ABOUT | TOPICS |
Search  Hint
| Newsletter Signup
| rssrssfacebooktwitter

high-speed, hit-and-run composting

shredded-compostFOR YEARS MY FRIEND ANDREW, a better gardener than I by far, has been telling me the secret, but I just wouldn’t listen. Like I do, Andrew creates a lot of debris from his giant garden and nursery. “Run it over,” he said, whenever I’d complain about the daunting size of my heap. “Just run it over with your mower to pre-shred the stuff.” Well, I finally did.

Facing the overstuffed, impossible-to-manage reality of my 40-by-6-by-8-foot heap, I raked the top 2-foot layer (the still-whole stuff, like last fall’s leaves, in the photo below) onto the ground beside the pile, removed any enormous or woody pieces, got out the tractor, and performed my first act of hit-and-run composting. Wow. What a difference a drive-by makes.

unshredded-debris

In no time I had reduced the dry stuff formerly on top by probably 75 percent in volume, creating what will make a great (free) mulch (bottom photo) for rough areas like the vegetable and cutting rows. And I had gained access to the enormous volume of finished compost beneath it. (Next step: to screen that for use.)

shredded-debrisDrive-by composting is my new favorite task, and next time I won’t wait: I’ll pre-shred the stuff when I collect it in fall, just like Andrew told me to, helping get the decomposition process off to a faster start.

Related Posts

  1. compost-screen composting 101
  2. composting basics
  3. stout cover 2010 resolution: a ‘no-work’ garden?

Comments

  1. Cindy says:

    I love your site! As an person that is in the office and car 10 hours a day and can’t wait to get home to get dirt under my nails, feverishly working till dark, your site helps me feel that AM in my garden while at my job. Keep typing, PLEASE!!

  2. cindee says:

    I know this is a great idea because i did this last fall when I was picking up leaves. I ran the mower first then dumped those leaves from the bag into a pile. It worked great! I plan to get a shredder sometime in the future but the lawnmower works for now!

  3. Kathy says:

    My husband and son have both been doing this for years. It does work and they like doing it….maybe it is a guy thing.

  4. margaret says:

    Welcome, Cindy. Thanks for the encouragement. I am at the computer more than I’d like, but promise to keep at it (and also to steal outside and get dirty a bit).

    @ Cindee and Kathy (or Kathy’s men): I should have listened to you or Andrew all these years!

  5. What an excellent idea!

  6. MulchMaid says:

    In our last garden we had a big liriodendron with huge leaves. Using a bag mower, we saved on raking time in the fall and made the mulch so much easier to turn in the spring.
    In our new home now, we’re waiting for the trees we’ve planted to get large enought to use the technique again!

  7. Erin says:

    What a fantastic idea. I desperately want a mulching mower with a bag attachment or a mulcher/shredder thing, but just running over the stuff with the mower sure helps a lot too.

  8. wonderful !!! thanks for sharing :)

  9. Tammy says:

    Gosh, what I wouldn’t give for so much compost. Got me thinking about the land we have 2 hrs. away. Lots of brown, but not so much green for composting. Any ideas about how to have long distance composting?

  10. chris says:

    just a little different take, i first rake and pile into a large compost pile by the garden, then i shred using my mackissic shredder/chipper. my simplicity tractor/mower is tough, but not as tough as my mighty mac.

  11. Brian G. says:

    I never rake leaves in the fall (too daunting). I wait till the majority are on the ground and run the mower over the whole place one last time. Looks a little funny mowing in November but the result is in-place compost. All of the shredded material has worked its way to the soil by spring.

  12. Love this site. Wish composting was more appreciated. Just ordered 3 yards from an organic farmer and had to explain to a neighbor why compost is the most important ammendment. Sometimes life would be easier if one could happy with the white rock, yews, and resin fountain landscape. Is there rehab for those addicted to perfect PH soil?

  13. woody plant girl says:

    I have eliminated grass but use a leaf vacuum system in my fall clean up and yes shredded material goes down faster. My winter trick for kitchen stuff is to freeze it and when we get enough warm days so the ground is softer I just dig it in. This works now because I am preparing beds to be planted. When everything is planted, I’ll go back to my composter. Shredded material + frozen stuff and watered in: yummy soil lasagne.

  14. Patricia says:

    Do any of you have a favorite tool to lift leaves, mulch, etc. – a favorite mulch/compost rake? The few I’ve looked at at the garden stores are SO HEAVY.

