I don’t know about you but I haven’t been sleeping all that well recently. All I can say is, thank goodness for my garden and my grandkids. I think I’d go nuts without them! So let me tell you about what I’ve been doing in my garden.
Autumn Cleanup
This is the time of the year that I remove the annual sunflowers, tomatoes and other summer annuals. It has always been difficult for me to deal with the green waste. The problem is reducing it to small pieces so it can decompose quickly without becoming a cozy home for rats.
I used to have an electric leaf shredder, but I hated it. I hated wearing goggles, ear muffs, a mask, and gloves. Once suitably suited up, with much noise and dust, the damn thing would jam with even the smallest sticks. I had to shut it off, unplug it, unscrew the top and wrestle out the caught twig. What a pain! So I got rid of it.
Forgoing the shredder
Faced with too much debris to decompose in my compost pile, I started looking at shredders again. The one most people liked was the one I had gotten rid of. Some mentioned a shredder that worked like a line trimmer (weed wacker). Well, I’ve got a weed wacker, so, I thought I’d try running it through a pile of soft leaves and stems. I have been doing this for the past few weeks and it has been working well. Since it has been very hot, the piles seem to disappear (well, reduce greatly) in days.
Larger and stiffer stems
That helps with the soft green leftovers, but what about the stiff stems and twigs. For these, I have been cutting them up into pieces about 8 inches long and dropping them where they grew. I don’t have to haul the debris to a new place, nor do I have to throw it away. Furthermore, I don’t have to cart compost back into the garden to be used as mulch since I’m just using what grew there. I know, it is not as pretty as wood chips or gorilla hair, but it is cheaper and more sustainable. This works for me.
BAN ALL BLOWERS
Whether you want to do what I do with my green waste, or not, Please, Please, Please, say NO TO BLOWERS. Though electric maybe be slightly less polluting than gasoline-powered blowers, blowing dust and debris into the air during a pandemic that damages the lungs, and when our air quality is already poor due to the fires is a TERRIBLE IDEA. Furthermore, think of how pleasant it would be to enjoy the outdoors without the roar of these despicable machines. Take a cue from Davis and BAN THE BLOWER!