial or gone to seed. I just dont risk putting them in as it is s struggle keeping on top of them anyway.
You need a mixture of green and brown material in your bin. Green is easy, kitchen scraps, grass clippings etc... brown is what I struggle with. I use chopped up brown card board such as toilet roll middles and the card board trays take away coffees are carried in. I also have a couple of friends with rabbits and Guinea pigs. Every now and again I come home and find a bag of used bedding which they have kindly dropped off.
And also I have read that you can put newspapers and brown bags in compost, but is it actually good to do this?
For sure. It's great. Worms love book glue.
I try and put pretty much all household paper waste in the compost, and also cotton wool, face wipes (cotton or paper) and sanitary goods. I put in old wool and cotton clothing too.
Inks are soya based and fine to compost. I tend not to put shiny printed material in, just because it takes a longer time to break down.
I didn't realise you could compost cotton wool! Makes sense of course but I have never tried it.
I'm not a particularly great gardener but I've been putting weed leaves into the green plastic compost bin for years. I usually leave them out to dry up first but I haven't noticed any particular issues with weeds being spread this way.
I've been putting weed leaves into the green plastic compost bin for years. I usually leave them out to dry up first but I haven't noticed any particular issues with weeds being spread this way.
It's not the leaves that are the problem
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I also have a pile that's been rotting since march and I'm thinking of spreading it on the borders within the next month. Already loads of worms and things in it but it isn't as crumbly as I'd like and there are some twiggy bits in there. Most things were shredded before going in.
I wasn't sure if the twiggy-ness was due to too much brown and thought about adding some grass clippings and waiting another month.
I just put the weeds in a tucked away place to heap compost. Usually behind my rhubarb, unless they're a really nasty weed.. in which case, those go in the garbage. If you have a place you wouldn’t notice the smell, Bob Flowerdew always recommends to put weeds into a bucket of water to rot down for a few weeks, then dumping it over your compost.
Charles Dowling is an evangelist. In his videos he says that you can put anything in a compost bin - any weeds, bind weed, dandelions etc. But he manages his bins professionally and has high temps.
I put absolutely everything into my compost food waste yes, chicken carcass yes, pasta yes, weeds yes everything. All food waste is blended up and poured in and disappears in no time, everything out of the garden and the neighbours garden including barrow loads of apples is mowed up and goes in as well as all our cardboard and paper. In fact we haven't used our green waste bin in 2 years now. However I look after my compost like it's part of the family, I check the temperature regularly and turn the bins nearly weekly or once the temperature drops below 45°c turning a big bin usually lifts the temperature to 75°c. It's lots of work and can be time consuming but so far in 6 months this year I've made about 8000lts of compost which will go on the beds as a weed surpressing mulch. I have no idea on composting in say a dalek bin but I think you'd not be able to compost the same things.
I'm too lazy to spend all that time checking the temps etc. I'd need to go to a lot of bother to get the temps high enough too. Pasta etc is fine if it's had no contact with animals, but I'd certainly not want to put animal products in my bins. Re the weed thing - again, stuff lying around in buckets of water simply doesn't appeal to me. I have enough stuff sitting around looking ugly as it is. I have very few weeds anyway, as I have a lot of groundcover planting. Most weeds are outside my property so, whether annual or perennial, they just get hoed off to keep the place tidy. The odd dandelion might get some Resolva put on. Horses for courses, as with everything in life
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
You need a mixture of green and brown material in your bin. Green is easy, kitchen scraps, grass clippings etc... brown is what I struggle with. I use chopped up brown card board such as toilet roll middles and the card board trays take away coffees are carried in. I also have a couple of friends with rabbits and Guinea pigs. Every now and again I come home and find a bag of used bedding which they have kindly dropped off.
I'm not a particularly great gardener but I've been putting weed leaves into the green plastic compost bin for years. I usually leave them out to dry up first but I haven't noticed any particular issues with weeds being spread this way.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Re the weed thing - again, stuff lying around in buckets of water simply doesn't appeal to me. I have enough stuff sitting around looking ugly as it is.
I have very few weeds anyway, as I have a lot of groundcover planting. Most weeds are outside my property so, whether annual or perennial, they just get hoed off to keep the place tidy. The odd dandelion might get some Resolva put on.
Horses for courses, as with everything in life
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...