I "sheet compost" due to lack of space for bins. I do nothing but organic gardening if it comes in contact with the ground or my beds. I will give nonorganic feeding (mostly algalflash) to potted plants.
I've sent the kid out on another "leaf reconisance" (sp?) mission today; lack of gas money is a great motivator for her! lol
Sit A Spell
Hello Txgrdngeek, here are some ideas. In order to compost the lazy way you need two bins, one to hold your leaves and weeds and plants you pull out of the garden. This is your cover material bin.
Now, start saving all of your kitchen refuse in a bucket with a good cover to keep flies out, a birdseed bucket is very good for this.
We keep this bucket in the garage, and put in it all our fruit peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, nutshells, anything vegetable, but no meat scraps or bones.
You accumulate materials in the bucket for one week, then go to the empty bin and dump them there.
Now one very important part, is that you put a nice thick ,layer of leaves or whatever you have in your holding bin to cover your kitchen waste completely.
This will prevent odors and insects. Keep doing this routine untill the bin is good and full, it takes us about a year, but I guess it depends on the size of your bin.
You don't need to turn it or do anything else to it, just let it sit for about a year,while you water it occasionally. Normally if you have plants growing nearby, just sprinkle it at the same time as your plants.
Start another bin, and when you have your second bin full, your first bin should be ready for harvesting. We use a compost sifter and put the rougher pieces in the new bin. Now enjoy and watch yout plants grow like crazy.
Josephine.
Hi ya'll,
This is an older post I started on mushroom compost:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/486769/
Where, Ph# price etc.
Some mentioned places around Houston that sold it in smaller bags
Hey Mitch, don't forget to take pics of your pond progress, that would make a great diary tab ("book")! Would you like me to bring you some Mexican Milkweed to the Roundup in April?
For you CenterPoint victims, I saw something on the news earlier in the week about a couple who had the same thing - previous month's bill was around $30, this month's was over $200. Turns out the meter was read incorrectly. I don't know what happened that they seem to have read everyone's meter incorrectly, but that's probably why the phones are so busy. One of the few times I'm glad this house is all-electric, lol!
SandiTX, I am so envious! I would dearly love a chipper/shredder for all the branches that drop throughout the year in my yard! I have a pretty good pile right now, am going to check out the price of a rental.
Debbie, I'm with you about nabbing everyone's leaves/pine straw that are left on the curb. I've told my neighbors again and again that I want their leaves and pine straw. They just kind of smile at me like I'm a demented child, even though I've told them why I want it. My son and his girlfriend grabbed over 40 bags of pine straw around the corner before Christmas. A couple weeks back I was traveling in Houston and Cypress for work, and came across a huge pile of bagged leaves. I wanted so much to at least take what would fit in my trunk, but I was a little dressed up and headed for a meeting at the regional office. If it wasn't for the meeting, I would have gone for it, lol!
I can tell you guys, I saw Josephine's compost set-up, and it's great! It's hard to have enough compost, but she has a good start, lol! I have a CompostTumbler (the smallest one) and a couple of simple wire bins (so I have enough material already partly composted to fill the tumbler as soon as I empty it), but it still isn't enough. I think I may try this year to do a combination of larger compost piles and sheet composting in the beds.
Debbie, I'm looking forward to Arbor Gate on the 29th, too. Just over a week to go!
Maggie--I hear Bear Creek extension service is having one on Saturday (citrus sale) just in case anyone is interested. I am going to the arbor gate but I'm going to buy before the talk when they open. I hear their talk is later in the day/I'm afraid the good ones will be gone!
Debbie
PS--They look at me like I'm demented too--non-gardener's just don't understand!
Debbie, the talk will be @ 11, I'll be there earlier to look around and pick a good Meyers Lemon. I'm considering calling them Monday to ask them to just go ahead and pick one for me, set it aside for Sunday. I'm not sure when they'll be getting them in.
What time do they open...9 or 10? I was just going to get there when they open. kinda hard to accurately type with wet fingers--I use a wireless laptop and am starting my spring zinnia seeds--and a few other things (some more Tx star and dwarf poinciana and vines).
I'll have to wear some obnoxiusly loud shirt where you can recognize me...lol
I hope to get another meyer lemon too and some sort of orange...whatever is growing in this area good and will survive outside. I'm getting to old and busy to "haul" pots in and out in the winter--I don't mind throwing some row cover over a plant or a blanket if we get a real freaky kinda freeze one year.
I'm with you on those taxes--I have to cut 3 checks next week--ouch!
This message was edited Jan 21, 2006 7:27 PM
They open @ 9am. I know that Satsuma oranges grow very well here, they used to have Satsuma orchards in the Houston area at one time, so they should certainly be fine in the ground! Do you grow your Meyer in the ground? Yeah, I really don't buy anything I have to haul in and out of the weather, just can't do it. I'll probably wear my Dave's Garden t-shirt, but if it's cold, it will be covered with a jacket. I'll also have a poppy flower clenched in my nouth so you can tell it's me. ;-)
maggiemoo, the chipper/shredder was a fairly new purchase from harbor freight (it's now on sale too). It gets the branches up to 1.25" in diameter. Anything bigger went to brush pickup last week. It worked great too. Next month I think I'll shred the rose clippings (those I don't send off for trades and try to root) since I didn't trim my roses last year.
I'm glad my home is all electric too. It'll probably trickle down to the electric companies soon too though.
