TOPIC: opening day...

I like your idea of composting, one pile. I took a Master Gardeners course in OR and the instructor had a 5-stall system. She had photos and just went on and on and on and on... about it, said it was a birthday gift from her husband.

I'm remodeling still in the house,currently building a paver walkway/steps to our front porch, etc, I'm barely keeping up with weeding the garden and general maintenance around the house. Composting has been on my mind for a long time and I'm determined to start a simple one pile compost right soon.

It's interesting that you're wrapping up much of your garden while mine is just coming into harvest time. I harvested my first bunch of green beans today. I have lots of green tomatoes on the vine with one just starting to turn red. My cherry tomatoes are full of clusters. I have several cukes 1-3 inches long and lots of flowers. I've got tassels on several of my corn stalks and silks on a few of those. The crop as a whole looks lush and healthy. My carrots, brussel sprouts and parsnips are progressing, the latter two I've never grown before nor do I eat them, but by wife likes them so I'm growing them. I never liked BS as a kid, have never eaten parsnip but I'll try each if we harvest any.

I have a "healthy" garden competition with my neighbors. Last year I left bags several times at their front door with beans and corn. They don't plant beans and their corn failed to grow, it's not growing again this year as it's stalled at about 3 inches tall. They don't water they're garden and I think he over-tiIls which is why they can't grow from seed in their soil. The lettuce and celery was grown in a bed. I look forward to giving them corn this year, tomorrow they'll get some beans.

They've given us some lettuce, celery and recently cukes and potatoes. They bought cuke plants which is why they're ripe here already. I planted seeds about a week after they planted they're cuke plants. I think they're cheaters! lol

I need to get up and check my seng real soon. I recall last year some red berries in July. Maybe the deer haven't eaten all of them.

Wow, one of my honey holes has been devastated, I suspect by deer. I've seen a doe and fawn on my game cam at that location. This is the spot where I found red berries last July, while the deer have left a few berry stems the berries are very small still. I checked another location and it's held up better with the deer invasion.

I attended a conference last summer with several speakers, most were college professors or the like. One guy from Cornell went on about the ill effects of the over population of deer in the Appalachians. They did a research study where they fenced off parts of the woodlands and he claims that the invasive plants diminished while the native plants like trillium returned. He claimed that removing deer from an area restored it to it's natural self.

I'm thinking of doing this next year to one of my honey holes using plastic net fencing which is what they used in the study.

TN, regarding your compost pile, does it produce an offensive odor or form a place that flies or other annoying bugs congregate to? I'm going to start one soon but want to pick a good spot near my garden.

On the compost pile and smell, bugs, bees, etc...

Yes.. a compost pile is basically a heap of rotting vegetation, and it can smell a bit (depending on what you have been putting in there)...

If you harvest 100 pounds of peaches and put those up, and put all the bad ones and peelings and scraps in the pile... bees and wasp and yellowjackets will sure be attracted to that.

My flat garden (where I row crop, tomatoes, corn, cukes, etc).. is about 150 ft from the garage side of my home... and my compost pile is at the far corner of the garden. Never ever smell it from our house, or even outside the garage, or most of the time even from within just a few feet of the pile. But at times, it will get a little smelly (lots of fruit rotting, tomatoes, peaches, etc.. can put off a fermenting type smell) and you may get some of that.... but it will be quite mild and hardly noticable unless up close on a hot day.

You can always add a bunch of fruit and veggie scraps, and then put a layer of hay or straw on top of that, and that will help keep the smell down. It is good to add stuff to the pile in layers, green stuff, dry stuff, some dirt, etc..

Unless you are going to have your compost pile withing 10 ft of your back door, I would not worry about smell.

Now if you do something crazy like put a bunch of fish guts or squirrel scraps in there.. it will stink bad. Don't put meat in your compost. I never do. About the only animal product that I put in my pile is egg shells, and I put all of our egg shell scraps in there... once they break down, a good source of calcium.

If your garden is out from your house a bit and you put your pile at the far corner of it... should be no problem.

TNHunter

I use grass clippings too in the compost pile ,breaks down pretty fast.

That's right Chief... grass clippings excellent add to the compost pile (high in N).

When it comes to tree leaves... I compost my maple leaves (they break down rather easily... takes a few months and some turning, but they compost well) also high in Calcium.. Don't use Oak leaves in your compost though takes them forever to break down 6-8 months or more...
and only if you mix them well with other stuff.. and they are very acidic.

Soft, thin - tree leaves normally compost well, Maple, Poplar, boxelder, mulberry... but not those harder shiny oak leaves, magnolia leaves.

