The Gardener's Gold Rush :: Home and Garden

The Gardener's Gold Rush
by author Gillian Flower

Many Canadian municipalities are expanding their organic waste diversion programs. Compost-savvy plant lovers are choosing instead to hang on to their humus, treasuring the properties of this rich, black soil.

An Organic Gold Mine

Compost, often called “black gold” by gardeners, is simply decomposed organic matter. Organisms in a composting system break down vegetable scraps, leaves, and yard waste, creating humus, a dark, nutrient-packed material. Rather than being reminiscent of the local dump, finished compost smells earthy and sweet.
The foundation of a fruitful garden is lush, hearty soil. Poor soil can yield weak plants that are vulnerable to disease and harsh weather conditions. Strengthen your plants by building your soil with compost.

Spreading the Wealth

Healthy soil starts with two basic elements: air and water. Mixing compost into your garden ensures proper soil aeration, which supports beneficial micro-organisms and solid root growth. Compost also increases water retention in the soil, providing your plants with an oasis during dry spells. Using compost in your garden creates an ideal growing environment.
The magic of compost doesn’t end there! While chemical fertilizers may claim to provide ideal NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) ratios, essential micronutrients may be missing. Compost is nature’s perfect fertilizer. Its diverse spectrum of nutrients and micronutrients are slowly released over the growing season. Synthetic fertilizers simply can’t replicate this. In fact, compost improves your soil’s ability to retain nutrients, making it healthier and more sustainable over the long-term.

Starting Your Own Gold Mine

Once you are ready to begin composting, choose the system that fits your lifestyle. Outdoor compost units are common in urban settings. Keeping your compost in a bin rather than
leaving it in an open pile will keep you popular with the neighbours and discourage scavenging wildlife.

You can easily build your own single- or multi-bin system, or purchase one through your municipality. It will likely take two to three months for the raw compost to morph into rich, dark organic matter using a fixed bin. If you can’t wait that long, consider a tumbler-style composter, such as the Envirocycle (envirocyclesystems.com), which increases aeration and speeds composting to just four to six weeks.

If outdoor space is limited, try vermicomposting. Tiny red wiggler worms in these indoor systems devour their own weight in food every two days. And don’t fear a great worm escape: these voracious homebodies won’t stray from a good food supply. Their waste product, called castings, can be sterilized for use indoors or steeped in hot water to make a potent “compost tea” for your plants. Ideal for apartment dwellers, a properly maintained bin will not smell or attract insects.

Municipalities are taking impressive steps to reduce organics in the waste stream, but keeping compostables closer to home reduces the impact of transporting and processing them. Home composting creates nature’s perfect soil amendment, pleasing your plants, boosting your soil, and saving landfill space at the same time.

Gillian Flower is the general manager of Grassroots Environmental Products. GrassrootsStore.com.

Source: alive #270, April 2005

Mulch Time!
With the excitement of Christmas dying down, the avid gardener gazes out the window at the wintry scene, yearning for spring to arrive so he can get his hands in the dirt. Don't despair! There is a gardening chore that can be done at this time of year.

Indoor Winter Gardening
During the winter months, maintaining indoor plants can be as rewarding as outdoor gardening. The following are some rules to observe to help keep your houseplants healthy. Reduce fertilization. During the cooler temperatures and shorter days of the winter months, the growth rate of most houseplants slows.

Watching Weeds Grow
Weeds are an index of what is wrong, and sometimes what is right, with the soil. Or at least with the fertility program. In every field on every farm there are different soil types and each has a potential for producing certain weeds.

Take Back Control
Open Letter To: Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister Right Honourable Joe Clark, Conservative Leader Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance Bloc Québécois Leader, Mr.

Prepare for Your Garden Now!
There's nothing more enjoyable for a gardener in January than curling up on the sofa with a hot beverage and perusing nursery catalogue.

Growing Winter Greens
Long before the first crops are available from local farms and gardens, many people are longing for fresh produce and it's possible, even in the depths of winter--right from your own kitchen counter! Sprouts..

Natural Gas Crisis
An important part of gardening is getting to know your soil type and how to maximize it. Soil consists of 50 per cent mineral solids (clay, silt, sand) and 50 per cent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture provides a well-structured soil.Clay soil is dense.

Worm Power Composting Made Easy
"Worms make great pets. They're quiet and all they do is eat and reproduce. In fact, they eat their own body weight in food waste every day. Worms are a wonderful symbol of the power of one.

Guerrilla Gardening
Gardeners are a resourceful and determined lot. Even with a small plot of soil, a patio, balcony or windowsill, you can create a tiny garden that will bring you beauty and food.

Year Of The Home Garden
Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD, vice-president of agriculture for Seeds of Change, the largest certified organic seed company in the United States, says, "The key to the future of the world lies in gardening.

Companion Planting
When we fall in love, the phenomenon is referred to as "chemistry". So it is in the plant world. "Allelochemics" is a field of ecology that researches transmission of powerful chemical substances between plant species. Plant organisms "connect" and "communicate" either good vibes or bad.

Short On Gardening Space?
You want a garden, but your space is limited: a patio, balcony, window box, windowsill, hanging basket or just indoor pot.

An Appetite for Flowers
Pick the blossoms from the stems, removing the parts that contain the pollen. Rinse them in cold water, remove the petals, and pat dry.Snip chive blossoms into your favourite vinaigrette recipe for added punch to your salads and marinades..

Summer Dreams
When winter keeps me out of the garden, I seek refuge inside, perusing the latest gardening books and dreaming of the upcoming gardening season.

