Sustainable Pets by Amanda Dowdy

Labbit the Rabbit!

There are many joys involved with pet ownership, but I was overjoyed this summer when I realized one of my pets can pull his own weight (and more) around here. Pictured above is Labbit, a one and a half pound black otter mini rex, and my family's newest addition. Rabbit leavings are a great addition to any compost pile, as it is very high in nitrogen. Also most natural shavings used in litter pans can also be composted, it complements the droppings with a carbon source. I use recycled newspaper in ours. Rabbits are herbivoures, their diets consist mainly of field grasses like timothy hay or orchard grass.  Dandylions are his favorite treat, that were grown in a pot for him on my deck. These little guys have great personalities, and now he has been recognized for his "contributions" around the house too! So next time you clean out the that hamster, chinchilla or mouse cage, chuck it in the compost bin!

Recipe for Christmas Compost by Mari Hackbarth

Think you can’t compost in winter?  Think again.  Vermicomposting (worm composting) can be done year ‘round, even at the North Pole.  Worm composting can be used to convert kitchen waste (and garden waste in summer) into a nutritious amendment for the garden and house plants, known by gardeners as “black gold”.  All that’s needed is a non-transparent plastic storage bin with lid, room temperature between 55 – 77 degrees F.; air, bedding, water and food.

According to Brenda Sherman, of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, using worms to decompose food waste offers several advantages:
It reduces household garbage disposal costs;
It produces less odor and attracts fewer pests than putting food wastes into a garbage container, or than traditional compost piles;
It saves the water and electricity that kitchen sink garbage disposal units consume;
It produces a free, high-quality soil amendment (compost);
It requires little space, labor, or maintenance;
It spawns free worms for fishing.

 Start this recipe now, and harvest some ‘black gold’ by Christmas!

Equipment and Supplies  for four to six people (about 6 pounds of waste per week)

Worm Bin
A 2-foot-by-3- foot plastic storage bin.
For aeration, drill three ½-inch holes on each wide side, spaced 5 inches apart.
For drainage, drill six ¼-inch holes in the bottom of the bin.
Plastic tray (or additional lid) - place under the worm bin to collect any moisture that may seep out.
Bedding
9 to 14 pounds of bedding (enough to fill bin about half full when moist).  Use any combination of:
shredded paper (such as black-and-white newspapers, paper bags, computer paper, or cardboard);
composted animal manure (cow, horse, or rabbit);
finished compost
peat moss (which increases moisture retention);
Do not use glossy paper or magazines.
Handful of soil.

Water
3 pints of water for each pound of bedding.
If the bedding dries out, use a plant mister to spray some water on it.

Worms
1-2 pounds (~1000 worms per pound) of redworms or "wigglers" (Eisenia foetida) - (do not use night crawlers or other types of worms).  Purchase from an online or local worm vendor.

Food
Organic waste including vegetables, fruits, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper coffee filters, and shredded garden waste.
Worms especially like cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin. Limit the amount of citrus fruits that you add to the bin to prevent it from becoming too acidic.
Break or cut food scraps into small pieces so they break down easier.
Do not add meat scraps or bones, fish, greasy or oily foods, fat, tobacco, or pet or human manure.
Cover the food scraps completely with the bedding to discourage fruit flies and molds.

Temperature
Redworms will tolerate temperatures from 50° to 84°F, but 55° to 77°F is ideal.

Directions
Select a location for the worm bin.
Popular indoor spots are the kitchen, pantry, bathroom, mud room, laundry room, or basement.
Prepare the bedding.
Put shredded materials in a bucket of water and soak for 10 minutes.  Wring it out like a sponge and fluff it up as you add the newspaper to your worm bin. Aim for the bedding to be very damp, but not soaking wet (only two to three drops of water should come out when you squeeze the bedding material). Spread the bedding evenly until it fills about half to three-quarters of the bin.
Sprinkle a handful or two of soil (from outdoors or potting soil) into the bedding to introduce beneficial microorganisms and aid the worms' digestive process.
Gently place your worms on top of the bedding. Leave the bin lid off for a while so the worms will burrow into the bedding, away from the light. The worms will not try to crawl out of the bin if there is light overhead.

Feed
Dig a hole in the bedding (or pull the bedding aside), place the food scraps in the hole, and cover it with 2 inches of bedding.
Wait until food scraps are eaten before adding more.
Bury food scraps in a different area of the bin each time. Worms may be fed any time of the day.

