My little plastic-free veggie garden

Sorry for the quality of the photos. For some reason, my camera and the sun would not cooperate last week when I took these. Anyway, here's my very little front yard garden grown almost entirely without plastic. Yep. Little. And late. Because I didn't get started until June. But it is what it is, and maybe you can offer some advice for next year.

If you'll recall, the soil/fertilizer for my garden is a mixture of front yard dirt, my own homemade compost, and recycled potting soil from my dismantled roof garden. No new plastic bags of anything.

On the left are my four tomato plants, which are probably way too close together. They arrived plastic-free from my friend Jennconspiracy in little coconut coir planters. I removed them and tossed the planters in the compost. Then later found out I should have put the whole thing into the ground.



I was mocked and derided back in June for thinking that I could use one metal cage for four plants. I had tried tying each plant to a corner of the cage. When it became apparent to even stubborn me that this was not the way to go, I bought 3 more metal cages and put them over each plant. Now I read that they should have been spaced two feet apart.

When I first planted the tomatoes, I watered them every evening with the hose. A lot of water. Maybe too much. I don't know. The lower leaves of some of the plants turned a bit yellow. Later, a friend told me that maybe if I wanted better tasting tomatoes, I should water less. So I started watering every other day. And then the leaves started to look dry and crispy. So I have no idea if I have been giving too much or too little water.

This plant is Principe Borghese. It's the most prolific, which isn't saying much. Unfortunately, the tomatoes are kind of mushy and flavorless eaten raw. Cooked in a sauce, they're fine. Suggestions anyone? Could I have watered them too much? Not enough?



Here is my favorite, Blondkopfchen cherry tomato, which unfortunately has many more leaves than tomatoes. The tomatoes are really only forming at the top. The rest of the tall plant is greenery. But the little yellow fruits pop sweetly in your mouth. How can I get more next year?



This is Paul Robeson. He's had a tough time. Midway through the season, he broke in half, so only one small stem continued to grow. There are two tomatoes forming, but they are still little, green, and hard.



And this one... I'm not sure what it is because the ID tag disappeared. Small and red tomatoes. They tend to fall off the vine before they seem completely ripe, and I bring them in the house to "finish."





Oh, and one more thing about the tomatoes before you give me your suggestions for next year. Frustrated with how few tomatoes I was getting, I bought Peace of Mind organic tomato and vegetable fertilizer a few weeks ago and fed the plants. It comes in a cardboard box. No plastic. Good idea? Too little too late?

I laugh when I remember how I thought I'd have enough tomatoes to make canned sauce for the winter. We don't even have enough to eat right now! Should I bother trying to save seeds? If so, how? If not, why not?

The other plants are organic veggies that came in little compostable eco pots. (Once again, no plastic.) Yellow squash, which is just beginning to form something that looks like actual squash after months of yellow flowers and no fruit, catnip which I obviously bought for the kitties (tips on drying?), and basil which just smells awesome. I've been picking off the flowers every few days to keep the leaves growing. Next week, I plan to mix up a big batch of vegan pesto and freeze it in my empty little glass Fudge Is My Life jars. The pesto is the one piece of this whole operation I feel pretty confident about.
 

 

Carnival of Trash #3

Hello my trash-talkin' friends. As promised, here is the the third monthly Carnival of Trash, which was hosted last month at Mrs. Green's My Zero Waste blog and will be hosted next month at Wiggly Wigglers The Rubbish Diet on Monday, October 13. If you'd like to contribute, please get your submissions in by the 6th.

I haven't written a post specifically for this carnival because I figure this whole blog is about trash, but I will share one thought. As I read through these many posts dealing with the physical waste that we generate and solutions for reducing it, I am reminded of my meditation teacher a year ago who pointed at his head and said, "Remember. The real trash is in here."

Let's take care of our messes -- both inner and outer. And so, with that thought, I'd like to share not a post of my own, but an article that was read aloud in my monthly Green Sangha group yesterday. It's a very short, beautiful piece by Pico Iyer which appears in the September/October issue of Orion Magazine and is entitled "The Inner Climate."

