Composting

[Aquagility]

Can a) pine needles and b) bindweed be added to the rest of the garden waste for making compost? If not, is there anything else which should not be included?

[boxtops]

I wouldn't put in anything which can continue to grow in the compost - no roots, no things like ivy which root as they go along. I wouldn't put in bindweed, and I've not sure how quickly pine needles break down. Probably not.

I don't put in anything woody, or rootballs of pot plants. Be warned if you put in old tomatoes, melons or potatoes, that they will grow like the clappers as soon as you pot up the new compost - we've had a fine crop of self-grown tommies this year in the pots with the primulas!

[woofgang]

Pine needles in bulk make lovely acid compost but need to be composted separately from the rest of the stuff. You can put dead leaves in with them. Bung them in a black plastic sack, make sure the are moist, tie the top and punch sme holes in the sides them shove them in the corner of the garden for a couple of years or so. if its just a few, say no more than 10% of the total them they can go in the compost, they may not break down but it won't matter. I wouldn't put bindweed in myself.

[Chipchopper]

Adding any perennial weeds to compost is bad practice, in my book.
If you want to get rid of the weeds in this way, at least thoroughly dry them out on a tin roof or sheet of wire mesh (the longer the better).

Pine needles should rot down but will take a little longer than soft green stuff.
I do the same as Woofgang and use it as a mulch around my blue berries.

[Nibble]

other things you shouldn't put in are waste food which isn't vegetable matter (although I do put stale bread in ours). I put in eggboxes and toilet roll insides, to bring some air cavities into the compost while it rots down.

[diddlydo]

Never, ever put bindweed or ground elder on the compost heap - not unless you want to be digging it out of the garden forever.

[Aquagility]

Thank you all. Sounds as though it's a good job I asked!

[horseshoes]

... and definitely NOT potato peelings or tomatoes. I speak from experience. i had beautiful tubs and hanging baskets FULL of potatoes and clumps of tomato plants all over the garden!!!