Maintenance
Fluff up the bedding about once a week so the worms can get plenty of air and freedom of movement.
Worms will eat the bedding, so you will need to add more within a few months.
Add water to maintain moisture like that of a wrung-out sponge.
Add food as needed.  One pound of worms will eat about four pounds of food scraps a week. If you add more food than your worms can handle, anaerobic conditions will set in and cause odor. This should dissipate shortly if you stop adding food for a while.

Worm Castings

  Harvesting Compost
Worm castings (soil-like material that has moved through the worms' digestive tracts) will be visible after about six weeks.  After three or four months, it will be time to harvest the vermicompost, which consists of the castings along with partially decomposed bedding and food scraps.  Vermicompost can be harvested by one of two methods:
Method 1: Place food scraps on only one side of the worm bin for several weeks, and most of the worms will migrate to that side of the bin.  Remove the vermicompost from the other side of the bin, and add fresh bedding. Repeat this process on the second side of the bin. After both sides are harvested, resume adding food scraps to both sides of the bin.
Method 2: Empty the contents of your worm bin onto a plastic sheet where there is strong sunlight or artificial light. Wait 20-30 minutes, then scrape off the top layer of vermicompost.  Scrape off the top layer of compost every 20 minutes or so, as worms keep moving down away from the light.  Pick up the worms and gently return them to the bin in fresh bedding.
Be on the lookout for worm eggs; they are lemon-shaped and about the size of a match head, with a shiny appearance, and light-brownish color. The eggs contain between two and twenty baby worms. Place the eggs back inside your bin so they can hatch and thrive in your bin system.

Using Worm Compost
You can either use your vermicompost immediately or store it and use it later.

For more details, along with troubleshooting information, consult the excellent resources provided by Rhonda Sherman at http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/pubs/ag473-18.html.

Green Manuring By Grace Olson

    Once when I was in early high school my mother asked me to take my old Toyota pickup and drive to a local dairy farmer to buy some manure for her garden. I dutifully chugged over to the quiet farm, where the owner’s teenage son helped me load several tractor buckets full of fresh, steaming slop into my truck bed. I puttered on home and began shoveling it out onto her beautifully maintained plot, eyes watering with the stench and wondering how anyone could stand using the stuff. A half-hour later, my mother came home, took one breath of the chaos ensuing in her yard, and explained to me in some very heated language all about the term “composted.” In the end, her garden recovered and we now laugh about how that was some really “green manure.”


    Fortunately, the term’s actual meaning is far more beneficial to the Front Range home gardener. In effect, using a green manure means growing your own fertilizer and compost. You take a cover crop, usually a grass or legume seed broadcast over a soil surface, let it grow a while, and then till it under a month or so before planting your garden. The tilled-in plant material adds fertility and soil structure to your garden plot. For most of Jefferson County, mid-September is the perfect time to begin a fall-planted cover crop for spring till.

Hairy Vetch

    Choose a rye/hairy vetch or rye/Austrian winter pea mix so the crop will overwinter in Colorado. Mix with a rhizobium listed on the bag and broadcast over your garden. (Rates can be found in Table 3 of Garden Notes 244, click here). You may choose to cover the seed with bird netting or less than one inch of straw to ensure germination, and water often to keep the soil slightly moist until the crop is established.

    The seed will grow all winter while you feast on last season’s harvest, sip hot tea by the fire, and order new seeds for the spring’s planting. 

    One month before you plan to fill the area with your vegetables or flowers, till the cover crop under, thereby turning it into your very own green manure. You can get a motorized tiller or use a spade, depending on the size of your garden. Waiting one month allows the plant material to decompose properly before your seedlings enter and compete for soil oxygen. Its nitrogen is released into the soil and its slime, mucus and fungal mycelia glue soil particles together to improve the tilth.

    Whether you are wrapping up your harvest and can afford the space to cover your entire garden plot, or you wish to fill the area left by your broccoli or tomatoes, a green manure crop will benefit your garden. And, even if you ask your inexperienced teenager to help you, there is a lot less room for error than that other kind.

    For more information, read Colorado State University Extension’s Garden Notes 244. http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/244.pdf

Garden Weed Management: Using Pulled Weeds for Mulch

Pile of Bindweed. Use as Mulch? Think Again!

