Chop & Drop questions?

  ~I decided early in the summer to just let my garden weeds grow, and use them for compost this fall~Theyd gone completely out of control because id tilled it last year, and then cut my finger weeding & couldn't weed for a few weeks~I decided to start chopping them down today, because the green/brown ration seemed pretty balanced~Is that how it would work?~If the green weeds arent touching the ground, will it compost as 'greens'?~Im sure this must be a silly question, but i havent found it discussed anywhere?~

It sounds like your weeds have gone to seed. You will have a 100 times more weeds for the next few years. But that just means more 'mulch/compost'. I am sure there is an ultimate perfect way to do stuff, but just leaving the stalks standing is fine and is actually encouraged. you have cut them above the ground that is also fine too. alot of folks cover their garden beds in the winter with straw. I am a big fan of more carbon soil life, in any package that it comes in. Maybe you can even plant some winter cover crop this week depending on your climate. If you want to concentrate all this chop and drop from say 20,000sqft to just a 1000sqft garden bed it would make sense to collect it all and then transport it and compost it. Maybe if you wanted to kill some/most of the opportunistic seeds in there you would do  hot compost in at least a 3ft x 3ft x3ft pile.  

  ~What if i was to cover the chopped weeds with thick straw?~Im hoping to get some dead wood chipped to add, too~I guess its supposed to be more browns than greens, anyway, right?~

Bengi said, "It sounds like your weeds have gone to seed. You will have a 100 times more weeds for the next few years. But that just means more 'mulch/compost'.

I agree abt the weed seeds so you will need at least 6" of anything you can find to use.  Coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, leaves, tree and plant trimming, etc.

Here are some threads that might offer some suggestions:

https://permies.com/t/129642/overview-chop-drop-awesome

https://permies.com/t/154645/chop-drop-plants