Comments on: Gardening Without Plastic, Part 2: Planting and Replanting

By: BethTerry

BethTerry — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:06:09 +0000

@Greenrunner I love the idea of compost pits. Do you have to turn and maintain the compost or just leave it there and let it do its thing? In my book, the less work the better.

By: Plastic-Free Ericka Moderator

Plastic-Free Ericka Moderator — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:52:04 +0000

@Greenrunner Sounds like you will soon have quite the flourishing garden. Would love to see some photos!

By: Greenrunner

Greenrunner — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:51:42 +0000

I am also new to this gardening thing, and am also trying to be as ecofriendly as possible. I collected biodegradable paper cups used a local green fund raising run and have used those to plant the seeds I kept from gemsquash and pattie pans bought at our local home industry – so far so good, I think. Also at the home industry I bought 2 litres of worm “tea” from someone’s wormery (ok, it was in a old cooldrink bottle – but at least it’s not in the landfill yet!) to feed my veggies with till I have compost. I have only just started composting. I cannot afford and do not want to buy a fancy compost maker, and have a huge garden – so I am digging three compost pits. No cost except the wages of the local man who helps me in the garden and who will be sharing the harvest. (Have to be optimistic…) We chuck in all the veggie peelings and egg cartons and tealeaves and coffee grounds and some lawn mowings, etc., and put a layer of the dug-out soil back on top every now and then. When pit one is full we will start filling pit two. By the time the third is full, I hope pit one will be all done and ready to use. Bit worried about rats, but we have a cat for that. Unfortunately we cannot keep chickens as they will be kidnapped before they can say cluck – that’s just how it is around here, otherwise they’d be on pest control and egg production duty already.

Cows wander our streets. Their contributions are added to the compost pits, too.

By: BethTerry

BethTerry — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:55:07 +0000

@diana12759 Thanks for the encouragement. I’ve just been tossing peelings and egg shells into a pile in the yard. No time to do more, but I like that it’s staying here and nourishing my soil.

By: diana12759

diana12759 — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:30:06 +0000

oops, i meant the “brown” part of the compost, not the “grown” part….

By: diana12759

diana12759 — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:28:30 +0000

Hi, I wanted to let you know that i put my compost right on the ground. I live in the country so no neighbors to complain. Sometimes i pile it right in the garden or like this past winter i piled it on top of the ground right where there are a lot of leaves to pull in for the grown part. It works for me, and i can just rake it over since there’s room on all sides. Whatever nutrients are leaching into the ground I’m not going to worry about, eventually i can use that spot to plant something when it gets soft and broken down. It’s like that old book, How to get a Green thumb with out an aching back. That woman just kept piling it in her garden and eventually all she had to do was rake it aside and plant. I haven’t gotten that far, but it just goes to show, you can do it.

By: latches

latches — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:19:51 +0000

Thanks for sharing this post. Using gloves without is a nice idea to protect your garden from plastic…

By: BethTerry

BethTerry — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:59:29 +0000

Interesting concept. Yes, the chalk would probably wash away. But also, after taking a walk through my neighborhood this weekend and witnessing a whole bunch of plastic plant markers on the sidewalk in various places (it seems to be garden planting time right now), I don’t think I want to leave them outside. *Sigh*

By: nellsbells

nellsbells — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:44:45 +0000

Have you thought of painting over the Sweetwater markers with chalkboard paint to reuse them? I just now realized that the chalk would probably wash away when watering – but maybe there’s a way around that… not sure.

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:07:56 +0000

Hey Kris, can you please post links to some of your lazy composting articles? Would love to read more about it. I have just been tossing veggie scraps into a pile in the corner of the yard. It’s not gross so far. And it makes me happy to keep the stuff at home rather than sending it off to the commercial composting facility. But the slow way I’m doing it is not going to make nice compost any time soon. Oh well. I only have so much time and energy.