Fallen leaves and branches, weeds, vine and other prunings can all get us upset and want to get rid of it all quickly. It is a problem. We are looking for the bin. No don’t do it!! This is a magnificent resource of organic material that should never leave our yards. If we have enough room for trees, vegies and grapevines we have enough room for a compost heap. All the pruning’s can be piled up and topped with grass clippings (ask your neighbor if you don’t have any), shredded paper, leaves, weeds and sticks, covered with a mat and left for 12 months. Remember, anything that ‘was alive once’, can be composted. (However keep the food scraps in an enclosed composting bin to minimize vermin and fly problems). Now you have next season’s fertilizer without spending a cent. We don’t have to mulch it all, nature breaks it down, and sticks just take a little longer. A pile of at least one cubic metre will generate and retain enough heat to kill any weed seeds and also break down quite quickly. Remember to keep it all moist as the little bugs need moisture to work. The task of cleaning up the garden of all this nuisance organic debris now, only to then, to get ready for spring plantings, go and purchase soil conditioners to add to our depleted soils, seems the ultimate irony when what is needed is often there in the yard to start with! How do we convince ourselves good soil doesn’t have to come in a plastic bag or on the back of a trailer?? Note: Residents of the MRC’s member councils, your green top/household waste bin goes to the Resource Recovery Facility in Neerabup, where the organics are extracted and turned into compost. Your garden waste therefore does not go to waste if placed in this bin…however, why pay (through your rates) to have it transported and processed when you can do it for free and have all the benefits of the compost remain in your own yard? 4 Jul 2013 12:06 PM / Peg Davies / bin, compost, garden, lawn, leaves, organics, prunings, spring, waste / 2 comments
Mark Compost is one of the best ways to get nutrients into our gardens and transform waste into usefulness. 8/12/2013 9:38 PM
Ingrid Jansen-Neeling Such a simple way to turn 'waste' in to compost. No measuring. No layering. Just letting nature do its thing. Thanks! Ingrid 19/08/2013 6:57 AM