Higgs Boson wrote:
songbird wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

...

My usual transplant mix is: Â*Regular dirt, compost*, worm castings,
ammonium sulfate, and that white stuff-- name escapes me-- that makes
space in the soil.

Â* perlite? Â*fluffed up silicon.

Yup -blanked out on that one!



* Our city periodically offers free compost on a come & get it basis.
Lovely, dark, fine stuff. I usually take home 3-4 bags worth.

Â* i wish i could trust it to be clean enough. Â*lately i'm only taking organics
from people i know.

I do take your point. But so far, no untoward consequences from City
compost. This is a fairly "green" city, so I'd like to hope they
wouldn't include **** in their composing process. If you live in a
city that might be r esponsive to the idea, maybe suggest that they do
the same. Could be they haven't thought of it.

this was stuff purchased so aside from
telling the folks that their compost was
horrible and i wouldn't ever get more from
them because of it, i don't have any other
recourse.

my concerns are not only about doggy
poo, but also about lawn chemicals etc
that people use and then get picked up
by the mower or rake and then get put
at the curb... i really don't want any
more of that stuff in my gardens than
what already blows in on the wind.


Ours also offers, periodically, heavy-duty shredding, for massive
amounts of documents --much more than even a powerful home/office
shredder could handle.
(Note to self: Great to keep this stuff out of landfills, but I must
call the City and ask what they do with the shredded results...)

they may compost it or burn it. eventually
they might even be able to process the
cellulose and get alcohol from it. i know
the process is being investigated. i'd
like that a lot better than using corn.

i have a medium duty shredder and
use it on paper, cardboard and cardstock --
carefully torn apart so it doesn't jam and
i make sure to keep an eye on the combs so
they don't get gummed up and break. it is
working very well so far.

i take all this as use it in the worm
bins and as a mulch on some gardens. the
fertilizer factory is at about 700lbs of
worms/soil in the bins now and they provide
about 20lbs a week of prime garden soil
and hundreds of worms for the gardens.

with reusing paper, cardboard and cardstock,
and the recycling of plastics, metals and
glass there's not a whole lot of actual trash
being set out now, and i like that a lot.


songbird