| Welcome to our dirty, rotten neighborhood! |
Just like a nice compost pile, this site is forever in the process of becoming.
Please check back for photos, news, and a stream of nifty new ways to compost in your garden! Not just ways to use compost in your garden (we have those, too), but new ways to compost and grow veggies, herbs and flowers, all at the same time.
Do you have cool composting methods to share? Please tell us about them! We'll do our best to spread the word. Thanks for stopping by!
Barbara Pleasant and Deb Martin
|
|
| _____________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Grow Squash in Compost Heaps
|
|
|
By Barbara, Feb. 22, 2011
Every year I grow squash in the rough just beyond my garden’s edge, in compost heaps created just for the squash. In our Compost Gardening Guide, Deb Martin and I call this method using Grow Heaps, and it’s the easiest way to grow long-vined varieties of summer and winter squash, year after year. No time is spent on soil prep, because you “plant” squash by burying seeds, rinds, and other squash remains in custom-designed compost heaps. When the weather gets warm enough, surviving seeds turn the compost heaps green with seedlings. Thinned to four plants per heap, you have the simplest way ever to grow squash. Read More...
|
| Are SunChips Bags Really Compostable? |
| _____________________________________________________________________ |
 |
| Barbara Pleasant and Deb Martin |
|
| By Barbara and Deb
September 28, 2009
It took us more than a year to write The Complete Compost Gardening Guide. We had many new methods to try, and what seemed like endless experiments with leaves. When we finally finished, an incredible creative team assembled by the pros at Storey Publishing turned our manuscript into the most comprehensive yet readable book on home composting ever written. Our peers agree! Last weekend we attended the 61st Annual Garden Writers Association Symposium in Raleigh, NC, and accepted our Silver Award of Achievement in Book Writing. We feel honored to have received this vote of confidence from others who work hard to help more people have fun in their gardens!
|
| _____________________________________________________________________ |
| _____________________________________________________________________ |
| Plant-killing Herbicide Persists in Manure |
By Barbara
Updated July 16, 2009
We had our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t happen, but it has. Gardeners across the US and Canada are seeing failed tomato and bean crops due to manure, mulch and/or compost contaminated with the herbicide aminopyralid. Manufactured by Dow and sold under numerous trade names, including Milestone, this herbicide can persist in hay, manure, compost or garden soil for up to 3 years, or more! Before using manure or hay, be sure to ask about herbicides that may have been used in the pasture or hayfield. Do not take chances. Once contaminated with this herbicide, otherwise fit soil becomes useless for numerous garden crops.
Further reading:
Dr. Jeanine Davis, North Carolina State University, Herbicide Carryover in Hay, Manure, Compost, and Grass Cippings (April 2010)
Rachel Carson Council
_____________
Original Post
July 2, 2008
Composters, beware! A herbicide sold under the trade names of Forefront® and Milestone® has ruined hundreds of gardens in Great Britain, and it can happen here, too. Used mostly to control perennial weeds in pastures, the herbicide can survive being digested by horses – and then being piled up for months as compost. Especially sensitive plants such as lettuce, beans and tomatoes refuse to grow and wither when planted in soil that contains very small amounts of residue. These herbicides do not injure grasses, so they are often used in fields where manure-producing animals graze.
Registered with the EPA in 2005, Forefront® and Milestone® are chemically similar to Confront®, the herbicide that survived commercial composting and went on to contaminate gardens in Washington eight years ago. These products are widely available at farm supply stores across the country. Anyone can buy them.
Be selective if you decided to import manure for composting projects. Manure from animals that have fed in pastures that have been treated with these pesticides should be considered unsuitable for garden use.
|
| _____________________________________________________________________ |
|
