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#83920 February 20th, 2007 at 12:02 AM
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Gardening is the love of my life,but sometimes I like to spend time with my family. My son loves to garden with me,but gets bored quickly. I have found a way to spend more time gardening and less time hoeing and pulling weeds, and wanted to let other gardeners know about it. If you have extra hay,weeds(before seeding)leaves, grass, anything that you can compost put it on your garden. Put it on about 1 foot deep. No plowing, no pulling weeds, no watering, just good no poision vegatables( the way god intended). this works for flowers too. thumbup clp

#83921 February 21st, 2007 at 05:58 AM
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Are you saying just dig a hole and bury the stuff?

#83922 February 21st, 2007 at 07:12 AM
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Boxmonkey, I just put all my grass and chopped up leaves on top of the ground. It certainly is an easy way to start a new bed, if you're not in a hurry. wink I usually pile it on pretty thick when I'm starting a new bed, but I don't put it on quite as heavy in my established beds. I've found it sure does cut down on the weeds and the time spent weeding. thumbup wink

#83923 February 22nd, 2007 at 01:39 AM
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I plan to try 'trench composting' this year.

I have a furrower attachment for my tiller and I can plow a furrow 8" deep then fill it with matter and cover it up.

#83924 March 1st, 2007 at 08:00 AM
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Patches, that's one of the things I'm doing now, but dirtgardener's description confused me.

To be more specific, I have two raised beds that are half filled with top soil I was able to get for free, and then "topped off" with leaves, then covered with cardboard. This is for the future flower beds in the front yard, and it's not strictly organic since it's made from treated wood that I also got for free.

The rest of my leaves/clippings/kitchen scraps that aren't being vermicomposted are in a regular compost bin (that is, chicken wire formed into a cylinder shape), which I'll soon be upgrading to a compost frame that I am custom building (made from untreated wood which I then treated with tung oil) which should help speed up the process and make turning it over easier.

#83925 March 1st, 2007 at 10:10 AM
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I have two raised beds that are half filled with top soil I was able to get for free, and then "topped off" with leaves, then covered with cardboard.
Boxmonkey, is your grass growing now since you live in Florida? Duh If so, you should collect your grass clippings and add that to your two beds to speed up the composting process. wink I usually try to put two parts browns (leaves, cardboard, etc.) to one part greens (grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc.) and mix it up so it gets air. wink

#83926 March 4th, 2007 at 04:17 PM
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Hi you guys... I am sooooo very into composting and lasagna-fying just about everything out there, lol. Since I moved up here, 4 years now, I have expanded upon all of me original gardening spaces like at least 10 fold... and yikes too, cuz it still seems to be ever expanding as well. Anyways... for all of my expandings out there I have used grass clippings, a little compost, and leaves (and a little to some straw too). The only other thingie that I've done though, is that in all of the areas I've expanded upon I also added some night crawlers/worms from me local bait shop... and like only maybe 6 to say like a 4'by8' space... and as I sorta figured, just for to get things a'goin' under all of them coverings o'mine. I also kinda lucked out though, and cuz besides all of my grass clippings (it like takes 3 hours on me rider mower for to mow everything, lol) and my leaves... I also get all of Mrs. Orr's (a lady friend I know in town) as well... and let me tell ya I gets like 40 large trash bags full of them from her every year, and so far as I've been here anyways... and they are primo ones too (as in no bermuda and/or crab)... and then I also gets about 20 bags full of her leaves as well, lol... nuts huh?... I thinks sooo, lol... but... to me that stuff is also true pure garden gold... and then along with the worms, and what they have done for the soil underneath... well... my on-going and ever expandings is and has been easier than I had ever hoped to even imagine it all would or could be. My soil, which was way way heavy in clay... and ... in just 4 years... golly, I can't even tell ya how much a difference all of that garden gold (and the worms too) has made... I am constantly blown away by it (and too, I have so many worms out there now it's just nuts!!!)

