On 24/10/2013 09:13, 'Mike' wrote:
"Derek" wrote in message
...

I have now got my very large garden, its mainly down to grass, not a
lawn, more of managed meadow, previous owner had a 'ride on'
Recommendations please, (and do any of them collect the grass
clippings?)

Yes, but you will need to make up some compost heaps in the far side of
the garden to dump the clippings into. 2m cubes from old palettes.

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Derek yes they do collect the clippings, BUT, if you have a large 'lawn'
then you will have a large lot of clippings. Tip them in a pile and they
will rot into a slime. They need to be mixed with more solid stuff, such

That isn't correct if you have enough lawn that you are adding a cubic
metre or more stuff at a time. The grass will ferment rapidly and can
get hot enough to spontaneously combust. I have had mine do it once.

About three days after a cut the peak internal temperature hits about
70C when you do it right. The crucial part is that you must make sure
you don't crush it down. An anaerobic heap will end up as disgusting
slime but a hot aerobic heap will eat sizeable branches of wood. It
smells a bit funny when very hot from volatile short chain fatty acids
(think BO) so you don't want it anywhere near the house.

Adding chunky stuff like hedge clippings makes it burn up a bit faster.
I have never bothered adding newspaper or cardboard. You will find
insane amounts of internet chatter obsessing about N to C ratios by
American armchair gardeners on the web.

You twill have the problem of what to do with your cubic meters of
resulting compost every year. I fling it on the borders and put any big
pieces of undigested branch back at the bottom of the next heap. Corn on
the cob husks resist being in my heap but not much else does.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown