Hi All,

Thanks in advance for your answers to my compost question so far. Herea re two other questions from a very novice new gardener.

Firstly I've cleared a pact of about 2m square of weeds. It's quite thick and clumpy soil (not too clay like, but can hold a lot of moisture and make great mud pies). I intend to let this air for a while and keep pulling out any weeds that re-appear ni this patch, then put my newly made compost through it. .. How long will it take for my new garden waster to compost down so I can do this?

In the meantime, Are there any fruit/veg I plant in this area now (Mid August 2008) It's a relatively shady and very sheltered from wind past of teh garden.

Secondly, whilst clearnig the jungle I found a patch of lovely blue flowers. they were evrywhere, so I guess they're self seeding. They remind me initially of giant blue lobelia, but I'll try to describe them better. The blue flowers are v. samll and come off a main tall stem from the centre of the plant, about 1/2 metre high. the remainder of the plant, if there were no flowers, would look like dock leaves. Anyone got any idea what this is and whether it's a weed or cultivated?

Thridly, any good online plant identification guides that go simply by "blue flowers" kind of characterisation?

Many thanks in advance once again.