Andrea Cummins, Extension Agent at neighboring CSU Douglas County Extension, has this to say about using your weeds as mulch.  Be careful. You might be making your weed problem worse!

“Afternoon July thunderstorms have brought an onslaught of weeds in gardens and open space all along the Front Range. Soils too dry for seed germination this spring now have enough moisture to sprout weeds. Weeding practices may actually worsen the problem. Leaving pulled weeds on the soil surface is advocated by some as a way of mulching. Weeds dry out and die and the debris forms a mulch.

It is important to identify the weeds pulled for mulch. Some weeds can be pulled prior to setting seed and left in place with no danger of returning.Examples include: salsify, annual sowthistle, groundsel, and prickly lettuce.

Weeds such as bindweed, purslane, prostrate spurge and prostrate knotweed can root from a very small piece of stem or root. Gardeners should not leave these weeds on the soil for mulch, instead dispose of them in the trash.”

Herbicide Carryover: From Digestive Tract to Your Garden

Herbicide Carryover Injury

Considering getting manure from your local farmer for your garden?  Dear gardener, you might want to be cautious about this!

Dr. Tony Koski, CSU Extension Turf Specialist, recently informed staff about an excellent publication from North Carolina on the topic of herbicide carryover. 

North Carolina State University received reports from organic farmers and home gardeners of damage to vegetables following application of aged and composted horse and cattle manure to the soil. The symptoms exhibited on the crops are twisted, cupped, and elongated leaves; misshapen fruit; reduced yield; death of young plants; and poor seed germination. They found that one source of this crop injury is the presence of certain herbicides in manure and compost. With so many folks using composts and manures to improve soil, there have been increasing cases of contaminated amendments.  Unfortunately certain herbicides can pass through the digestive tract of grazing animals and into their manure.  Some straw products can contain herbicide residues used to manage weeds growing in the crop. 

Read more about the problem, recommendations and how to conduct a bioassay – a test for determining if that manure you’re going to buy from a local farmer is such a good idea!  Read the report here: Herbicide Carryover Injury

How To Make a Worm Farm With Your Kids by Jill Knussmann

Jeffco Extension 4H Cloverbuds  Show Off Wormerys!

In the dog days of summer, take a step into the cool shade to do a project with the kids.  Fact: Kids love worms.  Therefore, what could be better than making a worm farm? Benefits include knowledge gained about nature’s recycling process, nutrient rich worm castings to be used as a soil enhancer, and time shared with your kids. Let’s get started. 



Gather the following items:
2 cup plastic container with lid
Black paper to cover container and tape
Knife for poking holes in plastic container (adults only on this task)
1 cup shredded paper (from a paper shredder ideally, but torn up is fine)
Spray bottle of water
1 or 2 tablespoons of worms (Purchase Red Wigglers from a bait store.  For larger volumes they can be purchased on line.  Red Wigglers can adapt and thrive in captivity, while earthworms will not adapt.  Red Wigglers will not survive Colorado winters, but are fine for summer gardens if you choose to put them outside eventually. )
1 or 2 tablespoons of chopped vegetable waste.  Weight of food scraps should be the same as the weight of the worms.  Worms love melon rinds, fruits and veggies. They like coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells and banana peels.    They don’t really like citrus, onion or garlic. Worms cannot eat fatty or salty foods or they’ll get sick.  Also, please don’t feed them meat because it can smell bad and put germs in the wormhouse.

Put it together:
Have an adult punch holes in the container’s top, bottom and sides.  4 holes, ½ inch in diameter, on the top, bottom, and side of the container should provide adequate ventilation. (total of 12 holes)  The worms will be attracted to the food and will not crawl out.
Tape black paper over the container to keep it dark.  Worms are shy and like the dark, just like when they dig in the ground.
Place ½ cup shredded paper in bottom of container. 

Spray with water until paper is moist, not soggy.  This is the worm’s bed.  They breathe through their skin and have to stay moist.  Try to keep it fluffy instead of squished into a ball.
Add remaining ½ cup paper 
Moisten remaining paper with water.
Dig a wide hole half of the way down in the paper for your worms’ bed.
Add equal wieght finely chopped food scraps on top of your worms for dinner.  
Put the worms in their bed and cover them up with paper.
Leave them alone
Worms don’t really like to be handled, so wait a week and let them settle into their new home. Next week check on your worms. 
Pull back the covers and see if your worms have eaten all of their food.  If most of it is gone, give them the same amount of chopped up food.  Cover them up again.
Repeat until worms have consumed most of their bedding as well as the food and created worm castings.
Separate worms from castings. Castings are the brown soil-like particles you will see with the worms.  Use the castings on top of indoor or outdoor plants for a nutritious soil supplement. 

