Eco Gardeners

On the 9th day til Earth Day my children said to me,

“Making compost is smart & costs us no money.”

Why compost?
Composting is an easy, environmentally beneficial way to turn yard and kitchen wastes into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil amendment that will build your soil, increase garden production and do wonders for your landscaping. It is as easy as putting your recyclables out for pick up!
Composting will:

• Save you money by lowering garbage bills and replacing the need for commercial soil amendments.

• Increase production by improving the fertility and health of your soil.

• Save water by helping the soil hold moisture and reducing water runoff.

• Benefit the environment by recycling valuable organic resources and extending the lives of our landfills.

What is Compost?
Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials which are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear and humus keeps the soil light and fluffy. Humus is our goal when we start composting. By providing the right environment for the organisms in the compost pile, it is possible to produce excellent compost.

Click on the following link to watch a really cool animation of the composting process:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/composting/what_happens_in.html

What Goes in the Composter?
yard trimmings, garden debris, vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, algae, seaweed, lake moss, kitchen rinse water, cardboard, dryer lint, crushed eggshells, hair, newspaper, oak leaves, pine needles and cones. Did you know that the average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year?
What Doesn’t?
meat, fish, oily foods, milk products, pet manure, diseased or insect infested plants, weeds that have gone to seed, coal or charcoal ashes, lime, bones

The Happy Gardener’s founder, Annette Pelliccio, shares the benefits of composting in this 5 minute Youtube video intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoLWCNYxTc0

Compost4Fun Virtual Game: this one’s fun for all ages!
Try maintaining your own virtual compost bin by exploring the house and garden, looking for potential household waste to compost. See if you can get onto the Compost4Fun scoreboard by getting the right balance of green and brown waste.

http://compost4fun.recyclenow.com

Don’t forget to add your fall garden scraps and clean-up trash to your compost bin this fall. Your prunings, vegetable/herb/flower garden debris and leaves are examples of compost matter for the upcoming season.

• To keep your compost pile cooking during the winter, keep it in a black bin in the direct sunlight. Placing your compost bin in full sun will promote faster composting.

• Anything that has been alive is great for compost bins. Examples include leaves, vegetable wastes, and grass clippings. Do not compost fat, pet waste, dairy or meat products.

• Protect your compost from rain to keep the nutrients in the pile. Too much water in the pile will also slow the composting process.

• Avoid composting plants that have been treated with chemicals including lawn clippings, and weeds that have gone to seed.

THG offers an eco-friendly line of composting products. Click here to view.

ClearOrganic.com featured Annette Pelliccio, founder of The Happy Gardener, in this informative video demonstrating what to add to your compost.

http://clearorganic.com/?p=14005

The Happy Gardener’s founder, Annette Pelliccio, shares the benefits of composting in this 5 minute Youtube video intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoLWCNYxTc0

To learn more about composting, check out our Composting articles.

I know that “Green Tips” can be found everywhere, but I was very impressed with TreeHugger.com’s Top 10 List and wanted to share it with you. Here it is….

#1. Keep it real

You know what they say about Mother knowing best? Well, Mother Nature never needed to steal sips from a chemical cocktail of pesticides, weed killers, and chemical fertilizers to keep her act together. Nix the poisons and layer on some all-natural compost, instead. Call in beneficial insect reinforcements to wrestle pesky garden pests to the ground.

#2. Make compost from kitchen scraps

Compost like a champ by throwing in your vegetable waste, instead of allowing it to be trucked off to the landfill. Known as “gardener’s gold,” compost enriches soil fertility by giving it a shot of high-powered, plant-loving nutrients. Aside from stimulating healthy root development, the addition of rich and earthy compost also improves soil texture, aeration, and water retention. Why waste your hard-earned cash on commercial products when the real deal is free for the taking? Speed up the process with the help of earthworms.

#3. Buy recycled

If your delicate aesthetic sensibilities balk at the idea of reusing yogurt or takeout containers to house your hydrangeas, check out the myriad environmentally friendly planters and raised-garden kits now available. It takes less energy to recycle something than to mine virgin materials, so whether you choose recycled copper, plastic, or even rubber to anchor your tender shoots, it’s all copacetic. Admire your handiwork and eco-smarts while lounging on recycled lawn furniture.

