Buy Compost Ingredients?

[flowerbug]

I have read and been told that weed seeds can live in your soil for decades. Somebody digs down and tills them up and then they sprout. I won't even mess with it.
I post the FYI bc I get frustrated with 1/2 truths about gardening.

as someone who does pretty low impact gardening in most of my patches it is rare i dig down deeply at all. if it stirs up a few weed seeds i can live with that.

as far as how long weed seeds can remain viable in the soil the last studies i saw for some plants put things like crab grass at over 75 years.

considering that seeds can be moved around by wind, rain and critters no barren spot would remain bare for long if it had enough moisture and spots for seeds to come to rest. that is why a line of rocks or other obstacles in the desert can be a start of a hedge given enough time and protection from overgrazing.

 

[flowerbug]

How our economy is set up has NEVER made sense to me. We go to the store to pay for food so we can keep a piece of grass beautiful instead of growing our own food. We then mow the grass and pay for disposal of the grass.

We then buy that very same grass back 6 months later as compost. To feed our lawn. So we can not use the space for food.

i consider it a form of mental illness - but i understand the history of it and why people want it - i surely don't want it for myself...

 

[Beekissed]

I cannot figure out how to get my horses to clean it up for me, bc they like it and aren't allergic to it.

Don't know if this will work for horses, as they seem to be pickier than cows, but many people are training their cattle to consume typical pasture pest weeds....they seem to have some level of success.

 

[ducks4you]

That would be a very good thing.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have read and been told that weed seeds can live in your soil for decades. Somebody digs down and tills them up and then they sprout. I won't even mess with it.
I post the FYI bc I get frustrated with 1/2 truths about gardening.

I planted Kong sunflowers and the next year a different kind of sunflower. Somewhere in there I did not have any Kong for 3 years and we tilled and had Kong come up in several places.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have piles and piles of straw and leaves. There are a couple of piles in a bin a few years old and still it is not broken down. DH made the compost. I feel so lazy not doing it, but really I just do not have enough time. DS has no interest in gardening but helps me when I ask, but the composting would just take too much of his time. I am trying to decide if I am just going to sack stuff up and haul to the dump or figure out a way to use this.

 

[flowerbug]

what's wrong with just burying it in the garden as you are going along? it will break down eventually when it is buried.

 

[ducks4you]

what's wrong with just burying it in the garden as you are going along? it will break down eventually when it is buried.

That would involve digging deep, which is what you said you do Not do. I agree, digging deep in you bed, raking/pushing with a broom to move the leaves in, and then covering with soil would help to break them down. I read articles about 10 years ago about turning your piles to help them to get oxygen that would further break down the leaves. You can STILL USE THEM even if they didn't break down over the winter bc they WILL break down as the weather warms and the bugs that hibernate work on them, so don't worry. I suggest that you find a dry day, rake open your leaf pile and mow them into mulch.
This is where I believe owning/using a tiller helps a LOT. I till up my beds every year, and then dump compost on top and then aGAIN till them together before I start. Weeds are a PITA BUT squash bugs/squash vine borers are worse. I am definitely using my chickens in my garden this year before I plant/transplant.

 

[flowerbug]

That would involve digging deep, which is what you said you do Not do. I agree, digging deep in you bed, raking/pushing with a broom to move the leaves in, and then covering with soil would help to break them down. I read articles about 10 years ago about turning your piles to help them to get oxygen that would further break down the leaves. You can STILL USE THEM even if they didn't break down over the winter bc they WILL break down as the weather warms and the bugs that hibernate work on them, so don't worry. I suggest that you find a dry day, rake open your leaf pile and mow them into mulch.
This is where I believe owning/using a tiller helps a LOT. I till up my beds every year, and then dump compost on top and then aGAIN till them together before I start. Weeds are a PITA BUT squash bugs/squash vine borers are worse. I am definitely using my chickens in my garden this year before I plant/transplant.

i do not normally dig deep, there's always exceptions. certain weeds i remove manually and they can put roots down 2 or more feet even into the clay.

fast composting involves layering, mixing, turning... i don't fast compost here.

most of the leaves around here fall in the north hedge where the few decidous trees are at - they can stay where they fall.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Ten years ago I did layer, mix, turn piles but I also had DH helping. He would move the piles and actually had a screen and sifted the finished out and put the not finished back and rebuilt piles. I would make a pile while he was at work and we could get them smoking, but now after all the years of his illness and since he died, I am extremely out of shape. I have a sit down job and I do need exercise, but planting and keeping the garden might be all I can do or little by little I get back in shape.