Smart Gardeners are Composting!

 

Approximately 92% of household food waste still goes directly to landfills, where it anaerobically decomposes, expelling methane – a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide - into
the atmosphere.  Don't be that jerk - rather compost kitchen scraps the right way in your own garden!  It saves not only the environment but also money in your purse...

You can easily improve your flower garden with compost, top dress your lawn, feed your growing veggies, and even mulch your planting beds with compost.  Once you get your compost pile started, you will find that it's an easy way to repurpose kitchen scraps and other organic materials into something that can help your plants thrive. Depending on the time of year, paper for example turns into compost within 2 - 4 weeks, and potato peels within 1 - 2 months.

Common misconceptions of home composting are that it's too complicated, it will smell funny, and it's messy.  This may be true if you compost the wrong way, but composting the right way is actually quite simple.  Just layer organic materials, add a dash of soil and a splash of water, and wait for this mixture to turn into humus

What Goes Into the Compost:

• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Coffee and tea grounds
• Crushed Eggshells 
• Grass and plant clippings
• Dry leaves and small dry branches
• Finely chopped wood and bark chips
• Shredded newspaper and office paper
• Straw and paper egg cartons
• Small amounts of ash from your fireplace
• Sawdust from untreated wood
• Lint from your dryer
• Hair and nail clips, dog or cat hair
• Spent soil from indoor/outdoor flower pots
• Yard trimmings and grass clippings 

Keeping a container in your kitchen, or even better a large paper grocery bag, and piling your kitchen waste onto some sheets of newspaper, wrap it and place it in this device until filled up.  If you collect it this way it doesn't small.  I practice this for years!  In summer I place the whole paper bag into a hole that I dug in my flower beds,  and then fill and top it with soil.  In winter I collect it in my garage until it is warm enough to dig again.

Start building your compost pile by mixing three parts brown with one part green materials.  If your compost pile looks too wet and smells, (which doesn't happen if you pack kitchen scraps into the paper) then add more brown items. Aerate the pile every ten-day. If you see it looks extremely brown and dry, add green items and water to make it slightly moist.

Add about 4 to 6 inches of compost to your flower beds and into your pots at the beginning of each planting season.  Or even better: compost directly into the soil instead of a (god forbid plastic) composting bin in your garden.

It works like this: decide a spot where you want to plant in a couple of weeks.  Dig a hole at least one foot deep and wide.  Throw a couple of dry branches (ca. 8 inches long) into the hole, then add your collected compost items to fill it half, add a thin layer of garden soil or composted manure (chicken, cow, or sheep), then fill the hole with more compost, and on top again a layer of soil.  Add some water to moisten it and use a thin metal stick to aerate the 'compost bin'.   Should you have lots o squirrels or raccoons in your area, place a flat stone or a flower planter on top for the first two weeks to deter them from digging.  Within three or four weeks you can plant in this compost-improved soil.

Sources:

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/how-to-garden/no-dig-gardening/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/a23945/start-composting/

https://www.gardenary.com/blog/the-basics-of-composting-in-your-own-backyard

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/compost/how-to-compost/

https://facty.com/network/how-to/how-to-compost-at-home

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/compost/9-common-composting-mistakes-you-may-be-making/

https://gardensbybarby.ca/

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Gardening in Drought-Ridden Silicon Valley

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After spending three months last spring in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Silicon Valley I witnessed first-hand what it means to live through years of drought as a gardener.  

Well-meant incentives are offered from some municipalities or counties to homeowners in an attempt to reduce or eliminate lawns and exchange it with native plants that do not require much water.  Great idea - if executed!  And also, if the cities themselves would stop the heavy watering of lawns during night. Every morning water from the park in Saratoga was running down the road.

In the Sacramento area I even discovered a cemetery that has been watered! In several areas where pressure pipes installed that shot out gallons of water per second... as you can see at one of the pictures below. And two miles from this cemetery was a creek - totally dried out.
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Two Days of Rain in Three Months
Yes, that’s not a typo!  January, February and March are usually the wettest time of the year. Not anymore… I saw water reservoirs that where only half-filled.  On these two rain-days the water was not even able to penetrate the heavy clay soil deeper than 3 inches.  How can roots soak up rainwater in this kind of soil?  Nothing easier than this: compost, raised beds and mulch.


