Much has been written about composting and I've read a fair bit. I have an open bay compost heap which I tend to keep at a minimum of one cubic meter. I turn it fairly regularly. I add all manner of organic material: fruit & vegetable scraps, grass clippings, weeds, leaf litter, shredded paper and cardboard, chicken manure and during the mushroom season, I collected about 5kg (two heaped shopping bags) on a dog walk and threw them in. More recently, I've thrown in some old torn up cotton jocks.

Last winter, I grew green manure crops (peas, lupins, etc) and turned them over in the beds they grew in. This winter, I've sown more crops, but plan to compost them instead. I was wondering if lucerne was easy to grow because I've read that it's good fodder for composting too.

I bought a comfrey plant about 6 months ago, but it only had about 5 large leaves on it over summer. I don't know how long these plants take to mature, but I've since taken it out of it's pot and planted it a patch. Do these plants grow a lot bigger and is it worth my while planting more?

While many people advocate starting a heap from scratch and waiting for it to finish decomposing, I constantly add to mine and I harvest a few times a year from the bottom of the heap. The compost I harvest smells earthy and the plants I grow in it all do well.

Some people may tell me it's not the best way to compost, but I tend to not get enough material in one hit to start a new heap every 3 months or so. I like being able to walk down to the heap with the night's potato peelings or whatever scraps have been produced - it's just more convenient.

GW