And now, bring on the Carnival!

Reflecting

Marguerite Manteau Rao presents Garbage Society on La Marguerite, in which she compares the throw-away culture she lives in now with the simpler, nearly waste-free days on her grandparents' farm in France.

Rejin presents Here Today, Garbage Tomorrow posted at Urban Botany in which she argues that our efficient garbage removal system actually helps produce more waste. In her words, "...the mass production system, as it is designed, relies on the regular removal of stuff that never should have been made in the first place. For the inane reason of making space for yet more stuff."

Composting

Jenn presents Four Ways To Compost Indoors at Tiny Choices and then follows up with NatureMill Indoor Composter: All That? analyzing the pluses and minuses of this particular method.

Deanna Caswell presents Little House in the Suburbs: Free Super Fertile Flower Beds posted at Little House in the Suburbs This post is not just about composting, but about the creative ways she goes about getting the material that goes into making her beds so rich.

Sustainable Dave presents Worm Composting - The Video posted at 365 Days of Trash, which is exactly what it sounds like!

It seems Carolyn from Juggling Frogs also has worms, and tells all about it in the very detailed and cute post, I've got worms!

Recycling

Burbanmom presents Drawing Conclusions at Going Green about how to recycle old crayons.

Village Green presents Polyflow to keep plastics out of landfills posted at Long Live the Village Green, about a new method for recycling all plastics. This is definitely something I am going to have to look into. (Adding to the Fake Plastic Fish "to do" list.)

Reducing Waste

Green Bean presents Trimming My Waste Line at Green Bean Dreams, listing all the ways she's found to reduce waste in her home in the last twelve months.

Kristen presents A Napkin Alternative posted at The Frugal Girl about using cloths instead of paper napkins. I love what she says about hanging cloths to dry each night so they don't get gross. (Hint to a certain DH.) Not so sure about needing to wash them every day though. Read her post and see what you think.

Katy Wolk-Stanley presents Waste -- Is It Inevitable? posted at The Non-Consumer Advocate, listing ways to reduce the amount of food waste we generate.

Reusing

Wenchypoo presents Cheap Diesel From Trash posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket about a company that has begun generating fuel from trash.

Myscha Theriault presents Garbage Into Gold: Great Ways to Recycle Old Containers | Wise Bread posted at Wise Bread. Myscha is one of my favorite Wise Bread writers because her articles often combine the thrifty and the green.

Condo Blues presents 12 Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles posted at Condo Blues.

Katie presents Plastic Bags, Endless Uses posted at A Green Fire, saying, "26 ways to reuse plastic shopping bags." My favorite is #26, reusing them as shopping bags!

Zero Waste

Mrs Green presents Can a zero waste lifestyle save you money? posted at MY ZERO WASTE, saying, "Frugal and eco friendly can go hand in hand, as we've discovered on our own journey of reducing our waste."

Condo Blues presents Zero Waste Road Trip - Can It Be Done? posted at Condo Blues, saying, "I wanted to make an upcoming road trip Zero Waste but first I had to ask myself, what the heck do they mean by Zero Waste anyway?"

Almost Mrs Average (the founder of this blog carnival) presents Life after Zero Waste Week: 6 months on posted at The Rubbish Diet, saying, "Just shows how life can change"

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Trash. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Trash using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
 

 

Update 2: Urban Composting

Inspired by Life Less Plastic's excellent Step By Step Composting Guide and info about her Compost Tumbler, and also after many questions from readers about my experiences composting with my Urban Compost Tumbler, I thought I'd post a quick update.

Back in August I wrote a detailed post about the various composting options for someone in an urban environment without access to a yard: Compost Tumbler: a solution to the potting soil problem? So I won't rehash every option and the reasons why I chose a compost tumbler instead of worms or bokashi. But I will reiterate that I ultimately chose the Urban Compost Tumbler over other tumblers because it is made from 100% recycled plastic rather than new plastic. And I had heard about rust issues with metal compost tumblers.

