Garden waste slow to rot down?

[suicra05]

Hi,

We put our garden waste at the end of the garden in the corner. It is a north facing corner and gets very little sunlight. The garden waste does not seem to be rotting down. The waste consists of cut grass, hedge etc. Over the years it has become an unsightly heap of vegetation. Has anybody any suggestions as how to rot down this vegetation more quickly?

 

[Welfarite]

[broken link removed]

 

[jjdub]

apart from a compost bin you need to trap the heat released by the decomposing materials - a scrap of old carpet works a treat

 

[record]

Hi,

We put our garden waste at the end of the garden in the corner. It is a north facing corner and gets very little sunlight. The garden waste does not seem to be rotting down. The waste consists of cut grass, hedge etc. Over the years it has become an unsightly heap of vegetation. Has anybody any suggestions as how to rot down this vegetation more quickly?

The compost heap should have greens (grass clippings, kitchen waste, plants, etc.) and browns (twigs, paper, straw, cardboard pieces, etc.). It also needs an activator - e.g. manure, to enable it all to turn into compost. Make sure also the heap is big enough - about 1m x 1m x 1m will do - to let it build up enough heat for composting. Covering it with carpet as mentioned above also helps. The heap also needs air, so turn it regularly with a garden fork. The heap also needs a bit of water, so make sure it is not too dry. Adding a sprinkling of lime (ground limestone) can also be beneficial.

There are lots of good websites that are useful, for example:
[broken link removed]

 

[Caveat]

IME once it comprises of around 75% grass there should be no problem.

I would be slow to chuck just anything onto the heap - I would bin a fair bit of woody stuff.