WIU – School of Agriculture Blog

February brings with it the time of a celebration of love. What better time to appreciate some of the plants that symbolize love? The first flower that comes to mind is the rose. There are a plethora of websites devoted to flowers and the meaning of a particular flower. When it comes to roses, each color imparts its own special meaning. So, for example, white roses are synonymous with purity and red roses symbolize passionate love. Yellow roses mean welcome back, and pink ones mean happiness, joy, and admiration. Even orange roses have their own meaning, saying “I’m proud of you”.

“This for Remembrance” was the title of singer Rosemary Clooney’s biography. I never read the book, but I always remembered the title. Funny how that works. “Rosemary for remembrance” is the commonly used phrase to convey the meaning of rosemary, and it is mentioned in this context in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Carnosic acid, found in rosemary, has been shown to actually aid in memory, and to serve as a neuroprotectant. It may be able to help in neurodegenerative brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s.

Lavender shares its etymological root with the Latin lavare, to wash. It is still a popular fragrance for soaps and shampoos. According to the Victorian meaning assigned to flowers, lavender signifies both love and devotion. During Victorian times, floral bouquets known as Tussie Mussies were arranged with specific flowers to convey a message of the sender’s design. In this system, ivy represented wedded love and fidelity, while daisies represented loyal love. On the other end of the spectrum, daffodils represented unrequited love.

When were flowers first used to signify meaning or feelings? That is probably an impossible question to answer. Pollen from several plants known to have medicinal properties was found in the Shanidar gravesite of Neanderthal man in Iraq, thought to date back 60,000 to 80,000 years ago. This was originally thought to indicate a sense of soul or the afterlife among these pre-historic peoples. However, it is now thought that the pollen-bearing flowers were brought to the burial site by rodents. More recent discoveries suggest that meadowsweet was the first flower to be included in a burial – during the Bronze Age in Scotland. Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) contains salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin. It has been used in many concoctions for medicinal purposes, including “Save”, a drink mentioned in Chaucer’s A Knight’s Tale. It has also been used to flavor wine (mead) and beer.

In a modern twist on the meaning of flowers, artist Aleksandra Mir has applied new meanings to the botanical code in a more “socially relevant” fashion. She applies such meanings as “see you later” for Acacia and “just lost you” for Agapanthis [sic]. According to Sarah Gavlak, “The new meanings suggest insecurity, doubt, fatigue, betrayal and reconciliation—symptoms and elements that comprise the majority of romantic relationships.”

From pre-historic times to the present, plants have been intricately linked with human existence. Regardless of the meanings imparted upon them by us, their value as food for body and soul will undoubtedly continue far into the future. Whether you are celebrating with a loved one, remembering a loved one, or mourning love lost, my wish for you is a bouquet of forget-me-nots for true love and memories and scarlet geranium blossoms for consolation.

Now that we’ve turned the bend of winter, with each day longer than the last, we can turn our thoughts to bulbs. In the dark, shortened days of winter, you may think I’m referring to light bulbs. But, being a gardener, of course, I am talking about flowering bulbs. Spring flowering bulbs, to be more specific. I like to put a few of them in the refrigerator around November or December, so that when I take them out in January, the flower buds inside them have fully formed and are ready to emerge. Providing this cold-temperature requirement, or vernalization, is known as forcing the bulbs. Without it, the flower buds will not completely develop, and the bulb would not be able to bloom. Since amaryllis does not require this cold treatment, it is an easy bulb for the novice to try indoors in winter.

If you ever get a chance to travel to the Netherlands in spring, plan to visit the bulb farms and the Keukenhof Garden, the largest bulb garden in the world, covering over 75 acres. This year the theme is “From Russia with Love”, featuring a flower bulb mosaic of St. Basil’s Cathedral, which uses nearly 65,000 bulbs.  In all, the Netherlands produces more than nine million bulbs a year, with over 25,000 acres of farmland devoted to tulips alone. This is approximately half the total crop acreage in the Netherlands.

About two-thirds of the bulbs grown in the Netherlands are sold to other countries, particularly the US and Germany. Many other flowers are brought into the Netherlands to be auctioned off at the famous Aalsmeer auction. The facility where the auction is held occupies the largest commercial trading space in the world. Flowers and non-flowering plants arrive daily from growers around the world, including such places as Kenya, Columbia, Ecuador, Ethiopia and India. They are auctioned off and then shipped to markets all around the world before the day is over. The turnover at the Aalsmeer is nineteen million flowers and 2 million other plants daily. The annual sales volume is US $2 billion.

