<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;color:#347d7e;"><div>Now that everyone is planted in and things are more or less settling down, this is a good time to get into a fertilizing routine.<br><br>Find a sturdy and airtight container that will suit your families needs. We use a plastic bagel holder, about 12" high with a good sturdy lid. And now start putting ALL of your organic scraps into it. NO MEAT or meat by-products. Yes, I know they're organic, but they not only attract scavenger carnivores, they also are not good for the micro-organisms that do decompose your other scraps.<br><br>DO throw in peels, cores, vegetables that stayed in the frig a little too long and are already started down the merry road of decomposition. You can also include fingernail clippings, hair from brushes and combs, shredded
paper, coffee grounds (I'm lining up Akron Rubber Laboratory across from Ira/Kenmore to bring over their coffee grounds for composting!).<br><br>Now, when your container gets full, bring it to your garden. Dig a hole about a foot deep right in the middle of your plants (vary the location each time you bury a new batch). This will attract worms, feed the microorganisms and they will feed your plants. And you're enriching the soil more than you might know, and the better fed the soil, the better fed the plants.<br><br>If you have some leaves or old plants, bring them to the garden lot, talk with the other gardeners and let's get some compost piles going to feed the gardens next year. I'm putting the word out for some old wood pallets and some fencing wire slightly heavier than chicken wire. If we stand the pallets on edge and bind them together using the fencing and staples we can create boxes with air holes built right
in. With a couple of stakes we should be able to make the boxes self-supporting, and leave one pallet movable to open it up and add more composting materials and then hold it closed with a wire latch.<br><br>From what I've seen of the gardens everyone's doing really well and the plants are really beginning to take hold. This will be an ok to good year. I expect next year to be better, and the third year to be GREAT!!<br><br>Best of Thymes,<br>Larry Parker<br></div></div><br>
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