Compost Clean up

[kyrsyan]

Over the last few years there was a section of the yard that I let go wild. I had my hands full with health and other issues and it just wasn't worth fighting nature. And nature was providing some very needed privacy screening for my backyard.
But it's time to move the orchard to a better location and the wild was that location. The orchard trees and shrubs will provide future privacy screening. So a few weeks ago a friend and I started clearing out the wild. This has resulted in a massive pile of debris that I have been cutting down to size and adding to this year's compost bin. (I have 3. Each year I empty one and it becomes the bin for that year.) Anyways, the bin is getting kind of full so I decided to use a hack of an English fence technique to help contain things. I'm about halfway done. There are three more baby trees coming down this weekend. Those will probably fill in most of the bottom gap.
And yes, I'm still dumping compost in from the top. The pile shrinks about 4" every two weeks. At some point it will compress to a point where it will take longer to shrink, but we're not there yet. The bin in the picture is 4'x4'. There is a whole lot of stuff crammed in there at the moment. And about 1/3 again as much to still go in over the next few weeks.
And that's the big bins. When that one is full for the year, I've got three smaller plastic bins that are going in next to the spots for the new elderberry plantings. I'll cram those for the year and take them out next spring.
And I'm debating taking the much thicker portions from the trees, if there is enough, and using that to frame two new 6' x 6' garden beds. Or re-frame some of the garden beds where the lumber is failing. Definitely be more affordable than buying lumber right now.

 

[Freeholder]

Good work! I hate to see useful stuff like that just chipped or burned -- you can make all kinds of useful items out of small-diameter wood. Trellises, fence sections (like you did, or woven together -- wickets), tool handles if it's the right kind of wood, and many other things.

Kathleen

 

[packyderms_wife]

Good work! I hate to see useful stuff like that just chipped or burned -- you can make all kinds of useful items out of small-diameter wood. Trellises, fence sections (like you did, or woven together -- wickets), tool handles if it's the right kind of wood, and many other things.

Kathleen

We chip ours and put it in the bottom of our raised beds! Throw some top soil on top of that and a good six inches of compost on top of the top soil and I have a beautiful garden. Now if it would just dry out so I can tend to my beds and get some planting done.

 

[kyrsyan]

Good work! I hate to see useful stuff like that just chipped or burned -- you can make all kinds of useful items out of small-diameter wood. Trellises, fence sections (like you did, or woven together -- wickets), tool handles if it's the right kind of wood, and many other things.

Kathleen

Well the trunks of the trees are 4 to 6". And I'm pretty sure I'm going to use them to "repair" current garden beds. And then there are 6 more trees of slightly larger diameter, in another spot, that have to come down as well. I will probably use the smaller limbs from those as base filler for two new garden beds, then top with soil.
I don't have a chipper. Although I wish because I could use the chip. And I really don't like to burn a lot. Some, small quantities, is okay. But not this amount.
I have discovered that Tulip Poplar wood is worthless for this type of stuff. It just breaks down way too quickly.
I am debating a "corduroy" road type walkway for a few areas depending on what comes down with the bigger trees. But those have to be taken down and moved much more promptly, because the only way to fall them is on someone else's property. They don't have a problem with me taking them down but they don't want me to take weeks to clean them up and use the results.

 

[kyrsyan]

So I filled the first bed over the top. Even with new green dumped on top, it's likely full for the season.
So I fixed the fencing on the back of the connecting compost bed and started on it. Since I'm doing this one myself, from the start, I'm getting a lot more tucked in. And I'm using a heavier limb to push things around and down. Nothing is being dropped in vertical. Anything long enough is building the front on that bed. It's also about to get the pool clean up debris dumped in it.
Focus this weekend is getting te rest of veg in. Repairing some pants. And starting to trim down the peach tree.
The longer, bigger trunks and limbs are tucked against the garden beds, for when I can get that step done.

 

[kyrsyan]

This is where things were yesterday. I realized that if I wanted to keep the "ingredient" mix stable i was going to have to pull the third bed into the equation for now.
Well, I was going to share pictures but the files are too big. I'll have to see if the computer can fix that later.
Anyways, this morning was cleaning out the third bin and rebuilding it. And that bin had a variety of stabby stabbies that are still very stabby when dead. So pitchfork and gloves needed. Now all three bins, each 4x4x4 ft, are up and running at various heights. They rest of the brush and tree cleanups will go in the second and third as I also build up their fronts. Grass and green clippings will keep topping of the first one and then go down the line as it tops off.
Household stuff will likely be going in the second one. The first one is too full at this point. And if I can get some fresh wood chip, I'll probably top 2 and three for the season and switch to the smaller composters in the garden beds.
But so happy to see it looking cleaner and neater.

Yeah. The computer can do what the phone couldn't.