Tell One Friend: Leave those Browns on the Ground

Spring has sprung. The snow melts away to reveal leaves and dead grass on lawns and yards. Yes, some folks will gather up these dead and dry plants. These are good "browns" for home composting. But it's also okay to leave browns on the ground.

Leave it on the Lawn

Lawns and landscapes like a layer of mulch. Autumn leaves and dead grass are also a good source of carbon for the soil. These browns break down slowly over the entire growing season. They provide free food for your lawn while protecting soil from sun and wind.

Invite friends and neighbours to keep some leaves and dry grass on the lawn. Be thoughtful about it. Choose parts of the landscape to look trim and tidy, while leaving other parts more natural. Remember, Mother Nature isn't a clean freak.

Residents can also mow over dry leaves. This breaks up leaves into smaller bits for the mulch layer. A mulching mower is nice, but it's not needed.

Help keep grass and leaves out of landfills by leaving clippings and leaves on the lawn this spring and summer. Alternatively, you can compost these items at home. If you need to bag and remove grass, leaves and yard waste from your property, please drop them off at an Eco Station for free or set out in clear or coloured bags (not black, blue or paper). This will help staff at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre easily distinguish yard waste from garbage and send it for composting. 

---

Share Your Message Effectively

Try these tips to connect with friends, family, neighbours, and co-workers.

Model the Behaviour
Show friends and family how you use leaves and dry grass on your landscape. Talk up the benefits to your soil and plant health.

Make it Normal
Post a photo of mulch on social media.

Offer Timely Prompts
While friends and neighbours are doing spring clean up, mention how Browns are a valuable for both lawn and landscape.

Give Positive Feedback
"Your natural lawn with your mulched browns looks great!"

Highlight the Benefits
Change the narrative. Aesthetically-pleasing lawns and plants are healthy and not necessarily perfect. Healthy, natural lawns and plants, nourished with compost, contribute to a healthy urban eco-system. Insects, birds and animals will thank you.

Visit edmonton.ca/compost

Previous Tell One Friend: Set Up an Eco Station Box

Cover Crops: Part I

If your goal is healthy food, then your veggie patch needs cover crops.
They are part of a more natural approach to growing food.

Microbes in the soil provide nutrients to your plants. If soil runs out of microbes then plants don't get as many nutrients as they could with the help of a healthy food web. Ensure the life in your soil has what it needs to thrive.

---

Some easy ways to get started:

Peas

Early planting of peas will be the first crop to brown off. Right after the first picking, plant oats. They will fill in fast and won't interfere when pulling the vines off their supports and lay them on the soil as residue. You can start a flat of spinach in late July and transplant them into the open spaces, just drop them right into the pea residues. Careful not to pull out the roots.

Salad Greens

Greens don't take much from soil, so you can constantly plant more seeds throughout the summer. As we move into August, planting wheat will support soil fungi. Later in the month, planting daikon or tillage radish will further support the soil.

Garlic

Harvest begins in July when scapes (slender white pods of bulbils) are ready and leaf tips start to brown off. If browning off occurs in July, it's a sign that your soil is poorly drained. Lift bulbs in poor health and plant oats. As you lift single bulbs, stick in a fava bean. When the rest of the crop is lifted, plant radish, Johnny Jump-up, or Stinkweed.

Beans

Spacing around bush beans is wide enough to try a variety of cover crops. You can stick in a few species of soil builders or food crops as soon as harvest begins in July. It's an opportunity to use up left-over seeds here and there and see if you get a later harvest (avoid big plants like squash). It's also an opportunity to build resources into your soil for next year. If you plan to grown corn in that spot next year, then plant Alfalfa and Buckwheat, or if you plant a root crop, then go with annual grasses like wheat and barley. The beauty of the combinations will surprise and delight you.

Don't forget to cover the bed with leaves in October.

Visit edmonton.ca/compost

 

Myth or Fact: Going Bagless Makes Thatch

MYTH!

Going bagless will not make more thatch. On the contrary, grass clippings are great for your lawn!

Thatch is mostly old roots, stems, and leaves that have not yet broken down. It's a layer of accumulated dead stuff between your living grass, and their roots and soil. This build-up is typically made of the types of debris that are most resistant to decay, such as dead leaves, grass roots, and stems.

