I only use my compost three times a year,as soon as I pull my summer plants,I fill up my beds with compost,(Nov 1st) and then I'll top them all off again right before Spring Planting, (March 1st) and then top them off again right before summer planting June 1st

My Bins are 4' deep x 16' long x 4' tall so with the sluff off the front edge I get about 5 to 6 yards when they are all finished.... and there is never any extra ;-)

Are far as getting finished compost , from start to finish , I don't know, it sits around until I need it ,but my guess would be as fast as anybody else's... probably due to my excavator doing all the hard lifting and my willingness to keep it turned and aerated...

Lloyd and I have shared a virtual friendship for days ;-)

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Jon I'm sure I'm one of thousands who love your setup and all the vegetables you grow.

Food for Thought: It can't be more than 1500-2000 miles for you to drive from Oregon to Manitoba to meet Lloyd in person. You could compare compost from two totally different climates =:)

I started towards Manitoba last Spring but my Rake ran out of compost tea juice ,before I got a block away... OY VEY ;-)

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so then I got in my skidsteer to try to make it to Manitoba, and didn't get much further than the rake. ;-(

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"...drive from Oregon to Manitoba to meet Lloyd in person."

Hey, great idea, bring the Komatsu, windrows could use a turning or two. ;-)

Seriously though, I too am in awe of Jon's garden. I don't even know what some of those plants are but they look fabulous!

Lloyd

Jon your pictures are hilarious!

BTW On second thought:

I think Lloyd should go to Oregon. Better climate. He could leave now and miss some of our terrible winters =:)

Lloyd: Your pictures are pretty awesome, too. You don't garden?

Are the tires supposed to be off the ground like that??!!

I'm just learning how to drive mine. (it's name is Bob but some of the guys call it Bouncin' Betty when I'm driving it)

;-)

Lloyd

We did a garden for a couple of years when we first moved south in '94 but once the fruit trees went in and DW went on disability I never really had time anymore. I intend to get back into gardening once I retire but for now it's compost, grain and fruit.

I do give quite a bit of compost away to serious elderly lady type gardeners so we do get a feed of fresh veggies from time to time. These gals can grow stuff!

Where abouts are you NaF, you are obviously familiar with Manitoba climate!

Lloyd

Hi Jon,

I'm always amazed at how much sun you have down there. Such a difference for not being all that far away ( Portland, OR).

In the picture above, the one with the bins, some leaves, and some sort of small electric with blue, machine.. is that a shredder or a chipper/ shredder, and what brand ?

O.K. I just watched Jon's Mixing the Compost video on YouTube. "All right Lloyd, this is for you brother!"

Both you guys have some pretty nice equipment. I'm going to have to talk to someone. All I have is shovels and a wheelbarrow!

Jon, I'm wondering, too, are the wheels supposed to leave the ground? I've seen it happen more than once, but...........

Lloyd, I'm in Saskatchewan =:(

Yes, Jon, what is the contraption anyway? Looks kind of small for you!

nutsaboutflowers said : Yes, Jon, what is the contraption anyway? Looks kind of small for you!

I'm a grow-er , not a show-er ;-)

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Hey Jon... What's your opinion about the shredder/chipper you're showing? I was thinking about investing in one, but my pal said that he hasn't had very good experience with the durability of Harbor Freight Tools. He said nothing he's bought from them has lasted for more than a season. What's your experience?
Don

Same question.. a review please.

I spent lots of time reading the reviews on Amazon for shredders and chipper/shredders. Interestingly several old guys posted that their Harbor Freight chipper/ shredder was the best tool.

I'd rather have the word of someone I trust, than a stranger on the Internet. ;)

It's great , it's always on sale for 89.00 and has reversible and resharpen able blades.
Harbor freight is great (for what you pay for) you can pay alot more and get alot more and vice versa.

But I should clarify.... I only use it for twigs/Sticks/limbs and such ...not for leaves, I just compost them...whole, I use a very very active working pile... until it is finished.... it is always hot..... until it is done.

OF Course if I had a leaf shredder , I would use it ;-)

I'm confused. It's called a chipper/shredder. Why can't you use it for leaves. In your pic (above) it looks like you are using it for leaves. It seems to me that if its strong enough for sticks and limbs that leaves should be a walk in the park. But I have no experience with these things, so I'm just wondering....
Don

As you can tell by its description summary ,it isn't for leaves, I would like to have a machine that you could empty a 32 gallon leaf bag into and have it munch them down, this thing has too much of a funnel shape to make it valuable for leaves (of course,... as you can see by the original pic (by my compost pile) ,it'll thrash a million leaves a second (if they are connected to a limb

Thanks Jon,

Chipper only.. that was my take on it after reading many reviews on Amazon. I learned as much from the negative reviews as the positive I thought. Now you are confirming that. I feel better. :)

It seems the problems come from people wanting one cheap machine to do the work of a big $500 plus, chipper/shredder. Not gonna happen folks.

