Pun intended.
Last year my 'landlord' said to just put my garden waste in their giant burn pile. They had all sorts of junk in there they planned to burn. This year I took plants too big to compost like brussels sprouts and sunflowers and also plants completely wrapped into netting or twine like tomatoes and beans and dumped in the pile. I also dumped small cardboard boxes. The brother to the landlord took the boxes and the beans and tomatoes out of the pile and said that he didn't want to burn stuff like that. Am I missing something here? Why would he object to burning cardboard and what else could be done to beans wrapped in netting or tomatoes wrapped up in twine? There are far too many to throw out in the garbage. I don't like burning netting and twine but what else could be done?

Cardboard can be recycled, though if he's burning anything, I doubt it's because he cares about our environment.

Sunflowers, brussels sprouts, corn stalks, etc do not belong in a burn pile either. They need to be returned to the soil that grew them, either by digging them back under the soil or by composting them. Chop or shred them if you can and they'll compost quicker. Or just cut them to shorter length if necessary and build a new pile on top of them. It may take some time to decompose but it's not a race and is a million times better than burning them.

Wayne

If you used natural fiber twine, it will decompose eventually. Netting sounds like plastic, so of course that wouldn't go so well.

I agree - nothing you provided to the burn pile should have been. Why in heavens name would you want to burn your garden scraps, cardboard, & twine - all totally compostable? And as far as plastic netting, I'm not sure I'd want plastic melting into my soil either.

My brussels sprouts, beans, sunflowers, tomatoes, etc. etc. go into the compost pile - chopped up or even basically whole. And they do decompose. Sometimes I've even kept old sunflower stalks in a protected area & used them as supports for spring peas.

Ok this is why I am not composting brussels sprouts or sunflowers- they are as thick as trees. I had to ax them down and they might as well be trees. It would take forever to compost them. I don't have a chipper. The best solution is to burn them, but that isn't the question. I have enough remaining waste to compost.

Is there anything wrong with burning cardboard? Why would someone take cardboard out of a burn pile? Isn't it kindling? I only threw a few boxes in there and the rest is in a pile waiting for next year.
And what can be done with bean tops and tomato plants that are one with their twine? I did the method of staking tomatoes with a twine fence running along the row and all that twine is mixed in with the plants. So should I just compost it and remove the twine someday? The one brother is fussy about how things look and doesn't like my compost piles (they have junk lying around everywhere but he doesn't like compost piles!) so I try to make them unnoticeable. I took all my dead plants and put them where the potatoes will go and covered with truckloads of compost from the facility to hide it. So should I take out the tomato/twine piles and stick them on the edge of the ditch until they decompose and throw away the twine? I am using the same tying method next year so I need to know! Also I broke off only the tops of the bean vines with the netting, most of the plant stayed. I am assuming most gardeners use some twine and netting in their garden, how do they get rid of it?

When I use natural cotton or sisal string twine & netting, if they're not reusable they go into the compost pile. Plastic netting gets cleaned off & reused until it's absolutely positively too shredded to have a useful life in any form; then it goes into the trash. However, I've used torn plastic netting with brush to make pea supports, buried to protect bulbs from squirrel predation, to help protect plantings from deer, etc., etc. Just because it's torn in a few places doesn't mean it's automatically destined for the trash.

Cleaning plants off of possibly reusable supports isn't a fun job, but it is a necessary one if you want to do things right.

As far as cardboard - which is fully compostable - many folks around here don't like burning paper goods because of the light ash it spreads. Start a brush pile & then add some cardboard or newspaper - then watch the fully-lit pieces fly through the air.

Regardless - it's your landlord's call.