Grass needs some thatch for protection. But when the thatch layer is too thick, it can be a boundary that blocks nutrients, water, and air from reaching the root system. This leads to poor grass health.

Won't the Grassclippings Add More Thatch?

It's easy to see why so many people believe this myth. But it's just not true.
Grass clippings are 80 to 85% water. So they break down quickly and do not add to thatch.

Lawn care experts agree that going bagless is a great way to support lush and healthy grass.

The primary causes of thatch are over-watering and over-fertilizing. These encourage excessive root growth. The roots take longer to break down, so the thatch layer builds up.

Going bagless is great for your lawn. Grass clippings create a small layer of mulch to protect the soil and grass roots. As clippings break down, they return water and valuable nutrients back to the soil.

Make sure to leave your clippings on the lawn!

Visit edmonton.ca/compost

Get the Keep Composting newsletter

(Get compost info straight to your inbox, just 4 newsletters/season.)

Go to Compost 'S cool

Image source: Blackhawk Hardware

   

Myth or Fact: Toxic Compost

"I heard that rhubarb leaves will make my compost toxic. Is that true?"

MYTH!
Rhubarb leaves break down in a compost pile and will not add toxicity to your compost.
Go ahead! Throw them in.

Where Did This Myth Come From?
It is said that we first realized rhubarb leaves were toxic during World War I, when the leaves were promoted as a good food source in Britain. Many citizens fell ill, and they realized that the leaves were the cause!

Rhubarb leaves make us sick because they contain high concentration of a corrosive substance called oxalic acid. This acid is common in plants. At low levels, it is perfectly safe for human consumption. The sour stalks that make such yummy pies have small amounts of oxalic acid and are fine for us to enjoy all day long. The oxalic acid in just one rhubarb leaf can be hard on the kidneys and cause someone to feel unwell.

So Rhubarb Leaves Must Be Bad for the Compost, Right?
Wrong!

When the leaves begin to break down in your compost, the acid becomes diluted as it mixes with the rest of the material in the bin. This effectively neutralizes the acid, meaning that the finished product will be unaffected and is great to use on anything from house plants to vegetable gardens. In fact, rhubarb leaves contain some essential micronutrients that will benefit your compost nicely.

When adding rhubarb leaves to your compost, don't forget to also cut or rip them up, especially if you're adding a lot at once. Smaller pieces break down more quickly, and you avoid creating a matted layer that is harder to fluff your bin. It's win win!

Source: How To Garden Videos

Visit edmonton.ca/compost
Get the Keep Composting newsletter
(Get compost info straight to your inbox, just 4 newsletters/season.)
Go to Compost 'S cool

   

Gifts from the Compost Heap by MCR Maria K.

Republished thanks to Simple Moodlings (October, 2014). Thank you, Maria.

---

Besides giving me lots of great additive for our heavy clay-based soil, our compost pile gave me four other wonderful gifts this fall...

There were probably a dozen tomato seedlings growing on the top of my half-finished compost bin, so I dug four up and brought them into the greenhouse at the beginning of September (just before that first frosty snowfall on September 8th). Here's what they look like today...

A bit sparse and spindly, but there's fruit on those vines. As the sun is getting weaker by the day, this experiment might only give us a few tomatoes, as there will come a point when heating the greenhouse might seem a bit silly, and I'm not sure bringing these plants into the house will help much as our triple-paned energy efficient windows block out valuable rays. I think most of these are heirloom cherry tomatoes, so it's not like we'll get a big feed regardless, but it's fun to try. 

In the meantime, I'm plugging the benefits of composting to anyone who will listen, and borrowing leaves from family, friends and neighbours for next year's composting (we go through at least 20 big bags of leaves per year, if not more -- I always forget to count!) This year's compost is pretty much used up -- I dug a lot into the garden boxes on Tuesday, and yesterday and today I planted compost with my 113 tulip bulbs. It's nice to know that they have a good start in their compost/soil mix. I can't explain how good it feels to remediate my soil with the good black stuff I worked on making most of the summer. Way better than any chemical fertilizer money can buy!


If you like the idea of composting, but aren't sure how, there are likely books at your public library, or courses in your community. Failing that, feel free to leave a message below and I'll get back to you!

Visit edmonton.ca/compost

Maria K. is an MCR who is all about living simply, reducing consumption and waste, gardening, and feeding the soil we depend on for good food. She has more Simple Suggestions at simplemoodlings.blogspot.ca.

