Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Alan

In article ,
Alan Holmes wrote:

Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Trolls are good.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Alan Holmes wrote:

Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Trolls are good.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Is he not with us any more then? It's still a good question.
I'll start. I compost all vegetable waste from the kitchen, all annual
weeds, teabags, vacuum cleaner fluff, and all cleanings from my chicken
huts. Wood ash from my woodburner. Some cardboard and paper. Some prunings
(but this slows it down)

Good morning.

I change the subject to facilitate locating the thread.

On Sun, 5 Jul 2015 01:14:47 +0100,
Christina Websell wrote:
Is he not with us any more then? It's still a good question.
I'll start. I compost all vegetable waste from the kitchen, all annual
weeds, teabags, vacuum cleaner fluff, and all cleanings from my chicken
huts. Wood ash from my woodburner. Some cardboard and paper. Some prunings
(but this slows it down)

The vacuum cleaner bags always contain a quantity of synthetical dust
which will never copost. I am unable to tell, if this is bad or
unimportant, but venture that it depends on many factors and you should
maybe find out about your own dust, before using it in the garden.

I find it simpler to just avoid composting the vacuum cleaner dust.

Michael

--
Location: Lower Normandy (Orne), France
GnuPG/OpenPGP 4096R/3216CF02 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
sub 4096R/2751C550 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
[Next key will use elliptic-curve algorithm! :-) Get GnuPG!!]

nor
paper or cardboard (both of which go for recycling), although in
principle there's no reason why these last two shouldn't be composted.

Monty Don, mentioned a few years ago, that he adds a greater % of
cardboard / paper, than I would ever had imagined, but always willing
to have a go, I tried adding every scrap of corrugated cardboard and
shredded paper, I had (possibly 25%) , and have never had such good
compost.
It rots quicker.

On 04/07/15 21:30, Alan Holmes wrote:

Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Alan

Avoid weed bulbs (Spanish bluebell, muscari, some alliums, etc) unless
you crush them first. Avoid roots of deep-seated weeds like bindweed.
Avoid long-lived weed seeds such as poppies. It might be possible to
compost all of these if they are buried deep enough and the compost heap
gets hot enough.

Woody branches can be composted if they are shredded first and you are
prepared to wait longer than for composting green plant material. In
fact, a shredder is a useful adjunct to composting - it will speed up
the composting of most leaves.

--

Jeff

In article ,
says...

nor
paper or cardboard (both of which go for recycling), although in
principle there's no reason why these last two shouldn't be composted.

Monty Don, mentioned a few years ago, that he adds a greater % of
cardboard / paper, than I would ever had imagined, but always willing
to have a go, I tried adding every scrap of corrugated cardboard and
shredded paper, I had (possibly 25%) , and have never had such good
compost.
It rots quicker.


No one seems to have mentioned grass clipping (except perhaps
as garden waste). They can be a problem if there is too much of
it in the heap with nothing else. If I've got a lot of grass, I
tend to intersperse sheets of newspaper every 2-3 inches of
depth, seems to stop the soggy mess/mass that can occur. By the
way, I do not shred the paper, as per some "experts", just use
it as sheets.
--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

On 04/07/2015 21:30, Alan Holmes wrote:

Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Alan


Welcome back, Alan! Nice to know you're still with us.

I have five bins at the moment and they make good compost:~)).
I compost garden waste inc. grass clippings, weeds (even perennial weeds
with the roots chopped off); lots of cardboard (not shiny printfed
stuff) and papier mache packaging, which the worms love and it breaks
down well (I find quality paper doesn't break down as quickly, but
scrunched up newspaper is fine); tea bags, despite the persisting bag;
kitchen waste (but no meat products and no fat); citrus and onion
peelings I spread thinly as my worms are a bit sniffy about them.
Potato peelings once zapped in the microwave for a minute, otherwise
they sprout and persist. I don't put bread or pastry in, as these can
attract rats, and they're better offered to birds. I occasionally put
in a sprinkle of pelleted chicken poo which seems to hurry things along
nicely. I've even been know to put ants in when they become a nuisance.
They break the compost down really well. When you want to get rid of
them, simply add lots of water which they don't like, or wait till they
die naturally as winter approaches.

It would be interesting to know what your heated discussion brought up
and villified .. and why.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

On Sun, 05 Jul 2015 10:34:49 +0100,
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/07/15 21:30, Alan Holmes wrote:

Avoid weed bulbs (Spanish bluebell, muscari, some alliums, etc) unless
you crush them first. Avoid roots of deep-seated weeds like bindweed.
Avoid long-lived weed seeds such as poppies. It might be possible to
compost all of these if they are buried deep enough and the compost heap
gets hot enough.

“Hot� is the word.
Thistle and dock will wait for ages to get a chance to sprout. I do not
know your English word for rumex acidus, but this is the only “weed"
root that I voluntarily tolerate on my compost (and about everywhere
else, too). (Want some?)

On the other hand, if the resulting compost contains a nicely balanced
mixture of all kinds of elements, some species will stay incognito.
A huge amount of thistle growing simultaneously on your beds indicate a
lack of phosphate. So it could be a hint on how to improve your compost
and, subsequently, your soil. I'd like to have a comprehensive guide on
these “indicator-plants� but instead pick up these informations one by
one on a diversity of occasions... If you have access to this kind of
intelligence, PSE share ! (before they classify it).