Start the process over with your worms.  When you have twice as many worms as when you started, you can use a larger container, or give half to a friend.

If you decide you would like to create a larger worm farm and enjoy a larger volume of castings, please go to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/columngw/gr070505.html for instructions.

Caution on Compost . . . Can It Be Too Much of a Good Thing? by Patti O'Neal

Amend, amend, and amend.  It is the mantra we all chant when managing our Colorado soils.  We here at CSU are constantly recommending that you add organic materials to your soils to improve water and nutrient holding capacity if you garden in sandy, gravelly or decomposed granite soils and to improve soil structure, drainage and filtration of water and nutrients in clay soils.  Improving the soil is still important for good plant growth and production of fruit and flowers.

But can you have too much of a good thing?  Much is being made, and justifiably so, of phosphates these days and their adverse effect on our groundwater supplies.  As a result many states are adopting laws to prevent the addition of phosphates to many products for household and outdoor use.
It is very likely that one day we will see the content of our fertilizers change as a result of these laws, and hopefully the labeling of our compost products so we know what we are getting.

Photo University of Minnesota

 First of all, let’s clarify what landscape soils on the Front Range do, for the most part, contain. Though varied in textures, our soils have a good mineral and plant available nutrient content.  Plant available nitrogen and iron are the only properties that we lack sufficient quantities of.  With that said, let’s look at the results of a recent study performed at CSU through the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the Soil, Water and Plant Testing Laboratory.  The study used randomly selected bagged compost products which were analyzed for plant based nutrients.  Here are some of the significant results of the study and recommendations for how we should use them.

NOTE:  The results of this study do not reflect either an endorsement or a condemnation of any particular product.

*Chemical properties of a given product may vary from bag to bag, both within a season and from year to year.  The analysis represents just a “snap shot” in time, and do not represent a definitive assessment of any particular product.
*Composted manure products tend to be very salty, and often contain high concentrations of plant available nutrients.
*Nearly all the products analyzed, both plant and animal based contained 2-15 times more plant-available phosphorous and 3 to 110 times more plant available potassium, than are needed for good plant growth.
*Plant available nitrogen contents were highly variable in the products analyzed.  Some contained nitrogen in nearly entirely organic form and contained little if any plant available nitrogen while others contained very high to excessive plant available nitrogen in ammonium and nitrate forms.

The moral of the story is that you may be doing something you believe to be wonderful for your soil, when in fact, you are not.  You may believe you are gardening completely organically, when in fact, you are not.

Oh great, you say?  So now what am I supposed to do?   The good news is that there are several things you can do.

*First, be conservative in the amount of organic amendment you apply.
No more than 2-3” of plant based compost mixed into the top 6-8” of soil or 1” of manure based compost worked into 8” of soil (especially if the salinity of the product is not known).
*Leach an organic product before use to help lower salinity.
*Use mulch as directed to conserve organic matter by lessening irrigation needed.  The more you conserve, the less you need to add in subsequent years.
*Try using green manure instead (cover crops like buckwheat, winter rye or vetch) to improve the organic matter in areas where it is practical to do so like the vegetable garden. 
*Make sure that there is a certified organic seal on any organic product that you purchase to insure that the contents are genuinely organic. 

Probably the single best thing you can do is to make your own homemade plant based compost.  This way you are assured of what goes in and what will come out.  Amendments are a good thing if used with discretion.  Until the labels are legally mandated, use caution and good sense for best results.

Steamin' Compost by Elaine Lockey

A tumbler-style compost bin

 While visiting the Rooney Road Recycling Center this winter I happened to see a rather prehistoric-looking vision.  The huge piles of brush in their organic waste area looked like primordial vents as they emitted steam on a day that wasn’t warmer than 20F. 

For gardeners, the knowledge that in the middle of a compost pile, temperatures can be over 140F - well that’s just exciting! If you haven’t already started composting, there are many resources out there to help you get started including classes and internet information.  CSU Extension has a great Fact Sheet on composting yard waste.  

