Thx for the question - St Augustine grass will not be invasive in your compost pile. So go ahead , but with the caution that even the smallest amount of Bermuda Grass wil cause trouble - 1stem will do it. So, be very cautious - if you see one strand on close analysis, don't do it.
Best
Dick
At 10:52am on September 4, 2009, Dick Pierce said…
Cynthia, great pictures, great progress - congratulations
Oak leaves and St Augustine should be fine - just not Bermuda grass.
If they are Live Oak leaves (smallish and no lobes/points) they will compost better/faster if they are shredded slightly - run them through a leaf sucker/bagger attachment to a leaf blower is my way. Or you could just stomp lightly on the black plastic bag - if it's a fairly tough one and best about 1/2 - 2/3 full - stomp, roll it over, stomp some more - you only need to break them up a little bit.
Thanks for learning to be on the look out for Bermuda grass.
Cynthia - one more thing - check out my photos on my blog or whatever that page is on this site. I just remembers we took photos as we went so there's a few good shots of how the bed is constructed (I think you can see the pics if you scroll down to the bottom of my page).
I pretty much followed the sq. ft. bed building guidelines that the citizen gardener folks gave - (2) 2"x12"x10' pieces of un-treated pine (you could get away with 10 inch depth, as 12 isn't really necessary). Screwed it together with 2" deck screws that we had. In two of the corners, we screwed in a 1"x2" brace so that you could screw into that rather than the end of a board, because that won't stay screwed in well over time.
Then we stapled a big piece of plastic on the bottom and punched a bunch of holes/slits in it - you really need to make sure it will drain. Then we set it up on two old 4'x4' or so pallets that we had on hand (you can get free pallets from Bicycle Sport Shop on S. Lamar).
I filled the bottom with some leaves and compost I had in the back yard then added the soil mix recommended (rose magic maybe?) by Natural Gardener on Hwy 71 (just call them and they'll tell you what the best soil is). We used about a half of a yard of soil.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions.
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Thx for the question - St Augustine grass will not be invasive in your compost pile. So go ahead , but with the caution that even the smallest amount of Bermuda Grass wil cause trouble - 1stem will do it. So, be very cautious - if you see one strand on close analysis, don't do it.
Best
Dick
Oak leaves and St Augustine should be fine - just not Bermuda grass.
If they are Live Oak leaves (smallish and no lobes/points) they will compost better/faster if they are shredded slightly - run them through a leaf sucker/bagger attachment to a leaf blower is my way. Or you could just stomp lightly on the black plastic bag - if it's a fairly tough one and best about 1/2 - 2/3 full - stomp, roll it over, stomp some more - you only need to break them up a little bit.
Thanks for learning to be on the look out for Bermuda grass.
Have a great Fall Gardening season
Dick
I pretty much followed the sq. ft. bed building guidelines that the citizen gardener folks gave - (2) 2"x12"x10' pieces of un-treated pine (you could get away with 10 inch depth, as 12 isn't really necessary). Screwed it together with 2" deck screws that we had. In two of the corners, we screwed in a 1"x2" brace so that you could screw into that rather than the end of a board, because that won't stay screwed in well over time.
Then we stapled a big piece of plastic on the bottom and punched a bunch of holes/slits in it - you really need to make sure it will drain. Then we set it up on two old 4'x4' or so pallets that we had on hand (you can get free pallets from Bicycle Sport Shop on S. Lamar).
I filled the bottom with some leaves and compost I had in the back yard then added the soil mix recommended (rose magic maybe?) by Natural Gardener on Hwy 71 (just call them and they'll tell you what the best soil is). We used about a half of a yard of soil.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions.
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