Another li'l goodie too, and that I got from Paul James 'The Gardening Guy' on HGTV, lol... he had on this li'l ol' German lady/avid gardener... and she said that her Mother (from the old country) always had little composte like piles hidden here and there in her garden... she just dug holes and filled them with weeds and grass and twigs and the likes... and then everytime she was out there playing in the dirt she would keep them turned and all spruced up and all... and then that a'way she always had comost more than very handy.
(and and and, it works really well too, lol)

#83927 March 4th, 2007 at 06:22 PM
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to me that stuff is also true pure garden gold
It know what you mean and I agree with you! thumbup I just wish I had known about all this years ago. I hate to think about all the grass clippings, leaves, etc. that I've wasted over the years, ters not to mention all the money I've spent eek just trying to improve my soil. Geesh, the solution was under my nose all the time and I didn't know it. frown :rolleyes: frown

#83928 March 5th, 2007 at 02:28 AM
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Originally posted by patches1414:
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to me that stuff is also true pure garden gold
It know what you mean and I agree with you! thumbup I just wish I had known about all this years ago. I hate to think about all the grass clippings, leaves, etc. that I've wasted over the years, ters not to mention all the money I've spent eek just trying to improve my soil. Geesh, the solution was under my nose all the time and I didn't know it. frown :rolleyes: frown
... hi there Parches, and boy oh boy do I ever hear ya too.... and cuz for a long time I sure didn't know just how gold all that garden gold really and truly is.... and yet, lol, the more and more I found out that it was, the more and more just plain ol' common sense it made too, lol... and I just loves it and cuz that's when I gets to do them great big 'well duh Owen' kinda thingies on meself as well.

And it's funny too, and cuz every year Daisy (that's Mrs. Orr) will ask me if I want her grass clippings and leaves again this year... and I laugh as I start slurping a bit whilst thinkin' about all of that additional gold being added to my garden, and oh but one more time. Then I'll go and even buy her the trash bags for 'em, and cuz I put to use those as well (what can I say, nothing goes to waste out there, lol).
Oh... and I've gots to also say that it really doesn't take me quite as long to mow as it used to either, and cuz slowly but surely my lawned areas are giving way to more and more gardening spaces (I have like 4 humongous lots for to play with... and I have barely even got to what I calls my north forty yet... lol, I'm a'gettin' there though)

#83929 March 5th, 2007 at 04:54 AM
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Well, I'm known as the local leaf thief around here. laugh A couple of my neighbors mark their yard waste bags for me so I'll know there are only leaves in them. They know I run them through my vacuum mulcher so they put a big "X" on the ones with sticks, pine cones, gum balls, etc., so I don't mess up my mulcher frown . The night before yard waste pick-up I go around and collect all the bags they put out for me. After I mulch the leaves I fold the bags and return them to the neighbors. wink I figure it's a win-win situation for all of us, and maybe I'm saving a little tree because the bags get reused. thumbup

Boy, it sounds like you have a lot of ground to play around with, so it must keep you pretty busy. Wish you would post some pictures. smile

#83930 March 5th, 2007 at 09:58 PM
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I love the gardener guy Paul James . I watch him all the time . I have my dvr set to record him everytime he is on . I am glad someone else watches him and likes the show as much as I do.
I also am expanding my garden sites all the time . I get tons of leaves from the neighbors that are older and do not want to take time to rake and bag them . I have my son go rake and bag them and dump them in the garden areas to be expanded . I do this in my own yard and the neighbors as they fall off the trees and just pile them on the garden spots over winter . I til them in spring into the exsisting garden spots and add more that people are just getting bagged up on top . I leave the newly expanded areas piled under the leaves for a few months and just let them kill the weeds . My son makes a little pocket change doing this from the neighbors , I get the free mulch and compost and the boy also gets lots of good exercise . I was posting on another forum here that I shred leaves to add as mulch over flowerbeds . I leave them to decompose in the flowerbeds and just add more as they break down . It feeds the beds and keeps the weeds down too . I put a bag full in a large can and either break them up with a garden tool or have my youngest daughter jump up and down on them and play in them til they are crunched up real good. She loves it too . LOL . I save a few bags and put in my compost pen area , an old dog pen 10 by 20 that I have my piles of compost going all the time . I add leaves on top of kitchen scraps to compost them. I presently have 5 piles going . I have one that is going to be ready for adding to the garden when it is ready to plant , real soon . I have one that is just at the point of only turning , cooking and watering . I have 3 that are being added to all the time . At first the kids thought I was nuts , when most people are bagging and getting rid of leaves I am going and gathering them up to add to the yard . LOL .
I also have a couple piles of dried cow manuer , one has set for a year that I can add to the piles , one that is just gathered this year and will be set aside for adding next year . I have a cousin in the country with a few head of cattle and my daughter in law and I go gather a small truck load every spring from the pasture . Grandpa next door has chickens and I like to use that fertilizer too . He always asks me why my plants and flowers do so much better than his , I tell him all the time STOP USING STORE BOUGHT FERTILIZER . Oh well , if he wants to spend his money on that stuff and let me clean out the chicken coop , so be it . LOL .
OK , now that I have rattled on and on I will go and post this . Have a great day .

#83931 March 6th, 2007 at 01:52 PM
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... hi there Patches... and oh yeah, lol, it sure sounds like you've trained your neighbors really really well then... and gooder for you, and gooder for them too. And yes... I've just gots loads and loads of room for to play around with up here... and and and eventually mehopes it'll all come together, and look really really kewl too (I hope I hope).

The pictures thang I'm having a bit of a time with though... and I'm still not sure about it either. And I mean, I loves my digital camera -'but'- and it's a rather big 'but' there too, lol... I've kinda noticed that I end up not saving and/or having a lot of the pics that as I look back on I really would like to have. The biggest example, and this one's a real tuffy for me too, and cuz it's still just too dang fresh a feeling... but, me best bud ever, my doggie Joey (a buff cocker) went and got old on me (he was 16) and he died on New Year's Eve
(dang it... these darned ol' eye-leakages anyways... and sorry, I'll be back).

Anywhos, lol and ugh ... I had loads and loads of pictures of Joey and of me garden's on-goings and ever-growings on my puter... and then on like Veteran's Day my laptop started really really acting up... and I still don't really know why either, but I just couldn't get it to come out of it (I sure did learn a lot about computers though, lol... and cuz I went through literally everything with my checking of stuff out) ... so... I ended doin my 're-install' disc, and consequently I also lost all of the pictures I had on here... and ouch!

And okay okay, I'm not all that computer like savvy either... and I really and truly do not need to, nor do I really want to... spend even more time on me laptop... and cuz I just already spend waaaayyyy too too much time as it is, lol... and ya know what I mean??? And so, since I got meself all back together computer/laptop-wise... I still haven't re-installed my photo shop and/or my scanner yet (and well, my scanner I wasn't really using all that much any more anyways... lol, even me ink cartridges kept drying up on me too... and ugh!)...
but anyways... I've been thinking about just using regular ol' film again, and then 'maybe' re-installing my scanner just to be able to scan 'em... I don't know though... I haven't had any computer props whatsoever since I got meself all back together, and I am just a bit leery about adding anything on here anymore... and so I'm still kinda up in the air about it... and I sure hope this makes sense too... and cuz actually speaking, I just wish I had all of those pics is all (and especially all the ones of me Joey).

#83932 March 6th, 2007 at 03:30 PM
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... hi there datazmom... and please, I just loves your 'rattling-on-s'... and I am not saying that just cuz I tend to be a blabber-mouth either, lol.

And yeah, I try never to miss 'the gardening guy' either... and well... and actually speaking, just about anything 'garden-wise' that's on too. Oh... and here's another couple of tips (from Msr James' show)... and for anyone who grows strawberries (I've gots a humongous patch... like 15' by 30'... and, like around 6 gallons of them babies a year for me freezer too... and that is after I am almost strawberried out to boot, lol)... anyways... I take all of the needles from my Christmas tree now, and I cast them all over me strawberry patch every year (and ever since I saw the tip on his show 3 years ago anyways)... them needles are a very slow release source of acidity... and me strawberries just goes nuts over 'em. And and and... when you like put your leaves in the can for to break 'em on down... Msr James says to just use one of those elec. or gas garden/weed whips on them... it really works pretty well too, lol.

And I sure hear ya on those expandings of yours there, and cuz I'll sure tell ya... I can't hardly believe how much of a help those grass clippings and leaves have been for my ever growing and on-going (sure seems so anyways, lol) expandings ... and too... I don't even hardly till anymore either (I have one of them little Mantis tillers, and when I did, or I do 'have to' till... then I also tend to be one of them only till once kinda gardeners, and just cuz I likes to disturb me ground just as little as possible)... no and no, lol, just give me my trusty ol' 12inch dandelion digger and off I be on me hands and knees.

And wowie too... you sure do have them compost piles a'goin' for ya there (and so, where do you live now? lol.... and cuz ya just hafta sleep sometime ya know)... I loves it!

I have two pretty gooder size compost piles, and then I do have many a dug composting hole out there as well... and as per that little ol' German lady/gardener that I mentioned up there above... but but and but... and just from having and using all of these grass clippings and leaves that I gets to have every year (well, and I use me weeds too, lol) I am also really beginning to think in terms of me whole garden just becoming like almost one humongous growing kinda compost pile, lol..... you know... sorta like that lasagna-effect (just a bit thinner is all), and everywheres????

