Composting helps your yard—and the environment—by recycling common household scraps and yard waste.
Duration : 0:4:9
Posts Tagged ‘men’
How To Compost
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
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How-To Grow Food in a Small, Urban Space
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
You want to grow your own food, but you live in a cramped apartment. What to do? With some help from her friends, Umbra green thumbs it and shows you how to create your very own window farm! Indie rockers Rogue Wave drop by to offer green gardening tips too.
Grow more enlightened with these Grist links:
Portrait of an artist as a climate activist (featuring window farmers Rebecca and Britta) [http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-04-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-climate-activist]
Ask Umbra on composting in a small space [http://www.grist.org/article/bin-there-dung-that/]
Ask Umbra’s video advice on eating local in winter [http://www.grist.org/article/Eat-Local-On-Ice/]
Check out these links on window farming and other urban gardening ideas
Rebecca and Brittas Window Farms [http://windowfarms.org/]
How to create a window farm
[http://our.windowfarms.org/2009/07/29/3-plant-air-lift-window-farm/]
See a truck farm in action [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdP3g2aUPSA]
Info on rooftop farms [http://rooftopfarms.org/]
How to create a roof garden [http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/create_a_roof_garden]
Special thanks to Rogue Wave [http://www.roguewavemusic.com/]
Duration : 0:2:42
Adding Humanure Compost to A Garden
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Rather than produce sewage from human excrement, toilets can be designed to collect the excrement to allow for composting. The resultant compost can be used to grow food. This short video clip shows a garden that has used humanure compost as its primary source of fertility for the past 29 continuous years.
Duration : 0:3:49
What kinds of things can you put into a compost pile?
Friday, August 14th, 2009My family has a compost pile in the backyard; we never really thought of it like a compost pile, but it is one, we put our leaves in it from when we rake, we dump the grass from the lawnmower in it, and if we’re cooking outside on the grill, we put extra pieces of food or whatever into it. So I’ve been thinking of actually building it up more to help save the environment.
What are some things that I can put into it as used?
Thank you.
You shouldn’t put any meat or grease on it. Foods like fruit and vegetable leavings, coffee grounds and egg shells are fine. When you add food scraps be sure to cover them with some dirt, grass or leaves. This along with the leaves and grass can make some fine, useful compost. If you wish to use the compost in a garden you should dampen(but don’t soak) it, cover it and turn it occasionally. This way it will "cook" down and make useful compost faster. You should see some bugs and maybe worms because they are part of the process but that is also the reason you should keep the pile away from the house.
If you recycle and compost and reuse, you’ll be surprised how much less trash you will generate.
Complete Guide to Composting
Friday, August 14th, 2009
http://www.WatchMojo.com finds out everything you need to how about the environmentally friendly world of composting. Learn how to compost at home, from outdoor to indoor composting to what you can and can’t compost.
Duration : 0:3:14
Backyard Compos Tumbler embly-CitiFolk Edition
Friday, August 14th, 2009
An “unassembled” Compos Tumbler arrives and gets the royal treatment from the CitiFolk . With Instructions in hand, they try to create a Greener Lifestyle. Nut by bolt, we watch the train wreck unfold as Einstein & Co. split the Atom.
Duration : 0:7:19
Ask Torg – How to make a compost toilet
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Dr. James Torgerson teaches you how to make a compost toilet! empowermentchannel.org
Duration : 0:3:30
is it possible to compost sawdust from a backyard sawmill?
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009I would like to build a drum type composter to utilize the sawdust produced by my small sawmill. Will it work? Would it be possible to compost large amounts?
Hello,
Yes sawdust makes "a" good compost ingredient. (Carbon Element, or "browns", as it is called.)
You will need to add goodly amounts of nitrogen sources, such as "greens", grasses and such.
If no green leafy type offerings are available, I use "blood meal", soybean meal, even a few hand-fulls of fertilizer like, calcium nitrate.
It’s the nitrogen source and moisture that really help breakdown/digest the sawdust, because it also helps feed the essential bacteria that heats up and kills bad bacteria, seeds, and possible fungi present at the time of initial mixing of compost.
I’d like to refer you over to this website: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/
They are really good about info you are seeking.
Hope this helps,
Dave
Oh, 1 thing though, I wouldn’t add walnut sawdust to any compost plies or mixes, It contains toxins to other plants!
How can I get an early start on preventing weeds in my garden?
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009It’s March, and I can’t wait to get planting! Before I plant all of my cold weather veggies, what can I do to prevent weeds from coming up all summer long? (They’re already sprouting). Is there any other easy soil preparation I can do before I plant? I live in zone 6a, and I don’t plan on using compost or anything like that. Thanks in advance!
Tilling is the most effective way to prevent weed sprouting.
Take a spade and rough till, dont rake and smooth the soil. Weeds dont germinate in rough soil. So a rototiller pulverizing the soil does damage two ways, First, it allows the first rains to form a really tough clay pan type of empackment and second the pulverized soil is perfect atop for weed germination.
Mulch, not compost, added around small plants is the perfect way to stop weed germination. Even the plastic type mulch works well. I have even used old roofing shingles spread in a line, that too works well.
And dont till till a day or so before planting the seeds. Let the weeds germinate.
Useage of herbacides to prevent growth is ineffective and you need to till around the plants with a hoe and herbicides are surfact type of protection destroyed by hoeing.
Information on a compost system?
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009Does anyone have any information on the process of building a pretty in depth compost system, potentially at a summer camp? Also, how much would a project such as this cost?
The basics for composting are:Organic waste – newspaper, leaves, grass, kitchen waste (fruits, vegetables), woody materials ;
Soil as a source of microorganisms;
Water; & Air to provide oxygen
http://home.howstuffworks.com/composting1.htm
To ensure good aeration and drainage, put down a 3-inch layer of coarse plant material, such as small twigs.
Add about 8 to 10 inches of leaves or other dry organic wastes from your landscape and/or kitchen.
Provide nitrogen for compost-promoting microorganisms by adding 2 to 3 inches of fresh grass clippings or fresh manure. If fresh nitrogen sources are unavailable, add about one-third cup synthetic fertilizer (36-0-0) per 25 square feet of surface area.
Add a sprinkling of soil to each layer to inoculate the pile with microorganisms.
Moisten the pile, but try not to get it too soggy. Turn the pile every so often to keep it from matting & to add oxygen. Don’t use meat products.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-703/426-703.html#L5
Video on composting using leaves:
http://www.technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxSYbVHOmHog
Using a three bin method:
http://www.technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-QaoMxCfOrw
Composting yard waste:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-703/426-703.html
Making a compost turner using salvaged materials. I’d add some holes in the container for more air/oxygen. You might get creative & use a large plastic garbage can for a tumbler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcPz4XF-yUM
It’ll cost you mostly your time & effort if you use materials you find in the environment or materials that can be recycled or donated. It really doesn’t have to be an elaborate set up.
Good luck!!! Hope this helps.