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...

The last time I checked in our compost bins was late last Fall when I was filling the left bin (holding bin) with the last of the Fall leaves that dropped in our yard .  At that time, the 3rd bin (the fully-mixed bin) was overloaded - above the top of the bin.  That's because compaction occurs and that material will settle as it continues to decompose.  The 'middle bin' was only half-way full and the last bin - on the left - which is the 'holding bin' was piled to the top of leaves.   Over the past few months, some of that compaction occurred and the level of the leaves in the 'holding bin' dropped enough to allow for the addition of garden (and kitchen) waste.   The past few days, I posted some photos of how we've begun to cleanup the backyard by taking down/clipping some grasses - Muhly Grasses , Karl Foerster Grasses and the little colony of Hellebores - where I took off last year's foliage .  For each of those clean-ups, I brought the materia...

The clean-up continues in the backyard - thanks to a little window of 50-degree temperatures this week.  First, I showed the trio of Muhly Grasses at the end of the boardwalk that I clipped and composted .  Then, yesterday I posted a photo of the screened porch border/bed where I clipped and composted four Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses .   Today, I turned my attention to the colony of Hellebores in the backyard understory garden.  A couple weeks back, I posted a photo showing the buds had emerged on these .  Below is a new before-and-after showing last season's foliage being clipped-off and removed.   Here's the before - showing the brown (and some green) foliage along with A LOT of leaf litter: And, here below, is the after.  A lot less foliage.  (I hauled the stems and foliage to the compost bin.). But, even after leaving the stems and leaves, there is still A LOT of leaf litter left behind.  Most of it chopped up into little...

Yesterday, I showed the three Muhly Grasses that I cleaned-up for Spring near the boardwalk .  Today, the photo below shows the small bed that borders the screened porch that included a number of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  This bed is also home to some Angelina Sedum that I transplanted from the other side of the patio last year.  And, like the Muhly grass clippings, I took these grasses back to the compost bin instead of using the chop-and-drop method.  As you can see in the photo above, I did leave some material behind including the grasses and a bunch of leaf litter.

The three Ruby Muhly Grasses that are planted at the end of the boardwalk seemed to do fine last year.  When you look back at them in September, the thing that jumps out THE MOST is the lack of space in teh bed .   Late last Fall, I attempted to change that by doing a 'lazy bed extension' using the cardboard method to smother the turfgrass .   This Spring, that newly extended bed will need to be cleaned-up and edged and topped with a fresh layer of mulch.  With the warmer temperatures recently, I decided to continue to do a little bit of garden cleanup by pruning back the blades of these Muhly grasses.  Below is a before-and-after of the three grasses that sit right at the landing of the boardwalk: Unlike the the Autumn Moor Grasses in the front yard , I hauled this yard waste back to the compost bin.  I'll post an update on that situation in a couple of days.

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...