My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material from
kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the clippings
without having to take them to council waste site, if possible

In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible

Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible. You can leave the
grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let it get
too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I bet loads of
people argue!

It's also quicker in the long run because you take the grass box off. I've
done this for years with no ill-effects and it also stops the lawn "burning"
when it's freshly cut.

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible

Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible. You can leave the
grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let it
get
too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I bet loads of
people argue!

It's also quicker in the long run because you take the grass box off. I've
done this for years with no ill-effects and it also stops the lawn
"burning"
when it's freshly cut.

rubbish, it is not too much at all to use in a compost bin. I get near that
from a regular mow in growing season. You are spot on about it going putrid
if left however. This simply means the composter needs to mix carbon in
sufficient quantities with the grass clippings in the form of leaves,
shredded paper, hay, straw or saw dust. I mixed a load of saw dust in with a
weekend mow of 4+ bags worth of grass.

rob

In reply to George.com ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say
:

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible

Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible. You can
leave the grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it
then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let
it get too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I
bet loads of people argue!

It's also quicker in the long run because you take the grass box
off. I've done this for years with no ill-effects and it also stops
the lawn "burning" when it's freshly cut.

rubbish, it is not too much at all to use in a compost bin. I get
near that from a regular mow in growing season. You are spot on about
it going putrid if left however. This simply means the composter
needs to mix carbon in sufficient quantities with the grass clippings
in the form of leaves, shredded paper, hay, straw or saw dust. I
mixed a load of saw dust in with a weekend mow of 4+ bags worth of
grass.

It IS too much to use, without the balance. If you have access to sawdust
then all well and good. I don't, nor leaves, shredded paper, hay or straw.

So, you see, it's not rubbish, but then again I did say someone would argue.

Ah well, the diversity of answers ...

Uncle Marvo wrote:
In reply to George.com ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say
:

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible
Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible. You can
leave the grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it
then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let
it get too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I
bet loads of people argue!

It's also quicker in the long run because you take the grass box
off. I've done this for years with no ill-effects and it also stops
the lawn "burning" when it's freshly cut.
rubbish, it is not too much at all to use in a compost bin. I get
near that from a regular mow in growing season. You are spot on about
it going putrid if left however. This simply means the composter
needs to mix carbon in sufficient quantities with the grass clippings
in the form of leaves, shredded paper, hay, straw or saw dust. I
mixed a load of saw dust in with a weekend mow of 4+ bags worth of
grass.

It IS too much to use, without the balance. If you have access to sawdust
then all well and good. I don't, nor leaves, shredded paper, hay or straw.

So, you see, it's not rubbish, but then again I did say someone would argue.

Ah well, the diversity of answers ...



Kill 2 birds with one stone. Buy a good paper shredder, shred all your
confidential documents and any other paper, then use the shreddings to
mix with the grass.

"Broadback" wrote
Buy a good paper shredder, shred all your
confidential documents and any other paper, then use the shreddings to
mix with the grass.

Just don't do what I did and shred your original birth certificate a few
days before you urgently need a new passport!

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to George.com ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...
In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say
:

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible

Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible. You can
leave the grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it
then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let
it get too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I
bet loads of people argue!

It's also quicker in the long run because you take the grass box
off. I've done this for years with no ill-effects and it also stops
the lawn "burning" when it's freshly cut.

rubbish, it is not too much at all to use in a compost bin. I get
near that from a regular mow in growing season. You are spot on about
it going putrid if left however. This simply means the composter
needs to mix carbon in sufficient quantities with the grass clippings
in the form of leaves, shredded paper, hay, straw or saw dust. I
mixed a load of saw dust in with a weekend mow of 4+ bags worth of
grass.

It IS too much to use, without the balance. If you have access to sawdust
then all well and good. I don't, nor leaves, shredded paper, hay or straw.

So, you see, it's not rubbish, but then again I did say someone would
argue.

Ah well, the diversity of answers ...

rubbish, to some, a good source of organic compost for others. Yes, I agree
with you that it is too much without the balance. You are thr carbon, I am
the nitrogen. Leaves or paper or saw dust shouldn't be too hard to scrounge
in most places. Neighbours have trees in abundance round here and I can get
acres of paper from work. I enjoy a good tongue in cheek argument.

rob

In reply to George.com ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

[snip]

rubbish, to some, a good source of organic compost for others. Yes, I
agree with you that it is too much without the balance. You are thr
carbon, I am the nitrogen. Leaves or paper or saw dust shouldn't be
too hard to scrounge in most places. Neighbours have trees in
abundance round here and I can get acres of paper from work. I enjoy
a good tongue in cheek argument.

