Dale's Compost Cutter. I processed 700 lb of material in 20 minutes.

No, I didn't buy the latest gas sucking behemoth. I used my cordless electric hedge cutter to reduce long vines and stems to easily piled materials. With a garden hog, those noisy hammer mills, everything must be lifted up and fed down the throat. Vines wrap around the shaft and they are drawn in so fast that it can be very dangerous.

With this machine, I was able to walk to each big tangle and slice everything to under a foot in length. Nothing heavy to lift, no fumes, little noise and under a penny in electricity. It's good for an hour on a charge.

After being cut, all waste was made into a big pile that would fill a pickup truck. It's done in layers with 400 lb of coffee grounds mixed in. The rainy season is upon us, so I took down a small hoop house and covered the pile with the plastic. There are still some sunny periods ahead. The pile should heat and produce a good growing medium by March.

Where do you get large quantities of coffee grounds? I get lots of coffee grounds, as I pick up food waste from restaurants and coffee shops, but always in little chunks at a time.

An average trip to Starbucks produces 300 lb. They all have bins out back. I've been to 20 locations and never been turned down. My best spot usually has 3 of those big cans on wheels, which is 500-700 lb. Many places will save it when you provide buckets. Serious Coffee, gets raw beans in these pails. I got 28 of them last week. Great for storage and as garden stools. They are filled with spent grounds.

This compost pile is in one of the gardens described here.
https://permies.com/t/27910/projects/Dale-Day-Garden

This thread shows how we killed grass with potatoes. The rot piles there are all planted with winter vegetables.
https://permies.com/t/40424/mulch/Dale-potatoes#316638

I returned to the garden yesterday. It was my first time back since the compost was built. It has shrunk considerably. Normally, this would make the plastic covering very loose. Since it was built inside a wooden frame, water has collected around the edges. This weight, holds the plastic tight so it doesn't flop in the wind. It was a total accident, but I will do it on purpose next year and I'll be a genius.

The peppers and eggplants are done. I chopped off branches of unripe fruit and put them in the greenhouse. Then all plants were mowed down with the hedge cutter.

All remaining vines were chopped up and piled. The whole garden is ready for winter. A layer of leaves will mulch it.
-------------
My activities at the allotment gardens have become a spectator sport. No other power tools are used, other than a lawnmower for path maintenance. An old fellow named Hans, examined the hedge cutter and after a demonstration, we made a plan for me to cut the hedges at his house. I showed him how I use hedge clippings for mulch, and he wants me to cut all of his into short chunks which will be used in his garden.

I brought 6 really stuffed garbage cans of hedge clippings to the garden today. Four of them were added to the now shrunken pile of vines. Five pails of coffee grounds topped it off.

I managed to get 3 garbage cans and 5 pails of coffee in one wheelbarrow load. At about 250 lb, it was a load to be proud of.

The pathways get muddy in the winter. A few days ago, I pruned an apple tree and a butterfly bush. The waste was sliced into 3 inch lengths. Two cans of the chunky material are spread over the center path.

The city gathers leaves from parks and we get them dropped off in the parking area. They make a great cover for the soil. The organic matter is valuable and the erosive power of winter rain is absorbed. I only had time to bring one wheelbarrow load. Tomorrow I'll add more.

That's such a great use of resources. Bravo. Do you have any other EGo tools? I lost all my tools in a fire and am going between Ego and Greenworks for the chainsaw, blower, trimmer, and string trimmer. Advice?

steven Hendon wrote:That's such a great use of resources. Bravo. Do you have any other EGo tools? I lost all my tools in a fire and am going between Ego and Greenworks for the chainsaw, blower, trimmer, and string trimmer. Advice?

I have the hedge cutter and the chainsaw. There's no comparison when it comes to power. The Greenworks machines are far less powerful. I use these machines commercially because they compete with gas equipment. The Greenworks stuff is strictly for the home handyman who won't spend a little more for a lot more tool.

Thanks so much, that's exactly the type of response I wanted. Makes such a hefty purchase a little easier on thee mind.

You're welcome, Steve.

This thread is about the chainsaw. https://permies.com/t/40208/gear/Cordless-chainsaw-bought-powerful-Works

This one is about the hedge cutter.
https://permies.com/t/37947/gear/Cordless-hedge-trimmer

It starts with the smaller one and then I buy the E-go machine.