A number of tulip festivals are held each year in the United States, and they are often associated with Dutch heritage. The one in Holland, Michigan is the largest, with notable others in the Skagit Valley of Washington and Albany, New York. Closer to home, Pella, Iowa will host their annual tulip festival May 6 – 8 this year. Complete with a parade and wooden shoe dancers, there is also an abundance of blooming tulips (you can even order some from the Pella Garden Club), and plenty of good, local food.

If you’re one of those people who get the winter doldrums from the short days and low light, forced bulbs may just be the remedy for brightening your mood. You can start your own, or simply visit a local florist where you’ll be sure to find flowering plants from near and far, designed to delight.

Not much puttering in the garden this time of year, when the ground is frozen solid and covered with snow. In the dead of winter it’s pleasing to summon up the smell of freshly thawed soil in spring. Can you remember it? Well, it’s only a couple of months away. For now, let’s turn our attention to the indoor plants.

During the winter the air indoors is typically very dry, and the light levels are low. In some homes, the temperature is quite warm, while in others it is quite cool. Fortunately for us, intrepid plant hunters have explored the various regions of the world and brought back plants that can survive the kinds of conditions present in the average house.

If you’re as smart as a fifth-grader, then you know that plants give off oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air, making them a perfect counterpart to humans (and other animals). But wait, there’s more: houseplants improve indoor air quality by removing indoor air pollutants known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These pollutants emanate from carpeting, paneling, cleaning agents, and construction materials. Some of the best pollution-removers are Boston fern and philodendron for formaldehyde, peace lily and golden pothos for benzene, and Dendrobium orchid for a variety of indoor pollutants. As a bonus, indoor plants add humidity to the air, making it more comfortable for human inhabitants.

I wonder how many fifth-graders know that plants and flowers help reduce stress. It’s true: they decrease blood pressure and pulse rates and help people relax. Researcher Virginia Lohr has found that productivity is improved by the presence of indoor plants. She discovered that they increase speed on computer tasks involving mental concentration. Maybe we need more plants in our classrooms and offices.

We should definitely have more plants in our hospitals and doctors’ offices, because plants are beneficial to the healing process. Exposure to and interaction with plants during illness or recuperation has been studied by various people who have found that an act as simple as walking in a garden or viewing plants outside a hospital window has resulted in reduced stress levels, shorter hospital stays, and reduced use of pain killers.

Here are some tips for keeping indoor plants healthy: provide adequate drainage and allow plants to drain fully after watering; use good quality potting soil; allow plants to dry slightly between watering, but not to the point of wilting; fertilize lightly or not at all in winter when they tend to grow more slowly; provide appropriate light for your plant. Many pests may be controlled using a soapy solution in a spray bottle. Don’t place plants by a heater register where they will be exposed to hot drafts.

Most indoor plants are pretty forgiving, but if at first you don’t succeed, try again. It’s worth it. After all, your mental health gets a boost while you improve the air quality of your home, all the while giving you an excuse to get your hands in the dirt.

I know of people who have eaten poinsettia and lived to talk about it. According to rumor-buster snopes.com, poinsettias are not poisonous, and never have been. Their association with that myth was due to a medical misdiagnosis in 1919. According to Thom David, marketing manager for Ecke Ranch, the major poinsettia producer in the United States, they taste “indescribably awful”. He speaks from experience. Snow Maestas also speaks from experience, and she thinks they have a nutty flavor. You can watch her eat one on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-J6lVavLDs). Well, they say there’s no accounting for taste. (Caution: I don’t recommend trying this at home).

Many (most?) people are not aware that one of our beloved symbols of Christmas in North America originated next door, in Mexico. Joel Poinsett saw this shrubby plant growing along the roadside during a stint as the first American ambassador to Mexico. That was in 1825. Joel Poinsett was a South Carolina legislator and amateur botanist. He is responsible for introducing the American Elm to Mexico. I wonder if he knew what a success the poinsettia would become for greenhouse growers. Poinsettias are the number one flowering potted plant sold in the United States.

