Grass cuttings and bush prunings

[ian digs]

My compost heap consists of grass cuttings and some broad leaf bush prunings I got from a neighbour with as much (but not enough) veg waste as we have.
I asked one of my neighbours to give me her grass cuttings a while ago to start my heap and now all the neighbours are leaving me bags of grass every time the sun shines. I also scrounged some broad leaf bush prunings (about 6 huge black bags full) and put these through my shredder. They seem to be composting nicely (lots of steam when I turn it) but my question really is will it be any good? I have added shredded newspaper and watered it a couple of times but I don't really know enough as to whether it will be missing any essential goodies or not?
I have made my compost heap out of four pallets and when I put all the above in it was 3/4 full and I covered it with a bit of weed suppressent material I had left over. I'm not sure if this is the right stuff to use, should I be keeping the rain out?
I have some chicken manure pellets I have mixed with water to make a liquid feed, would it be a good idea to add this?
As you can see I haven't really got a clue, I just keep throwing things at it and hope for the best.
Lots of advice would be greatly appreciated and acted on without delay

All the best.............Ian

[paulsherwin]

Just about anything organic will make compost eventually, but it sounds as if you are overdoing the grass cuttings. You need to add more woody and absorbent material. Fine woodchips from a garden shredder are ideal, and you can add some shredded cardboard, especially tha absorbent stuff like old egg boxes. Lots of paper put through a paper shredder is also good. Try to mix it up with the clippings.

Paul