Spring Yard Clean Up

As thoughts to turn to spring and gardens we all imagine how magazine ready our gardens will look this year. Hope reigns eternal (I have a high gardening hope to reality ratio which keeps me very optimistic year after year!)

As you start your clean up, don't throw out your yard waste! This week in Thornton we have our free bulk pick up and I am astounded by the number of leaf bags and tree limbs I see out there - none of that is trash. Not only can it be composted, thus saving our landfills from piling up, but they are also too wonderful to toss. Leaf mulch makes some of the best compost.

The easiest way to compost leaves is to leave them on your grass (or put them there if they are in garden areas - I use a leaf blower to move them) and run your lawn mower over them. As soon as it is warm they will quickly compost (composting is a heat process). Once the grass starts growing they will disappear. For leaves not near grass I use a leaf vacuum that has a mulcher. It is easy to use and I can even use it over bark mulch. I simply suck up the leaves, which are mulched in the process, then dump them in my garden to compost. They are very rich in nutrients. So, save plastic garden bags, landfills (leaves and garden waste make up about 20$% of our landfills!), and fertilize your yard all in one easy step!


For garden limbs, many communities offer residents a fabulous service where you can drop off your tree limbs, etc for free and then pick up the mulched results for free.


Mulch can be used as compost or to keep your garden roots cool and moist during the hot dry summer. Save money on buying mulch from the stores and save our landfills!


Happy composting and happy gardening!

What can I compost?

Essentially, you can compost anything that was once alive. Be careful about meat though (see below for more comments).

The most obvious things to compost are:

• any fruit/vegtable peelings, etc. leftover


• leaves


• grass clippings (although I have a mulcher on my lawn mower and prefer to leave the grass clippings on the grass to help that soil)


• plant clippings - keep your yard under control by taking small clippings every day and adding them to your compost.

Other things you can compost are:

• hair


• nail clippings


• coffee and tea grounds


• unbleached paper such as paper towels, toilet rolls, etc.

Some things that take a bit longer, but are definately compostable include:

• egg shells (crush them up a bit with your hands before putting them into your compost bin)


• nut shells

Meat is compostable, but if you are new to composting I could not recommend it. If you choose to compost meat, I would not compost it in a compost pile - only compost it if you are using the direct to garden method that I discussed yesterday. Also, it needs to be dug in immediately, not left sitting about and rotting. I would definately only compost meat by throwing in some conifer clippings with it as they are strong smelling and throw off the scent to any vermin that it might otherwise attract.

Easy Garden Composting Creates Great Soil at no Cost

According to the EPA, each American generate an average of 4.62 pounds of trash a day. As a nation we create 254 million tons of trash a year. Yard trimmings and food scraps, which are compostable, make up 1/4 of all our trash.


Composting decreases our garbage and makes our soil more nutritious, helping us to grow healthier plants, generating more oxygen and cleaner air!

Composting also saves you money. There is an old saying, "plant a 50 cent plant in a 5 dollar hole." Composting will give you great soil without spending money.

There are many ways to compost; my favorite method is straight into the garden. It takes about five minutes. Here are the steps:

1. Collect compost in a container in the kitchen. I use an ice cream bucket.


2. Take the kitchen compost into the garden, dig a hole about 6" deep, throw in the compost


3. Take a shovel and break up the compost while mixing it with the soil


4. Optional: throw on some yard compost (leaves, grass, small branches)Throw the dug up soil back on, rinse tbe ice cream bucket out with water and throw that on top of the soil, and I am done.

In a week or two the garbage will be fully composted and you will have great soil and soon a great garden.

I hope you will give composting a try - it is incredibly easy and you will be shocked by how much less garbage you produce.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Frequency
I am a bit lazy and I also don't like to get cold. I live in Colorado where the temperature is very moderate and there are not a lot of vermin around. In the winter, I have 4-5 buckets of compost that I build up before I dig it in. As I fill one pail up, I put it outside on a table where it is not easily accessible to any local animals. The compost waits there until I am less lazy and it is warm enough for me to go out and dig it in. In the meantime, the compost freezes at night, then thaws in the sun all week, so it starts breaking down nicely before I even dig it in.

Water
If I am running water in the kitchen sink to wash my hands, etc., I put the compost pail under the tap and capture the water in with the compost.

Animals
Every now and then either my dog or the neighbourhood racoon dig up my compost. To stop them, I have done two things: First, I add a couple of small conifer branches in with the compost - this changes the scent so that it is less appealing. Second, I pick up any doggy poop around the yard and throw it in or on top of the compost - no animal likes that!