Gardeners: Improve Soil Conditions
Gardening and landscaping design starts with great soil, amended with compost. Flowers, shrubs and trees can only flourish when they get (natural) nutritions.  Composted soil stores water much longer.  I saw million-dollar homes with front yards which looked like 3rd-world places or sub-Saharian Africa.  Driving a lot and walking my dog in residential areas I was shocked how few home-owners care about their garden soil.

And it’s not my opinion, I talked with several Nursery owners and they second my observations. Another problem is that many homeowners go the convenient way and order the service of so-called “landscapers”.  Not a good idea, as these people are labourers, not professionals and are not trained at all to improve gardens and keep them healthy. I watch them with disgust… In California (and maybe somewhere else too) they have only three garden devices: a leaf blower, a lawn mower and a huge container full of Round-up!

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Instead of composting, the leaves they collect, go into the garbage.  Having a lawn is one of the worst gardening decision anyway, and about the topic of Round-up I have written already here on this blog…  Want proof how bad this is for our health?  Just read scientific research results what causes cancer, depressions, Parkinson’s etc.  You will never allow any pesticides near your garden again!

Make Your Own Compost Soil
Nothing easier than this!  Everyone drinks coffee or tea at least once a day, together with fruit peels and vegetable / salad scraps, wrap it into two sheets of newspaper. These tea leaves and the coffee grind makes a good start. You can even ask the nice people at Starbucks to give you some more grinds, as it makes a beautiful soil (and smells nice).  Crush eggshells, rip eggcartons and toilet paper roll endings in small pieces, add paper from your office shredder, tissue paper, napkins … the list goes on and on.  Important is that you use not more than 20 percent wet stuff, the rest needs to be dry material.  In areas where there are not tree or shrub roots in the way, one can dig a hole into the ground, ca 1 ft wide and deep, fill it with the compost, top with a layer of soil, poke a couple of holes with a stick to allow some air - and voila! in 3 weeks it turns into beautiful dark, crumbly soil.  If you want to start a compost heap in a corner of the garden: It needs only some chicken wire and a couple of sticks to construct one.  Once it is “cooked” use a small hand-fork to fluff your heavy garden soil and incorporate the compost in it.
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Raise the Flower Beds
Soil is very inexpensive, one of the cheapest ingredients for gardening, and compost doesn’t cost anything at all - plus it helps to reduce landfills and municipal expenses. Why not raise the garden beds? Every plant, from the smallest flower to the largest tree needs space. Reading the labels when purchasing plants explains the minimum space for planting and also shows how large the mature plant will grow. Planting should be usually double the width and dept of the pot. If the new plant is in an 8-inch deep pot, it needs AT LEAST a 16-inch deep planting hole.  Building raised beds like a mini-landscape is not only a part of garden design, but also allows new (and old) plants to stretch their roots and grow better as they can easier reach moisture and nutrients. …

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Mulch, Mulch and Mulch More
I am talking here about natural cedar mulch or cedar bark, that is not color-stained. Garden owners can order it by the truck load, or for small places buy at HomeDepot or other garden centers. Cover the soil with at least a layer of 4-6 inches deep. Why mulching? First of all, mulch prevents the soil to dry out. You need less water and the irrigation cables are well-covered. Mulch prevents weeds up to 95 percent, and if there are any at all, they are very easy to pick out. Mulch also evens out extreme temperatures, which means in California, mulched garden soil doesn’t get as hot, doesn’t dry out and subsequently doesn’t need as much water.  What more can you ask for?
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These essential tips for savvy and eco-friendly gardening are not only useful in drought areas, such as California and the US-Southwest or the small semi-arid part of British Columbia, but also for any garden, no matter where. Rich compost soil, raised garden beds and natural mulch cover will improve your garden tremendously!


Useful Links for Bay Area Gardeners

Best soil available in the Bay area
http://www.wheelerfarms.net/products.htm

Plant wholesale with list of nurseries
http://www.suncrestnurseries.com/californianatives.php

Every spring (late March) a must-event for gardeners
http://sfgardenshow.com/

One of the best Garden Designers in the Bay Area
http://harmonyinthegarden.com/speaker/

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How to Get Rid of Weeds Without Chemicals

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A nuisance for every garden owner: weeds, not only in garden beds, but also between pavers. However, using chemicals can be very dangerous for people and pets in your household.

