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Sustainable Gardening in St. Louis
Have you ever heard of Gateway Gardner magazine? They have a sister website called GreenGardeningSTL.com? If you’re interested in gardening, you should check out this website. They’ve archived more than 80 articles relating to sustainable gardening, including organic gardening, vegetable gardening, native plants, water conservation, composting and much more.
Check it out!
Written By: Chris Horn
Turn waste into water
There’s a new technology on the market called Orca Green that turns food waste into nutrient-rich water, thus helping restaurants, caterers, universities, hospitals and many other businesses to reduce their impact on landfills, cut their waste-hauling costs and become more environmentally responsible. St. Louis’ Butler’s Pantry catering is one of the first to adopt the new trend. Microorganisms in the composting machine break down the waste and turn it into water, composting up to 800 pounds of waste per day. Learn more about this.
Written By: Chris Horn
SunChips have a Compostible Bag
Ode to SunChips, a company that is a leader in environmental food I feel. If you haven’t seen SunChips new chip bags, while they may be loud they are now able to be put into compost bins. I think it is a ingenious idea. Why not have your bags be biodegradable? I also think it is a great resource, because I know when I am eating chips I am looking all over the bag. On the bag, they show the container in various stages of decomposition which is great for children. They can learn about what compost is. I know as a child I had no clue what it was, until actually just recently I never knew how compost worked at all.
Written By: Kim Woods
Location and Looks
For me moving into a new house I decided I’d be nice to my neighbors and wanted something that was easily maneuverable. So with my fiance looking into various place for inexpensive trash cans with lids, we ended up at ACE Hardware. We bought a small trash can, that we decided to put right outside our basement door in the backyard. People don’t even know its a compost bin, though we may move it when and if we get a bbq pit since compost bins don’t always put off the nicest smell. The main is that you want somewhere with good drainage and that is not going to be completely in the sun, otherwise your compost will get overheated and your compost will be soupy.
You need your compost a little bit wet so that the bacteria survive enough to decompose that is why having it in a partial shade area is best. Because we knew we’d need drainage, our trash can meant for keeping things and liquids in was destroyed a little. All we did was take a drill and about every 4 or 5 inches drill a hole through the trash can, so that it could drain if and when need be as well as get air. Be sure to drill holes in the bottom as well. This is also the reason we knew we wanted a cheaper trash can, since we’d be drilling into it anyway.
Check back tomorrow to see what you can include!
Written By: Kim Woods
As mentioned in the earlier post, compost is great for your soil but here is run down of what it does exactly. It gives your plants nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which help your plants grow to optimum health. It also creates a bunch of other nutrients in small quantities that many people forget about. It better than fertilizer because unlike fertilizer the nutrients are realized when your plants need them not just on a regular basis. It even helps get rid of the bad toxins by “sucking them up” so that the plants can’t. The texture of compost is also helpful because it leaves area for oxygen as well as allows water to fill up the soil releasing it whenever it is needed. With all of these added benefits you also get more creatures in your soil such as earthworms, which help to rejuvenate the soil.
So why wouldn’t you want to make a compost bin, now that you know the benefits aren’t you more interested.
Written By: Kim Woods
What to Include
Browns- High in Carbon
Greens – High in nitrogen
In our bin, we also include egg shells, a small amount of our rabbit droppings because they are fiber eaters only basically, as well as other various small household items such as the rabbits hay that we may drop.
Though be sure not to include meats, fish, your dog or cat droppings because it can be harmful. As well as any unorganic material and no colored papers. This is going to include colored newspapers. It is bad for the compost because those inks tend to be chemical.
I hope that this walk through is helping you understand, I know I can’t wait until it starts working and I can use my compost!
Written By: Kim Woods
Brought to you by:
TriLeaf Designs • Graphic & Website Design • www.TriLeafDesigns.com
How do I know when it’s Compost!
When it done composting it a dark, rich color that crumbles easily and you can’t distinguish any of the materials that you used in the process. It has a sweet earthy smell and should not look stringy or lumpy. If it is stringy or lump it is most likely not finished. While I just read this, I am a little bit sad. Supposedly, it can take up anywhere from three to 12 months to get compost.
It all depends on a lot of things.
Written By: Kim Woods
I’ve heard all about you should compost. But to tell the truth until it was explained that basically compost is a great fertilizer that you can make yourself with a little bit of work, I was never interested. With a new house, and working on the outdoor appearance, I found this idea of composting to be more appealing. Make your house look niceer without having to buy more soil and your plants grow better. In my case, I want my sunflowers to be beautiful.
A basic run down of how compost works is below. It is a mixture of yard and household organiz waste that is put together to encourage decomposition. The decomposition would happen no matter where you put the materials, it is what materials do so why not let them make a great compost. Nature does all the work for you once you know what to combine.
To learn more come back in the next few days, as I will be going over the steps I’ve already taken and giving you more information. You can also check out Composting 101.
Written By: Kim Woods
Put leaves in a compost heap instead of burning them or throwing them away. Yard debris too large for your compost bin should be taken to a yard-debris recycler.
Composting is an important part of keeping your environment in tune. It not only saves space in the landfills but gives nutrients back to the soil. It reduces yard waste by 50 to 75 percent. Though, composting with manure is not questionable especially for food, since the new strains of bacteria. Not only can compost save landfill space but it can be use in your soil and as a mulch saving you money.
