Beginner Gardening: Ending the garden year help, 1 by dividedsky

dividedsky wrote:
Interesting. I was shaking my head no until you said you were going to set fire to them. If it's a first-year garden, there could be bug eggs and disease and such that you didn't notice or aren't aware of. And you don't want to put that stuff in the compost - right? (My composting knowledge is limited.)

My first-year garden (last year) was pretty close to Jarsh's city (hi neighbor!) and I had a nice case of powdery mildew on just about anything it would grow on. (Heck, I'm dragging powdery mildewed pumpkin and squash vines to the burn pile this year, too. The compost pile is getting lonely.)

The question IS - will a hot fire kill the fungal spores? I don't know. If not, you'd probably want to get those plants out of the garden asap. I'm intrigued. I indulged in a brief squash-bug-eggs-popping-in-the-fire fantasy.

It sounds like you're aware that you don't want to leave plant debris in and around the garden because it gives pests a place to overwinter. So you're on the right track. If you're confident that you know the difference between diseased and healthy plants and have a good spot for a compost pile, that would be a good way to go. If not, I'll look for smoke down your way. :o)