Viewing post #1223967 by caitlinsgarden

I used to haul the iris residues to the dumpster also, but Chuck Chapman says that they can be composted also. Soil is full of bacteria anyways. So i have been composting mine this year, but I don't put it back on the iris beds.

crowrita1 said: I read once where, in the depleted soils of Europe, they used what they called the "three row system"....one row held the "crop", the 2nd row was where manure,.... animal AND human...kitchen scraps, etc. was buried, and the third row was a "cover crop". The use of the row was alternated, over the three years. Downside, only one third of the field was "producing a crop"....upside was that there WAS a crop . I do only "cold " composting....everything from the kitchen, and plant waste (except for iris parts), including *some* of my grass clippings, goes into one, of two large piles. In the early spring, I fork off the un decayed stuff, then scoop out the "good stuff", and replace the un decayed stuff back , to what will be the "start" of the next pile.
iris "parts" , and any 'deadheads" that would introduce seeds to the soil, all go to the "dump"( we have a separate collection for "green waste"). I only use the "compost" on veggie gardens, all the iris beds get their organics (too MUCH organics, in fact!)through the use of alfalfa meal, corn gluten meal, and a fully composted mix of peat / cow manure...