I've now been using this one for over 7 months, and I've found it's not as wonderful as I'd hoped. It's a little over half full now, and because of the shape and the way it tumbles end over end, it has become extremely heavy and difficult to flip. I can no longer do it myself, and I assure you, I have really, really tried. Fortunately, I live with a very strong Michael. But if I lived alone, I'd have to stop using it.

Another issue is the importance of making sure to have enough brown material in there. My experience has been that with a traditional composter that sits on the ground, making sure the green/brown/water mix is perfect isn't as important as with a tumbler where the materials are sealed in and don't have access to elements and helpful critters like worms. Let me give you an example.

Before we bought the Urban Compost Tumbler, we had a traditional plastic composter (non-tumbling) on our roof. We managed to do that by putting down a sheet of black plastic and then a wooden pallet that the composter sat on. The composter had a bottom with holes in it so air could get through from the bottom. And it had some tiny holes in the top so rain could get in. For the first couple of months, I was diligent about adding the proper amounts of greens (food scraps & plant clippings) and browns (mostly shredded newspaper) and water. But I never turned the compost. And then over time, I became less diligent about the ratio of greens to browns, and when winter came, I gave up altogether and just let it sit.

When I opened it up in the Spring, I was surprised to find beautiful, sweet-smelling soil that was full of fat earth worms. They must have gotten in when I added some dry leaves from the sidewalk. The compost was beautiful. So why did we give up this system and opt for the tumbler? Because I was worried about the roof. As I've said before, we are renters. And I was worried about what was happening to the roof under the wet plastic. It was yucky under there. And I thought having a system where the composter doesn't touch the roof would be better for us.

But you can't accidentally get fat juicy earthworms in a compost tumbler. If you do, they'll die from the tumbling. And you don't get natural air flow, which is the reason you have to tumble it to begin with. So my compost is not developing as beautifully as I would have liked. Right now, I've stopped adding green material and am only adding shredded newspaper because the compost had started to smell bad, an indication of too much nitrogen and not enough carbon. Fortunately, we have a "green bin" system in Oakland, and our food and yard waste are picked up curbside and taken to a commercial composting facility. So I'm not wasting my food scraps. I'm putting them in the green bin and sending them away instead of using them myself right now.

My recommendation is that if you have a patch of ground where you could put a traditional composter, you should go that route before considering a tumbler. It's easier AND those composters cost a lot less. I don't have that option.

If I were more diligent about composting, I'd probably get a worm bin. But I'm not, and I just don't want to have to worry about letting worms die. Worms, unlike kitties, don't pounce on you and bit your nose and cry to let you know they're hungry. Also, I don't have any shaded place to put it, so they'd probably fry in the summertime.

I still wouldn't buy a composter made from virgin plastic. So at this point, I'm not sure what I would try if I weren't using this one. Overall, it's fine for someone who is strong or who lives with someone who is strong and willing to turn it periodically. I'll write another update when I finally take the compost out and show you the finished product.

Next week: more updates on shampoo bars and soap and plastic-free deodorant. Stay tuned.
 

 

What's wrong with this picture?

Out for a nice stroll, buying nothing yesterday, Michael and I were dismayed to see Telegraph Avenue lined with plastic bags full of brown leaves. What's wrong with that? Everything!

Our city councilwoman, Jane Brunner, has been working on getting more trees planted along our streets. Do more trees mean more garbage for the landfill? This beautiful compostable material gets sealed up in a plastic bag to mummify with the rest of the garbage instead of being returned to the soil to nourish new trees? If that's the case, someone's not using their noggin.

I'm going to call the city on Monday and get to the bottom of this. Oakland ought to be handing out compostable leaf bags and hauling them to our commercial composter. Well, I rescued one bagful for my personal compost. Any other Oaklanders could do the same. Even if you don't have your own composter, you could free the leaves from the plastic and empty them into your green bin.
 

