"Chris Hogg" wrote ...


wrote:

Our new house has quite a large lwan and the previous owners have just
chucked the grass clippings into a corner. They're in a pile approx 2ft
deep and over an area 10ft x 10ft and look to be fairly dry.

If I was to buy/make a wooden compost bin would I be able to use these or
does the green material need to be fresh to compost ie will it have lost
it's nutrient value by now. I understand that I'll need some browns to mix
in as well but can get plenty of shredded paper from work, will this be
suitable and if so what sort of mix ratio should I use.

Many Thanks

Jim

No it doesn't need to be fresh to compost, but a heap of pure lawn
cuttings will get a bit slimy, soggy and airless in time. By all means
mix it with shredded paper or cardboard, although I can't tell you
what ratio to use. People can get very technical about compost heaps
and the ratios of stuff going onto them, but it really doesn't matter
that much.

But why go to that bother. Just spread it as it is onto your flower
beds as a roughly 2-inch thick mulch. Worms will quickly take it down
and it'll disappear in a month or two, and the soil quality will be
the better for it. It will also suppress weed germination, although
that's less of a problem in late summer and autumn compared to spring
and early summer when everything grows like fury. I never put grass
cuttings onto my compost heap; always straight onto the flower beds. I
have more than enough stuff for the compost, without grass cuttings.


The only problem I can see with that Chris is that Jim does not know if the
previous owners used weedkillers etc..weed and feed etc. so using it as a
mulch might just kill off all the border plants.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK