Extra Compost Bin ... Just leaves or 50-50 Mixture

[WillieBee]

I have been given two extra plastic darlek type compost bins for my allotment, so I now have three.

the original one is already filled, with a 50:50 mixture of greens & browns*

* This is made up of .. old brassica leaves (no stalks), runner bean plants, with some pods too, sweet corn plants then a bag of shredded paper and a few bags old dried leaves, from the roadside.

Although full for the moment, I'll probably just leave this until at least the spring to see how it goes.

Now I have the two additional bins which I am keen to use. Not having much green material left, is it worth just filling them with dried leaves ?

I can get hold of seaweed too if that would help. Is that a green or a brown ?

Any ideas please ?

[roitelet]

Just leaves will give you leaf mould or you could put all the leaves in one and add it to ‘greens’ a little at a time. Or fill both with leaves which will rot down and when you need the second bin put the contents of the two in one bin. Hope that makes sense.

[nickdub]

leaves by themselves would be my advice, as long as you can get enough of them - they breakdown using mainly different processes to those which work with green waste etc.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Seaweed is like gold Mix it with your leaves and anything else you have

[SarrissUK]

I can get hold of seaweed too if that would help. Is that a green or a brown ?

Any ideas please ?

I live near the sea. I'd like to know that too. I assume it's green, but... does anyone know for sure?

[roitelet]

Yep, green. Just goggled it but thought it was.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I live near the sea. I'd like to know that too. I assume it's green, but... does anyone know for sure?

https://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil...ens-browns.php That site says green (not that that necessarily means it is correct).

My bracketed comment apart, seaweed usually breaks away from its parent plant and floats ashore so I can't see that it could be other than green unless it had completely dried out, Dried out it would be as any other dessicated leaves and then be brown.

Confused yet??

[ameno]

Seaweed is definitely green: it has plenty of nitrogen and very little carbon.

I'd recommend mixing the seaweed and leaves, personally. The leaves will take quite a while to rot down on their own (1-2 full years), and unless you want it for a homemade potting mix, there's not really anything to prefer leaf mould over the same quantity of compost.

[ameno]

My bracketed comment apart, seaweed usually breaks away from its parent plant and floats ashore so I can't see that it could be other than green unless it had completely dried out, Dried out it would be as any other dessicated leaves and then be brown.

Confused yet??

That's not how "green" and "brown" works.
It's not about how wet or dry it is, naturally, it's not about actual colour, either.
It's about ratio of nitrogen to carbon. High nitrogen, low carbon is "green"; high carbon, low nitrogen is "brown".
So seaweed will always be "green", whether it's desiccated or fresh.

The reason autumn leaves are "brown", despite fresh green leaves being "green" is not because they are dry, but because the plant takes back most of the nitrogen and other usable nutrients back into itself in the autumn.
So if you were to remove a lot of leaves from a tree in mid-summer, then leave them to go dry and crispy, they would still be "green" (even though they've gone dry and brown) because they still contain all their original nitrogen.

[Dynamite]

I would divide your compost into 3. Mix green, brown and your current compost up and divide by 3 bins.

Keep adding equally to all three. Mix mix mix. Plenty of shredded paper, cardboard and greens.

Soon all 3 will be ful. ��

Kind Regards.............Rob

[ameno]

I would divide your compost into 3. Mix green, brown and your current compost up and divide by 3 bins.

Keep adding equally to all three. Mix mix mix. Plenty of shredded paper, cardboard and greens.

Soon all 3 will be ful. ��

Kind Regards.............Rob

I'd say it's better to have them at different stages, rather than filling all three at once. So fill one, then once it's full leave it and don't add any more (just turn occasionally), and start filling the next one, and then once that's full, the third one, by which time the first will be ready, and you can empty it out and start again.
Adding constantly to all three leaves you with a load of half-done stuff mixed in with finished compost, and it's just a pain to try and separate them out. It also rots quicker if you can mostly fill it all at once and then leave it, rather than adding a little at a time.

[WillieBee]

OP here

Thank you for all the advice

I think I'll just try and fill the two extra bins up, with a mixture of leaves and seaweed. At least they'll be 'on their way' so to speak. Maybe next spring I will get more greens and can just put on top. I guess by then the heaps will have reduced a bit in size

[SarrissUK]

I'd make use of all three if I had them, and when they start sinking, combine the ones that have the same stuff in them, and then start fresh in the empty one. I hope that makes sense - I'm full of cold and I have diagnosed brain fog lol

[rary]

If I collected a lot of leaves I would keep them separate from any other materials once they rot down they are ideal for seed sowing, any other material starts to enrich the composted leaves, a mix of different leaves help tree leaves compost quicker, as for mixing them with seaweed I would recommend that you use plenty of cardboard/paper in the mix