Helen Yemm's compost tips

Alison Patel writes: Gardeners concerned about putting weeds into their compost should not worry unduly.

That is according to gardening expert, Helen Yemm, who has said that weeds including docks, nettles and bindweed can all be safely composted as long as they are "thoroughly dried out in the sun and wind before they go in the heap".

Writing in the Telegraph, Ms Yemm warned gardeners that they need to be wary of ground elder which is seeding.

The problem, she said, is that seeds need a lot of heat to kill them off and that is hard to do with a homemade compost system.

Gardeners who want to heap the debris from a "lawn scarifying session" should not be tempted to add moss to their compost, she warned.

Ms Yemm explained that it is not biodegradable and should therefore be thrown in the bin or buried deeply in the garden.

Likewise, gardeners need to be careful about adding branches from deciduous trees or shrubs as they may not decompose, she said.

"Thick-leafed evergreens (laurel, rhododendron) take an age to rot", she advised, and recommended gardeners to leave them out of their compost heap.

Good compost, the Royal Horticultural Society has suggested, can be "superb as a mulch and soil improver".

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