Health problems can range from cancer to neurological disorders to asthma. 

As weed killers find their way into our drinking water or our bloodstreams, depending on the nature of exposure, they have the potential to wreak havoc not only on the health of human beings but on that of all kinds of creatures.
They have been linked to cancer, kidney and liver damage, reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruption.  A Swedish study published in the journal Cancer reported a connection between non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and glyphosate use. An Ontario study of farmers found exposure to glyphosate was associated with a high rate of miscarriages.

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Natural Ways to Rid Out Weeds:

The Easiest:  Boiling Water

Boiling water kills the weeds by "cooking" them while they're still in the ground. Works only when the soil is dry.  Boil water in a kettle, and dump it over the weeds. Even better if you have an electrical outlet in the garage or on outside walls.   This method is also good to kill a cluster of Lily beetles or other bugs.

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Use Soap

Mix 1 part liquid dish detergent with 5 parts water and spray it over the weeds' leaves. The soap will dissolve the natural waxy barrier on the leaves which holds the moisture. Result: the weed dehydrate and die down.  Works best on sunny, hot days. The method can als be used to eliminate bugs.

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Use Isopropyl Alcohol

Isopropyl alcohol, known as rubbing alcohol works too. It makes an excellent weed killer. Fill it in a spray bottle and douse weeds with it. The alcohol will dry out the leaves, killing the plant.

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Road Salt

Road salt, used in areas where it snows in winter, can wreak your grass. You can use this same principle to your advantage, because salt will also kill the plants you don't want. In a spray bottle, create a mixture of three parts water to one part table salt and spray it on the weeds. Adding vinegar and a drop of dish detergent to the mix, will improve the result.

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Vinegar

Stubborn weeds can be easily killed with Vinegar contains acetic acid, a natural substance that burns plants' foliage, drying them up and die. It's inexpensive and easy to use. Simply pour undiluted white vinegar or pickling vinegar into a spray bottle and apply it directly to the weeds (only) that you want to eliminate. 

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If you want to remove weeds manually, never rip them out. Dig a hole to get the complete root. Otherwise they might grow back in short time.  Don't work hard, word smart! Get light, professional tools for this job.

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There is no reason to use hazardous and expensive chemicals to get rid of weeds. In the future if you want to reclaim your yard from their grasp, try one of these natural methods instead.

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http://www.livestrong.com/article/181758-health-effects-of-weed-killers/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_pesticides
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Wikipedia Warns:
Cancer

Many studies have examined the effects of pesticide exposure on the risk of cancer. Associations have been found with: leukemia, lymphoma, brain, kidney, breast, prostate,pancreas, liver, lung, and skin cancers.^[6] This increased risk occurs with both residential and occupational exposures.^[6] Increased rates of cancer have been found among farm workers who apply these chemicals.^[10] A mother's occupational exposure to pesticides during pregnancy is associated with an increases in her child's risk of leukemia,Wilms' tumor, and brain cancer.^[6][11]
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Neurological

Evidence links pesticide exposure to worsened neurological outcomes.^[3] The risk of developing Parkinson's disease is 70% greater in those exposed to even low levels of pesticides.^[12] People with Parkinson's were 61% more likely to report  pesticide application than were healthy relatives. Both insecticides and herbicides significantly increased the risk of Parkinson's disease.^[13] There are also concerns that long term exposures may increase the risk of dementia.^[14]

The United States Environmental Protection Agency finished a 10-year review of the organophosphate pesticides following the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, but did little to account for developmental neurotoxic effects, drawing strong criticism from within the agency and from outside researchers.^[15][16] Comparable studies have not been done with newer pesticides that are replacing organophosphates.^[17]
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Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbicide
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Environmental Health News explains:

In a new study, scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.

One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself – a finding the researchers call “astonishing.”

“This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert,” wrote the study authors from France’s University of Caen. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.

Read More:

http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/28/study-links-exposure-to-bug-and-weed-killers-and-higher-risk-for-parkinsons/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/weed-whacking-herbicide-p/

http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/28/study-links-exposure-to-bug-and-weed-killers-and-higher-risk-for-parkinsons/

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