Poinsettias grow to the size of a large shrub in their native tropical environment. Anyone who has traveled to Central or South America, or other tropical places has probably seen the poinsettia at its full size, about 10 feet tall. It’s actually used in landscaping in places like Hawaii and Brazil. In Guatemala, the cut flowers, rather than potted plants, are used decoratively during the Christmas season.

Most people are surprised to learn that the flowers on a poinsettia are small, yellow structures called cyathia. Who has ever heard of that, other than a botanist? If you look closely at the one you purchased this year (I know you did), you will see those little structures right in the middle of those big, showy bracts of red, pink, white, speckles, mottles, or whatever. All 100+ cultivars of poinsettias have the same little yellow floral structures.

If you want to keep your poinsettia after the holidays are over, in the hopes of getting it to re-bloom next year, you have a challenging project in store. Poinsettias are prone to insect pests, notably whiteflies and fungus gnats. They will have a non-blooming period and will benefit from potting up to a larger size container. They will likely lose many of their leaves. Greenhouse growers take stem cuttings in the summer to late fall, provide high light and special pruning to develop a well-proportioned multi-branched plant, then expose the plant to short days (less than 12 hours of sunlight per day)  for flower initiation. Given all the environmental controls a grower has at hand, growing high quality poinsettias is still a challenge every year.

Some professionals recommend pitching out your poinsettia after the holidays and purchasing a new one next year. That way, you can avoid the headaches and challenges of trying to get one to re-bloom, and just simply enjoy their festive beauty –if not their flavor – throughout the holiday season. Happy Holidays!

What gets you wound up – Sports? The other driver? TV news?  Well, it was the topic of food that really wound up a group of people in Macomb.

A new movie was recently shown at Western Illinois University (WIU) that, according to its press releases, “lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry” and, in doing so, exposes its “highly mechanized underbelly”.  The movie, “Food Inc.” was seen by more than 200 WIU students and interested non-student locals.  At the end of the showing, a panel well balanced panel – a local organic grower, a representative of the company that provides the food at Western, two School of Agriculture faculty members and an agriculture student – discussed the movie. They provided an excellent example of different views of agriculture and the food industry.  And the movie had an audience primed for discussion. So, if the movie got people wound up, had a panel of experts waiting to respond, what about it that was controversial?

The movie’s central theme is that a combination of government subsidies and a lack of governmental oversight have lead to an agricultural system that is chemically dependent, unsafe and controlled by a very small number of companies.  The movie maintained that those companies, in concert with the fast food industry, could be feeding unhealthy and harmful food to us, simply to make money.

During the post-movie discussion, it quickly became apparent that part of the audience was deeply committed to organic, locally grown and minimally processed food.  The other part of the audience was just as committed to large scale production agriculture, exactly the type of agriculture pilloried by the film.  There was no ‘middle way’, as the Buddhists would say, discussed by either the audience or panel.

Frankly, it was exhilarating to listen to people passionately, and in a reasonably knowledgeable way, discuss agriculture and food.  Whether it was people concerned about unhealthy food and destructive farming practices or those who wanted to produce more with less in order to help feed a growing world population, that fact the discussion took place was great.

While some have criticized the movie for being one sided and for ganging up on contemporary large scale agriculture, it did provide some ideas about what could be done to change our food system. The key was for us, the consumers, to think about what we buy and to buy what we think about.  Making consumers aware of food choices is something that we all may support.  However, that approach is useful only if a choice is presented to the consumer.

Without choice – the choice to purchase local food, regional food, organic food, healthy food, fast food, comfort food, or junk food – it is difficult for consumers to make the best purchasing decision. By spending money on that choice, they send a message up the food chain.  American agriculture responds, and responds quickly, to market signals.  Look at ethanol.  But if consumers don’t have a chance to send a market signal with their purchase because a product is not available, no message can be sent.  Americans may or may not want the type of food system championed in Food Inc.  However, for most of us, we simply have no choice but to accept the system we have been given.  Let’s hear it for more food choices!

There has been some publicity recently that has not made many positive comments about American agriculture and our food system.  The critical publicity includes books such as “The Omnivores Dilemma”, “Fast Food Nation” and most recently the film “Food Inc.”.  Joining those voices has been critical comments about the ethanol industry, starting with United Nations, and the negative consequence of permitting farmers to sell their corn to ethanol plants instead as livestock feed – the food versus fuel debate.  Let us not forget animal welfare advocates who are criticizing confinement animal production facilities nor environmentalists concerned about the amount of methane pumped into the atmosphere by farm animals.    Wow.  Paraphrasing Willie Nelson, “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Farmers”.

