Further to a question from our Daniel, here's a few bits about the above That video was made last year, since then we've had an even worse drought as you can see by the pile of unrotted compost behind these bags of leaves... We've also since bought a chipper... It cost the best part of £500 but it recycles brush wood that we'd have to get rid of anyway and it saves buying in composted bark. This pile turned into this.... We've got 3 or 4 dumpy bags full now that can either be used as mulch or added to compost mixes. We used to spend a lot on peat based compost but we haven't bought any for a few years now
Indeed Cayuga, this leaf mould is a lovely medium for growing plants. It smells like a walk through the autumn woods after the rain.
Amazing! I've been wanting a small chipper like that for all my woody yard waste! This fall I covered all my raised beds with leaves and used chicken wire to hold it down. Can't wait until spring to see how much has broken down!
It was worth the money @Netty Pretty good on petrol too. This is the sort of size prunings it likes to eat... You can see from the pile behind the chippings bag the sort of size stuff that's too big for it... The stuff thats too big usually gets put in a pile in the hedge for the wildlife to live in. Noticing some decent sized beetles recently, they use the old logs to lay their eggs in Also made piles of logs that I've drilled and put Oyster mushroom spawn in...
Have you done that before @Zigs? I did these in March. Watered them faithfully all summer long. i'm guessing they will produce in the Spring when all of the other mushrooms here are growing. So far there's no sign of life.
Used to work on a mushroom farm but we only grew spawn on horse poo there Had a look at the logs today, but not expecting anything till spring.
My daughter has been prodding me to try this. We have so many dead and rotting pine trees on the forest floor, as well as Birch and Poplar. My Son in Law was canoeing here this summer and found some Oyster mushrooms growing on an old Cottonwood by the lakeshore. I've read about it a wee bit, and it is my understanding that it can take quite a lot of time, depending on the shroom, for the spores to take. I'd be very curious to hear how these turned out.
I'll post as soon as we get some fruiting bodies About 10 years ago I broke my foot when a large clay flower pot slipped out of my hand and broke. 2 weeks later I was walking thru the woods looking up at the trees for Oyster mushrooms when I broke the other foot by accidentally kicking a tree stump Daughter #2 took me to buy a walking stick
Great way to grow your own shrooms…many grow on the trees hrrr call Chicken of the forest ..they taste great. but… we have lots of them in spring growing in the compost pile …horse poo really …never know if they are etible… probably couldn’t eat them anyway. ..I scoop tons of it up yearly.. friends come for bucket loads… they call it black gold…I just pile it up on the burn pile and it has developed into it’s own bio garden. Every spring all types of plants pop up . It looks like a island planting out in the middle of the garden pasture. I have not burned for years and this bio pile is like magic. All the seeds from all the cuttings grow and stems, branches all sprout and grow. It has taken on a life of it’s own. Who wudda though a yard debris pile would grow into a beauty all on its own with the help of natures friends and no water. I don’t know quite how to explain it but it’s a clever natural environment little surprise. You all know what I mean? I’ll have to get a pic next season.