Any leaves, paper or sawdust I can scrounge go on the fire. We used to do
paper but, as I am the IT manager [giggles] the office is now paperless so
far as I can make it so. I gave up newspapers when I discovered that the Su
Doku is reproduced the day after on The Times website, so I have a total of
one A4 sheet per day. And that doubles as a shopping list, notepad, and
fuel.

You can't beat a good argument though. What does the panel think about
leaving cuttings (short) on the lawn? It's usually very much one way or the
other.

I have to agree with rob i add equal amounts of screwed up newspaper to my compost when I have lots of grass on there and it works really well.

"deadlyart" wrote in message
...

Hi all I am a newbie or (newberry) and I hope I have posted correctly.
My question is this...I planted some ordinary bramble runners and fed
and watered them like they were my own children, this year the crop of
berries I got was amazing ....big tasty berries can anyone tell me if
there is a difference between brambles and blackberries that you buy at
the local garden centre, other than the obvious thornless varieties.

Many thanks

I would assume that the GC ones are cultivated to produce bigger fruit.
Jenny

Uncle Marvo wrote:
In reply to covehithe ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

I'd go for 1.5m square at the minimum for that volume of grass. YMMV

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material
from kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the
clippings without having to take them to council waste site, if
possible

Miles too much. It will just get hot and smell terrible.

Only if you allow it to get anaerobic and slimy wet.

My compost heap is 2m square and gets about 1 cu m of grassclippings on
it every week throughout the growing season. It gets extremely hot for
a few days and then collapses into nothing. It will destroy hedge
clippings in short order, but works perfectly well with or without
"balancing" N & C content. A hot heap works much quicker.

My instinct is that provided you keep the heap moist enough but not
soggy and don't compress it to an anaerobic sludge it is OK to add huge
amounts of grass at a time. If you can mix in hedge clippings then so
much the better but it isn't essential.

There is a stale smell of short chain fatty acids in the early hot
phase so you don't want it near the house, but it should never small
terrible. I have trouble keeping it wet enough in summer to run fast.
And for a smallish compost heap it makes sense to use a starter culture
like the proprietory Garotta to give the heap some encouragement.

You can leave the
grass in the open and it will dry out, you can burn it then (if you must).

The best way to get rid of grass cuttings is to mow often (don't let it get
too long) and leave it on the lawn. I know this works, but I bet loads of
people argue!

You can, but the fine grass clippings tread everywhere.

Regards,
Martin Brown

covehithe writes
My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material from
kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the clippings
without having to take them to council waste site, if possible

Should be OK. Put it in layers of 6inches, with something else in
between - the something else can include paper and cardboard, ideally
shredded, crumpled or torn up, but even flat it will compost eventually.

Use two of your bins for filling, one for using - this spreads the grass
load. When you have emptied the bin you are using, take all the unrotted
stuff from the oldest of the other two bins and heave it into the empty
bin so once again you have two filling and one for use.
--
Kay

covehithe wrote:
My mother has moved house and has a fairly large garden ( grass area
probably at least tennis court size). I have made her 3 wood compost
bins 1 metre square.

Question? I get 5-6 containers full of clippings from the mower, is
this too much to put in compost bin as balance of compost material from
kitchen & garden is much less. I am hoping to utilise the clippings
without having to take them to council waste site, if possible

I use only very little of my lawn clippings in my compost bin - no
particular reason, I simply prefer to use them to mulch my ornamental
(and vegetable!) beds. You just make sure to spread it out to a max
depth of 2 or 3 inches, so avoid ending up with sloppy goop. It is
majorly effective at keeping weeds down, it gets suprisingly quickly
broken down and mixed into soil by the combined action of forraging
birds and worms, and it helps keep moisture into the ground, also. It
works a treat for me.

Another suggestion would be to use a mulching mower to mow the lawn,
and leave the clippings in situ to feed the lawn. The mulching blades
and attachment make sure that the clippings are forced below the top of
the sward, so you're not left with what you might consider unsightly
grass clippings at the surface of the lawn. I can do that with mine,
and do it once in a while.

Cat(h)