So how do you get the pea or bean vines off the trellis netting in fall?
The kind I use is the white woven kind. It is so hard to even try to get vines off it. It is hard enough to get them off metal pea fences! I wasn't going to use netting next year, just twine because someone here recommended the twine tomato fence system and said to buy twine in the two roll pack and you'll have it forever. I used tons and only used maybe 1/6 of one roll!
So about the little cardboard boxes- do you think the guy was being a jerk not wanting to burn carboard in a giant burn pit in the middle of nowhere? I just can't get over actually taking some cardboard out of a burn pit! It is paper!

Years ago, I swore off twine as supports for peas and beans after a couple of miserable days creating a beautiful macramé-quality trellis for my Sugar Snap peas. It wouldn't be far a stretch to imagine it dripping in blood from the open wounds caused by the blackflies. Ever since, I've used odd scraps of found wire mesh, chicken wire, welded wire fencing and concrete reinforcing mesh. Vines clean off easily in the fall.

As far as the cardboard goes, I'm more interested in why you're burning and not recyling the cardboard than in the reason the guy doesn't want to burn it. Cardboard that doesn't get to the recyling center here, gets used as mulch between the beds. Nothing here gets burned.

If you're in the middle of nowhere, all the more reason to start a long-term compost heap, a place to throw sticks, scraps of wood and thick plants that have taken up nutrients from your soil and may take some time to rot. As I said, composting isn't a race, it's a method of returning the material to the soil. So it may take years for one pile to rot. What's the rush? Is the organic matter better off instantly converted to smoke in the air than as compost available some time down the road?

Wayne

Minnie, to answer your question, yes, the guy is being a jerk. If he has a burn pile, that I assume is farm trash, what would a few boxes and and some dead plants and plastic hurt? Sounds like he isn't much of a neighbor, landlord or friend. He obviously doen't care about recycling (he's probably burning some valuable stuff) and by dening you a chance at cleaning up the place, well thats being a real p***k. Use the cardboard and as much of the other stuff as you can in your compost piles. Take that ax and chop them big roots up into bite sized, and when this dip s**t isn't looking burn the rest in your own burn pile.

I agree with Kelog, burning has been considered a good way to get rid of diseased plants. And burning does clean up an area nicely.

The others are right on the composting idea, that the other stuff will compost, so even if the netting is not biodegradable, the other stuff will rot out of it, and next year you can pull it out, and put it in the trash.

Another way of getting rid of it, but is more work, is dig a pit say 3-4 feet deep, and bury the stalks. Out of sight, and they won't hurt anything.

I use to burn off everything, so as not to over winter disease and pathogens, Kimm has cured me of that, and I am composting more than ever.

Mrs.K

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Sometimes I've even kept old sunflower stalks in a protected area & used them as supports for spring peas.

That worked for me for maybe two months but then the parts stuck in the ground rotted and they all fell over. They may feel sturdy, but they are very pithy/hollow inside and decompose quickly. Same thing with okra stalks. I cut down 10 foot high plants, some as thick as 2" around but they went in the compost pile and will be nothing but fibers by next spring.

Even my bamboo stalks rotted after a few years' use.

Cardboard is recyclable. There's no reason to burn it, putting pollutants into the air.

I use card board as weed control.Cover with organic mulch or soil - it will break down.

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Sometimes I've even kept old sunflower stalks in a protected area & used them as supports for spring peas.

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That worked for me for maybe two months but then the parts stuck in the ground rotted and they all fell over.

Sunflower stalks are very strong as long as they stay dry. Sometimes I use my biggest stalks for teepee trellises, they work great for that because nothing is buried. Everything I grow goes in the compost. Like Mrs K said, you can pull out the plastic netting later, maybe use it as a screen for that nice crumbly compost you'll get someday. If you're using that baling twine - just pull one end of it out of the the end of the row of plants. Roll it up and reuse it. That stuff is way too expensive to burn! If you're using natural twine - compost.

Burning trash produces many pollutants and is something that should not be done today. The plants should all be composted, cardboard can either be recycled or used as a "weed" barrier in the garden. Burning trash produces products that create major problems for people with respiratory diseases such as Asthma.
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/no.../backyard/health.htm