As you may have heard, I've been doing yard work. The earliest part of this was cutting away the dead stuff from my flower beds so my lovely perennials can begin to blossom. That is long done and not particularly time-consuming.
The rest of the job consists of what the CSFD calls fire mitigation. It also makes your yard look neater. Essentially this means trimming any branches under 3 feet from scrub oak and removing any of the smaller trees and clearing away the dead trees. East coasters are used to lovely tall oak trees. Well, in Colorado from the lowly acorn a mighty oak does not grow. Rather, a mighty system of scrub oak ensues, which never gets much taller than about 10 feet but has a root system more effective than a high school gossip network. They spread very efficiently, resulting in lots of new growth to have to trim, and lots of dead stuff that the new stuff crowded out. and, of course, dead leaves.
Fire mitigation aka lawn cleanup also involves trimming the lower limbs of the ponderosa pines, which have a tendency to die as the tree gets taller, and removing any new growth from under the canopy of the pines (FD calls this tinder ladder prevention).
There are lots and lots of branches. Lots and lots and lots of leaves. It's a big project.
So far I have been putting the leaves into biodegradable bags and letting the garbage men take them. However, as Yoga Chickie noted in her own garden, I too have been so impressed with the richness of the soil below the leaves that I am going to build an enclosure out of chicken wire in which to put many of the remaining leaves. This will not only save me money on the ridiculously priced bio bags, but it will also eventually give me lovely mulch to put in my flower beds.
I can't just put the leaves in a freestanding pile (which would still require carting them to the pile) as they would blow away and all my work would be for naught. Another possibly little-known fact about Colorado weather: it can be killer windy. We are too close to the mountains for the twisters that afflict our neighbors to the east, but I guess we still get the wind. So the leaves need to be enclosed.
I have also been looking into compost tumblers for kitchen scraps and other random organic waste. The two I have narrowed it down to are the Tumbleweed Compost tumbler and the Worlds Best Organic Compost Tumbler. Any feedback on either of these (or tips on how to go from concept to reality with chicken wire enclosures) is appreciated.
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4 comments:
Chicken wire enclosures are very simple - put posts in ground (4, 6, 8, whatever) in whatever shape suits - square, circle etc. Height is up to you, but any higher than 4 feet and it starts becoming a bit of a pain to put things on and get them out.
Try and put it somewhere where rain can get to it (so preferably not under a tree or too near a house wall).
Then staple chicken netting to the posts.
If you can create a "door" between two posts (ie a piece of chicken netting which is stapled to a post at one end only, with a bit of wire to hold it in place) than it is easier to get the leafmould out (if not, just climb in / lean over and shovel!)
If leaves blowing around is a problem, then maybe a bit of chicken netting & a couple of stones on the top might be a good idea. Or old carpet. But that stops air & moisture getting to the leafmould.
Alternatively, as they are all bagged up, just punch a few holes in the bags, pile them up, and soak them periodically with a hose. The leaves will rot down nicely in the bags.
As to composters for other kinds of garden waste, I haven't tried the tumbler kinds. It sounds as though you have a lot of vegetation, so will need something bigger. If you want to make good compost, the bigger the better (bigger = hotter). Ordinary heaps work fine, either held in place with posts & planks of wood, or free-standing, depending on the size. You do need to turn them, but it isn't that hard, and only needs to be done 2-3 times a year.
Have a look at bbc.co.uk - the gardening pages there give some good tips.
Good luck!
Thanks, commenter. This is really helpful. I bought chicken wire this morning but didn't get posts. I'll see what I have laying around my garage. If nothing useful, I will do your project backwards-- make the shape first, insert poles later. I was planning to just kind of make it into a circle and use some chunks of various heavy things I have found around as ballast. That may work without poles. I love the idea of a door. I am very short, so anything that can help me get the stuff out of the bottom will come in handy later.
A couple things to consider between the two tumblers.
1. Durability of plastic. Which one looks to have the more heavy duty construction.
2. Where is it made? Gotta help out the local US economy.
3. Coloring. Black obviously absorbs more heat from the sun than green, heat helps compost.
4. Is it made of recycled materials?
Then, just in looking at the pictures, the tumbleweed looks to have about an 8 inch opening at the top, is that really big enough?
Debby - I have different types of compost going at the same time:
I have my worm compost bin, which is small. That is for small amounts of kitchen scraps only - strawberry stems, rotting bananas, uneaten salad. And worms and their shredded newspaper beeding, of course.
Then I have a large plastic garbage can, into which I drilled air holes all around the middle, which I use for most of my kitchen scraps, as well as some newspapers when the contents seem kind of soggy. There is no smell at all because I only use veggies and fruits - no cheese, no meat, no oils.
Then I have a composting bin that I can roll around my property - agitating helps with the decomposing process. It cost a couple of hundred bucks. I layer it with shrub and flower clippings, kitchen scraps, newspaper and cardboard.
Then I have my leaf pile. This would not be possible without a large property with trees and shrubs behind which I can hide the bins and leaf piles.
I've have not done a chicken wire enclosure route...yet. That may be next.
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