Composting Garden Weeds

[suedonim]

Is it possible to compost weeds? I know some, like buttercup, are no-no's because they'll spread but what about things like foxgloves and honesty? We get a lot of those and they're huge. It would be good to chuck 'em in the composter rather than manhandle them into bags to go out with the rubbish.

I don't compost foxgloves because they're poisonous, and they don't generally recommend that you compost poisonous plants. Honesty is OK to compost as long as all of the seeds have gone from the seedpods - if you compost it before then, it will spread like wildfire.

Unless you are sterilising your compost then you will spread seeds when you use the compost.

We have a 'brown bin' for garden waste, and I put the weeds in that, and the other garden stuff on my compost heap!

Another alternative is to have a separate permanent compost heap which you just use as a 'waste disposal' system, rather than aiming to use the compost, and put the weeds on that?

Hmm foxgloves would be a real no-no because if the Digoxin.

What's digoxin hmb?

Digoxin is Digitalis - obtained from foxgloves. It's used in medicine for heart problems but is toxic otherwise.

I've just googled for information on composting weeds and several of the sites say that you shouldn't compost any perennial weed because they contain parts other than the seeds which can regenerate. Honesty and foxglove are both perennial, so looks like they're both a no-no.

It affects the rhythm of your heart, excellent if you need to do it because you have hreat problems, fatal if you don't!

Mother Nature can be a real Mean ol Mother sometimes!

But does the digitalis not break down in the soil. I mean it's not as though you EAT the compost, is it?

You might be putting the compost onto vegetable patches though and eating the produce - and the birds will be eating the seeds that grow from the compost too.

Btw this reminds me my boys went on a 'garden adventure' at Brockhole recently, and the lady showed them a couple of plants ... hemlock and something else, I can't remember ... and told them that witches made them into a potion, which possibly made them hallucinate and feel as though they were flying on broomsticks ...

She left me to advise the kids NOT to do this at home! They were all rapt with the idea of something that made you feel like you were Harry Potter playing Quidditch. And my two have no common sense atm and will try anything

Mmmm, not exactly responsible of her, was it!

It was hilarious actually. She was great on the 'garden' information, but didn't really have much experience of children. And she just didn't realise that the kids were hanging on her every word and mentally noting down the recipe and marking off the plants and plotting ...!

I read somewhere that 2-3 is the peak age for accidental poisoning, but my two are a real risk; they just seem to be abandoning common sense and ignoring warnings they've previously taken seriously about dangerous or poisonous things.

I don't know if it would be broken down or not. That being the case I would not risk it.

LOL at the thought of that woman's chat with your boys!!!

It looks like the lucky ole binmen will have to carry on taking away my weeds, then! I quite like the idea of a waste compost heap but not sure where I could put it in my garden.