Luv my Chipper Shredder

Good friends of my wife and I have decided to start a garden. As you know, I have an affinity for "Lasagna" or no-till gardening. In fact, when we moved to our place in March, I started my garden with the moving boxes as they were unpacked, and later covered them with 5 yards of "gardener's soil" from the local landscaping supply.

The results weren't great, but we did have some success with some of the plants, especially pumpkins. I pretty much suspected it, because even though it's "gardener's soil" from the landscapers, landscapers aren't necessarily gardeners. Also, the plot that our friends are going to work is only approximately 10' x 8', and is at the base of a large tree. It's also got a lot of gravel in it. Essentially, it'd be just about impossible to double dig, till, or even turn. It's the perfect candidate for lasagna gardening (or a stick of dynamite and backfill).

We put down the cardboard from my solar shed, and began to shred leaves from the local Freecycle group. After getting the shredder, I put up an add there for bagged leaves. I got 10 responses the same day. A couple were too far away for the blue beast to venture (my 1985 Ford F-150), but my friend with the garden plans picked up about 10 bags. On the way up, I picked up 5 more.

We laid down about 3 inches of shredded leaves over the next couple of hours, wetting it as it went. They'll be top dressing with coffee grounds through the winter, and hopefully picking up a load of manure. Here's some pictures of the process. Starting a new garden is like starting a new book. I'm always nervous I won't like the book over the first few pages; the truth is, the ones I like the most to start with I always end up disappointed with, they start so fast. The ones I'm not sure about for the first couple of chapters never fail to impress.

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Got started bright and early this morning on the shed. There was frost all over everything. The fire was hard to start, and the tarp was actually stiff. Add to it, we had to hit the hardware store, and we didn't get much done before my buddy had to leave.

I stayed on out there picking at the pine branches. I'm actually stripping each branch of needles, planning to shred them for mulch for tomatoes, compost some, work some into the soil for the blueberries I'll plant next year. It's incredibly tedious, and might not be something I can do in the harsher winter months. But, for now, it's a few hours of quiet. Beautiful day today, really.

Early afternoon, I popped in for a poker freeroll through my rakeback site raketherake and busted out just at the end of the 1st hour, around 650 of 1,100. Bummer. Got back to the pine needles though.

Shortly after starting again, one of the freecycle contacts called to say they'd just bagged up 9 bags of chopped leaves (!). I'd been in contact with him, and started right over, after unloading the chipper shredder and the leaves I'd picked up on my way home last night. It turned out he was just around the corner, in fact a 5 minute walk through the woods (but not w/9 bags of leaves). I knew the neighborhood, as a friend had lived there, saw a bunch of bags on the sidewalk and started loading. I noticed they were oak leaves, and not chopped, and wondered why he'd told me they were, but figured maybe he had just topped the bags off with the oak. I was back home in just a few minutes, and had just gotten settled into a rhythm on the pine needles when my wife came out again, with the phone and a confused look.

It turned out I'd picked up those leaves from the guy's neighbor. I even had a conversation with the gentelman, thanking him for calling me and offering to return w/some compost in spring if he'd like. He hadn't said a word.

So, unloaded the truck again and went and got the "right" leaves.

I picked up 6 bags last night, 9 the 1st trip today and 9 the 2nd. In addition, I've collected a ridiculous amount from my yard, the neighbor next door has been vacuuming and giving them to me, and the guy 3 doors down has, too. I've got more leaves than I thought I would. However, given the qualities of composted leaves on the garden, especially over time, I'm pretty happy with the haul so far. I'm still looking for more.