     

Dishing the Dirt on Compost Week 2018

Did you know that composting at home is a great way to reduce waste and improve lawns, gardens, and flowerbeds? Nutrient-rich compost builds soil and promotes healthy plant growth.

International Compost Awareness Week, May 6 to 12, is the perfect time to wake up your compost after a long winter or to start composting for the first time. The City offers the following to help residents learn about home composting:

• Learn the basics in one of our two-hour workshops, just $10 for the whole family, at Compost 'S cool, located near John Janzen Nature Centre. To register for workshops, visit edmonton.ca/eReg or call 311.
• Join us live on the City Facebook page Thursday, May 10 at 12:30 p.m. as we ask our resident compost expert about tips and tricks for starting and maintaining a healthy compost. Viewers are encouraged to ask questions in real time.
• Meet staff and volunteers for a Compost Coffee Break on Saturday, May 12, at Mandolin Books & Coffee Co. (6419 112 Avenue). Chat about home composting, ask questions, relax and enjoy a discounted coffee.
• Ask the Compost Doctor! Call 780-496-5526 or email compost@edmonton.ca with your basic or advanced compost questions.
• Follow @CompostScool on Facebook for pointers, tips, and news about special events. You can also subscribe to Keep Composting, a e-newsletter for composting tips and answers to frequently asked questions.

Visit edmonton.ca/compost for more information.

---

     

Tell One Friend: Where to Get Compost Help

May is peak compost season. Time to fluff the pile and wake up your compost.
Does your neighbour or co-worker need help with their compost?

If the troubles go beyond just greens, browns, water, and air, that's okay. Ask questions and talk through it. What stuff are they composting? How often do they fluff? Does it get water? Does it get air? How do they use the compost?

If you are still stumped, refer them to the Compost Doctor: Markster Composter.
Edmontonians have lots of resources to get composting and keep composting...

• Visit edmonton.ca/compost
• Email compost@edmonton.ca
• Phone 780-496-5526
• Go to Compost 'S cool
• Get the newsletter Keep Composting

---

Try these tips to connect with friends, family, neighbours, and co-workers.

One Small Ask
"If you ever have a problem, will you ask for help before you give up?”

Shift Social Norms
"Did you know that 30% of Edmonton houses say they compost?
That means that if you're not composting, one of your two neighbours does. Wow."

Create Social Diffusion
"I volunteer as a Master Composter Recycler. I know lots about composting, but I need experience with different compost bins.
If you see a friend with a compost, would you mention my name?”

---

Next Tell One Friend: Make Waste-Wise Behaviours Visible

Previous Tell One Friend: Set up an Eco Station Box

     

Four Key Ingredients for Composting by MCR Mildred T.

Greens

These materials are moist, have lots of nitrogen, and less carbon.

• kitchen scraps
• fresh plant material
• peelings
• anything fresh from a plant

Browns
These materials are dry and rich in carbon.

• fall leaves
• dried grass
• saw dust
• straw
• shredded paper

Water

Some water is required for food to break down.

• Sometimes I take the lid off my compost bin before it rains.
• I add any unused water, when I change my pet's water dish.
• Whenever I cook pasta, rinse rice or beans, or wash vegetables, I save that water and add it to my compost.
  (Note: I stopped adding salt to my pasta water, to keep it out of my compost.)

Air

Without oxygen, compost breaks down anaerobically. It smells bad and composts slowly. So mix your greens and browns, add water, and then poke some holes in the compost pile. Use something like a long handled weeder or an old broom handle.

This brings air and oxygen into the pile and helps it break down to become a soil amendment.

• Fluff once a week, from spring to fall.

For More Info & Help
Visit edmonton.ca/compost
Call 780-495-5526
Email compost@edmonton.ca
Go to Compost 'S cool

MCR Mildred T.
Mildred T. became a Master Composter Recycler in 1991. She was part of the first training group of the MCR Program. She was advocate for waste reduction before and ever since. Her motto has been "think globally, act locally."

The A,B,Cs of a Great Back Alley Display by MCR Patti D.

I live in an older area with neighbours who frequently walk their dogs through the back alleys.  My MCR personal project was to create a back alley display about waste reduction.  How hard can that be, I thought?