TIA,

Michael
--
Location: Lower Normandy (Orne), France
GnuPG/OpenPGP 4096R/3216CF02 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
sub 4096R/2751C550 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
[Next key will use elliptic-curve algorithm! :-) Get GnuPG!!]

In article u,
says...

Good morning.

I change the subject to facilitate locating the thread.

On Sun, 5 Jul 2015 01:14:47 +0100,
Christina Websell wrote:
Is he not with us any more then? It's still a good question.
I'll start. I compost all vegetable waste from the kitchen, all annual
weeds, teabags, vacuum cleaner fluff, and all cleanings from my chicken
huts. Wood ash from my woodburner. Some cardboard and paper. Some prunings
(but this slows it down)

The vacuum cleaner bags always contain a quantity of synthetical dust
which will never copost. I am unable to tell, if this is bad or
unimportant, but venture that it depends on many factors and you should
maybe find out about your own dust, before using it in the garden.

I find it simpler to just avoid composting the vacuum cleaner dust.

Curious minds want to know what your synthetical dust is ? I think the
grot in my vacuum cleaner is pretty much organic material (mud, plant
fragments, hair, dead flies, wool from carpets, crumbs).

Janet

In article ,
says...

nor
paper or cardboard (both of which go for recycling), although in
principle there's no reason why these last two shouldn't be composted.

Monty Don, mentioned a few years ago, that he adds a greater % of
cardboard / paper, than I would ever had imagined, but always willing
to have a go, I tried adding every scrap of corrugated cardboard and
shredded paper, I had (possibly 25%) , and have never had such good
compost.
It rots quicker.

I include all our shredded paper, egg boxes and cardboard tubes.

Janet

On 05/07/2015 16:59, Michael Uplawski wrote:
Thistle and dock will wait for ages to get a chance to sprout. I do not
know your English word for rumex acidus, but this is the only “weed"
root that I voluntarily tolerate on my compost (and about everywhere
else, too). (Want some?)

Rumex acidus is an illegitimate name for Rumex acetosa, the usual
English vernacular for which is sorrel.

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

nor
paper or cardboard (both of which go for recycling), although in
principle there's no reason why these last two shouldn't be composted.

Monty Don, mentioned a few years ago, that he adds a greater % of
cardboard / paper, than I would ever had imagined, but always willing
to have a go, I tried adding every scrap of corrugated cardboard and
shredded paper, I had (possibly 25%) , and have never had such good
compost.
It rots quicker.


No one seems to have mentioned grass clipping (except perhaps
as garden waste). They can be a problem if there is too much of
it in the heap with nothing else. If I've got a lot of grass, I
tend to intersperse sheets of newspaper every 2-3 inches of
depth, seems to stop the soggy mess/mass that can occur. By the
way, I do not shred the paper, as per some "experts", just use
it as sheets.


Thanks very much for that, I would never have thought of using paper, but
will do so from now on in the grass bin.

Alan

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Spider" wrote in message
...
On 04/07/2015 21:30, Alan Holmes wrote:

Been having a discussion (argument) about what to compost, so what stuff
should one compost or not?

Absolutely need an answer!

Alan


Welcome back, Alan! Nice to know you're still with us.

I have five bins at the moment and they make good compost:~)).
I compost garden waste inc. grass clippings, weeds (even perennial weeds
with the roots chopped off); lots of cardboard (not shiny printfed stuff)
and papier mache packaging, which the worms love and it breaks down well
(I find quality paper doesn't break down as quickly, but scrunched up
newspaper is fine); tea bags, despite the persisting bag; kitchen waste
(but no meat products and no fat); citrus and onion peelings I spread
thinly as my worms are a bit sniffy about them. Potato peelings once
zapped in the microwave for a minute, otherwise they sprout and persist.
I don't put bread or pastry in, as these can attract rats, and they're
better offered to birds. I occasionally put in a sprinkle of pelleted
chicken poo which seems to hurry things along nicely. I've even been know
to put ants in when they become a nuisance. They break the compost down
really well. When you want to get rid of them, simply add lots of water
which they don't like, or wait till they die naturally as winter
approaches.

It would be interesting to know what your heated discussion brought up and
villified .. and why.

Nowadays we quarell about almost everything!!

She can be VERY difficult about anything and nothing.

Alan

On 05/07/2015 09:31, Derek wrote:
nor
paper or cardboard (both of which go for recycling), although in
principle there's no reason why these last two shouldn't be composted.

Monty Don, mentioned a few years ago, that he adds a greater % of
cardboard / paper, than I would ever had imagined, but always willing
to have a go, I tried adding every scrap of corrugated cardboard and
shredded paper, I had (possibly 25%) , and have never had such good
compost.
It rots quicker.

I don't know if it is related, but the worms seem to love wet corrugated
cardboard and fibrous stuff like egg boxes. Not sure if it is as a
foodstuff or as a shelter/breeding ground.

I recycle all 'shiny' or coloured card and most box cardboard - but keep
a portion of the latter to mix with the compost - particularly grass
clippings. Paper from the shredder goes in there too.

--
regards andy