"fimonkey" wrote in message
...

Hi All,

This is my first post. I am a veery novice gardener and have just
moved to a new flat that had a long, shady overgrown garden. I've
cleared a lot of the garden and cut back a lot of bushes, and cleared
the moss from the path. Rather than take this all to the tip I've
decided to try to compst it.

I have cut it all down and piled in in a 2m square block held together
by chicken wire in a sheltered place (Under a very large
camelia/rhodedendron?? tree) where it will get some evening sun.

My questions a

Should I add horse manure (I have a horse) to help it decompose?

That would be ideal, particularly straw bedding.

Also, I'd like to add food scraps to it. How much food to garden waste
ratio should I aim for?

It is unwise to add food scraps to an open compost heap as you will
attract vermin.

And finally, there are a lot of slugs and snails in my shady garden.
Are they any help to the compost heap?

No they are not of any use in the heap.

Many thanks in advance for you hekp

Try searching www.google.com using: making a compost heap for
further reading.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.