Composting Weeds

The narrow strip is cleared and manure is added.

It’s said that if something isn’t eating your garden then it’s not part of the ecosystem.  We’re lucky this year as there’s not much eating the garden except us.   

The heat has really brought on the vegetables and we’re happily munching our way through the beans, mange tout, aubergines, broccoli, kale, courgettes, herbs, pak choi and peppers. 

The poor cabbage whites don’t get a look in as we are one step ahead of them. Greenfly just pass on by and the snails are throwing themselves over the fence to try and find a garden where there’s something to nibble on. I can’t remember a year like it and apart from the slight hiccup with the hosepipe ban everything has been thriving as we managed to keep most of the roots moist with the stored water in the butts.  Annuals are so healthy and vibrant they are growing faster than the pests ability to eat them and it’s probably one of the best displays we have had ever.

There are a lot of weeds growing but thankfully nothing so bad that it affects our planting. Apart from pulling up a bit of chickweed and nasturtiums before they go to seed we are on top of things in that respect too. There will be a lot of weeds coming through now things are getting a bit wetter and it’s important to keep an eye on things and get them pulled out before they go to seed.  It’s been a great year for drought tolerant wildflowers too.

Composting

Lush weeds mean fertile soil and this is partly due to composting.  But what weeds can we compost?  This is an annual question that hasn’t really and hard and fast rules (thankfully like most things in gardening)

Certain plants such as perennial dandelions and docks never get put in my compost bins and any annuals that have gone to seed don’t go in either.  If I had a large 3 year system where I could get the temperature up really high then I would add them to the mix but I don’t. Couchgrass and bindweed that appear in the garden are two others that don’t go in as well and if I had Japanese knotweed that wouldn’t go in either. I think that would go into my incinerator as I’d feel irresponsible taking it down to the recycling centre but I’m sure they get the waste to a hot enough temperature to kill everything before it’s made into compost.

Horse Muck

The weed problem got really bad last year as I brought in a load of horse muck from a local stables. It was free and felt a good idea at the time.  I don’t really do any digging and this is where the problem lay. If I performed the art of double digging manure into the ground at a spades depth then I’m quite sure all of the weed seeds would wither die or lay dormant for years until they made their way to the surface.

As I tend to mulch on top of the soil, all of the weeds, including reeds and foxgloves got a free run and took over my chamomile lawn. I’ve just about cleared things but it has made me think twice about what I add to the soil.  Because of last years’ experience I have done something I have never done before – I bought manure in bags.  

After nearly eight years in the house we have finally got around to working on a small 100cm wide strip that runs along the front of the house. The montbretia and perennial geraniums took over so they are all dug out and I wanted to improve the soil a bit before planting a selection of our (now large) perennial plants that are outgrowing their pots. Who would have thought an impulse buy of 70 plants one night in winter would mean all of this work!  I had to paint the house too, I kid you not.

To improve the soil I added 3 large bags of sterilised farmyard manure and twisted it in gently with the topsoil, some garden compost and a few bags of potting compost. It probably only cost the same amount to do this small area as I would have spent on petrol driving to the stables and at least I won’t be on my hands and knees day after day picking out taproots. I’ll just keep putting a thick mulch of weed free compost down every spring to keep it fed and fresh.