Now is the time to consider making your own plant liquid feeds  and luckily it is also the time that the standby plants  for making liquid feeds, comfrey and nettles, are growing and can be harvested at regular intervals.  When making plant feeds it is best to use young growth so it is a good idea to set aside an area of the allotment or garden where these plants can be cut at regular intervals during the summer.  On an allotment even if you do not have a community composting facility you could easily start a liquid feed area using a couple of water butts or old chemical containers. If the leaves are soaked in a mesh bag (or old pair of tights) it will require little maintenance as the bag containing the sludge can just be removed, and replaced,  every 6 to 8 weeks

Different methods of making the liquid plant feed  are described at http://www.carryoncomposting.com/142941460  including the use of buckets by individuals. At home, if you have a small garden the Hozelock Biomix plant food maker is simple to use, has a built in filter contains the smell  and has a 19litre capacity

The site also gives details of using other plants such as horsetail, dandelion and banana skins.

Although many composters on the allotment just throw their plant waste on the compost pile thick pieces can take a long time to decompose,  it is better to expose the maximum surface area to the compost microbes by cutting brassica stalks etc into short lengths and then  crushing them using a hammer.  In the case of longer plants cutting  them into short lengths  saves effort in the future when turning them during the composting process. We have just had a large bergamot plant delivered which required the use of long loppers to cut the thickest stalks, while the thinner pieces could be cut using garden shears. Shears with extending handles  saves bending when the bin is only part full.