I'm incredibly happy with my leaf shredder. The WORX WG430 13 amp Electric Leaf Mulcher/Shredder. Highest amps, hoping for less chance of burning out the motor by overloading it too many times ?.... shredded leaf size is determined by speed the leaves are fed though. No.. it will not chip sticks.It will beat them up nicely though. ;) Little sticks and things like my sweet gem balls drop right through, and that's fine. but too many of them wears out the string cutter and you need to replace it more often.

Instructions come with the size weed-whacker string that can be substituted, though it's obviously not recommended by the company that sells the pre-cut strings. It's fairly quick to change the string, but more fun to see how long I can avoid it.

Dump a full 32 gal bag of leaves into it ? Not sure how that would go. It's designed to take handfuls at a time. I've developed a flow to adding my handfuls.. just enough to keep my speed going, but without bogging the works down and causing a build up of junk around the sides. Dry flies through..the wetter the slower, but they do go through.

While this machine would be way too small for lots of folks, for this city gal it's perfect. I leave the legs outside and pick up the top parts ( that all fit together fast and simple ) and carry that into my back porch. I find it's fun and easy enough I'm taking it out after work to do a couple bunches, and taking it back inside for the night. I would not do this if it was the least bit complex. Trust me.. I'm tired from working all day.

I'm using large black garbage bags, with a tiny area not hooked into the stand completely..it gives it less debris coming up from the top. But no matter how I do this.. I will have leaf bits on my clothes and hair. Just the nature of the beast I guess.

Originally I was shredding into the bags to save leaves ready for the compost pile. But then I got tricky. not sure how it's going to end up, but now I'm adding leaves plus. Brown, brown, brown..green green, green,.. a dash of chicken manure..brown, brown, green....Stored dry.. now I'm even adding rain.. opened a few to get rained on a while back, then closed.. the bags look so much smaller I'm pretty sure this is going to work. Peeked in one the other day and saw that white fungus stuff growing.

Not sure while style will turn out to be the best..but I don't have the horrid leave pile out front yet. They're all neat and tidy in my stacked black bags out back. Sure feels good going out the front door this fall, instead of embarrassing for the leaf mess I couldn't keep up with. Looking tonight, it seems I have enough on the ground to do another batch. Yippee!

Oh.. for anyone interested in such a tool...Look at the pictures of the cutting mechanism of both, and you will be able to understand the difference.
I have tried the weed-whacker in a garbage can.. not the same at all. What a mess with poor results I had there. Or it could just be me.. ?

Here is a link that might be useful: Shredder fun for the smaller lot

I am getting me that ;-)
Thank You.....

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Ohhhh... Look at you. You little sweetie. Your such a beautiful little girl. Have you seen all the yummy vegetables your daddy has growing out there for you ? Lucky girl. Hi from up north in Portland. :)

Jon,
Check out the reviews between the WORX and the other popular one on Amazon. You might decide differently.

I really want the same chipper you have, but I can't figure out how to store it dry and safe from being just taken. Chippers similar in appearance are about 90 something pounds so I'm sure the Harbor Freight one matches that.Never did find the weight for yours.

I have steps up to my back porch and it's not a big space. It would need to go all the way down to the basement for winter. Actually thinking I need to build a tiny shed. lol .I have so many branches.. and it's constant.

Yes.. I seem to be a true compost enthusiast. It's sad to hear the giant truck take my sticks away so early in the morning every other week. :(

I was sitting here crocheting and thought again of your cute little baby. Then I realized my note to her might sound really creepy if you thought I was some weird old man. I'm a grandma in real life.

okay..over and out.

You are funny, I can't imagine any guy named plaidbird ;-)
That is one of my grandkids, little Ellie Mae, and she is really cute...
I think the chipper weighs about 50 pounds and is easily moved around with the large handle and wheels...

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>>>You are funny, I can't imagine any guy named plaidbird ;-) slaps hand on forehead.. ah, ya.. now that I think of it. I picked that user name so long ago it doesn't really register in my brain any more. It must be an identity crisis. lol

Cool about the lighter weight for the chipper. Best news I've heard in a long time. I think I'll spend the winter figuring out storage space now. Sending out 90 gallons of trimmed short, to fit better, sticks in my yard debris bins tonight. I do this almost every 2 weeks. It's a jungle here in my tiny space of the world.

Thanks so much Jon. :)