When I pick my corn ears, I bend/break the stalk over... when have picked them all they are all bent over...
I will then take the time one day to pull each one up, and toss it in my big wheel barrow... and over to the compost pile. I use a bypass pruning tool to cut them up some... I may cut one 8 ft stalk up into 4-5 pieces... makes it much easier to mix and turn the pile later on.

Some garden stuff once spent is OK to put in the pile... but other stuff you should not... like diseased, or blighted leaves or stalks... get rid of those, burn them or just take them way off... only put healthy looking, non diseased, spent... plant materials in your compost pile.

Something like Grass Clippings or straw or hay, or just some garden dirt... can be put on top of a pile of wet stuff (like tomato peelings, peach scraps, apple pealings)... to keep the bees and wasp and jackets down.. and the smell down too.

I have not been able to turn my working pile now for a few months.. I had at first what I though was a squash plant sprout up in the pile... several of them. I pulled them all but the best one and left it... well it grew into a huge vine, and I thought for a while it might be a pumpkin... but later after fruit set, found it to be a spagetti squash. It has 5-6 nice fruit on it...already harvested one. Free food, just growing right out of the pile. That is not to uncommon.

TNHunter

Hey guys, thanks for the info on composting. I'm doing research and appreciate your inputs. I don't have time at the moment to say much (it's my bedtime) but wanted you to know your insight is not falling on deaf ears.

This evening I discovered what I believe are "Black Bean Aphids", also called blackfly on a couple of my corn stalks. I googled aphids and after looking at pics and a description, I believe they are the black bean type. Wikpedia mentioned they produce a honey dew that ants like and will kill aphid predators for, I saw ants on the stalk. I also saw ladybugs (not the invasive Asian beetle some a-holes introduced) so I suspect they were eating the aphids and the ants were collecting the honeydew.

The recommended "cure" is a dish soap-water solution that I'll make up in the morning and spray on them. I suspect they're eating the hell out of my brussel-sprouts as well.

Regarding the compost discussion, what did you guys use to construct your compost bins?

pouring down rain here,that should break the heat wave for awhile anyway.

Hey Woodsrunnter...

Again on my compost pile.. I take the very simple approach... it is constructed out of NOTHING...

It is just a pile... that is all you really need.

I have seen people online constructing them out of old used pallets... it you want a 2-3 bin approach.

Me I just pile it up, let it rot, most of the year... then Feb thru April I turn it over some, to finish it off nicely.
about the last thing I put in my pile for the year is some fall maple leaves from the sugar maples in my front yard.

After I put them in the pile. I do mix it good to get them mixed in.. and they do break down nicely by April.

This past Saturday I pulled up all my corn stalks, beat the dirt off the root end, and took them over to my compost pile and cut them up with my bypass pruning hand tool.. all of those corn stalks are chopped up and in the pile now... I still have the spagetti squash growing, ripening fruit, and it looks like a Pumpkin vine growing out the pile. I have picked two ripe spagetti squash so far... and it looks like we may have 3-4 pumpkins by this fall.

TNHunter

Personally, I've wondered why one needs an enclosure, even in a three bin system. When I bought this place, the previous owner boasted multiple compost piles which were simply vegetation in very small fencing formed in circles. She had been gone for three years so it was pretty much weeds.

I think I've chosen my location which is near my garden(s). It is shaded and once I extend my water line I'll be able to reach it with a hose to keep it moist during drying spells.

Interesting that your garden is winding down and mine just ripening. I've been picking cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, the latter I can't eat fast enough. I like sharing with neighbors (at least until my wife figures out how to pickle them). She's been researching and I'm holding out hope that she can break away long enough from her inside the house interests to get that going. Otherwise, it will fall on me and right now I've got too much else going on.

I sprayed several corn stalks today and all four brussel sprout plants for aphids. I think I'm too late on the brussels. I'll give them a day or so and if they are still looking bad, I'll pull them and burn them away from my garden. None of my other plants appear to be inflicted.

My neighbor about 250 yards down the road has bee hives and her bees are all up in my garden. I couldn't even spray all my corn this morning there were so many bees. Last year I saw only bumble bees and I think her bees are why everything is doing so much better. I've given her cukes and beans so far this summer and will give her tomatoes and corn when they ripen and she's promised us honey. She only moved here from Texas last year, so glad she has bees. I'm kind of a "stinging, biting insect phobe" and could not have hives myself.

On another note, checked part of one of my other "honey-holes" and the deer have not overwhelmed it yet. Checked one of my four-prongs and it's still in one piece with a nice berry cluster forming.

TN, what does your compost look like when you add it to the garden? I've seen where it looks almost soil like but I think that's with large commercial operations.