My easier, better soil, no fuss, less work, composting

Wind here also. So strong it kept blowing the shopping cart away while I was trying to unload into my trunk.

I want a chipper shredder also. I have a lot of clearing to do here, & I would like to shredd up all that brush into mulch. What kind do you have, maypop?.

To shred my leaves I used my riding lawnmower. I mow the leaves inward into a winrow and then drive BACKWARDS over the leaves....just try it once and see for yourself. Some may need a couple more passes and I then blow them back into a winrow for raking up.

For bagged leaves... dump them out in an area and have at it with the backward moving mower. The small pieces are nearly blow away proof.

well looks like dean answered the bamboo question as to looks & growing fast ..running bamboo does grow fast and the runners go everywhere unless contained.

Maypop nothing wrong with a machine to do some work we used to have one back in Illinois and I sure miss it now. worked great for leaves and small branches/trees.
DH does the wind row thing with the leaves and the mower though then off to the compost pile or around plants

My little chipper is a Chicago 2 1/2 horsepower. It's OK, but I've seen a better type with a big hopper on top for leaf shredding. None of them are cheap. I'd love to have one that can handle branches, up to, say, 3 or 4 inches. Those start at $2000, though.

I've also mulched leaves with the lawnmower by riding in rows. Never backwards. Does that do something different, Indy?

Some parts of the property have lots of native broomsedge grass that we don't get around to cutting much, maybe once or twice a year. It makes giant heaps of cuttings that are easy to pick up and add to compost. It needs to rot a while to keep the root pieces and seeds from growing in it. Also, black plastic works great as a way to cover and cook the pile.

Such a good thread as are many. I have gardened for more than 70 years, and still much to learn.

I have 5 1/2 acres but only irrigate and grow on 2 1/2 acres, not enough water and the rest is all fairly steep hillside. I have lived here in Tonasket area all my almost 82 years. It is a very dry windy area. I don't rake leaves except for the ones on my small lawn areas. The raked leaves go into large leaf bags to be stored out back by compost so as to be handy to use in making my lazy-mans compost. The rest of the leaves lodge among my shrubs, perennials and trees and pretty much stay in place to slowly decompose.

Donna

Welcome Donna.. :)

hard strong winds here too.. some leaves blow around, but most stay in the place where they were put. I'm ready for some warmer weather so I can get outside and do some work.

I use to mow over the leaves and DH complained that it dulled his blade to quickly, and they still break down without doing that..so I don't.

Susan

maypop,
Going backwards over the leaves rather than forwards is kinda like the difference between night and day . As far as dulling the mower blades, I haven't noticed that from several years of this. Anyway I am nearly done with grass mowing by then and the blades will be sharpened at the end of the season.
Hey!, I'm going to try to shoot down any resonable doubt about leaf mulching with a ridng mower.

Years before DW bought me a 5hp Sears shreder/bagger, I used to use the mower on everything - hedge clippings, leaves, small tree limbs, etc. But then I had to rake the remains to move them.

Now, I do have to pick up and stack the limbs and brush, but use an electric blower to gather the leaves.

Takes about 4 hours to reduce a pile 6 ft high and 20 ft long. Great mulch, and dog-hole filler. Got a pooch that digs out the voles - yard looks like someone got carried away with a ditch-witch sometimes.

Pamgarden,
You're in luck. Dave just launched a new VERMICOMPOSTING forum!

Hey Bubba. Since I'm home, I'm gonna sow a few more seeds. With this mild winter we're having, I'm tempted to just put everything outside. Especially with this gloriously beautiful day we're having!

Me too - but stuck at work - gotta wait til Saturday.

Got some great bug-food - flats of lettuce and brussles sprouts - maybe some will grow enough for us to harvest before being destroyed.

I am going to build another pole bean teepee, and complete the 6 malibu bug baths I started last year.

Oooooooooo weeeeeeeeeeee. Aren't I glad I did NOT put those poor little seedlings out in the cold last night?!!

Got that right! Bit nippy this morning.

Gymgirl. Vermicomposting is my next stop.

Soulgardenlove, This is a wonderful thread

RuthOlive (Donna), I was wondering whether I was too old to begin a new garden, and here you are growing on 2-1/2 acres. You go, girl!

I got a question. I've put down newspaper and leaves on my aisles. Do I need to put down some type of green on top or use an organic fertlizer to ease the nitrogen defficiency? I don't want my garden to be depleted nutritionally.

You could sprinkle some alfalfa pellets under the newspaper.

To late gloria. Could I put on top of the newspaper and leaves. I've already put them down. I was thinking of buying a bale of Alfalfa.

Its worth a try. If its wet it should all start gelling anyway.

would coffee grounds help?

I think so, but I wanted to save those for the compost pile.

i save mine for the compost pile too but when you asked the question i started wondering about my own beds that are newspaper covered with leaves--never thought about a nitrogen depletion! just when i thought i was doing so good!!

LOL!!!

docat, told me the aisles should be fine.

You are not planting anything in the aisles. Do you intend to later? If so it probably is a good idea to compensate with the alfalfa.

Most people I know who use raised beds, throw weeds and extra produce into the paths. Then next year they can use some of that soil to replenish the beds. You wouldn't want to do that if the soil was of lower fertility. It depends on what you want to do.

I thought nitrogen depletion only happened if these were mixed in?

I plan on not using the aisles for now. Maybe next year when I'm rotating my crops I might choose to do differently.

Pam, glad you like it! Welcome :)

Dean, if you are just using those isles as a passageway this year, I wouldn't spend too much time building up with more than you already have done. My veggie bed isles get a healthy dose of pine straw once or twice a year to keep the mud off our feet when wet and keep weeds down.. But I never plan to plant there and don't want to build up the soil..