But is the American agricultural system doing such a bad job?  Is it doing anything good?  Well, one good thing is the productivity of the food system means Americans spend less of their income on food than any other country.  In 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, Americans spent an average of 9.9% of their income on food; this compares to 15% in France and Italy, 26% in China and 55% in Indonesia.  Since 1950, the percentage of income spent on food has declined from over 20% to half of that in 2007 – 9.9%.   And that decline is a consequence, in large part, of the efficiency of this country’s agricultural system.

Environmentalists have expressed concern that farmers use too many chemicals on their crops. They also believe that genetically modified crops are not good.  Perhaps too many chemicals are being used and perhaps messing with plant genes might have some negative consequences.  An alternative to using cutting edge technology might be to return to the technology and techniques of the past. Well, in 1930, about 8 million acres of corn was harvested in Illinois with the crop having an average yield of 27 bushels an acre.  The total crop size was 220 million bushels.  This year, it is estimated Illinois will have a corn crop of 2.1 billion bushels – about 10 times the 1930 size.  Yield is expected to be 179 bushels an acre with nearly 12 million acres harvested.  If Illinois corn farmers had not increased their yield from 27 bushels an acres to 179 bushels – through better seeds, chemicals, fertilizers and a number of other improved production techniques – nearly 80 million acres would be needed for the same 2.1 billion bushel crop. This translates into the need to harvest an additional 68 million acres to compensate for not using available technology and techniques. 68 million acres is 106,000 square miles. That is a lot of land that would need to be taken out of its current use and planted to corn.  How much land is 106,000 square miles?  Illinois is about 58,000 square miles.  So, two new Illinois or one Colorado (104,000 square miles) would be needed to produce a 2.1 billion bushel crop.  Modern agriculture has effectively substituted technology for land.

I realize there are counter arguments to the above points.  Some of those arguments are very persuasive.  However, the changes some desire in our agricultural system, smaller farms or less intensive agriculture, will have consequences.  One consequence could be, if commodity prices increased, spending more of our income on food.  What would you stop buying to make sure your family had food?

Are tough economic times hitting you hard in the wallet? Does the state of the global climate have you concerned? Are you more than a few pounds overweight? If you answered yes to any of those questions, it is just possible that the lowly bean can help with what ails you.

Beans are the Rodney Dangerfield of the food world. They don’t get any respect. They are even referred to as the “musical fruit”, a reference to the inability of our digestion system to break down the enzyme raffinose, found in beans and a few other vegetables.

When people look around for inexpensive food, they often think of the drive-through window at a local burger place. A quick check on www.nutritiondata.com reveals that a quarter-pound hamburger has 12 grams of protein, 280 calories, and 2 grams of fiber. Such a burger costs around $3.00. By comparison, a serving of Tex-Mex pinto beans has 15 grams of protein, 200 calories, and 16 grams fiber. Cost for all the ingredients in this dish is around $0.50 per serving. If it’s convenience you want, a large chili at one fast-food restaurant costs under $3.00, and has 25 grams of protein, 330 calories, and 8 grams of fiber. This points up a couple of the more obvious advantages of beans: they cost less while providing an equivalent amount of protein, and they have a lot more fiber – around half the recommended daily amount in one serving.

Anyone who has adopted the practice of eating beans for breakfast can attest to the fact that beans are filling. From black beans and rice, the national dish of Costa Rica, to Mudammas (fava beans) throughout the Middle East, people the world over have discovered that beans can carry you well into the day. Maybe it’s the high level of carbohydrates they provide. There are 49 grams of carbs in that serving of Tex-Mex beans.

There is one other advantage to beans that isn’t always so obvious, and that is the acreage required to produce them, compared to another major source of protein in our diets: meat. According to Frances Moore Lappé, author of “Diet for a Small Planet”, “cows must be fed 21 pounds of protein in order to provide 1 pound of protein for humans.” She goes on to say that “an acre of legumes (beans) can produce ten times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production”.

