Flower and Bee

Flower and Bee, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Compost Heap Swells with Infusion of Fresh Leaves

Even a modest yard can be innundated with leaves in the height of autumn. With more or more municipalities placing restrictions on yard waste collection, disposal of leaves can be a real hassle. While oak leaves tend to mat and break down slowly, most leaves are well-suited for composted. If a fistful of leaves crunches and breaks apart, it'll be good for compost.

Dead, brown leaves are relatively high in carbon (C:N 60:1) and will require a good amount of greens to provide some nitrogen to speed decomposition. If it's not too late in the season, grass clippings should fit the bill. My town's recycling center is a gold mine for getting clippings. I like to kick it there ands covet my neighbors' lawn clippings.

Incidentally, the garden fork in the picture is my new favorite tool. It's perfect for turning compost, digging holes in rocky soil, and scaring teenage hooligans.

Extra credit reading assignment: wonderful article on how composting does its thing.

Jennings Pond

Jennings Pond, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Autumn in Eastern Massachusetts

South Natick, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Euonymus alatus

An otherwise uninteresting plant during the spring and summer, euonymus alatus also known as a burning bush gradually turns from green to a brilliant red with orange-hued berries. A common plant, especially when one is atuned to spot it, euonymous alatus is considered by many to be an invasive species. Recently, Botany Photo of the Day profiled the rather similar euonymus europeanus.

Thoughts of invasion notwithstanding, this plant grows at a fast clip, around 13 to 24 inches per year. It is a an easy plant to maintain as it tolerates a wide range of soil conditions and enjoys everything between full shade to full sun. Come winter, feel free to hack away as this euonymous tolerates heavy pruning. It'll still love you come April.

Images of Fall on the Grange

Grange Experiences First Light Freeze of the 2006 Season

Above and Below the Ice
Originally uploaded by Reciprocity.

Early this morning, under a clear sky with calm winds, the temperature slipped below freezing for an hour or two, foreshadowing the close to this year's growing season. In anticipation, tender plants such as the oxalis and Christmas cactus were moved into the relative shelter of the garage. Hardier perennials such as the herbs were allowed to weather the cold unsheltered.

Steam Denotes my Success at Composting

steamy walk
Originally uploaded by elfis gallery.

Composting is great because it reduces waste and returns beneficial nutrients into your garden. Oh yeah, the whole thing runs on garbage, too. Unless it hatched baby seals and pandas, it'd be hard to find something more environmentally friendly.

None of these things interest me. Indeed, they are nice and I do get a warm hippie-crunchy-kashi-good-friends sort of feeling, all without having to vote or convert my car to run on the remains of chimichanga and french fry oil. But, I care about none of that. What gets me excited is the idea of getting my pile so hot that it would smoke.

Ignition. On one cold morning I turned the pile and it was smoking like Cheech and Chong at a glaucoma support group. This is really neat stuff. The pile is shrinking and steaming and I couldn't be more pleased with nature. Nature, you're back on my a-list, but you're a rainy day away from the b-list.

Meserve Holly

This ilex meservae ("Blue Princess") went into the ground last week. It is a remarkably hardy plant, withstanding temperatures as low as -30 F, and tolerating a range of conditions from shady to sunny and from wet to dry. These traits combined with its relatively quick growing habits should help establish this as a great foundation plant. To help these plants along, a small amount of Holly-Tone was scrathed in to the soil around the plant.

Also known as a Blue Holly, this plant is a hybrid of a hardy Japanese Holly with a more traditional looking English Holly. Not suprisingly, to get these red berries to set on female plants, a male plant needs to be within several hundred feet. It is best to plant at least one male along with several females. Both male and female should be of the same variety to ensure that both sexes are in bloom at the same time.

Reader Mailbag: Thoughts on Grass Clippings in Compost

wet grass
Originally uploaded by mosippy.

A reader writes, "Granger, you're a freakin' genius. Cast some knowledge down from the mountain on me. [Here's my question:] I've actually been adding grass clippings as browns...I pile them up in the back yard, let them dry out of a few weeks and then add them. They are all brown and dry by them...do you think that is bad? Also, I worry that grass clippings lead to increased weeds in my garden plot...any thoughts?

I have done a lot of research into composting and how it all works. Extension services have produced some really informative pages on how to get started. Cornell, in particular, has a great page on the science of composting. Understanding how compost forms is a good way to work through problems.

Here's what I think. The phrase, "browns and greens," is kind of misleading. Color, while a good rule of thumb, isn't determinative. Coffee grounds are a green, for example, and one of the best greens out there. So, the color of your grass shouldn't matter. What is important is its carbon to nitrogen ratio. Fresh grass typically has a C:N of between 10:1 and 20:1. (I've seen varying figures reported) It seems that anything below 30:1, which is the ideal C:N ratio for compost, is a "green," while anything above is a "brown." I think of browns and greens this way: if it burns, it's probably a brown.

Now, so what "color" is dead grass that's perhaps a few weeks old? That's hard to say. I suspect that perhaps some of the nitrogen has been extracted while it sat and that if added to a pile it wouldn't heat it up like fresh clippings would. That's just a guess, but I don't know if it'd really serve the purpose of a brown. It might. I just don't know. (I'd love to know how it works for you)

Regardless, I don't think it's a bad practice. If the end result is compost, then don't sweat it. Alternatively, you could add it to the pile right away and mix in some super browns like sawdust. I got a giant bucket of sawdust and it was a breeze to work in. But, then again, you might be producing more grass than you can compost at once. I tend to leave my clippings on the lawn. After a week, they've either broken down or been whisked away with the wind, scattered to the four corners of my neighborhood.

For the second part of your question, you might get seeds in your compost. This is a genuine problem. However, if you hot compost the high temperatures should deactivate the seeds, alleviating any problems there. Cold composting, done over a year or more, might accomplish the same thing, but I'm not too certain on this point. In the end, I think the benefits of using aged and mature compost outweigh the risks of stray seeds.

As an aside, I scored some major grass today. A lawn service crew that was working on my neighbor's yard gladly filled up a giant bin of grass clippings for me. My pile keeps getting hotter by the day. Fascinating stuff.

My Compost Heap: "That's Hot"

coffee for compost
Originally uploaded by seanorama.

If a good ratio of greens and browns are mixed together, bacteria within the pile start to get to multiply and begin eating the waste inside. So, even though morning temperatures are in the high 40s, the bacteria in my pile have the temperature dialed in at over a hundred.

Green stuff -- leafy, moist, and high in nitrogen -- serves to heat things up, while brown stuff -- woody, dry, and high in carbon -- slows things down and keeps the pile from going anaerobic, which is marked by foul odors. Browns are easy to find. Dead leaves, shredded paper, bark can all be had in good quantities. Large amounts of greens are harder to find. Thankfully, Starbucks offers plenty of greens in the form of used coffee grounds. Along with grass clippings and kitchen wastes, they are an excellent source of greens.