And too... I don't have any piles of cow dung (lucky you there too, lol) but I do get horse manure, and from some folks just outside of town (the Underhills... and hmmm... they now have goats too, lol), and every time they do a clean up they'll bring me a load or two as well (thanks ever Keith and Carol, lol)... for which in return I always keep them loaded up with new plants.
(oh and that reminds me... I have to tell them that the 12 Irish Moss starts, that I got from them this last year, all took... so okay okay... we also exchange plantings as well, lol). And I hear ya on that chicken manure too... I used to have chickens down at me other place and what they did for my garden was just amazin'!.... every fall and very early spring I would clean out their coop and take all of that broken down straw mixed with their droppings and spread it all over me garden. I started my gardening ways (trial and error learnings and all, lol) there, and when I moved I would've given anything for to have taken/brought all of that soil there with me... dang, but it was sooooo lush.... and then to come up here and find just all really heavy clay soil... and the previous owners who did nothing to and/or for the soil, but rather just used all of that chemical like junk to get what they wanted from from what little garden they did have... and ugh!... and like, when I first moved here I couldn't even find any worms out there
anywheres... and ouch! And too... they had told me that that beautiful strawberry patch o'mine had just about stopped producing... and I thought at the time, and from looking at what all I could see of their garden ways, lol, "well no wonder".... and yikes!
(another gooder thingie that I've also learned about strawberries, is that they really do like to be roughed up a bit too... and for example... every early spring... well, and just about now, lol... I'll take my hard rake and I 'rather roughly' comb all through my strawberry patch with it... backwards and forwards and sideways too... and by doing it I tend to pull out most all of last year's dead stuff (wee, more compost, lol) while also breaking most of the plants' connections to their mothering plants... and it sure seems to invigorate them all the more as well... and well... strawberries can be pretty dang aggressive anyways, ya know... and so I just sorta figured that I am just being a bit aggressive right back... I didn't know that they'd love it so much though, lol... and cuz last year I even gave away over some 500 or so strawberry plants... and that was/is just to keep me patch from expanding upon itself all the more, lol)

... and now... ex-squeeze me for goin' on and on too... lol, methinks I'll go now and maybe rake some strawberries.

#83933 March 6th, 2007 at 10:07 PM
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Well I am working still on getting the soil improved here . When I first moved in it was horrible . There was nothing but weeds and clay soil . I have ammended the soil with compost and leaves every year . Soon I won't have to til so much and just be able to work the soil alot easier . It is alot better than it was at first . The first year I was lucky to get anything to grow . Then the second year it was better . I will work it all in this year and then add more leaves on top for mulch to keep the weeds down .

I have learned alot over the years from the gardener guy and my own experiences . Nothing better for the garden than what mother nature makes for it . I love to play in the dirt and don't mind getting my hands dirty at all . I know what you mean about all the money waisted on chemicals and the leaves and grass clippings waisted . When we lived in town it was bad because landlords there do not want you to do nothing to the yards. City folks there don't like lookin at the compost pile , well shoot I did it anyway . LOL . They don't like how it looks , don't look . That's what I say .

I like most every show on gardening but that Paul James is a hoot . He cracks me up . I could watch every show he does no matter how many times I have seen it . I like his little friend farmer Fred too , that guy that does the segment on the raised beds . He is awesome too . I am working on a raised bed this year for my herbs to keep them a little more contained . I already have some raised beds , the kids say they are not raised beds they are just old tires that I have plants in but they are raised beds . OK so they are my tired garden . LOL . The kids think I am nuts , but I love gardening and will put a plant in just about anything . If they don't watch out there will be no room out back for dad to set up their swimming pool cause I will make the entire backyard into gardens . Would not bother me , if I get too hot I just turn on the hose and give myself a good soaking . Who needs a pool ? It just gets in the way of my gardens, Right? Hmmm .

One of these days when I figure this hole thing out of how to put pictures on this site I will do that and show ya around my place . I love to take pictures with my digital camera . That was the best Valentines gift my hubby ever got me .

I share plants and veggies with my neighbors too . I always have tons to spare and even after I can or freeze what we need . Someone told me once I needed to grow a smaller garden then , I told them NO WAY , there would be no fun in doing that . Now I just keep it getting bigger and bigger all the time .

Well gonna go putter about in the dirt awhile . Have a great day y'all .


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