But if you do want to plant there eventually, then yes, put down organic matter..

There are many beds of mine that have never seen more than leaf mold and they are not nutritionally depleted of anything that I can tell... I have thrown down alfa alfa pellets in beds.. not just to feed the plants, but the worms love it. Worm farms feed it to them and so it will turn to black gold once through your worms :) It's a good thing, but just remember, there are other things worms will eat that wont cost you anything! :)

Susan

I would imagine that a garden that is mulched and not cultivated is not going to undergo nutritional deficiencies. Nutrients are lost when soil is cultivated, they are retained when the soil is kept intact.

I often use alfalfa over my paper mulch, paper won't stay in place here when dry because of wind. But that was when alfalfa bales were cheaper, now at more than $8.00 per bale not sure I want to buy it for putting on top of paper to keep in place. Dirt is cheaper LOL

Donna

The reason you don't add nutrients to the aisles this year, is so you are not encouraging the growth of more weed seeds. What ever material you're using in the pathway helps slow down the germination of new weed seeds, besides helping define the space( I get testy when people want to stroll in/on my beds), and generally makes it easier to get around. My raised beds have no boards etc for sides. It's just mounded soil and I normally use annual rye grass between the rows, just mow it off periodically, it's cheap, it holds the weed germination to almost zip and looks pretty good.

Sounds good, the leaves are in the aisles and I have raised beds w/out boards.

doc, have you ever used clover in walkways. I planted some in a walkway between tom. and cucumber trellis last year. I think it was red clover, not sure. Only mowed it once the space got over grown . With all the cold and snow we've had don't know what it will have done over winter.

Donna

I don't normally plant clover in my walkways, Donna. I hate dodging bees when I'm trying to pick veggies or work in the garden. I do however plant white clover under all my fruit trees. Bees and wasps love it and I get great fruit set.

This thread is very informative-glad I found it. My husband and I are going to do raised beds this year for our veggie garden. He keeps saying we need a tiller I keep telling him no we don't for one my back can't handle one. I have read the book on las. gardening and have used it for my flower beds. I like the no weed aspect. I also use thin cardboard and newspaper before puttting down a bed. My question is if I put straw in the bed does it need to be aged or can I use straw that was put up 2007 fall? Then can I put the alfalfa pellets over that? Husband thinks we need to put our compost on top of the soil-can't I just leave it where it is and put the soil and other things such as the straw and manure over it? What about using goat manure is it any good for gardening? Thanks for any help!

No reason you can't use lasanga gardening for your veggies. Do not use raw manure on the bed, it needs to be composted, but you can add you compost directly to bed. My raised beds are mounded dirt about 4-6" high.

Clerkie welcome :) I'd say yes to all you want to put down... I put some extra hay down as mulch around some plants and it looks like someone threw some grass seed down on it .. guess it had seeds in the bale?? But not a huge deal.. You can put down anything organic.

You want to use straw not hay. Hay has weed seeds in it, usually.

I USE ALFALFA HAY...as a mulch any time I can get it. I stock pile spoiled hay for mulching and adding into my compost pile. Alfalfa has aproximately the same value and types of content as kelp which may be very expensive for some gardeners to get. We occasionally can get alfalfa for fifty cents a bale if it has been spoiled or aged beyond cattle food quality. Alfalfa Meal available from organic suppliers is quite expensive because all seed has been ground beyond the ability of it to germinate. From a nitrogen aspect is is roughly as good as blood meal in any form.

All hay and straw comes with some weed and plant seed. Just add some more hay or straw when they appear or note that they hoe or pull easily from the loose damp soil they provide.

Neither hay or straw is pretty to some eyes in which case I top it off with some wood bark in my flower gardens and foundation plantings. I use bunches of hay and straw as mulch in my garden patch. Unless begining a new bed I only use rough or single ground bark as a mulch in my flower beds and foundation planting areas. Why....because it's free or inexpensive here.

"My veggie bed isles get a healthy dose of pine straw once or twice a year to keep the mud off our feet when wet and keep weeds down."

Like Soulgarden, I use pine straw for mulch. It's available everywhere and is a renewable resource, like oak leaves. Since I try to adhere to sustainable practices, I can't justify using wood mulch for my land. It does acidify the soil, but that's OK for me.

I was at WalMart yesterday and saw giant stacks of bagged wood mulch --mostlly cypress and eucalyptus. Entire trees were ground up, possibly from wild stands.Sometimes lumber companies strip the bark off trees they process for wood products. But the bags don't tell you how the mulch was obtained.

Eucalyptus is not native to the US. It was imported from Australia years ago and is invasive in the West. Californians, isn't that true?

By pine straw do you mean pine needles?

Anything that was once a living plant in any form or texture will remain mulch when on the soil untill it rots and becomes compost then humus then humic acid that helps the plants get food in a form they can use. Heavier and oily wood mulches just take longer to break down.

Nothing in its natural state and untreated unless mixed into the top soil will do any harm because when going through the process of rotting and into compost it will arrive at a PH of 7.0. Newsprint is a form of wood. It will rot. Pine straw, pine needles, and ground pine bark will rot. If a bird falls into the mulch it will rot and be used by your soil as well. All this rotting takes place in a mini compost pile about a half inch...more or less...between the soil and the unrotted mass it rotted off of.

The rule of thumb is to keep something growing in the soil or something covering the soil at all times. Never let it lay in a way that renders it subject to drying out and blowing away.

Compaction is your enemy too. The use of boards or heavy cover crops serves to prevent compaction. If the boards are touching the soil they are also a form of mulch. They will eventually rot unless they were synthetic plastic boards.