Ah Crap!

Trailer full of fresh horse manure.

Last weekend we went out for dinner to my wife's brother's hobby farm south of Ottawa.  I took out a few pieces of junk for him and came back with some gold.....black gold.....but not the Texas-T variety.



He has three horses and lots of fresh horse manure.  Thinking ahead to next year, I brought back a trailer load of horse manure right out of the paddock.  I'll let it compost throughout the summer.



Layering old plants and straw and the manure.



I shovelled it into my compost bins and layering it with the brown plant material I had already accumulated.

   



Manure and plant material.



I can report that just five days later the compost piles are cooking away nicely and have reduced in height by at least 1 foot.  I'll try to get a photo of the pile steaming in the morning.

Due to poison ivy poking up here and there around the compost bin, Homer and Cosmo were relegated to staying on the lawn.....at least for a while.  I'll hit these plants, and a ton of others, with Round Up on the weekend.

Poison ivy popping up next the compost bin.....Round Up time!

Homer and Cosmo laying on the grass in the shade of a tree like good boys.....at least for a little while.

Knowing he shouldn't be there, Cosmo quietly lays down in the shade while I work.  There is no poison ivy where he is laying.



Poison Ivy

When we built the house we landscaped a large area but also left a sizeable ‘natural’ area towards the forest which contains large ugly juniper bushes and scrub grasses.  Unfortunately, it also contained the single healthiest crop of poison ivy I’ve ever seen.

Over the past few years I have been in a relentless battle against this stubborn horde of triple-leaved harbingers of pain and suffering.  I personally am very rarely affected by poison ivy (proper clothing, footwear and an apparent immunity) but my wife on the other-hand…oh boy!  When she gets a poison ivy rash, she gets a good one which also causes me and the dogs indirect pain and suffering.

So why not just avoid the area?  Well, you see, Homer and Cosmo just love going into the forest.  Although the three of us usually limit our treks to the late fall, winter and spring, dogs will be dogs on occasion and have a tendency to pick up the poison ivy oil on their fur and pass it along to my wife.  Another reason for getting rid of it is the new ‘vineyard’ I am planting this season.  I want everyone to be able to walk around the area without having to tip-toe in through the poison ivy.

My weapon of choice is Round-Up herbicide as it has the ‘nuking’ power required to eliminate poison ivy permanently.  Nowadays, the City of Ottawa and the Province of Ontario pretty much make you feel like a criminal when purchasing even small quantities of herbicide as it’s locked in cages and some stores make you sign a waiver prior to purchase.  Luckily, thanks to a contact that will remain unnamed, I have plenty of concentrate to allow me to make the quantities required for the large area I have to deal with.  Even with Round-Up though, the viney nature of poison ivy typically requires more than one application throughout the summer, and even over a couple of years, in order to completely obliterate a sizeable patch.

One week after spraying with Round Up.  Droopy leaves and black spots are nice signs of a dying plant.  No other vegetation is present because I removed a large juniper bush for landscaping purposes.

Here is a link to an Ontario government page which gives more details about poison ivy. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/99-015.htm

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