Herbal compost booster - Where to get these ingredients

pprendeville

Have a good readers digest book which recommends to folling recipe to increase the rate of decomposition in a compost heap.

Liquid glucose
Velerian
Stinging nettle
Camomile
Dandelion
Yarrow leaves
Dried oak bark

I'd be able to get the nettles, dandelions and oak bark wild but not sure about the others. Any recommendations on shops/places in the wild to get these?

Cheers.

Black Dog

I think it is not necessary to go to any expense. If you have a good amount of material going into the compost bin from the garden then it will decompose. If you don't have a lot of material or don't have a good mix of materials then it will decompose - but a bit slower. It is in the nature of things that dead vegetable material will decompose.

I never add anything to the compost bin, simply the material from the garden and compostable material from the house.

Nonmonotonic

That is a big list of items to do a simple function. You really only need nitrogen to increase decomposition. I put all my nettles in a barrel and fill with water to use as liquid fertilizer. Now and again I throw an odd bucket of this mix on my compost heap. Nettle roots are very tough so leave to simmer for a few weeks . I continuously add nettles and when they go white throw on compost heap.

Another older and maybe not P.C. technique to boost compost heap is to pee on it! Urea is the accelerant here.

pprendeville

Well said. I'm always peeing out the back (always have to have a quick look around first though). Will start doing it on the compost heap. How about if you crap on it?:)

Yes I do the nettles in a barrel thing as well. I've got this book called Hints and Tips from Times Past (Reader's Digest - ISBN 0-276-42559-6 for anyone interested) and it gives a whle load of natural composting liquid fertilisers including nettles in barrel of water but this is just a way of rapidly increasing the rate of decomposition so I'm willing to give it a try.

Going to get the liquid glucose in Cakebox in Dun Laoighaire. Just googled liquid glucose and surprise surprise it gave me a link to a thread on boards.

muggyog

Good to see you waste nothing!

pprendeville

Got the liquid glucose in Tesco. Just went to a bakery down the road and they said to try there. spared me a long trip out to Dun Laoighre.

I know crap is good fertiliser. That sure is true about the amount of water spared. Good also to invest in the 2 button flush thing where one button only releases a small bit of water compared to the other button which empties the tank.