 

Recycling Part 3: Further Lessons from Davis Street Transfer Center

My tour of Davis Street Transfer Center continued with a trip to the garbage transfer pit. This is where all of Oakland's non-recycled garbage is dumped before being transferred in huge trucks to the Altamont Landfill. Just look at it all. You may not be able to tell from the photo how much recyclable material is mixed in with the garbage, but I can assure you that it's a lot.


LESSON 9: Your hands are the very last human hands that will touch these items before anthropologists dig the stuff up in hundreds of years. That's pretty much a direct quote from Rebecca Jewell. Contrary to what some people believe, items placed in Oakland garbage bins are never sorted. They are never even touched by human hands once they leave your curb.

Our residential bins are lifted and dumped mechanically into the garbage truck; the truck dumps its load at the transfer station; bulldozers ride over the garbage, compressing it to allow as little air into the mix as possible and pushing it forward towards an opening in the floor, under which a huge truck waits to be filled from above; another heavy machine adjusts the materials in the truck to balance the load; and finally, this larger truck carries the garbage to the Altamont Landfill, where the goal is not biodegradation but "mummification." Imagine what future generations will think of us when they dig up these "mummies."

Anyway, the point is that if you put a recyclable item in the garbage, no one is going to rescue it for you. So while it's very important to keep the wrong things out of the recycle bin, it's just as important to put the right things in.




Opposite the platform where Rebecca and I were standing was a huge pile of restaurant waste: mounds of food in plastic bags and a lot of valuable cardboard. This is where the scavenging birds were hanging out.


LESSON 10: As careful as you are with your waste at home, by dining out you could be contributing to a lot more waste than you know. Seeing this pile of mostly compostable and recyclable garbage makes me really consider which restaurants I want to patronize and also what questions I can ask beforehand.

In fact, that same afternoon after the tour, I had lunch at Oliveto, a local Oakland restaurant, and made a point of asking about its recycling and composting practices. My server assured me that the restaurant does both. Afterwards, I went next door to Peaberry's Coffee & Tea and asked what they do with their used coffee grounds. "We just dump them," was the response. I ended up carrying home a warm bag of coffee grounds for my compost bin as well as the plastic bag they'd been "dumped" in to reuse.

It's not easy asking these questions. You never know when people will look at you like you're from outer space. But looks are just looks. And the more you get in the habit of asking questions about the products you buy, the easier it becomes to speak up. And you become a more savvy consumer.

But I've leapt ahead, and it's time to get back to Davis Street, where the tour continued. On our way out of the transfer pit, we spied a few of the other workers at the facility.



A mama cat and three little kittens eyed us warily as we attempted to interview them about their jobs. No luck. They scurried through a hole in the wall. I asked Rebecca why kitties would want to live in such a loud, scary place with big trucks constantly thundering through. Of course, it's because there are so many rodents for them to eat. The cats do more than look cute for visitors. They help with essential pest control.

I didn't have time to view the other areas of the transfer center, but Davis Street collects a lot more than residential garbage and recycling. For example, they accept the food and yard waste from our green bins that are then shipped to Grover Landscaping in Modesto to be composted.


I asked Rebecca about composting the new biodegradable plastics that are made from corn, sugar, and potato starch. Her answer was not the most encouraging.

LESSON 11: Compostable plastic you put into your city's compost bin (as opposed to your own backyard composter) may not actually be composted. Currently, compostable plastics are being developed before infrastructures exist to deal with them. According to Rebecca Jewell, compostable plastics take much longer to break down (27-32 weeks) than other organic matter. Therefore, a compost facility like Grover Landscape Services, which typically "cooks" its compost for a much shorter time, cannot process bio-plastics completely, and any such plastics they receive may end up being filtered out at the end of the compost process and discarded if they have not fully broken down.

I plan to do a whole lot more research on the subject of the different types of bio-plastics and issues surrounding them. And I hope to take more tours, of other recycling facilities, our landfill, and especially compost operations if I'm allowed.