However, a study done at Cornell University looks more closely at the balance of fat and protein in the diet, and compares the land available for growing meat and vegetables. Christian Peters, lead author of the research, found that a vegetarian diet is not the most efficient in terms of land use. The reason for this is that fruits, grains, and vegetables require higher quality land than pasture and hay that feeds ruminant animals that in turn provide meat and dairy products.

The Cornell researchers concluded that “The key to conserving land and other resources with our diets is to limit the amount of meat we eat and for farmers to rely more on grazing and forages to feed their livestock”.

Even in light of the Cornell research, one must recognize that beef production is a far greater consumer of energy than vegetables – using sixteen times as much gasoline to produce an equivalent amount of food, while generating 24 times the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. This does not account for the methane or nitrous oxide emitted by cows and their manure. Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago and Gidon Eshel of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy suggest that if Americans would reduce their meat consumption by 20%, it would be the equivalent of everyone switching from driving a sedan like a Toyota Camry to the fuel-efficient hybrid Toyota Prius.

So, the next time you enjoy a plate of Tex-Mex beans, deliciously topped off with Colby-jack cheese, consider that you are not only protecting your pocketbook and trimming your waistline, but you are also doing your small part in saving the planet. Call it reducing your protein footprint.

Green roofs are sprouting up everywhere. And I’m not talking about the color of the shingles! Upon hearing the phrase “green roof”, some people imagine a lush rooftop garden, complete with towering trees, blooming vines, a blanket of flowers – and themselves, reclining in a chaise lounge enjoying a tall glass of iced tea. What many people do not know is that green roof technology began developing in recent years – since the 1960s – under German engineering and ingenuity as a response to storm water runoff. Since then it has spread to other countries in Europe and North America, and beyond.  The Green Roofs for Healthy Cities organization (www.greenroofs.org) hosts conferences and gives out awards for research, design, and for contributions to the green roof industry through policy. Chicago is a leader among cities having green roofs, with over 500 permitted green roofs within city limits at the current time. The city of Toronto recently passed a green roof law that mandates 20%-60% of the area of a roof be “green” on new buildings of 2,000 square meters or larger.

While the idea began with a desire to reduce storm water runoff, the practice is now known to extend the life of rubber roofing membranes by 25 years or more, plus it adds to the insulating value of the roof. Savings on summer cooling bills are a noteworthy side-effect. The Peggy Notabaert Center in Chicago has prairie plants, a small wetland, and in one area, an oak tree. Granted, the tree is not much more than a large bonsai and will certainly never grow to be a champion specimen, but what can you expect for a mere 8 inches of soil? The typical green roof can have as little as 2 to 4 inches of soil, and the best plants for surviving rooftop conditions have proven to be those succulent plants, the  sedums, or stonecrops. Not the big, showy Sedum spectabile, either, but the low-growing rock-garden variety of sedums. While these low-growing plants don’t provide the lush, brightly colored flower garden people may expect, they are beautiful – in their own way. To survive well in a rooftop environment, a plant must be drought tolerant and must be able to tolerate very cold to very hot temperatures.

Many owners of green roofs, including the new Wal-Mart inside Chicago city limits, report that the rain usually doesn’t begin running off the roof for an hour or more after it starts raining. The second-story green roof at the Quaker Oats Building in Chicago has a large area covered by turf, certainly a sight for sore eyes to the office workers located above it. Most roofs wouldn’t be able to accommodate mower storage. The rest of the Quaker Oats green roof is planted in prairie plants that are contained in concrete planter beds around the perimeter. You can walk around up there, on top of the second floor. But, again, most green roofs wouldn’t accommodate foot traffic, either. Chicago’s Wal-Mart is designed to hold 125 pounds per square foot, but the average home is only designed for 40 pounds per square foot. Green roofs usually have a low slope of 16-25%, whereas the usual slope on a residence can range anywhere from 25 to 60%. Because of their color, green roofs can help reduce the urban heat island effect. Proponents also point out the carbon-fixing ability of plants as a benefit.

With all the special requirements, most residential buildings won’t have green roofs installed any time soon, but perhaps new construction will be planned to accommodate more of them in the near future.  So, heads-up! A rooftop near you may be sprouting soon.

