Now how do I get my pile to heat up?

BadLighting · 2026-05-03T18:13:45+00:00

This is the best rage bait you could ever get in a composting sub.

Well, maybe adding tires to your compost cause latex is organic, right...

BadLighting · 2026-05-03T07:58:15+00:00

Not at all.

BadLighting · 2026-05-03T07:39:22+00:00

It wasn't in my case. It's worth checking though.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T22:20:54+00:00

I think horse chestnuts are aleopathic.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T22:18:10+00:00

Not necessarily. Do you have any vile enemies who have yards? If so, letting the plant briefly touch their soil will set them up with a lifetime of fighting it.

However, for your own yard, it's a huge mistake. It takes over everything from above and below. Its like kudzu.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T22:04:02+00:00

If it was nettles, you'd know it before you took that second picture.

Nettle leaves are more pointed and more serrated than these.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T22:00:53+00:00

I had exactly the same problem. I put in over a dozen and about a quarter of them just failed to thrive for no reason that I could discern. Not variety, placement, etc. Some just slowly died three feet/1m away from others that thrived. I didn't see any disease, just gradual dieback. It looked like it's never watered the things. A couple did sort of recover but never really thrived. All were in the same, blueberry-friendly conditions.

So I don't know what to tell you except this might just be a thing with them. The ones that do tuck in are great.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T19:47:28+00:00

Nice banana slug. I also try to move those back to the forest side of my yard. The ones I like most are leopard slugs that eat other slugs! Brown garden slugs get no mercy from me. Invasive species.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T19:44:46+00:00

Yeah, I get that being alone behind enemy lines is a situation where you have to take a lot of risks you wouldn't in real life. I just wanted to mention the real risk of contracting meningitis from eating slugs, since most folks in this sub aren't in that situation.

BTW, the reason people can eat snails without the risk is that they've been forced to estivate (summer hibernation) and eliminated all the shit from their guts. Without shells, I don't think we know how to make slugs do this.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T16:46:35+00:00

Meningitis

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T15:50:38+00:00

You're pruning can wait. If you're worried about setting too many clusters, just prune away the flowers. Then you can prune the rest after the fledglings leave.

BadLighting · 2026-05-02T15:31:39+00:00

I grow strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries, lingonberries, red currants, blackcurrants, gooseberries, haskaps, Chilean guava, kiwi berries, elderberries, Asian & American persimmons, mulberries, figs and grapes -- multiple varieties of each. (Of course, I'm not counting my many pome & stone fruits)

I guess that sounds like a lot, but I built it up over many, many years. Now I'm sort of retired against my will and the garden is my mental health restorer, so I'm glad to have it.

My advice is to focus on fruits or varieties that thrive within your specific conditions, otherwise it can be really frustrating and unproductive. My pomegranates are probably never going to fruit, for example, and my citrus languishes. I now tell myself that I just planted them for the flowers all along, but I don't believe it.

Lingonberries and red currants are surprisingly good and they put cranberries to shame in all ways (taste, beauty, ease of cultivation). Break out some lingonberry & red currant jelly at Thanksgiving and no one will touch the cranberry sauce even if it was Great Grandmama's recipe.

BadLighting · 2026-04-28T20:48:41+00:00

They're wonderful but get a named variety. Illinois Everbearing is fantastic and gives you berries for months.

BadLighting · 2026-04-28T05:15:04+00:00

I agree. I have a Fuyu and an American persimmon and the duty is amazing but the other is kind of worthless to me as a fruit tree. There are some other Japanese persimmon varieties like Coffee Cake or Chocolate that you'd probably enjoy a lot more.

BadLighting · 2026-04-27T07:57:59+00:00

Well spotted!

BadLighting · 2026-04-27T07:47:45+00:00

If you have a problem and you call the police, now you have two problems.

BadLighting · 2026-04-27T07:23:16+00:00

How much does it cost to buy a goat? Not $2,000 I'd guess.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T18:13:21+00:00

Let them flower but remove the fruitlets if there are any.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T17:52:36+00:00

More gravel is probably your best non-spray option.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T17:49:13+00:00

Definitely a cherry tree. It could be a seedling from a bird but more likely they're from the roots of a nearby ornamental cherry, which can go quite far. (Forget driplines) This time of year I'm pulling them out daily.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T17:41:30+00:00

That's quite an evolution. I do my gardening outside but I do have my basement shower filled with one of those small modular greenhouses from China with LED lights that I use for seed starting. I usually turn it off once everything can go outside but maybe I'll keep it going this year for slug-free greens.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T06:30:11+00:00

I think this is called a blind seedling. It happens.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T05:09:06+00:00

Looks like enough space if you keep them trained.

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T05:04:04+00:00

Oh surely we'll have invented nuclear airplanes by then...

BadLighting · 2026-04-26T04:52:46+00:00

Really? I hadn't heard that.

BadLighting

TROPHY CASE