The statistics are rather shocking: grass clippings, leaves and yard waste make up 20% of Denver’s household trash.  Composting yard waste combined with kitchen waste can reduce by 300lbs per person how much we send to the landfill annually. (Source: Denver Recycles) Plants lose between 50-75% of their volume in composting so it is an effective way to cleanup your yard. 

The main components to a healthy compost pile are temperature, moisture and oxygen, and nutrients.  The balance of these is critical to the pile getting hot enough and for microorganisms to effectively breakdown the waste. Microbes operate best at a range of 70-140F; temperatures exceeding 160F will kill them. Moisture is very essential to successful compost in Colorado.  You’ll need to add extra water to your pile to keep things breaking down as our natural precipitation won’t be enough to keep things going in the dryer times. It is easy to go overboard as well with moisture.  You don’t want a soggy compost pile as that will begin to smell and there will be a lack of oxygen supporting the microbes.  Your goal is moist or damp and uniformly wet.

The size of the materials you are composting is also critical.  Break apart or shred large plant pieces or other materials into ½ to 1 ½ size particles. It is not as necessary to do this with soft plant parts. Periodically turn or fork your pile to move microbes around and aerate.  Your pile also needs to be at least 3’x3’ in size to generate enough heat.  You can either fence it off or put your waste into a manufactured bin like the black tumblers available at nurseries. 

It's helpful to keep an under-sink kitchen bucket for your compost waste to easily transport to your compost bin when it gets filled.  Partially fill it with water to keep bugs and odors down.

Why are microbes hanging out in your compost pile? The plant material is a food source for them. Nitrogen is a critical nutrient for them and when that runs low they will also slow down their feeding. Green plants like kitchen waste provide Nitrogen while dry leaves and paper or straw contain little Nitrogen but do provide a Carbon source.  You’ll want a balance of equal parts green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) waste to strike the right balance of nutrients. There are many compostable items you can use and some that you might want to avoid.

This list from Denver Recycles gives you some ideas on what you can compost and which green or brown category a material fits into. 

Browns

paper, shredded● eggshells ● sunflower stalks● end-of season annual plants ● straw

saw dust (small amounts) ● cotton string● oats● cabbage and broccoli stalks● grain hulls● tissue

cardboard cores (toilet paper & paper towels) ● wool● autumn leaves● dryer lint● lawn thatch

turnips● peanut husks● stalks from perennial plants● chipped branches● vacuum cleaner sweepings

coffee filters● corn cobs● cornstalks● cotton● landscape trimming● paper towels

Greens

alfalfa pellets● apples and peels● artichokes● asparagus stalks● bananas and peels

beans● beet tops● berries● broccoli● carrots and tops● celery● citrus fruit and rinds● coffee grounds pears● pet hair● food scraps (non meat scraps only) ● cucumbers● peas● garden waste (overgrown vegetables) ● grass clippings (no pesticides) ●moldy food (no meat, fat, cheese or bones)

● onions and skins● grapefruit● green leaves● spent hops● human hair● grapes● lettuce● manure (herbivores only) ● melons● pineapples● pond algae● potatoes and peels● pumpkins● squash

recycled water from cleaning fish tanks● weeds without mature seeds

Some waste that you might want to avoid are highly resinous wood, leaf prunings from pines, junipers, spruce and arborvitae (resin coatings prevent decomposition), plants treated with weed killers, human, cat and dog feces (disease issues), wood ash or lime.  For a more complete list visit the Extension’s Fact Sheet. 

Your compost is ready to use on your garden when it smells earthy and has the appearance of soil. You should not be able to recognize anything in it.  The amount of time to finish is highly variable but ranges from three months to a couple of years depending on the key elements above. 

Once you start composting it is hard to imagine ever throwing another apple core into the trashcan again!  It’s also a bit addictive so warn your family and friends; you might find yourself on the lookout for “compostable items” wherever you go so you can add to that pile. 

