I have never been able to kill poison ivy. Only temporarily with a commercial herbicide. I cut the vines every year and it always comes back from its roots. I've never tried soil solarization though. The poison Ivy I battle is mostly near the trunk of our fruit trees or our building foundations.
I got about 2 yards of that pile shredded so far. The first picture is how it came to me, the second is after I ran it through my chipper/shredder.
I mentioned back in Aug I think that I had let part of my yard grass just keep growing for the greens. Now I have a thick, rich patch of green that I guess the cold has weakened some cause it is easy to just yank gobs of it up to fill a bucket. It’s a labor intensive way to get the stuff I suppose but it should be good for composting. I prefer lazy myself but I have to get what I can.
Just wanted to stop by and say hello to any hot composters out there who are working through the winter. ☮️
I’m I’m late with getting my bins started this year and have some ground to make up, so to speak. What was left from last year looked really good but still had a few shells, I dumped it in whats to be my garden bed in the other awful pics. This bed is a long going project with other piles and in place composting that I have going on. I don’t know how I duped that first pic.
That one bin broke down to probably 1/3 (I’m guessing) of the original mass and was really heavy. I used a little bit of it planting last year but I was impressed with how rich it looked.
Thank you @TimJ , I had to rake a layer of grass clips from it to get the pic. I’ll put a bottomless container over that in Spring.
These GioBins hold quite a bit of materials. Am I correct to assume that the wt will hold the sides out? I put in a metal stake but I dont think I’m going to need it. I thought of re enforcing the key clips as well with tie wraps but held out. I had a good day of composting today.
Hey @TimJ , do you have a trick for turning this Giobin? This this is going to hold a lot of stuff. I remember you and @Organic sinse talking about using another bin and just transfer it over. Or fork it out on a tarp and remix it back in?
@dobro49, I just detach the Geobin from the existing pile, and reset it. The pile itself is freestanding. Then I work from the top and outside of the old pile to fill the Geobin in it's new position. Like this..
Hello hello ! I have been stacking pallet frames in my backyard, filling them with leafs, Outdoor soil, used indoor soil and food scraps tvat are appropriate. Also added worms. My question is: is there any way I can benefit from this compost indoor without bringing in pests? Thanks in advance
Those so called pests are what make our living organic soil work. I've never had a problem using my compost indoors. We all will experience some fungus gnats, they are easily controlled.
Okay dokay ! I got a lot to learn. Did not mean to badmouth your precious bugs man So I guess you will grow indoors with this compost and do some preventive or after action to control hungry bugs. Maybe you have ladybugs indoor? What would you do/add to this compost when using it indoor? I will check out the no till thread
The trick to not bringing the annoying bugs in like fungus gnats, is to make sure that there isn't anything in the compost that isn't fully broken down. The rule of thumb is "if you can recognize it, its not broken down". Food scraps that aren't broken down are what attract fungus gnats more than anything. The best thing you could do is turn your pile frequently. That really helps things to break down in a more even fashion. Screening your compost is another option. I try to avoid screening unless I am desperate for compost because its work. Hardware cloth, with 1/4"-1/2" squares works well. I prefer the 1/2" size. HTH cheers os