Leaves from broadleaf/deciduous trees tend to compost easily, whether they’re fresh from pruning or have fallen of their own accord.

Fresh green leaves and ones that are brown and soggy from rain or the like compost down the fastest but dried/crunchy leaves often need a bit of a helping hand to actually rot rather than just break into small pieces — stir them into a moist heap to get things moving along.

Leaves add useful bulk to a compost heap but if you’ve got a LOT to get rid of in the autumn, consider collecting them in their own bin, cage or sack – they’ll probably take a little longer to break down than a regular mixed compost heap but the resulting leafmould is a good soil improver, lawn conditioner and mulch (which can be used for weed suppression or for hilling up potatoes etc).

A few warnings about composting leaves

• Some deciduous leaves are tougher than others – for example, sycamore usually take longer to break down than oak. Help them on their way by making sure they’re moist. You can also throw them through a shredder/run them over with a lawnmower – the smaller pieces will break down quicker.
• Holly leaves, rhododendrons, conifers and other evergreens will take a sweet age to break down in a regular compost heap because their leaves are tougher and water-resistant. Either dispose of them through your council’s local green waste service or set up a special slow compost bin that you can forget about for a few years.
• Don’t compost diseased leaves or leaves from diseased trees. The composting cycle might not be hot enough to kill the bugs and the resulting compost might help the disease to keep spreading.

However, they break down VERY slowly so it helps to crush them up first. That way, the small particles can sit in the soil while they break down rather than just sitting in a lump on the surface.

Before composting – or instead of it, egg shells can actually be reused or recycled around the home or garden in a number of ways. (My favourite method for recycling egg shells: bake the shells to kill any nasties, then feed crushed eggs back to our chickens. They reabsorb and recycle the calcium to make more eggs!)

The branches and leaves are very acidic so can upset the balance of your compost heap and later, your soil. The resin can also be toxic, so be careful of that.

Even shredded into small pieces or run over by a lawnmower, conifers take ages and ages to rot down (three to five years isn’t uncommon). (Their acidity and their rubbery leaves make it difficult for composting bacteria to do their magic.)

If you’ve got a lot to get rid of (and if you’ve got leylandii trees, that’s very possible), consider starting a special slow compost heap to avoid interfering with the speed of your normal one. Or find another use for them: some people take advantage of their slow-rotting nature and sprinkle them on muddy garden paths.

Alternatively, you can use your council’s local green waste recycling service to get rid of them: they might be unsuitable for a basic compost heap but industrial composting processes can deal with them much more successfully.

Also see: How can I reuse or recycle leylandii/conifer trees and branches?

What do we mean by “yacky”? Well, anything on the “don’t compost this” list really – if you’ve used your toilet tissue to wipe your nose or your bum, it should go down the toilet rather than in your compost heap. It might attract unwanted pests to the heap or could be harbouring nasty bacteria or pathogens which might not get broken down composting process.

You should bin it if you’ve used it to clean up most pet waste or oil spills, or used it in connection with chemical cleaners/agents too – that’s not stuff you want in your lovely compost.

Toilet paper with a bit of wee on them are fine though – you can compost that (as long as the producer is healthy). Ditto tissues used to wipe up a little bit of blood.

The inner cardboard tube can be composted too.

The plants are, obviously, just vegetable matter so they will compost down but in a basic garden compost heap, it’s probably better to avoid them.

Tomato vine stems can be a bit tough, so don’t break down as quickly as everything else around it (some people combat this by shredding them first) and seeds from stray tomatoes left on the vines at the time of composting might lead to rogue plants cropping up wherever you spread the compost – if they weren’t worth picking, chances are their children won’t be either.

Most importantly though, most basic compost heaps won’t get hot enough to come close to killing diseases or mould/fungal spores that the plant maybe harbouring. Some problems can linger in the compost for several years, potentially causing serious damage to future crops – not just tomatoes but other plants in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family too (including potatoes, bell peppers and chilli peppers, and aubergines/egg plants).

So in brief, you can compost tomato plants but if you’re new to composting, you’d probably be best not doing so.

Also see: Can I Compost Tomatoes?

Normal newspaper adds lots of great carbon to a compost heap – soaking up excess moisture and if they’re scrunched up, helping air circulate in the heap and prevent it from becoming too compacted.

Newspaper will rot down quicker if it’s damp but for best results, try to alternate layers with other matter – ideally fresh green stuff like garden clippings or veg peelings.

Avoid heavy stacks of newspaper as they’ll take longer to break down and shut off air to the rest of the heap – if you’ve got a lot of newspaper to get rid of, it would be better to recycle it through your paper recycling bin instead.

Oh, while newspapers are great, don’t compost glossy colour supplements or leaflets that came in the paper though. Recycle those too instead.

Also see: Recycle This for How can I reuse or recycle old newspapers?

They are, of course, just vegetable matter and will rot down fairly quickly. However, like tomato plants, they can harbour diseases/fungal spores that are not completely broken down by the composting cycle, thus potentially damaging future crops. (Not just future potato crops but anything in the Solanaceae family, which include aubergines and peppers as well as tomatoes.)

Little tiny tubers left on the plant also have a tendency to regrow in the warm, nutrient rich conditions of a compost heap – some people like these “volunteer” plants but others think the inconvenience and risk of disease just isn’t worth it.

Many grow-your-own people burn them rather than composting them and some allotment associations have special bins for collecting this type of risky green waste.

In brief, yes, they can technically be composted but in basic heaps, it’s probably not worth the risk.

Also see: Can I Compost Potatoes?

If you’ve got a whole pumpkin (or jack o’lantern) to compost, cut it up into chunks or slices first to encourage faster composting. Alternatively, if you’ve got chickens or wild birds visiting your garden, let them peck at the flesh first – that’ll reduce the amount you have to compost.

Don’t forget you can roast pumpkin seeds for a tasty snack – scoop them out and wash away the fibrous strands, then roast them or dry fry them for a few minutes. If you don’t fancy roasting & eating them, wild birds and chickens like them too – though you might want to roughly chop them up first.

You can also use the seeds for crafts – see How Can I Recycle This? for things to do with them.

What do we mean by “yacky”? Well, anything on the “don’t compost this” list really – if you’ve used your kitchen roll to clean up most pet waste or oil spills, or used it in connection with chemical cleaners/agents, then you shouldn’t compost them. The goop might attract unwanted pests to the heap or could be harbouring nasty bacteria or pathogens which might not get broken down composting process.

Kitchen roll or paper towels used to clean up general food mess are usually fine – unless they’re completely saturated with something from the “no” list, they’ll probably breakdown before it becomes a problem. Ditto paper napkins – as long as they’re not too greasy.

The inner cardboard tube from rolls can be composted too.

They’re just beans in a tomato-y sauce so will rot down quite quickly – but the salt and other flavourings may attract undesirable vermin to an open heap. In a pretty enclosed bin, they’ll probably be fine.

As for wormeries, worms are not a fan of baked beans (they can’t make toast to accompany it, so what’s the point?) so it’s best to leave them out for fear of offending your wiggly, composting friends.