Princeton Online: Princeton, New Jersey: Premier community information web site

House and Garden

- Announcements
- Articles
- Blogs
- Classifieds
- Events
- Movies
- Photo Gallery
- Press Releases
- Radio/TV/Lottery
- Snapshots
- Specials
- Weather
- Cranbury
- Hopewell
- Kingston
- Lambertville
- Lawrenceville
- Pennington
- Rocky Hill
- Stockton

House and Garden Home Page

« November 2009 »
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

House and Garden Articles (25)

Forecast Radar

Articles

Send To A Friend Print this Page

Most recent posting below. See other articles in the column to the right.

How To Compost

April 02, 2009 By Anthony Tripp

I'm really glad that more and more people want to add some green habits to their lives but it saddens me that composting isn't considered more often. It's not hard to do, in fact if you have a yard with trees and grass you're ready to start composting.

Just pile up your lawn clippings in a corner somewhere. Then during the fall, instead of raking up leaves to be left at the curb, add them to your pile. There you go, you're composting. If you don't like the looks of this mound, then you can buy a fancy compost bin or even make one yourself. A simple piece of wire fencing in the shape of a circle is perfect for composting leaves and grass. Okay, you're done. Who says that it's too hard to go green?

I'm not proposing that we replace our coffee tables with vermi-composting bins and raise worms in our living rooms. No, that's a bit extreme even for someone who runs a blog about compost, yuck! Just save some leaves and grass and you're off to a great start.

If you don't have the time or energy to mix the pile every month or so, it'll still turn to compost all by itself. Compost doesn't need your help. Who do you think mixes the leaves in a forest? Just wait about a year or two and you'll get your compost without doing anything. And if you keep the ratio of leaves to grass at about 30:1 and water it every once in a while and it'll compost even quicker.

So how will this help? Compost is a natural fertilizer that can be added to plants or spread out over your lawn. Those chemical fertilizers that everyone uses wind up washing down the storms drains and then they cause algae blooms in our lakes and ponds. Plus think about all the energy it takes to produce those chemical fertilizers. If you stop buying it, they'll stop making it.

By composting you're also reducing the amount of garbage you produce and keeping this yard waste out of the landfill . If your town or city doesn't have a composting program then all of your leaves are just going to the dump. They won't decompose there.

Compost can also help your soil retain more moisture so you can cut down on watering. And last time I checked, saving water was a good thing too.

But the best part about compost is that it's free.

With all of these benefits, it's a wonder why everyone doesn't start composting. Great for the soil, conserves water, stops fertilizer run off. And it isn't hard to do. Just pile up your leaves and grass clipping in a corner or your yard and wait. Now who can't do that? Why it's as easy as changing a light bulb.

Add a Comment