Other services that Davis Street offers include: Construction debris processing, motor oil recycling, large appliance recycling, wood waste processing, latex paint recycling, old tire recycling, mattress recycling, and e-waste processing. Of course, none of these items are recycled through the curb-side recycling program and shouldn't be put in the bin. They have to be brought to the facility separately.

And finally,

LESSON 12: The more you learn about recycling and waste disposal, the more you realize that the issues are complex, the system isn't perfect, and there's always a lot more to learn. Dealing with waste is a lot more than a set of simple rules that everyone can follow about which items go in which bin. And the complexity of the issue can lead us to question the concept of waste itself.

Why do we have so much waste to deal with in the first place? And what can we do to reduce it? While it's been very instructive for me to learn all about recycling and garbage disposal, I remain convinced that those should be our very last options for living in an ecologically responsible manner. And I'll continue to focus first and foremost on reducing the amount of "stuff" that I acquire and finding alternatives to the most problematic material: plastic.
 

 

Compost Tumbler: a solution to the potting soil problem?

Good lord, what is that Death Star looking thing on your roof, Beth?

No Worries. It's my new Urban compost tumbler and tea catcher, ready to devour food, garden, and some paper waste and deliver rich, fragrant compost... in 2-6 months, depending on how diligent I am in feeding it.

But it's made of (gasp) plastic!

That's right. 100% post-consumer recycled plastic. The only part that is not recycled is the tea catcher, and I'm having a few regrets about ordering that part. Seems like I maybe could have figured out another way to catch the compost leachate without buying a brand new piece of plastic. Well, live and learn.

So, how does it work?

Glad you asked! Simply add your "green" (fresh leaves, grass, food scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, anything wet and pungent) and "brown" (dry leaves, grass, shredded paper & cardboard) waste, close the lid, spin the compost tumbler a few times to mix it all up, and leave it alone until you have more to add. That's it. Over time, the materials will decompose into fresh dirt that no longer resembles (or smells) like the original ingredients. I know this because we had a different composter a few years ago, and after neglecting it all winter, we opened it up in the spring to find gorgeous, sweet-smelling soil.

So why aren't you using that one?

Well, the thing is, we don't actually have a yard, only a roof deck. The composter we had was meant to sit on the ground. Instead, I had it on a wooden palette on top of a black plastic sheet. Still, the deck underneath got pretty gross. I didn't think it was the best idea, especially since as renters, we didn't actually own the deck we were grossifying. So I traded the composter for a worm bin, but I never found time to purchase the worms to go in it and worried that if I did purchase the worms, they'd die from neglect. Composters, on the other hand, love neglect. Hence, my decision to re-Freecycle the worm bin and spring for the compost tumbler, which will never touch the deck.

Why did you buy that one?

Boy, I stayed up several nights in a row researching which compost tumbler to buy. I'll list for you the ones I considered, the pros and cons, and the reason I chose the Urban Compost Tumbler.

1) Back Porch ComposTumbler:

• Materials: Drum made from new polyethylene; frame made of polyester powder coated steel tubing.
• Tumbling method: Drum spins on metal frame, turned by a metal crank.
• Mobility: wheels attached to frame so tumbler can easily be moved.
• Tea catcher: No.
• Appearance: attractive green drum with black frame. Blends in with garden or deck.
• Reported Problems: Several reviewers reported that the door doesn't stay closed properly when the unit is fairly full, and therefore turning the tumbler becomes a problem. I also read one report of the metal crank breaking off, and a few reports of rusting of the metal frame.
• Bottom Line: I didn't want new plastic, especially with a door that might not shut, a crank that might break, and a frame that could rust. Also, I wanted a way to catch the leachate, which is good fertilizer for plants.

2) Other larger ComposTumblers:

• Materials: Galvanized metal drum and tubular steel frame.
• Tumbling method: Drum spins on metal frame, turned by a metal crank.
• Mobility: None.
• Tea catcher: No.
• Appearance: attractive green drum with black frame. Blends in with garden or deck.
• Reported Problems: Rust seemed to be the biggest problem with these all-metal units. Many people reported rust.
• Bottom Line: Didn't want to deal with possible rust problems. Preferred not to purchase all new materials. Also, I wanted a way to catch the leachate.

