I'm not picky as to which weeds go into compost EXCEPT,,,,,,,,I avoid any with rhizomes or that have set seed. What are your concerns about adding "worst" weeds? There's little green material available when my leaves fall so I add organic fertilizer derived from poultry bedding and wet leaves as they go into pile. I don't turn pile until an abundance of greens become available in late Winter/early Spring and are mixed in as pile is turned.

klem 1, I generally don’t put weeds in at all because of thinking, I don’t need to add to the weed bank wherever I end up putting the compost. Occasionally I’ll add some if my assessment is “ these aren’t so bad “ ( don’t look like they have set seed, were easy to pull up) mainly because I’ve felt it would help the breakdown process. I do try to take advantage of fallen leaves being wet from rain.

I compost all fresh weeds except rhizomatous perennials. Ie no bindweed or enchanters nightshade. For preference I compost annual weeds before they set seed but they still go in if I'm too late. The seeds either die in the heap or result in easily pulled seedlings. The problem perennials I hang out to dry and compost when they're truly dead.

floraluk, thanks. I may need to learn about those perennial weeds.

Some perennials I don't worry about. It's just the ones with creeping roots, rhizomes or bulbs. My worst are Calystegia sepium, Greater Bindweed, Circeae lutetiana, Enchanter's Nightshade, Ficaria verna, Lesser Celandine and Alum ursinum, Wild Garlic.

ETA all my composting is cold. On the allotment there is no other way of disposing of weeds. We have to compost them. At home we have green waste pickup which I use for woody stuff and bulbs.

I get the feeling you are worrying too much about the process. Don't judge how well compost is doing based on how much it heats. A single hand full of green material added to ten bushels of leaves makes a contribution, not a large one but a contribution non the less. First class leaf mold will result with ample time minus any addition other than moisture. You are on the right track having more than a single pile of leaves. I advise you continue along that path by allowing some to go unattended up to two years to reach the point of suitability for amending soil. Meanwhile add greens to one or more bins,keep it moist and turned occasionally until you are pleased with how it works out. And as they say "take time to smell the roses along the way".

Virginia creeper. Eff you Virginia, you get pulled and strung up high till you die. Same goes for poison ivy and the occasional wild grape. Fulva lillies are also shunned, those dry on the pavement or get chucked into the crap strip out back.

Other than that, if weeds make it to the cold compost cages, most anything goes. A lot of my weeds in the garden beds proper are often also edibles that I can use for green cover and then drop compost. Sometimes some other composting.

That's sorta what i meant by smelling the roses, when life deals you a weed chop it and eat it or roll it and smoke it.

I compost everything which was even vaguely carbon based. Wool, feathers, all the weeds, literally everything apart from huge woody branches. I have 3 huge heaps which I turn when I get around to it. Have never really had a problem even with bindweed. The heaps do heat up in summer and I do apply the hose to deter rodents.

I don't worry about weeds in my compost - I garden on a public allotment where weeds are an absolute fact of life - always and ever-present. Whats a few more surviving in the compost compared to the acres of brome grass, couch, bindweeds, cleavers, glechoma, sow thistle, lepidiums and dock in the plot less than 18 inches from mine. I do a once a year cordon-sanitaire spray around the boundary of my plot and have trenched it out to try to deter rhizomes but truly, the weedy compost is the absolute least of it.

(Oh, boy. I'm two minutes from posting pictures of my sweet, chocolatey compost finishing up in my bins and of this year's gorgeous, chocolatey mulch that I'm currently putting around my onions. Per usual, I'm listening to the more humble side of my nature, and refraining.)

Hehe annpat... is there a weed that isn't compostable by you? You seem to have a habit of demolishing anything into a most compostable thing.

I have what I call my "wild compost pile" which is in deep shade in the woods and is never harvested because I don't need it. That's where I take troublemakers. It's also where I take all my broken clay plant pots and brush.

