On Aug 11, 6:35 am, "YMC" wrote:
what about grass seeds and runners? apparently the compost isn't hot enought
to kill them; my old gardener refuses to put the lawn mower clippings into
the compost for this reason.

Holy smokes! For years, my compost heap was 90% lawn mower clippings--
and I usually mow when there are seed heads on the plantain, fluffy
balls of seeds on the dandelions, and seed heads on the grass itself.
The seeds were never been a problem (except for that top-most layer of
compost that sprouts weeds all through the growing season). Thumbing
my nose at convention, I now skip the composting step for my lawn
mower clippings: I mulch my vegetable garden with the stuff. The
downside? It smells pretty bad for a few days--particularly after a
rain. However, the clippings rot in place through the growing season,
and I keep adding as long as there's grass (and seedy weeds) to mow.
By spring, there's little evidence at all of the grass from the
previous season, but there's a quarter inch of rich compost waiting to
get turned under.

Do I get more weeds than I did before I mulched with lawn clippings?
Not at all. I'll add this topic to my blog, a href="http://
www.smallkitchengarden.net"Your Small Kitchen Garden/a and try to
expand on it in the next week or so.