In article ,
"songbird" wrote:

Dan L. wrote:
...

hi Dan (and everyone else ),


I have put some woody materials in the compost pile and they
break
down quickly. Some woody materials like rose bush clipping
never
break down! Just like on page 34.

Composting like other aspects of gardening is a big learning
curve for
me. Until I can afford a nice chipper/shredder I will burn or
bury all
wood materials. Like California, Michigan now has state wide
burn bans
during dryer months of summer.

i have a ban on piles here so i cannot compost
at the moment, i answer that by digging holes and
burying whatever i want to rot. in a few years it
digs up nice and black. the wood i have set
aside and then done a "mushroom garden" in a
low spot that gets plenty of moisture. i figure in
a few years it will be mostly done (2 cu yds ).

a chipper/shredder would speed up the process
but i like the sound of my shovel thunking through
the dirt and the exercise from digging.

some day i will look into learning how to make
charcoal and see if i can try that someplace. i'm
hearing a lot of good things about "black" earth and
from what i remember about activated carbon i
can see why. the smoke is my biggest trouble
(lungs really don't like it at all).


I currently use open piles. I may construct several wire bins.
I wish I had "Let it Rot" long ago. I switched to burying woody
materials after reading "Gais Garden".

ah, i should have read ahead. hehe,


When I learn something new - I call it a good day - Today was a
good
day!

ditto! finally a sunny afternoon for gardening. beauty
of a day to get some weeding done.


songbird (also in MI, up in the Saginaw Valley plain).

The technique for burying woody materials is called "Hugelkulture".
http://hubpages.com/hub/Hugelkultur-...-in-Composting

That makes four here, that I know are from Michigan.
I will let you discover who they are

--
Enjoy Life... Dan

Garden in Zone 5 South East Michigan.