3) Envirocycle Composter/ Composteamaker:

• Materials: This is interesting. The company's web site does not specify what materials it is made of. Online merchants vary in their descriptions. OutdoorDecor.com says it is 50% recycled plastic. PlanetNatural.com says it is made from recycled plastic, but doesn't say what percentage.
• Tumbling method: Push the drum itself over the wheels in the base to roll it.
• Mobility: Drum rolls off the base and onto the ground, where it can be rolled anywhere you want.
• Tea catcher: Included in the base. Leachate drains through holes in the drum into the base where it is collected.
• Appearance: Green plastic drum and base. Could blend in with garden or deck.
• Reported Problems: I've read reports that if the compost gets too wet, it leaks through the vents in the drum so that rolling it becomes a messy, stinky process. Also, when the drum gets too heavy, it becomes difficult to roll.
• Bottom Line: Afraid of stinky, messy drum that I wouldn't want to touch. Also, this unit is only partially recycled, if that.

4) Tumbling Compost Mixer with steel frame or Compost Mixer with plastic base:

• Materials: 100% recycled plastic with optional steel frame.
• Tumbling method: Either turn it end over end on its steel frame or roll it on its plastic base with your feet.
• Mobility: With the steel frame, it is stationary. With the plastic base, it can be rolled off the base onto the ground and rolled around the yard.
• Tea catcher: No.
• Appearance: Black Death Star look, one that only its mother could love.
• Reported Problems: Haven't read of any problems.
• Bottom Line: A good one except that I really wanted a way to catch the leachate to feed my plants.

So how does my Urban Compost Tumbler compare to the four mentioned above?

• Materials: 100% post-consumer recycled plastic drum and frame. Optional tea catcher, as far as I know, is not made from recycled plastic. It could be, but the company's web site does not state that it is.
• Tumbling method: Turn it end over end on its frame.
• Mobility: Stationary.
• Tea catcher: Optional.
• Appearance: Black Death Star look. Not beautiful, but functional.
• Reported Problems: Some reviews have said that getting the compost out is not as easy as shown in the photos. We'll see if that's true. Also, one review said that when the composter gets full, it can be mishapen and harder to get the lid on. However, the unit came with instructions for how to get the lid on in that case.
• Bottom Line: I bought it because it's 100% recycled, there's a way to catch the leachate, and there are no metal parts that can rust. Since it will be on my deck, I don't need it to be mobile. And I would rather have a narrow frame than a flat base sitting on the deck. It seems like the right choice for us, given the options available. (Note: there are a few others, but the features are pretty similar to the ones I listed above.)

Finally, let's talk packaging. The Urban Compost Tumbler was delivered in 3 boxes: 2 great big ones containing the drum and base and a smaller one containing the tea catcher. Except for a cardboard ring to hold the drum in place, the big boxes had no additional packaging and were sealed up with paper tape! The smaller box was stuffed with newspaper, as opposed to styrofoam or plastic. There was some plastic inside besides the tea catcher itself: a plastic bag containing the smaller hardware parts and a small plastic clamshell containing one of the parts. Oddly, this box was sealed with plastic tape.

Bottom Line: Investing in this composter will allow us to recycle our organic waste in a way that is responsible and will provide nutrients for the plants in my garden. Mixing the compost with dirt from the side of the house, I'm hoping to provide potting soil for the garden that doesn't come in a plastic bag. And catching the leachate, I'm hoping to provide my own fertilizer that I don't have to buy from the store.

And finally, for those who don't want to compost, I do want to mention a company out there that is creating organic fertilizers and even potting soil that is packaged in recycled soda bottles and milk jugs. That company is Terracycle, and currently, they are being sued by Scott's, the makers of Miracle Grow, which claims that Terracycle's packaging looks too similar to Miracle Grow's. Check it out for yourself and see if you think this is true.