I make the bulk of my compost bringing home other people's leaves and grass clippings from a nearby leaf dump. There's no limit and no competition for the stuff. With a two layer haul in the back of my truck, I can return home and build an instant, completed, large compost pile before dinner using only grass clippings, leaves, and maybe hay or straw, pumpkins or apples for greens if the season is right. My own contributions actually make up very little of my compost.

I haven't grown peas in a couple of years, so I did some reading to refresh my memory. I found some guy on the internet who was pretty convincing abouit doing something that goes against everything I've ever heard about peas. He socks the nitrogen to them. Persuaded to try it, I dug a trench and filled it with the composted slaughterhouse/stable stuff I bought last spring and I spread some additional blood meal. I may have spread some scant woodash. Then, following his recommendation for a deep, loose compost base, I harvested some almost-too-finished compost that I'd forgotten about, and filled the trench with that very fine textured compost. I soaked the seeds, and planted them deeper than I usually do. We'll see.

Marmie, this seemed like a good place to hijack so as to talk about my compost and my peas. I hope you don't mind too much.

Wild compost pile in deep shade of woods where you take troublemakers ? I've changed my mind about stopping by to visit and exchange ideas on my way through this Summer.

BTW how was camping in that field during eclipse?

Ha ha!! If you had plumbing or carpentry skills, I'd truss you up and toss you in the basement. The eclipse was worth the three hour drive to Houlton. Unbelievable that I saw no traffic coming or going!! My cousin, on a different route, was stuck in traffic for hours. I watched the eclipse from the farmer's field with maybe 20 strangers, mostly in campers. Two children running around in the dark afternoon, their mother laughing watching them, reminded me of my last total eclipse viewing in 1963 on the dock with my cousins.

Immediately after the eclipse, I gazed around the wide open field, not a tree in sight, and realized that I'd given no thought to the lack of bathroom facilities. I got back in my truck and headed back on the same coastal route I'd taken in the morning and was home by 7:00.

How was it in your back yard?

The sky was overcast all morning and everyone was worried they wouldn't be able to see then about 1pm the sky cleared making sun fully visible and a cheer went up. Sky remained clear right through 100% at 1;40 and the following hour.

We hosted a couple from Oklahoma. I once worked with him and we would call varmints for pass time. He could always make a convincing howl to locate coyotes. He let off a couple howls at the peak which caused dogs down the road to begin howling then other dogs joined in (I do believe some coyotes did as well). Facebook was buzzing afterwards about werewolves and drunken solar watchers. I didn't hear of any compost going anaerobic.

A woman near here has sled dogs. Whenever summer renters are here on the lake, they mention how thrilling it is to hear the coyotes at night.

Mainers were speculating about all the tourists who flew in to see the eclipse who might underestimate the conditions of our northern roads. Hence the AI image above and this one:

It was a beautiful day, though---an unusual 63 degrees for so early in April. Just patches of snow where I was---and lakes that were thawing.

That picture could easily pass for a Houston Texas freeway during rush hour when it rains. Which brings us full circle back to soil and it's many variations. On the farm where I grew up we had fields of sandy loam that were a pleasure to cultivate and others of red clay much like road in your picture. Experienced drivers could travel unpaved roads during rainy season where soil is sandy loam but the red clay is so slick when wet you have trouble walking much less driving. Only 10 miles down the road is black gumbo that turns to bubble gum when wet. If you drive on it while wet it will stick to tires,build up beneath fenders and stall the engine. When untilled ground is dry it shrinks opening cracks up to 4" and becomes so hard it's near impossible to pernitrate. It is this black clay I referred to in a recent post regarding earthworms. All three soils are very productive but require different strategies to farm/garden. I have heard expanded shale mentioned but never tried any. I'm presently looking for a bulk source nearby. The best I've found so far is 120 miles away for $70 cu yd. Garden centers have it in 1 cu ft bags for $12 to $30. I'm curious if anyone has used it in EXPANSIVE CLAY like I just described.