• Go to the dollar store. 
• Get a display board. 
• Create signage about waste reduction. 
• Put the signs in page protectors. 
• Change the signs each week. 
• Start conversations. 

Voila – my 35 volunteer MCR hours are filled in no time!

Challenge 1:  Rain.  The display board from the dollar store was not waterproof.  After the first heavy rain, it was destroyed. Although I must note that there were pieces remaining around the screws that I had used to attach the display board to the fence...

Solution:  I spent $5 more and purchased composite wood board from Home Depot.  The sales clerk assured me it should last at least 2 years.

Challenge 2:  Wind.  I placed the signs on the board one day and proudly went out the next morning to inspect them.  All the signs were missing. I later located all the signs down the alley.

Solution:  I stopped using thumb tacks and used heavy duty staples to tack the signs to the board.

Challenge 3:  Wind AND Rain:  I placed the signs in page protectors with the openings at the bottom – smart eh?  The rain will not move upwards!  Wind will actually move the rain upwards and the page protectors did not help against rain.  The beautifully coloured signs looked like runny rainbows displayed in plastic envelopes.

 I’m VERY pleased to report that once I decided to use quality products, my back alley display was in much better shape.  

Solution:  Ordered expensive self-laminating sheets from Staples.  All signs are laminated front and back before they are stapled to the composite wood board.

Challenge 4:  Procrastination.  I blame it on loss of momentum.  I spent three weeks working on solutions to the first three challenges. Once I got those sorted out, I found that my enthusiasm for this project diminished.  I found other stuff to do over the summer and my signs were NOT changed once a week.  

Solution:  There is no solution; I am a procrastinator.  Regardless, I’m very proud of the signs I have created to date AND -  now that I have worked out solutions - it’s a simple matter to create a new sign, laminate it and place it in my Back Alley Display.

Challenge 5:  Conversations.  This did not spark as many conversations as I’d hoped.  In my dreams, I had people coming up to me, eager to take in the knowledge that I had to give. I had one neighbour admit to me that she did not compost as if it was a dirty little secret. Another asked me to come by her place to discuss garbage versus composting. I had hoped for a lot more interaction.  

 A compost mentor lives here. Talk to me if you need compost help. 

Solution:  The feedback I’ve received from other neighbours tells me that they ARE reading my signs; one neighbor walked by and I heard him explain to his son what grasscycling is.  Through the signs, people in my neighbourhood have started to think about waste reduction.  Here’s to my next six months!

---

Patti loves Edmonton and wants to help make it an even better place to live. She is now worm composting and started her first outdoor compost, this year. She has enjoyed sharing her knowledge with her neighbours at their annual block party. She keeps a box in her basement to store old batteries and light bulbs. When it's full, they take a trip to the Eco Station.

City Launches New Change for Climate Initiative for Edmontonians

The City of Edmonton has launched Change for Climate, a new initiative to encourage citizens to take action on climate change.

The initiative is anchored around a new blog called ChangeForClimate.ca where residents are provided a spectrum of 30 actions to help reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The actions cover a wide range of impact levels, from hanging clothes instead of using a dryer to installing a solar panel system on a roof.

“Edmonton has emerged as a sustainability-focused city, and our citizens care about sustainability,” says Councillor Michael Walters. “Change for Climate will serve as a tool where citizens can learn and practice ways to reduce their carbon footprint. They will be provided with a real opportunity to act on climate change.”

The Change for Climate initiative is a major component of the City’s goal of creating a 35% reduction in the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 (below 2005 levels). The blog will provide Edmontonians with the opportunity to share their Change for Climate stories, highlighting why and how they are taking action. It also encourages citizens to select actions from the spectrum, participate on related City programs and share their commitments on social media.

Edmonton is part of global social, economic and environmental systems that support our quality of life. These systems are being disrupted by climate change. We have an opportunity to act now and act locally to protect our quality of life, our health and our economy. Our actions in our community have local and global impacts.

Edmontonians will have many opportunities to engage and participate in the new Change for Climate initiative. Over the next six months, various community events will take place starting with Change for Climate Talks on Dec.7, an evening in which 12 speakers will bring fast paced and inspiring presentations on what we can do to act on climate change. More events are planned in the New Year leading up to the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science Conference March 5-7.