“Non compost mentis” by Gardener Dave

I don’t abhor most garden chores,
not even the raking of leaves
But there’s one thing I do not do
It’s one of my favorite peeves

Organic gardeners, throw your darts
and tell me I’m not being Green
But I just can’t save up everything
for a turning-barrel and screen

Some compost everything they have
including their table food scraps
But I will buy my compost “done”
from a nearby Nursery, perhaps

I won’t have to remember to turn it
and keep it’s temperature high…
not even remember to keep out things
which have pesticides that I apply

I’ll shun the “delight” of making my own
I’ll just buy some, and plant me a tree
I like to do many things that are Green
but composting is not one for me

Cheers,
Gardener Dave


Note: The title of my poem is not original with me (shame, shame!). One of those who beat me to it is the author Darrell Schweitzer, who wrote: Non compost mentis: “An affrontery of limericks and other eldritch metrical terrors” (sound interesting?). There are no doubt other aberrations of non compos mentis, but I’m too lazy to look them all up, and your interest is probably flagging anyway. :o)

What to do with all those leaves? by Donna Duffy

We have had weeks to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage, and now we have to figure out what to do with all those leaves carpeting the lawn and yard. It’s best not to leave a thick layer of leaves on the grass for several reasons. A thick layer can block sunlight, reducing turf growth because of the shading effect. That thick layer will also hold moisture, increasing the potential for turf disease. Here area some options for managing all those leaves and keeping them out of the landfills.

 Composting

Leaves are high in carbon, making them a great compost, but they are comparatively low in nitrogen and that’s what decomposing bacteria feed on. You can add nitrogen in the form of fertilizer or fresh green organic matter. Add ¼ to ½ cup of standard lawn fertilizer (without weed killer) per bushel. Or add one part dry leaves with two parts fresh grass clippings or other green garden debris. As you add leaves to the compost pile, moisten them until they are the consistency of a wet sponge. Whole leaves are better for compost than leaves that are shredded or mulched. For more information, check out the CSU Extension Fact Sheet “Composting Yard Waste” at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07212.html.

Mulching

Mulching the leaves directly into the turf is simple and a time-saving way to manage leaves. Mulching mowers work best, but almost any rotary mower will suffice. Use safety goggles and an air mask over your mouth and nose to protect yourself from debris and dust (dry leaves mulch better than wet leaves). Set the mower blade at your normal mowing height. If you have lots of leaves, it may require more than one pass. The finer the leaf particles, the more easily they fall into the turf, leaving the grass exposed to sunlight. This is important because fall is an important time for the turf to photosynthesize and store carbohydrates.

Recycling

In Jefferson County, bagged or loose leaves can be taken to the Rooney Road Recycling Center at 151 South Rooney Road. There is a charge for dropping off leaves and other yard waste, but it keeps them out of the landfills. If you take bagged leaves, you’ll need to take them out of the bags at the recycling site. Rooney Road Recycling Center is open 7 days a week except holidays. For more information, call 303-612-6262.

Some municipalities in Jefferson County have their own leaf collection programs. In Golden, yard waste collection will happen the first three Saturdays in November. Call 303-278-8600 for details.  Littleton and Englewood are continuing their annual leaf recycling program at Mountain States Wood Recyclers, 2300 West Radcliffe Avenue in Sheridan. For more information, call the Public Service Department at 303-795-3863.

 Call your local municipality to check on leaf recycling programs this fall. So, don't "leaf" them alone, compost, mulch or recycle!

How to: Recycle a Rubber Hose into a Cheap & Comfy Chair

Dear gardener, now that winter is upon us perhaps it is time to look at some garden tasks we can accomplish in the workshop.  I thought this design was great and most gardeners have an old rubber hose laying around!  Hope to see several of these chairs in Jeffco this summer!


How to: Recycle a Rubber Hose into a Cheap & Comfy Chair | Designs & Ideas at Dornob

Christmas Tree Recycling by Donna Duffy

That lovely, fragrant cut tree you bought weeks ago has probably seen better days by now. It’s time to get it out of the house! Following are three options for recycling the tree once you’ve removed all of the decorations and tinsel. One caution: don’t burn the tree in your fireplace – the pitch content in the bark and needles can cause them to burst into flames from the intense heat.

Treat the birds!

Take that dry tree outside! You can prop it up against the house or leave the tree stand in place. Decorate it with popcorn, fresh cranberries, peanuts in the shell, pine cones with suet and birdseed; apples, rice cakes, or dried corn bundles. The birds will love the variety of treats – as will the squirrels. Use natural string, ribbon and raffia for hanging the edible decorations. The birds will use this material for nesting in the spring.