Sandi--whats the price range on those chipper/shredders? Gas or electric? do you produce alot of mulch with it?
Maggie--I was thinking of putting both of them in huge pots. Maybe one in my herb garden pot city on my garden art post and one in a huge pot I happen to have empty out front with built in wheels. That one I can get easily (not easily--its heavy as all get out--but it can be done) in the garage. The one in the "herbararium" will have to be the smaller of the too and settle for a "blanky" if needed.
Debbie, the one I have now costs $129. If you buy at a local store & use one of their coupons it'd be an even better deal. The pile I had produced a nice sized mound. I should have had it shoot into a bucket, but all my buckets were in use. Much better than putting it all on the curb.
Does it work good on "green" type branches too? That would really be worth its weight if I could shred spent tomato plants etc into mulch! Gas or electric?
Electric & yes, it'll do "green" branches. I trimmed some pomegrante branches & feed them to it.
Mary - if I can make it to the swap I would love some of the Mexican Milkweed. How is the oleander doing? The cat wiskers are getting really big!
The oleander is fine, hasn't cared a whit about the weather - dry or wet, cold or hot, wind or no wind. It's still in the pot you had it in, because I haven't decided for sure where it will go. It will be in the front yard, but either in a bed that I'll build around a light pole and dead end sign (very awkward to mow around), or another bed that I intend to build. I'll find a way to get some milkweed to you if you don't make the RU.
Debbie, I have a huge pot that I've decided will be for the Meyer Lemon, mostly because I will probably have to move it around a bit, finding just the right place for sun exposure. I don't expect to have to shelter it - PlantFiles says it's hardy to 10 degrees, and people have reported growing it in Tyler and Plano. Mostly I want it for butterflies and the wonderful fragrance. Otherwise I wouldn't have considered another tree for this backyard - the full sun to part shade area is pretty full. I'm hoping it will be alright to keep it pruned to about 5 or 6 feet.
Is Harbor Freight a walk-in kind of store? Not mail order? I want a chipper shredder but the ones we found here were over $300 and my budget won't allow that right now. I hate taking my clippings to the brush pile to throw away.
Calalily, HF is mail order, web ordering, & retail. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf#TX There's about 20 stores in TX.
Thanks! I can go to the one in McAllen, it's not too far from here, about 60-70 miles or so. I was in Mission last week, maybe work will take me back over there soon. There's a Lowe's over there too, I haven't been to Lowe's in a while.
Sign up for their coupons. They frequently send out "save 20%" coupons. May as well save a bit. :)
Calalily, if you do get a shreder be sure to get one with enough horsepower, if you don't, you will be dissapointed at how many things you can't grind up.
We have a 10 horsepower Troybuilt, and it is just right, any less would leave us with a lot of branches to dispose of. It can grind up to 1 and half inch branches, the rest have to be cut up into 3 foot lenghts and bundled for the disposal people, if they are not bundled they will not pick them up.
I don,t know if your city has that rule, but it sure helps that we don't have to bundle the smaller ones.
This shredder cost $500.00 when we bought it five years ago, but it was an excellent investment, I gave it to my husband for his birthday, he is the one who does the shredding, with my help of course. This one runs on gasoline.
I hope this helps.
Josephine.
Do you guys also use the chipper/shredders to shred your leaves and garden debris (dead plants)?
Yes, absolutlely, we don't know what we would do with mountains of plants that I cut back every year.
It can grind leaves, green plants, dead plants, and anything that comes along, and does a wonderful job. You can then use the material for mulch or compost.
Be careful not put vines in, if they are long, they will get tangled and hurt your engine, we learned that the hard way.
Yeah, running over vines with the lawn mower isn't good, either. Another lesson learned the hard way. :-(
I guess palm fronds fit the "large branch" category, lol. I will still check out Harbor Freight.
We don't have to bundle stuff, but it has to be piled where the truck can use the pincher thingies to pick it up. The worst part about branches here is that they all have thorns! Mesquite, huisache, some trees I don't know what they are and even palms have thorns!
Marilyn, it was a neighbor and I think we paid $40. Very well worth it as it was LOTS of brush and wood and it took a long time to finish it all. We have a couple of partly wooded acres and it sure does accumulates over time. We told the guy he could cut up the branches that were too big to put through the machine for his own use as firewood. Someday we want out own chipper-shredder, but want a really good one with enough power for our purposes...that would not exactly be an inexpensive one.
Linda
Hi guys:) .......speaking of bagged leaves there was about eight bags sitting out front until about a week ago.:( ....but I still have the leaves in my courtyard because I havent been out there to clean up in a while. Now my raised beds is full of leaves....so I should leave them there? Also is there some kind of Hand Tiller? some thing small enough for me use in my bed that only three feet wide. I only have about four to six feet to till. If I rent a Mantis or something I will have to stand in the bed ...hmmm maybe I can do that.... I just got to do something with that compacted soil out there. first I got to dig up all my Helleborous and put them in a pot.
Shelia...love that link...read up on those Coir bricks ...got to get some. Mitch where can I get some compost that look like the stuff Heycharlie has? :) The last time I asked for compost at the feed store they sold m this black stuff called Humore.
Sylvia
Sylvia, the stuff they sold you at the feed store is humus. It's good for your soil, too, but isn't the same as compost - won't have the nutirents that compost does. You can find compost @ Lowes and HD.
Thanks for the info everyone. Im going to give this a try...Let you know how it turns out.
Thanks again
Kat