Compost heap

[October]

Any advice on this - I have done it all wrong, I'm sure.

When we took on the plot, there was a 'well-rotted' heap under the apple tree. I dug it all out and spread it on the beds, dug the ground and planted things in it. I bought a kind of plastic arrangement with poles - like a tent with no roof - and put it the other side of the tree and basically hurled everything in. Later I put wooden pallettes round the sides.

'Everything' is veg waste from kitchen, turf dug out of beds, weeds, , potato tops from plants, and [worst of all] an old plastic bin that was full of hard dry mud like cement. I tried to tip it out during the first days, but it was stuck hard and I let go by mistake and Never Took It Out Again. Now it is buried.

Now I don't know what to do with it. It is almost full, and I have put more pallettes in another place so I can start again properly [when I find out how!], but what shall I do with this one? I don't think I should have put all that mare's tail and bind weed in it - and what about the potato tops? I found today that the tomatoes have blight - have pulled them out and put in black bag - I know not to put them on the heap - but what about the potatoes? They look brown and speckled and dodgy, but have done for days, so don't think they have blight. The ones I dig up are great - no sign of anything wrong.

Thanks for any help.

[Sue]

October
Oh the things we do when we start up, two years later I am still living with the compost heap I started then, so proud of my huge heap, it was even steaming and then I got told about couch grass....

I can only say start again and don't add weeds or buckets ! or anything you might suspect of blight, I think that has to be burned or disposed off in the council brown bins. Lost of cardboard, teabags, hair, paper, food waste, hooverfluff etc in between the green stuff and you should get good compost. Have you tried the council to see if they've got cheap/free compost bins on offer?

I did manage it on my third attempt and a joyful moment it was when I'd realised I'd cracked it. But having to claim back my allotment from a "jungle" has left me with a lot of stuff that can't go in the compost bin, you can dry the roots (in this weather??) or as I have 6 bins of it, it is having to take the slow way of gradually rotting down.
Hope someone comes along with some good ideas for you
Sue

[rustylady]

If you leave a compost heap or bin long enough everything will rot down (except plastic). Start a new one if you have room, but cover the old one with old carpet or plastic sheeting and leave it. When it has sunk (may take up to a year) you can take the sides off and dig it out. You will find your plastic bucket and can then put it in the appropriate bin, and hopefully the rest will be useful compost. As for your potatoes, even if the tops have blight you should still be able to dig and use the potatoes. Good luck and don't give up.

[Alice]

Hello October, I'm not sure what your question is. But everything rots eventually. I run two compost systems. One for the good stuff I know will have rotted down and be usable for next year, and one for the stuff I have to be rid of but might take a few years to be usable.
I'm lucky in that I have plenty of space to do this. I don't think you have done anything drastically wrong. Just make a mental note of your compost heaps - stuff that can be used next year and stuff that might need a few years to be usable. Hope this is of some kind of help.

[October]

Thanks for that, Sue, Rusty Lady and Alice - I feel quite encouraged and now have a Plan. Alice - sorry I rambled on - my question was really what to do with the original heap - dispose of it [how?] or wait and use it whatever went in it.

I think, based on what you all said, that I will go on using the old one for the nasties [not blighted stuff though] and begin using the new one now for stuff that might rot in time for next spring. At the end of the season I will cover up the 'bad' heap and leave it for a while.

But now I have another question - what can I put on the 'good' heap? Any weeds at all? Things like groundsel maybe?

Thanks again to all of you.

[Flummery]

Annual weeds like groundsel, chick-weed etc are fine and will rot down soon. I'd cover your original heap and forget about it for a year or two. You might want to consider sieving it then - if there are roots of pernicious weeds still alive they will be left in the sieve. Anything like horse-tails or bind weed goes in my council bin.

[heebiejeebie]

My heap gets top growth of weeds but not roots. Could you make use of the old heap by planting squash in it?

[Sue]

Heebiejeebie
Yes you can use the top of the compost heap, (but don't think I'd use my "best ones", I planted into the horrible rooty wait for years compost) I found digging a planting hole filling it with compost and putting in the plant sees it off to a good start.

All went well with my pumpkins, cucumbers and squash until I hit two problems. 1 - mice, they made my beautiful pumpkins look like giant apple cores and 2 my compost heaps are against a hedge with an inaccessible wild area in between, guess which way they decided to grow...

What really worked and looked beautiful all summer was a nasturtium, it grew to an immense size covering and trailing down the heap, the bees and hover flies loved it and it covered up an eyesore.

Sue

[October]

What really worked and looked beautiful all summer was a nasturtium, it grew to an immense size covering and trailing down the heap, the bees and hover flies loved it and it covered up an eyesore.

Sue[/QUOTE]

Brilliant idea - I love nasturtiums! Planted one - just the one - in a pot in the back yard here - has grown to huge size, climbed up trellis, beaten back all other contenders in its [large] pot - it would be just the thing to have on the bad compost heap for maybe a couple of years!

Thanks to Flummery and everyone for advice - I love this site!

[heebiejeebie]

Fantastic! I'm off to put nasturtium into my "maturing" heap. It can keep the stray potato plant company.