Why I Oughta...

I've had a weed-burning torch for a couple of seasons and I've used it in various ways - mostly to burn-out weeds on the patio and in the lawn when I didn't want to use a herbicide.  But, starting last Spring I introduced trying to do a tiny bit of a 'controlled burn' in some of our beds.  Here's a post from just a couple days over a year ago showing the 'controlled burn' of some of the leaf litter left behind from Fall and carried over through Winter .   I also burned up some of my compost bin last year, too .  I don't think I'll be doing that again. But, I am going to keep going on some of the bed burns.  I started this weekend by burning out some of the area at the corner of the patio.  This spot is home to three Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  After cutting those down to their crowns, I used the torch to burn up some of the leaf material and the dried blades of the grasses.    You can see in the photo that I didn't let this fire...

I was feeling pretty good about my prescribed burning of tiny piles of leaves and some perennial litter from last season.  I posted the details of it yesterday .  Over the weekend, I went out and did a little bit more burning.  I used my small hand rake to pull together a pile of (mostly) oak leaves - creating a little burn break from other leaf litter - and use my small propane torch to light-it-up.   But, I think I got a little too cocky.  Burning and burning and burning.  And feeling good about returning the carbon to the soil via little ash piles.  All the while...cleaning up the beds a bit.  I was puttering around the beds making little piles and burning them.  They light up, then expire on their own when they exhaust all the material.  A little smoldering for a minute or two, then the piles of ash go dark.  And leave behind some white, burned out material.   I found myself back by the compost bins, where I recen...

Here's something that I've never done:  burned parts of my garden beds.  Each Fall, I do a clean-up that includes mulching in A LOT of my leaves.  I also add a big number of mulched leaves to my compost bins.  And, I typically try to 'blow out' my beds into the lawn where I run them over with the mower.  I then...blow them 'back on' the beds.  A modified 'leave the leaves' that works for me .   Then there's the Oak trees.  They hold their leaves WELL past the time that I've called it quits with Fall clean-up.   So come late Winter, our beds are filled with leaves.   Over the past few years, I've tried using a weed propane torch to burn up some weeds.  In lieu of herbicides, the torch is supposed to be 'better' for the world that chemicals.   But, I also thought....maybe I could burn up some of the dried leaves laying around my beds.  And, it didn't take me long to learn that I certainly could.  Her...