Visit ChangeForClimate.ca

Tell One Friend: Visit Compost 'S cool

Compost 'S cool is a great learning resource for compost beginners and experts. Visitors can see various backyard bins in action, get a lesson on worm composting, or even discuss the ins-and-outs of a Bokashi bucket.

Compost 'S cool is staffed on weekends and holidays from 10-4, Victoria Day to Labour Day.

If you know anyone who is curious about compost, struggling with their bin or just in need of a refresher, tell them to visit! Drop-in advice is always free!

Want more structured learning? Take a Basic Composting workshop for just $10!

---

Use these ideas to remind your friends, family and co-workers:

Change habits
“Curious about composting, but not sure where to start? Visit Compost 'S cool and talk to an expert!”

Prompt them
"Composting is easy, when you have the knowledge. You can learn everything you need to know at Compost 'S cool."

One small ask
"Will you contact our compost experts if you have questions about composting?"

---

Can't visit in person?

• Follow Compost 'S cool on Facebook
• Sign up to receive our e-newsletter, Keep Composting, just 4 times per year
• Email compost@edmonton.ca
• Phone 780-496-5526

Visit edmonton.ca/reusecentre for more about the Reuse Centre.
Next Tell One Friend: Label Your Leftovers Previous Tell One Friend: Go Bagless this Summer!

     

It's Time to "Wake Up" Your Compost!

Many Edmontonians compost because they know it’s an easy way to reduce household waste by turning it into a valuable soil enhancement. International Compost Awareness Week (May 7-13) is the ideal time for residents to revitalize their gardens by stirring their compost or taking up composting for the first time!

Do you know how to wake up your compost?
The City of Edmonton is offering the following opportunities
to help residents better understand composting:

• Take a basic or advanced two-hour workshop for only $10 at Compost ‘S cool, located near John Janzen Nature Centre.
  Workshops offered April 23 to May 6.
• Ask the Compost Doctor anything you want to know about compost by calling 780-496-5526 or email compost@edmonton.ca.
• Follow along with the conversation on Facebook@CompostScool. Get pointers and to-do lists for your weekend, plus learn something about organics recycling, every week.

To register for workshops, go to edmonton.ca/eReg or call 311.

Designs for a Modular Compost System

This modular compost system was designed by MCR Will S. in 2006/2007. He used almost entirely reused materials to build this bin, and has gotten many years of use out of it!

Thanks for sharing the photos and design, Will.

Will S. with his finished compost bin.

Dimensions

• 32" or 36" wide
• 64" or 96" long
• 36" high

Materials
For 2 sections

• 22: 1"x6"x6' used fence or siding boards to use as side-slats
• 16' length of 2x4 wood OR 10: 3' length of 2x2 wood to use as posts
• 1 sheet: corrugated fiberglass OR old window screen OR similar top
• nails
• several Robertson screws (square screws)
• several Phillips screws (+ shaped screws)
• 2: 2" hinges
• 4: 2 1/2" hook eyes

   Optional: If you ever want to disassemble and move these bins.

• 6 backboards
• fixed bottom front

Instructions for Assembly

Plans for Will's compost bin. Build your own and share your pics with us!

• A & B: Hook left side and left front gate together.
• C: Hook left gate to centre.
• D: Hook right gate to centre.
• E: Hook right gate to right side.
• F: Screw back top board #1 with one Robertson screw, to left side post, to right side post, and to centre post.
  Straighten so sides are vertical and add two more Robertson screws to each post.
  This leaves each post with three square screws.
• G: Screw back bottom board #6 with one Robertson screw to left side post, to right side post, and to centre post.
  Add two more Robertson screws to each post.
• H: Unhook gates. Now screw narrow front bottom board with one Robertson screw to bottom of left post, to right post, and to centre post.
• I, J, K, L: Screw #5, #4, #3, and #2 backboards with one Phillips screw to left, to right, and to centre post.
• M: Add two more screws to each post.
• N: Place lid on top, with wood rail down. Screw hinges on with small Phillips screws.
• O: Place one of short wood boards (the pads) under each of the six posts.
  Add or remove soil to stabilize the box under the posts.
• P: Rehook each of the gates.
• Q: Optional: Stain, paint, or preserve inside and outside. It will last longer and the bugs don't mind.
• Start composting.

Do you have another design to share? Comment below OR email us.

- All photos and images provided by Will S.