Earthly Delights
The most important gardening tool is the human body. Proper body positioning, well-designed gardening gloves and tools, along with frequent rest breaks are the keys to healthy gardening.

Cultivating Beauty
We're surrounded by the pinks, yellows, and fragrant purples of summertime - and much of this comes courtesy of a green thumb. Unfortunately, that thumb might eventually sport a painful and unsightly callus or two.

The Art of Wild Harvesting
Individually, many of us have little ongoing direct experience with plant life. However, big business is quickly recognizing the huge profit potential in selling herbal medicine. At the very least we may say that herbal medicine is re-emerging as people discover its many positive qualities.

Starting Your Own Seeds
March is finally here, the month to start your own seedlings! Most seeds should not be started earlier as they will grow tall and lanky and may not survive. Read each seed packet to find when the best time is to start the seeds. The packets will also advise if the plant does not transplant well

Dazzle With Basil
Carnadians love basil for its tantalizing, pungent scent and flavor. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, the herb was a symbol of malice and lunacy. In other cultures the herb is associated with love rituals.

Prepare Your Soil Organically
Soil consists of 50 percent mineral solids (clay, silt and sand) and 50 percent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture of clay, silt and sand provides a well-structured soil. Clay soil is a dense soil; although quite fertile, it drains poorly and can turn to near concrete when dry.

Take Some Thyme
Thyme grows well in most climates and prefers a light, sandy, well-drained, dry soil in full sun. It is one of the easiest herbs to grow in containers on an apartment balcony, but is quite susceptible to root rot and fungal disease if grown in soil that is too moist or heavy.

Tasty Tubers
Why bother growing potatoes when they are so cheap at the supermarket and they store so well? The best reason is that by harvesting potatoes from your own garden you safeguard your health. Potatoes may cany residues of any number of pesticides. Another reason is that many potatoes now being sold are genetically engineered to produce a soil bacteria that kills pests such as the Colorado Potato Beetle.

The Dirt on Soil
An important part of gardening is getting to know your soil type and how to maximize it. Soil consists of 50 percent mineral solids (clay, silt, sand) and 50 percent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture provides a well-structured soil.

Life in the Great Indoors
Winter can be a challenging time for the plants in our homes. Dry air, temperature fluctuations, and reduced lighting send some indoor plants into a state of semi-dormancy. Others thrive in winter's feeble light, adding vibrancy to the indoor landscape while purifying the air in our homes.

From Garbage to Gold
When bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects break down organic material in the presence of oxygen, the result is compost. Also known as black gold, compost is the perfect ingredient for any soil. It lightens heavy clay and helps absorb moisture in even the sandiest of soils.

Say Goodbye to Unwanted Garden Guests
Gardeners need a supply of remedies in case unwelcome guests get out of hand. Before heading off to the garden centre, though, look to your pantry for solutions. Organic gardeners have long used home-made preparations to ward off unwanted insects and diseases.

Pulp Mill Sludge
For most of us, the thought of eating food grown in pulp sludge is unappetizing. But the BC Liberal government and the pulp and paper industry have teamed up to push new regulations that will allow the use of pulp mill sludge, fly ash, and mill waste water to be used as a "soil enhancement product.

Fruitful Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers have low solubility and rely on micro-organisms and organic-matter acids to release their nutrients. They actually activate microbial life, and their nutrients become available when the plants need them. Working slowly, organic fertilizers encourage long-term fertility rather than the immediate fertility that synthetic fertilizers provide.

Warming up means burning more

Tend your garden and your bones

To walk or to jog?

Digging a Deeper Hole

Fall Into Composting

Preparing Your Garden for the Growing Season
Preparing your garden in spring doesn't have to be complicated. Enjoy a sunny afternoon by donning your gardening gloves and taking these easy, basic steps for gardens big or small, perennial or vegetable. Your first step is to clear the clutter.

Homegrown Savoury and Sweet
In spring and summer, we enjoy the wealth of herbal diversity at our local produce market. Planting our own herbal gardens will not only provide us with fresh fodder for our summer meals but will also bless our home with aromatic scents.

Flourishing Florals
A tisket, a tasket, a beautiful hanging basket. Find these at your local nursery selling for top dollar or, with a little patience and imagination, you can create a fantastic arrangement of colours and scents to suit your garden decor.

Tilling Togetherness
Hot town! It's time to shake off the dust, bust out of your tiny-but-affordable apartment, and join the steamy chaos of summer in the city!

Going with the Flow
Watering is one of my least favourite garden chores. In the heat of summer, it is an interminable task, requiring hours of dedication and returning nothing but a day's reprieve from the constant threat of desertification.

September Spectacular
As the blooms of early summer fade, gardeners stave off shorter days and evening chills with warm floral displays. It can be the showiest time of year-when temperatures are less intense and the air is crisper.

Gardening By the Moon
The idea of gardening by the moon may elicit images of dancing naked around your blueberry bushes, asking goddesses for special favours. In fact, lunar gardening is actually based upon the moon's gravitational effect on the flow of moisture in soil and plants.

Grooming Your Grounds
Natural lawn care is not simply a choice between good and bad gardening products. It is a philosophical shift to a new relationship with your lawn, working with, rather than against, the ecosystem of your garden.

Fall Garden Maintenance
As the days get shorter and the air develops a chillier nip, why do all the work yourself? Let Mother Nature help you take care of your garden.

The Organic Picnic
Eating alfresco surrounded by nature makes us realize how much we need to take care of our precious planet. We can start by packing an organic picnic—its positive impact can go much further than just the foods we choose.