  15. Margaret says:

    @Patricia: I would say the same about most all tools these days…what happened to well-made ones that didn’t weigh a ton? (I broke my favorite long-handled shovel a few years ago and now have 5 “new” ones lined up in the barn, each having proven useless for their weight, and keep searching). I’d call Lee Valley Tools and ask them how much this one weighs, or AM Leonard about this one that they call lightweight. Now if you need a heavy shovel, just let me know; that I can provide. :)

  16. Patricia says:

    The one AM Leonard makes looks very promising! If I go ahead and buy it, I’ll let you know. Thanks so much Margaret!

  17. Patricia says:

    Just wanted to tell all that I bought the AM Leonard mulching fork that you referenced and it is wonderful! Light but sturdy and looks like it will provide many seasons of lifting mulch and distributing. Thanks so much for the suggestion! Patricia

  18. Margaret says:

    @Patricia: Wow, that’s great news. I love AM Leonard, and now I know what my next purchase will be there…. :)

  19. Wow- such a simple idea but I am sure it works. We have lots and lots of leaves from the fall that we compost. Thanks for the info, I will give it a try next weekend.

Speak Your Mind

*

get the away to garden newsletter

The Confessional

Some stuff really gets A Way to Garden-ers going. Weigh in, or just lurk while everyone else shares about these hot buttons:

Juicy Bits

name that weed I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS by their proper names, but my “weeds,” not so much. These great weed-identification websites are helping me finally address them with the proper (dis)respect.

everything old is new VINTAGE 'GREEN' POSTERS from the WPA 1940s look fresher than ever.

shrubs to covet THE OLDER THE GARDEN and I get, the more we love these shrubs.

tomato troubles STAY AHEAD OF tomato diseases with these organic tactics.

the edible garden GROW YOUR OWN 2010: my vegetable seed order.

plants that perform 21 POWERHOUSE PERENNIALS you will love for your garden.

herb-garden help GROWING AND STORING a year of parsley.

berry peachy-keen CLAFOUTIS BATTER how-to (the solution for easy fruit desserts).

rex, rhizomatous and more FANCY-LEAF BEGONIAS, beauties for indoors and out.

crispy refrigerator pickles WHAT IS IT ABOUT refrigerator pickles that makes everybody so happy? Get those cukes ready!

winged victory THE GARDEN as bird habitat: 11 tips on what birds like.

hellebore porn SEXY, EXTRA-EARLY, evergreen shade perennials I can’t garden without.

forum

success with heirlooms CAN GRAFTING TOMATOES help insure a bountiful harvest?

the garden is a showoff 375 VISITORS, 1 BIG RHODIE: spring garden open day, in a virtual visit. How it looked, and also what they all asked.

keeping deer out DEER FENCE: I tried every anti-deer potion and trick till I got real and fenced. Strategies for every garden.

secrets to great tomatoes TOMATO TIPS, seed to harvest: Dozens of tricks for a better crop.

yes, even in dry shade MY 4 TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS perform even in the worst spots, like dry shade.

5 great small trees GARDEN-SIZED TREES can’t just be the right scale; they need to have multi-season interest, too. Have room for one of my favorites?

10 underplanting do’s and don’ts MAKING MOSAICS—that’s what I call good underplanting of trees and shrubs with a tapestry of plants. Here’s how.

a ribbeting bullfrog whodunit LET BULLFROGS BE BYGONES? No way. Where did all my biggest frogboys go?

stars of the spring shrubbery BEYOND LILACS (and forget forsythia!), a slideshow of some fine spring shrubs you may not grow (yet).

speeding up the compost DRIVE BY, HIT-AND-RUN composting speeds up the decomposition process while making good mulch quickly. Here’s how.

making a 365-day garden THINK FALL (YES, FALL): Don’t get sucked in by spring-bloomers only at the nursery. A great garden happens 365 days: Shop smart to make it so.

the facts about bulbs SOMETHING UP with a flower bulb? Paltry bloom, or wondering when to feed or cut off the foliage? It’s all here.

must-read garden poem MY FAVORITE POEM celebrates loss, one of gardening (and life’s) realities. It does it with humor: "Why Did My Plant Die?” is a must-read.

12 steps to sanity? HELP FOR GARDENERS: Hi, my name is Margaret, and yes, we operate a 12-Step program here.

orchid rebloom made easy I REBLOOMED MY FIRST ORCHID recently (finally!) and it turns out to be pretty easy going. Here’s how.

my seed-starting 101 WHAT ABOUT SEED-STARTING in general? The A Way to Garden method.

hail the stewartia I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP, that do more than a week or two of showing off. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if it’s multi-season interest you crave.

can-do pruning REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies JUNE IS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony does its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant? SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop.