Mother Earth News had an interesting option for those who choose to remove any diseased or insect-infested material from their gardens at season's end:

[quote]"You can compost diseased or weedy plants. Many experts recommend keeping seed-bearing weeds and diseased plants out of the compost heap so as not to reintroduce them into your garden. This makes sense, but what are you supposed to do with the stuff? I suggest giving these bad boys their own heap. Later on, after mildewed squash vines and seed-bearing crabgrass clippings have been given a few months to shrink to a more manageable size, you can cook the half-done compost to kill diseases and weed seeds..."[end quote]

You can read more HERE about some ways they suggest you might do this. ***Scroll down to Item #7.***

Thanks Gardenz,

Guess I could have tried that solar box, but, darn,

If I get the blight or whatever again next year, well I'll be blaming myself for not just pitching those nasty vines and figuring I just encouraged the problem by trying to compost them and using in the soil. Grrr! Don't you hate that.

Now if I get the same thing again next year, Maybe I will try it, and add to soil, and see if the soil builds up any immunities!

Woo hoo! Always experimenting!

Hopeitgrows,

Yep I love garlic best overall, but I think my favorite thing this year to grow was Jacob's cattle beans. I grew them for dried beans, and they are so pretty, and you don't have to keep up with them the way you do regular beans, and I like luffas (even though I only see one out there, and onions, well, anything I don't have to run home and can everyday.

Though I must admit, My tomatoe juice was worth the effort. Black Krims made wonderful juice!

The cherry tomatoes sound great! I've never been impressed with them, but yours sound good,and brown cherry, someone mentioned somewhere, sounds good.

Good grief, there is just not enough space around here!

Will look forward to more posts from you, now that you will be able to come here more! My baby starts his Master's classes next week!

Forgot to ask.

So do Matt and you live close? I don't know how big Charlotte is?

Charlotte is big and sprawling – but not as dense as many other cities its size. I live close to the center city (called Uptown), H.I.G. lives on the outskirts, about 20 minutes away.

I've noticed alot of folks here grow luffa. What do you do with it? Are you making luffa scrubs or what? Lisa I'm so impressed you learned how to post pics. I'm not there yet but hope to by next year.

I asked my husband if his mower could handle mulching it all up and he says yes. What about spent fruit that never got big enough or the heat killed? Do I need to cook that in a pile for a year before putting it in the bed or just run it over also?

I didn't have any diseased plants that I know of. Although alot of my pumpkin vines died off but I'm not sure if it does that as the fruit grows or b/c I had to trim the vines back several times. I dont suspect disease b.c the pumpkins are doing really well.

I've decided not to grow berries anymore. Not now anyway. They seem to be pickier and need more care to really produce than I'm willing to give. 2 yrs in a row I got 2 blueberries total, the blackberries seemed to shrivel right before ripening and the variety of raspberries I grew, Dorman Red, were tart, not sweet like I hoped.

MattChoo I pass your area almost every day, sometimes twice. My son goes to Dore-know it? In morning traffic, it's 50 min, barring no accidents. Afternoon, 30 min. Long trek but the school is so good for him. Yours is a gorgeous part of Charlotte but there are so many trees there, how in the world do you have a sunny spot?

Lisa are you in a small town? How close are you to DC or NYC or the nearest beach?

Oh yeah, I forgot to add we did FINALLY get one quick soaker a few days ago. It blew up my copier/fax machine. But since then only teasers. A crackle of thunder here, a few sprinkles there, then sun, sun and more sun. It's hard to imagine all those people suffering from flooding.

Hi Hopeitgrows!

I will warn you right off the bat,

Do not grow Luffas near anything! They take Over! That is an understatement, and I'm afraid to post yet another picture of that monster! I've bored people enough with that, but when it dies back and I harvest, I will take a pic then!

Growing for sponges.

I live in a town of about 14,000. I live in an old section of town. My house was built in 1943. We remodeled when we moved in 20 years ago, needs it again! Things get old don't they? HaHa I live about 3 hours from the beach. 50 minutes west of the Chesapeake Bay.

Always gardened with my dad, at my grannies house in the country. Started making small beds here in 2000. Now I only garden here.

That's cool that you and Matt are so close!

Greenish Thumb and I live an hour from each other. We met this summer and I posted a picture of us at her parent's place! It was a great day! I'm taking a trip to Cape Cod in September. Never been there. Haven't really been anywhere in 9 years. So, I'm scared and excited at the same time. I am a homebody. Work and back home is all I do!

About the posting of pictures:

That was a task that took me forever! My son used to get so frustrated with me! Now I'm pretty good and need no help! I do still have my notes laying right in front of me, but I hardly ever have to look at them! HaHaHa One thing to keep in mind when you start: Don't forget to turn the camera off! I am an idiot! HaHaHa Batteries DO NOT last forever! Sure wish they did.

Well, can't think of anything else to update you on!

Look forward to hearing from you!

I've lost control!

Lisaann, careful going down those steps that luffa might just grab you, they will have to call the fire department to have you cut out of that plant!

I compost the diseased stuff at the bottom of a pile that I intend to leave unused for at least three years. I start a new pile by putting all the diseased stuff into a tightly covered plastic trashcan. This can sits by the kitchen door all winter and collects all my kitchen waste, coffee grounds, peelings which slowly rots, anaerobically, through the winter.

Once the freezing weather is over and the can begins to take on a bit of odor, I dump the can where I intend to start my new pile. Then I cover this slimy, smelly mess with the thatch that I rake out of my lawn in March or so. Through the summer, this pile continues to receive all my kitchen scraps, the weeds, and any garden waste, plus a catcher full of grass clippings whenever it begins to look unsightly.

I started a pile like this last fall. I have two other piles that I have intensively turned, tended and layered to get them to mature faster in order to meet more immediate needs, but I am tired of all that work. In two years, I will be using nothing but three year old compost.

Meanwhile, I keep the garden well fed from the bottomless manure pile in my father-in-law's corral.

Most of the rest of the plant material I leave in place and cover over with spoiled hay in the fall. I do pull up the pole beans and the peas because I use light cotton string to support them. I put the vines with their cotton string into the bottom of the new compost pile. My theory is that sitting at the bottom of a well ventilated and adequately moistened pile will pretty well break down the string, destroy any pathogens in diseased plants, and kill off any seeds. I figure that the anaerobic treatment in the trash can probably gets rid of any viable seeds.

LisaAnn, now we all know the secret behind your compost pile -- luffa!

Seriously, that looks almost like BF's back porch except it's a tree he won't cut and a satellite dish sticking out from the middle. When the wind blows the wrong way, his tv goes out. Maybe he'll trim it out eventually. It's right up against the foundation of his house.

Most all disease pathogens prefer an anaerobic (in the absence of air) environment to grow in and that is one reason we caution people about not allowing their compost to get too wet which forces air out of the pile which permits anaerobic digestion.
A properly built up compost pile with diseased plant tissue included has been shown to be a good way to get soil bacteria to develop defense mechanisms against those disease pathogens. Many people have also simply worked diseased plant tissue into the planting bed that is well endowed with organic matter and have not seen a problem with that disease in the years following. One of my correspondants in New Zeland did state that because she had forgotten to put more compost in last years tomato bed (she grows her tomatoes in the same bed every year) there was some signs of late blight which prevented them from growing any tomatoes when they first moved in there.

( laughing at lisaann's luffas) I grow lots of gourds every year and they always amaze me at how they can grow! I transplant starts and they'll sit for 2 or 3 weeks doing nothing and then growth spurt for the rest of the season. I put cardboard under mine for weed control and I can hardly keep in front of them. I put down about 8 feet of cardboard once this summer and I swear it was covered with vines the next day!

As for clean up I've been mulching my beds with mixed leaves and grass clippings from the fall. I lay sticks and some netting down to keep in place in the wind. This year though I had a problem with cucumber beetles and I'm wondering if mulching over winter is a good idea. I've read that they like to overwinter in the mulch. I'm not sure what to do but I do know I don't want as many beetles next year.

HopeItGrows – Yes, I know Dore. Just down the street from me. You are right, lots of trees in our area, which is why my plants take a little longer to grow than most - they only get 5 or 6 hrs. of direct sun a day. But we get tons of leaves in the fall, so I'm set for content for the compost pile.

Pogo, mulching,or leaving your garden debris in place could provide some place for your garden pests to overwinter, just as it does for the beneficials that could help you control those pests. If you have a garden with good, healthy soil leaving the garden debris, or mulching, or both, is not a problem and will help those beneficial insects by giving them some place to stay for the winter.