| As we drove by the plush residential homes, some | | | | to germinate. Thereafter, her garden was never |
| recently covered with a fresh coatingof paint and | | | | watered again. |
| with the variously landscaped yards displaying their | | | | She did this year after year ...for thirty years. The soil |
| beautiful spiry shrubs,flowering gardens and well | | | | was perfectly PH level balancedand so were all the |
| watered green lawns, it could not be helped but to | | | | required nutrients to sustain all the plants. Sounds like |
| notice theevenly placed lawn bags filled to the brim | | | | the perfectscenario, but this example is only to show |
| with yard waste, just waiting to be carriedaway by | | | | what can be done with most of anyone's |
| the scheduled garbage pickup. So much labor must | | | | yardrefuse...if properly processed. |
| have gone into neatly andcarefully packing each one | | | | Now, to step back to my 4-foot cube of diverse |
| of them so they wouldn't be torn open by a stiff | | | | organic refuse and having filled the binto about the 3 |
| twig or two. | | | | 4 mark by eye, placing a shovelful of topsoil in |
| Each fall and spring a similar scene is reenacted by | | | | between 3-4 inch layersof the material, we simply |
| most of us who seasonally do ourtraditional yard | | | | add worms, which can be purchased at a local farm |
| cleanup. | | | | store, ormail ordered through a garden supplier. |
| Having been a fairly devout organic gardener in the | | | | Usually, they come in a few hundred in quantityand |
| 1980's and traditionally would saveevery bit of waste | | | | are newborns, but you can also use local worms, |
| clippings from our yard that would then go into a 4x4 | | | | picked from decayed leaf. Once placedin your |
| foot by 4 feethigh loosely constructed wooden bin | | | | compost bin and watered occasionally, they will |
| for later processing and churning into a fine mulch,it | | | | quickly multiply and digest theorganic material aerating |
| was difficult to see virtually truckloads of "Organic | | | | your compost in the process. This process is carried |
| Gold Plant Food" just waiting tobe carted away to | | | | out...automatically without energy expended on |
| some landfill, or just possibly be used for fuel in some | | | | anyone's part, except for the original placementof |
| local utilitysupplier's furnace. It is beyond my | | | | the material and bin construction. After 3 or 4 |
| understanding how this "fuel" for plants can beplaced | | | | weeks, given proper rainfall and alittle watering, your |
| on the discard list. | | | | "pot of gold" should be ready to use. Then, simply |
| With this fresh on my mind, I recollect a book | | | | place a handfulof this composted material in a small |
| written by Ruth Stout, an avid gardener,who | | | | hole 6 inches deep, for pre-started tomato |
| appropriately called her book..."The No Work Garden" | | | | plantsseveral inches tall, where you plan to plant your |
| which showed how she only usedbales of hay in the | | | | vegetable garden. Pack some of thiscompost mixed |
| 1950's and earlier to build her garden, spread the hay | | | | with some topsoil around the sides and also dress |
| in the falland after being well compressed through the | | | | around the top of eachplant. Given the proper rain, |
| winter, she would then simply place thevegetable | | | | sunshine and warmth, your tomatoes will give you a |
| seed into a small clump of soil at the proper planting | | | | veryearly harvest, mainly because you did not discard |
| time, pressed it firmlyand watered to get the seed | | | | the "packaged gold". |