Can I compost like this?

[Mumbles]

Waiting to pick up the keys for my allotment and it's a bit weedy. I can get hold of loads of cardboard so I'm thinking if I cut down all the weeds and then layer them with the cardboard at the back of the plot then cover them with plastic sheeting will it compost nicely? Sort of lasagne style but with only two things


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[buddy of maidstone]

I wouldn't compost weeds but that's my personal opinion,I wouldn't want weeds growing where I use the compost.


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[KarlB924]

Stick the weeds in a black binbag for a while, let them rot down and die off, and you're less likely to get perennial weeds regrowing in your compost.

[Two_Sheds]

if I cut down all the weeds and then layer them with the cardboard ... then cover them with plastic sheeting

it's not lasagne gardening, because you aren't growing a crop in the "pile"

you need to decide if you want to grow a crop on top of your weeds, or if you want to move them to a heap to rot down alone.

You don't put plastic in the lasagne: it doesn't rot.

Next thing: what weeds are they?

I wouldn't compost weeds

If you can't ID your weeds, then maybe you're safer just sticking to the basics.

However, if you can ID plants, and you understand how they reproduce, then you can add weeds' valuable nutrients to your gardening.

The nasty perennials like bindweed, couch grass, horsetail etc all need to be dead before you add them to the compost heap.
Kill by roasting them on a hot sunny path, by drowning, or by packing in black bags for a couple of years.

"lasagne" doesn't kill these deep rooters, because they are perfectly able to live deep underground in the dark, just waiting for a chink of light to appear so they can grow leaves.


Annual weeds reproduce by seed, therefore if they aren't seeding they are perfectly safe in the compost heap.