#4. Grow your own food

Buying organic produce can admittedly get pricey, so how about growing your own food instead of painstakingly manicuring that lawn for the umpteenth time? An estimated 40 million acres of the 48 contiguous American states are covered in lawns, making turf grass the United States’ largest irrigated crop. American homeowners apply a cringe-worthy tens of millions of pounds of fertilizers and pesticides to their lawns, often at many times the recommended levels. All that for little more than ornamentation. It’s time to return to the use of gardens as food sources—you won’t find fresher (or cheaper) eating anywhere else.

#5. Join a community garden

Urban dwellers bereft of a yard shouldn’t fret: You can still get in on the hoeing and growing action by signing up for a plot at your local community garden. Community gardens typically have a communal composting area, as well, so if you don’t have room for one of those triple-duty rotating barrel composters in your home, here’s your hookup.

#6. Go native

Now that you’ve learned some of the merits of “de-lawning” your home, consider replacing the ol’ putting green with native and indigenous plants, whether they’re cactus gardens in Arizona or bottlebrush grasses in Northern Michigan. Already adapted to local conditions, native plants are easy to grow and maintain, generally requiring less fertilizer and water, as well as less effort to rein in pests.

#7. Harvest rainwater

Adding a rain barrel is an inexpensive and effortless way to capture mineral- and chlorine-free water for watering lawns, yards, and gardens, as well as washing cars or rinsing windows. By harnessing what’s literally raining from the sky, you’ll not only notice a marked dip in water costs, but also a reduction in stormwater runoff, which in turn helps prevent erosion and flooding. Pop a screen on top of your barrel to keep out insects, debris, and bird missiles, and make frequent use of your water supply to keep it moving and aerated.

#8. Water with care

While we’re on the subject of water, adopting a few smart-watering habits will do much to stretch out your supply, especially during dry, hot spells in the summer. Adding mulch and compost to your soil will retain water and cut down evaporation. Plus, soaker hoses or drip irrigation only use 50 percent of the water used by sprinklers. Water early in the day so you can avoid evaporation and winds. And the best place to drench your plants? Directly on those thirsty roots.

#9. Bring on the butterflies and bees

Provide a pesticide-free sanctuary for our pollinator pals, such as butterflies and bees, by growing a diverse variety of native flowers they’re particularly drawn to, such as wild lilac, goldenrod, and lemon balm. (Gardens with 10 or more species of attractive plants have been found to entice the most bees.) If you haven’t already heard, we’re in the throes of a major bee-loss epidemic, which is causing beekeepers in North America and Europe much hand-wringing. Because pollinators affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production—and increase the output of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide—extending a little hometown hospitality could go a long way.

#10. The power of 4

Get hip to four “R”s of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenScapes program: Reduce, recycle, reuse and rebuy. You want to reduce your output of waste to ensure you’re using materials efficiently. Reusing compost and tree clippings for mulch, or rainwater for watering take up little time and energy, but offer plenty of environmental bang for your buck. Recycling saves resources, while rebuying means seeking products that meet your needs, but are more environmentally friendly than your usual purchases—take, for instance, solar outdoor lighting versus electric-powered fixtures.

The Happy Gardener can help you with all of your Green Gardening needs. Check us out at www.thehappygardener.info

Why compost?
Composting is an easy, environmentally beneficial way to turn yard and kitchen wastes into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil amendment that will build your soil, increase garden production and do wonders for your landscaping. It is as easy as putting your recyclables out for pick up!
Composting will:

• Save you money by lowering garbage bills and replacing the need for commercial soil amendments.

• Increase production by improving the fertility and health of your soil.

• Save water by helping the soil hold moisture and reducing water runoff.

• Benefit the environment by recycling valuable organic resources and extending the lives of our landfills.

What is Compost?
Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials which are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear and humus keeps the soil light and fluffy. Humus is our goal when we start composting. By providing the right environment for the organisms in the compost pile, it is possible to produce excellent compost.

Click on the following link to watch a really cool animation of the composting process:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/composting/what_happens_in.html

What Goes in the Composter?
yard trimmings, garden debris, vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, algae, seaweed, lake moss, kitchen rinse water, cardboard, dryer lint, crushed eggshells, hair, newspaper, oak leaves, pine needles and cones. Did you know that the average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year?
What Doesn’t?
meat, fish, oily foods, milk products, pet manure, diseased or insect infested plants, weeds that have gone to seed, coal or charcoal ashes, lime, bones

Compost4Fun Virtual Game: this one’s fun for all ages!
Try maintaining your own virtual compost bin by exploring the house and garden, looking for potential household waste to compost. See if you can get onto the Compost4Fun scoreboard by getting the right balance of green and brown waste.

http://compost4fun.recyclenow.com