It's Compost Awareness Week! Which, of course, is a happy time of year for Master Composter/Recyclers like me. What's better than taking our vegetable scraps and other plant-based items and turning them back into food for the soil? Wayyy better than throwing those nutrients in the garbage. Composting allows human beings to reduce our waste AND feed the earth that feeds us!And it's actually pretty easy. All you need are your vegetable waste, some carbon materials like autumn leaves, sawdust, and last season's garden leftovers (I have lots of them, being a gardener who believes in leaving things as natural as possible), water, and air. Mix all those ingredients together in a pile (you don't actually need a bin, though it keeps things tidier), and an amazing thing happens -- everything heats up (because of microorganisms in the pile) and starts to rot. If you keep the pile as wet as a damp sponge and stir it frequently to give it some air, it won't smell like rotting vegetables, and it will soon look and smell like delicious, nutrient rich dirt that's better than any fertilizer money can buy.
Because we used up most of last fall's compost in various other places in the yard, yesterday, we had 2 yards of the stuff delivered, and my hard-working farm-boy hubby spread it all over our vegetable plot. I have a bit more spreading to do today.
So, in keeping with the week's theme of Compost Awareness, today's suggestion is to spread a little compost around. This time of year, there's lots of compost for sale -- here in Edmonton, groups sell compost for fundraisers, and I know that the Edmonton Horticultural Society will be selling 40 lb bags of the stuff this Saturday, May 11th, from 9 a.m. til 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the old Prince Rupert Community League, 11303 113 St. Get it while the getting's good! And make your soil happy!
I need to check on my pile. I love opening it up and smelling the rich goodness. Your garden is awesome!
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