Use the Tree Boughs for Mulch

Recycle the boughs and use them as mulch in your own yard. Just cut the boughs off the trunk or larger branches and place them on your perennial beds. The boughs will protect dormant plants from drying out as fast as if they were fully exposed. They'll also keep the plants dormant longer because the soil temperature won't rise as quickly on sunny winter days. Be sure to remove the boughs as the plants start to emerge from dormancy. Then chop boughs into small pieces and add them to your compost pile to provide some acidity.

Check out PlantTalk Colorado at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2007.html for more information.

Recycle Your Whole Tree

Jefferson County has several sites where Christmas trees can be dropped off. This website will be helpful to find the location nearest to you: http://www.recycleyourchristmastree.com/counties/jefferson.html.  Before you take your tree, find out if there are restrictions. Many sites will not accept flocked trees and all sites require thorough removal of decorations to protect both man and machine in the recycling process. The best rule of thumb is to take your tree to the recycler in the same condition that you would find it in the forest. Then go back and pick-up some mulch for your garden! Pine needles are great for protecting fall planted materials, and bark chips are perfect for informal walkways.

Using Garden Debris for Decorations!

Carol O'Meara, Boulder County Extension agent offers these suggestions for using items from your winter garden to decorate for the holidays.

Nature Decorates

We Are Now Officially Into Fall: Lasagna Gardening Can Now Begin

Because Colorado is not one of the 23 states that ban yard waste in landfills, much of our garden waste including fallen leaves and grass clippings will be bagged in plastic, put out on the street and sent to area garbage dumps. It is estimated that as much as 33% of solid waste  sent to landfills is yard waste. This is waste that can be composted and used to improve the environment.


 A Colorado Master Gardener from La Plata County offers this helpful article on a form of composting called Lasagna Gardening.  Sounds tasty and seems like a nifty way to use your fallen leaves and kitchen waste without too much effort.


Durango Herald News, We are now officially into fall: Lasagna gardening can now begin

Here's another idea for those leaves.  How about using them for mulches  and of course there is always the old-fashioned but extremely useful composting.  If you don't even want to do that, how about making leaf mold. Leaf mold is a wonderful soil amendment that is made from nothing more than fall leaves with the occasional layer of garden soil or finished compost added. The pile sits for about a year, and when it's finished you have the perfect amendment for vegetable and flower gardens, as well as a fantastic addition to potting soils.  Here's a link .

The bottom line, dear gardener, there are lots of ways to use our fallen leaves without adding them to the landfill!

San Francisco starts mandatory composting this week | MNN - Mother Nature Network

San Francisco starts mandatory composting this week | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Making [Soil] While the Sun Shines by Late Bloomer

Oh, the composting! Because of Peter's comment about hail's only advantage being that of making compost-able materials, I checked the drainage area / cum 'open space' behind our yard. Where flood waters have piled debris against trees and bushes, I found yards and yards of shredded tree leaves and twigs mixed with eroded dirt and the good tan stuff from clippings left behind when the area was mowed. WOW, already warm and cooking, with lovely large worms.

This wonderous stuff will be a great jump start for next year's compost needs in addition to supplying much needed fill material. This leads me to the berm story. For fifteen years I have slowly built up an area behind the yard, meant to keep flood waters away from the lower garden. It is composed—or should I say decomposed—of clippings, prunings, greens, browns, and grass from our yard and those of other gardeners. I call it my sanitary land fill.

A nice dry-stacked wall contains it, thanks to the recycling of two neighbors' driveways. The old stuff has long since become soil, and the new hail-made stuff is enough to top it off. With a little soil on top, the berm will be planted with native grasses like those they are using to replant along the path the city just installed through the new open space.

Mulching Around Trees

There is a very simple way to mulch around trees without killing the grass with glyphosate, digging up sod or using landscape cloth or plastic to smother the grass. Use newspaper instead! Four to six pages of newspaper with mulch on top will effectively kill the grass. Your trees will love not having to compete with grass for nutrients and water and the newspaper will decompose and continue to feed the tree. Newspapers use soy-based inks so there is no fear in harming the earth!

See how easy:



And voila! Ten minutes later:

Stir Up the Compost by Kim Bone

While I was outside I realized I needed to do something I really did not want to do....STIR THE COMPOST BIN!!!
I grabbed my handy shovel and went to work only to realize there was more in there, than I thought, so I emptied the bin and got to work by mixing up the old with the new. As I was doing this I did some spreadin' around and mixed it with some good ol' dirt and gave it a good waterin'. That's all folks!