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| Am I the only one who can't leave a pile well enough alone? I have a new (to me) lot and had a LOT of leaves to deal with. Old leaves, new leaves, rotted leaves, spotted leaves (ok not spotted but I was feeling my inner Seuss.)
I started out by shredding them with my blower/vac thingy (It came with the house but I had a lot of fun with it.) Then I realized that I have way too many acorns and sticks and my Barricuda (the aforementioned vac) kept choking on them. Plus it kept spitting the shredded leaves into the unshredded leaves and that lead to a whole 'nother issue. So I started raking and binning and digging. I didn't see the sense in buying mulch since I had all the leaves. So I started sifting the bitty bits from the so-called compost pile and using that as mulch. I cut a piece of fence which works great as a bin. I needed more though (I have a LOT of leaves... did I mention that already?)so I bought a roll of cheap plastic fencing from lowes or home depot or somewhere like that. I think it would've worked good in my old (flat) home but now I live in a hilly kinda slopey... ok it's a cliff place. So this cheap plastic fence just kind of leans over instead of standing up. I tend to leave what is in the cheap fence alone ... mostly. It's a pain to deal with because it tends to catch on everything. My pile is turned often because of the mulch getting... Anyway I was just curious if anyone else pestered their pile so much that it probably is stunting its growth. TMI I'm sure but once I got started I just kept going. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by tn_gardening (My Page) on Tue, May 31, 11 at 12:35
| Compost happens! Might take you a bit longer, but I suspect you'll be fine. I do like to play with the compost pile and so do my chickens. Mine isn't terribly large (just a couple shipping pallets). |
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| If it works for you; do it! Last fall a friend dropped off 8 large bags of 'trimmings'. Being that arthritis keeps me indoors in cold and damp, they sat. Over the weekend, I emptied them out on a tarp. Mostly leaves from hedge trimming, lots of fir, spruce, hemlock needles with cones, and small twigs. The outer layer was pretty well rotted but the centers were dry; that a lot of brown! As I'm getting ready to break ground for a couple new beds, I'll likely spread and till it in. I have a sandy loam with plenty of small rock so this seems to be the best use. |
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| I just added 2 weeks worth of NY Times, I prefer the NY Times for its smarts and journalistic integrity. I firmly believe my compost will be smarter for having it decompose in its' midst. I also only start fires in the smoker with the Times for that very same reason. Played with the pile about 10 minutes ago, some of the shredded printer paper that I added a week ago is now unrecognizable. ;p |
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- Posted by maryrecord none (My Page) on Wed, Jun 1, 11 at 15:47
| My paper does not decompose all that fast. It just seems to sit there. |
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| Whewwww guys----It almost hit 100* today so I will have to wait till the evenin' hours to venture out to the bins and make the turn.......but, Hey Mary---- I say "Whatever floats yer boat girl"....turn that pile like you like it..... it's all good .....JB |
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- Posted by maryrecord none (My Page) on Wed, Jun 1, 11 at 18:22
| LOL You sound like my DH JoeBob. He's just glad I'm such a cheap date. |
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- Posted by granolamom NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 1, 11 at 22:11
| hey, MoleX, my pile enjoys the Times too. problem is I've been shredding before everyone's done with the paper... still new to composting and its very addictive. at least I know my compost will be smart. I aim to grow some *very* bright tomatoes next summer. |
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- Posted by piranhafem (My Page) on Thu, Jun 2, 11 at 1:11
| I play with my pile a lot, and as a result (and with tons of help from all the brilliant folks who post here) my compost is cooking in record time! I am not a patient person, and between the materials I compost with and the hot, dry climate where I live, compost can take a very long time to make. I have to fuss with it a bit to get the balance just right. I run all the yard waste, chicken bedding, and used coffee filters through the chipper/shredder. I stir the pile and turn the barrel frequently. I put my hands in it to feel how moist it is, then add water as necessary. I put on gloves and pick through it, breaking up clumps and seeing how quickly stuff is rotting. And when the barrel is close to finished, I sift out the bigger bits (mostly wood shavings) to use as mulch around trees, and haul the finer, finished compost around to mulch flowers and veggies. I do more work than some people might want to do, but to me it's fun, and I have an acre of mostly bare clay dirt that I'm slowly turning into gardens, and I need tons more compost and mulch! I just harvested 3 wheelbarrows full of gorgeous compost that only took about 6 weeks from start to finish. --Maureen |
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- Posted by joepyeweed 5b IL (My Page) on Sun, Jun 5, 11 at 10:33
| I've been told that playing too much with your pile causes blindness. |
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| Thanks, Maryrecord. That was an interesting account of your composting experience. I have to find a source of leaves so I can make a lot of compost. I have a huge garden but not a lot of leaves. |
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| I agree that compost can be endlessly entertaining! ;-D I'd probably mess about more with mine except I don't have time or energy as I'm too busy weeding and planting. I started turning it the other day and once again realized it was just extra work I didn't need to do as it will eventually become compost anyhow. Now what I really have difficulty with is restraining myself from sifting my soil thru 1/2"x1" screen to remove the stones that are larger than that! I 'let' myself do a bit of that every year but it's totally unnecessary and a time and energy sink. But very satisfying. |
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- Posted by maryrecord none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 5, 11 at 14:30
| @joepyeweed - My eyesight is pretty bad ... ------------- I took my first exploratory visit to our small community dump. It's basically just a clearing in the woods that the folks around here can dump their yard waste. I was looking for greens to add to the leaves that I already have. Not much in the way of green stuff that isn't attached to branches. I did find a little bit of grass clippings. I'm a little nervous of snakes and stuff and didn't want to go too deep into the pile. Anyone have opinions of rotted logs as mulch? I found a stash of those along a pathway. So rotted they practically turns to powder if you crush it. I should probably use a shovel instead of my hands but I didn't have one on me at the time. Still the snake issue though. Nature isn't as orderly as the local garden shop. LOL |
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| Wear tall boots and long sleeves,try not to worry too much about the snakes; that rotten wood sounds like compost gold in moderation. |
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