HOME COMPOSTING - The Latest Tip
Your compost heap needs to be kept moist. During a dry spell pour on the odd bucket of water when the contents of your bin look dry.
If you find ants in the bin it's definitely too dry, so add plenty of water. The ants won't like the resulting wet conditions and should leave.


MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GRASS CLIPPINGS
Grass clippings can be used in lots of different ways round the garden so you can never have too much. They will only go soggy and smelly when piled up in a great, airless heap where the bacteria that make garden compost cannot work.

So put your clippings -

In the compost bin
A small layer (up to 15cm at a time) of grass adds moisture, and because it is very hot, you will make your compost work well. The high temperature also helps kill off weed seeds. It’s even better if the grass can be mixed in with other materials in the bin. So keep adding grass to your bin.

In a special grass box
When you have large amounts of grass at any one time, you may find it useful to build a special collecting bin. See our leaflet Grass and Leaves for details about how to do this.

As a mulch
Where you have bare soil round a shrub, tree or beneath a hedge, place a layer of paper or cardboard on the ground and tip on the grass. Keep topping up every time you cut the grass. The paper or card prevents any weed seeds in the grass from growing. They will quickly die after germinating. By the end of the season, the paper will rot down and the grass will make the soil richer. You can use mulch like this in the veg garden, round peas, beans and potatoes, making sure the grass doesn’t actually touch the plant stems.

As a hot bed
Courgettes like to put their roots down into warm soil. The best way of warming the soil is to dig a hole at least one spade’s depth and shovel in some fresh horse manure. An alternative is to put a thick layer of fresh clippings, 25 – 30cm deep, into the hole before topping up with soil. You’re putting the heat to good use

In a weed stew
Mix perennial weed roots – couch, ground elder or docks – with the same quantity of grass in a black plastic bag. Tie a knot in the bag and leave it in a sunny place. After 3 or 4 weeks everything will rot down and you can put the ‘weed stew’ in your compost bin, knowing these foul roots have been killed off.


WARNING !
X Do not use, in any way, grass clippings from lawns treated with Verdone Extra, Verdone Extra Ready to use, Verdone Extra Spot Weeder or Weed-B-Gone. X
These herbicides contain clopyralid which persists in compost made from treated clippings and can stunt plants grown in that compost.

January Home Composter Reusing your Christmas decorations
February Home Composter Dealing with prickly prunings
March Home Composter - Making your own Potting Mixes
April Home Composter Harvesting Last Year's Compost
May Home Composter - Dealing with Weeds

Posted 16/06/08