Saturday, February 8, 2014

Recycle in the Garden and Grow Gorgeous Plants

Keep Your Garden Growing with Homemade Compost


composer in back yard

If you have a yard, it's free and easy to make compost from the yard waste left behind after you've mowed the grass, pruned the shrubs and raked the leaves.



Hello Recycling Fans!



It may still be winter, but it's time to start planning a spring garden. While you're busy thumbing through seed catalogs and polishing the rust off your garden hoe, remember to make space for a compost pile.



There are many ways to approach composting. A couple of weeks ago, I challenged my friends to Review Your Favorite Composting System. There were a variety of tips, tricks and product reviews that came from this challenge.

Here is some of the composting fun that these friends shared. They all approach composting from a different perspective but all of them love having a never-ending supply of home-brewed fertilizer for their garden plants.

Paperfacets is thrilled with her witch's brew pot in the corner of her backyard. She tells us that there are 10 Exciting Reasons Why I Love to Compost. I really enjoyed her excitement over the little critters that grow in her compost pile.

LadyMermaid asks us to reduce our impact on the environment. Her motto is Compost - Go Green. She has some great tips on the kinds of trash to compost and some ideas to help you get started if you've never composted before.

The fun part of composting is that there's no real right way to compost and no real wrong way to compost. As long as you add the right materials and give the pile some air, you can create compost almost anywhere.


If you live in a suburban neighborhood, you may not be able to have an open compost pile. I lived in one of these Deed Restricted communities for a few years. The fashion police were constantly on the lookout for any yard that looked a mess. I hid my unsightly compost pile by Making Beautiful Compost with the Envirocycle Original Composter. If you look in the background of the garden picture above, you'll see just how attractive this closed, barrel-system composter looks.

I hope you've been inspired to recycle in your garden to grow gorgeous plants and that you've learned something new about composting. Don't throw your yard waste away. Use it to fertilize your garden the natural way.

Until next week, may your days be blessed and may your compost pile grow beautiful blooms.

Coletta





Posted by Coletta Teske
Coletta Teske

About This Contributor

Coletta Teske writes reviews on books, business management, writing, crafting, cooking, and gardening. She is also an avid recycler and shares her tips on recycling. She delights in upcycling an old object, recycling or transforming discarded items into a new treasure.

12 comments:

  1. Composting is something I've never really done except for the year or so that I lived with my aunt and uncle. My Aunt Helen is big on composting and food gardening, and she has the loveliest house plants and indoor trees of any I've ever seen.

    Now, I'm off to see that witch's brew of Paperfacets!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ruthi! I couldn't resist the witch's brew either! The only fertilizer my dad used in our garden came from a pile of rotted grass clippings and tree leaves he kept in a back corner of the backyard.

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  2. Love having these composting resources all in one place!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Susan! I was thrilled to find so much great information all in one place. Squidoo writers rock!

      Delete
  3. Great resource. This is something I need to consider.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary Beth, compost makes healthy soil and healthy plants. And, you save money. I'm glad you found this list of composting articles helpful!

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  4. It is so wonderful to see all the lovely articles your challenge produced! Composting is an easy and important step for our world! Way to go Ms. Recycler!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mandee! Yes, composting is something that anyone with a yard can do. And it's free!

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  5. So many awesome ideas and suggestions! I do live in a neighborhood when they frown on my "leaf collection" in my backyard. I really do need to get that little composter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cynthia! I feel in love with that little Envirocycle composter. What I really like is being able to roll the barrel around the yard. It makes it too easy to spread the compost in the garden. And, it's so cute that the neighborhood fashion police gave it a stamp of approval.

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  6. I started a compost pile until my husband asked me why I was baiting the bears. I need a contained system!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have raccoon, possum and feral cats in our neighborhood. A closed composting system is a necessity. And, if state or federal wildlife officials feel you are feeding the bears, well, a little old lady in Florida is learning a hard lesson in jail. It's very important not to leave any kind of food out for these big critters. It's unsafe for people and for the animals. I don't put food in my composter, only yard waste. I put food waste in a worm bin that I can keep in a secure area that wildlife cannot get to.

      Delete

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