I'd agree about the long term compost pile for your big stuff, corn stalks, okra, brussels sprouts and sunflowers. The sprouts and stalks are big, but they also contain lots of moisture, which will rot faster than you might think. Plants strung on bailing twine can be composted twine and all, and so can cardboard if you don't want to use it for weed control.

I live in a fairly rural area, but burning of anything other than firewood is strictly prohibited. Burning cardboard (beyond using a little start the fire perhaps) would be considered burning "trash" and could result in a $1500 fine.

While I do think the guy is being a jerk, I also agree with others that there isn't much reason to burn this stuff. As an organic gardener, I do my best to try to reduce my impact on the world in every area. Obviously, I create pollution... but if I have the choice of disposing of something in a high-impact way, or a low-impact way... I'll chose the latter. Using cardboard as compost, weed barrier, etc is a better solution to me than burning it or even putting it in the recycle bin. Even recycling uses resources. Letting the earth consume it uses none - and improves my garden while I'm at it!

For pea & bean supports... I use wooden dowels (about 2" diameter). I have no idea where they came from... but they work great - we used to use them as volleyball net poles. Old tool handles work well too (broom sticks, rake handles, etc). Sometimes I'll run some twine (the natural, degradable stuff) across once or twice, but it soon becomes unnecessary. By using dowels, they're super easy to remove in the fall.

I've found it's SOOOOO much easier to spend a little extra time making supports that are re-usable, than to have to re-wire, re-twine, re-net, etc every year. Do some experimenting with scrap 1x2's and such that you might have laying around anyway.

what about the bio-char thing someone was lauding on the boards earlier this year?

Is that different? Less poluting?

Burning cardboard does, indeed, send lots of wispy flaming pieces into the air, flying away on air currents. When I burn brush piles I generally don't like to use cardboard to start them for that very reason--although my property could use a controlled burn, I doubt my neighbors would like a fire to go roaring through their woods! If you or anybody you know has a wood store or furnace, see if they would like the cardboard for fire-starting purposes. Otherwise, I'd compost it or use it as a sheet mulch covered with other organic stuff--it will soon rot away.

No one here must ever go camping and build a campfire. How do you get that going without something papery? There is always lots of stuff floating around a campfire but I certainly wouldn't feel bad about it.

For the record, when I buy my own farm I won't burn anything at all, everything will be composted and mixed with my animal manures. But for now things are tricky at a rented place. One thing to deal with is the crabby brother and the easy going brother and trying not to bother anyone at that place. My field is a couple hundred feet from a major highway but behind their barn a ways back past all the old farm junk sitting rotting (old trucks and tractor implements and lots of junk!) is a ring of trees with lots of branches and the like waiting to burn. Last year I was told to dump stuff in it instead of bringing anything to the facility. At that time I hadn't started composting in my field because I wasn't sure how they would like it so I threw a little stuff in the pile and the rest was composted by the city.
When I went to their burn pile last year there wasn't just branches but all kinds of nonflammable stuff! I took a muckbucket out of the pile to grow taters in. I can't change what they are going to do with their stuff.

So this year I have been attempting to compost as discreetly as possible. The crabby brother (he is moody) told me once he didn't like my piles but I should throw my weeds etc into the weeds around my garden to conceal them. I said I was making compost and when he saw how quickly it was decomposing he was ok with it.
So this fall I dumped the tomatoes/beans that had too much twine, a few little grocery store boxes (the big sheets of cardboard are still in the garden- burning a few little ones just saved room in my recycle can which is overfilled) and the sunflowers and brussels and sunchokes (don't want them growing in the compost!!!). He must have been crabby and said they would only burn "organic" material (I was offended that these people would use that word with me like I haven't been growing organically when they keep telling me to use roundup on the field). My goal is just to not be a bother and not give them a reason to stop renting to me. So my purpose in this thread is only to ask why would putting cardboard on a burn pile of wood offend him and what can be done to the twine. Those questions have been answered now. I think we all agree that we should make every effort to compost everything. I agree with that and will prove it when I buy my own farm. For now my situation of renting isn't comparable with everyone else growing veggies on their own property.

I can report that hub is talking about buying me a farm in the local area. I hadn't wanted one around here but he doesn't want to leave his job. Maybe by 2011 I will be working on my own soil!
It is also noteworthy that people can only stand their own messes and junk. Ever notice your spouses messes bug you but not your own? Well it seems like that kind of thing in my rental relationship. They have junk everywhere and I try to be as neat as possible. But my compost piles seem less endurable to them than their broken up cinderblocks, broken down jungle gym, and various pieces of junk that should be thrown out. In fact I fell in their barn this summer because I tripped on junk! and I got pretty bad road rash. And my stack of tomato cages somehow disappeared or something in all their junk, or they were stolen. Sorry for complaining. My husband said I shouldn't be bothered but just be as nice as possible so they don't change their minds.

We're very seasoned campers & never use paper or cardboard to start our campfires. Kindling only. In fact, if you do any type of primitive camping, many areas specifically will not allow you to use paper goods to start fires because of the lit ash problem. You can easily start a wildfire that way without even realizing it.

quote:

How do you get that going without something papery?

Pine cones work better than paper for getting fires started. The pitch in them starts easily with a match and they don't burn up as fast as paper.

Would hauling your garden stuff to your home compost be an option to burning it? Just a thought.

Little Minnie, I feel for you.
You're a hard worker, you want to do things right, and you're doing it all on your own.

I am praying that you get your own farm soon. You sound like you really love what you're doing and making do with whatever you have.

God Bless you and keep you healthy, and may your dreams come true.

No advice here, just wanted you to know how I feel.

Minnie you have my sympathy. I join Connie's prayers that you do get your own farm soon! I can understand your frustration. I've been attempting to work with some folks to get a community organic garden plot going and it has been one frustration after another. Seems that city folks want a "garden" to be sure to have a ten foot "buffer" of flowers along the street side. No compost piles allowed, were horrified at the idea of cardboard and newspapers used as weed control. I finally loaded all of them into a van and brought them to see my garden. (Luckily, I had just gotten it cleaned up and mostly tucked in for the winter, at least the areas other than the tomatoes, peppers and root crops, which are all still thriving.) Then I did a drive-by of several organic gardens in my neighborhood, all use newspapers and cardboard, manure and compost. The ladies who were wrinkling their noses at the idea of compost piles couldn't even identify said item. They are all garden club members who hire people to tend their gardens. I understand your frustration and I don't think you're going to kill anyone or go to hell if you burn some cardboard from time to time. My only suggestion would be that you might try hemp twine. It costs the earth but mine just completed its 12th year in the garden. It doesn't seem to sag and stretch as badly as cotton twine.