It all started with the idea that I could reduce the amount of mowing I was doing every week or so. I have a large backyard, and I spent well over an hour on a rider mower keeping that grass well-kempt. Not a bad way to spend an hour on a beautiful summer day, especially if you have headphones and some enjoyable music. But, wait a minute! I have other gardening I’d rather be doing! And still other things I need to do, such as controlling that poison ivy along the driveway. Or – pulling all those green ash seedlings that are coming up everywhere. So, I thought, maybe I should do something different with this expansive lawn. I considered doing a fine bit of landscaping. I imagined flower beds such as those you might see at a botanical garden, with green paths winding their way through. But eventually I settled on the idea of a woodland. It seemed a natural fit because of the creek that passes through and the “volunteer” trees and other growth along there, creating a natural riparian community and a lot of shade.

I planted dogwoods and redbuds, hostas and lungworts, some native species, as well as non-native shade-lovers. I even got a couple of American filbert seedlings at a nearby botanical garden. Plant selections were considered not only for their ability to grow well in shady situations, but also for their value as food for birds. Then one day I read a magazine article about the Backyard Habitat program organized by the National Wildlife Federation. I thought: “That sounds like what I’m doing in my own backyard”. I checked out the website and learned that to qualify as a certified Backyard Habitat; you need to meet five criteria: provide food for wildlife, a water source, a place for cover, a place for rearing young; and implement sustainable gardening practices. Well, we had a pile of tree prunings on the creek bank that we had deliberately left as cover for birds and whatever other small animals wanted to use it, and we’ve been composting our kitchen and garden waste for years. So, it seemed a natural fit for us. As I stepped through the easy process to certify my backyard as a Wildlife Habitat, I felt that my decision to plant a woodland was appropriate and fitting.

Now, we love the trees and understory plants that are growing up in our woodland. While it is certified by the National Wildlife Federation, what brings us the most pleasure is seeing rabbits and birds in our backyard habitat, and knowing that there is food and cover for wildlife we might not even see. Plus, it’s a lot nicer to look at, and even blocks the view of the passing cars along the street beyond.

You can certify your backyard, too. Just go to www.nwf.org to find out how. Replace your turf with a woodland, prairie, butterfly garden, or other wildlife habitat of your own, then sit back, drink some lemonade, and listen to the birds. Now, that’s the way to spend an hour on a beautiful summer day.

It’s the time of year to take the garden down and start arranging things for next year. Some years I don’t do anything different. So I don’t really need to think too much about next year, which seems dismally far-off at this point. But this year I’m going to move the vegetables and flowers around, which means that fences around the vegetables now can come down, but will have to be moved and reinstalled in a new location.

One of the practices I value most is adding organic matter to all the beds. Leaves are in ample supply this time of year. I have a tulip tree and silver maple that contribute a large amount of organic matter. Then there’s the compost from the kitchen scraps. But a valuable source of organic matter in my gardens comes from the neighborhood supply. While others are busy raking and blowing and scooping leaves into large brown bags, I simply wait for collection day. That’s when people generously place large bags full of organic matter (leaves) right along the street.

Organic matter is a beautiful thing! Especially to a gardener. We know the value to earthworms and beneficial microorganisms, which aid the decomposition process. Anyone who has successfully experimented with composting has had the wonderful experience of discovering beautiful, crumbly, dark “stuff” where the kitchen scraps used to be. Well, sure, the egg shells haven’t changed a bit in the past couple of months. And, yes, there are a few sticks in there – where’d they come from? But, where have the banana peels, the coffee grounds, the weeds from the flower bed gone? All of these are unrecognizable. Not a sign of any of those ingredients. Just that dark, crumbly organic matter that is now ready to go directly onto the vegetable bed, flower bed, around trees, or to be used as potting soil.

The tricks to composting are sort of exacting if you need it sooner rather than later. But generally the entire process is pretty forgiving and easy. For speedy, 3-4 month compost, watch the temperature, moisture, and accurate blend of “greens” (grass clippings, kitchen scraps, weeds) and “browns” (dead leaves, sawdust, chipped branches). Believe it or not, a compost pile can heat up to 140^oF or more, due to the decomposition process alone. Turn the pile when the temperature falls below 104^oF. It’ll heat up again as the decay process picks up. Rainfall should provide adequate moisture, but if necessary, water the pile to maintain moist, but not wet conditions.  This is more important if the pile is placed in sunlight where it tends to dry out more quickly. Use equal amounts of greens and browns. The ideal size for a compost pile is a cubic yard (3-ft. X 3-ft. X 3-ft.), and it should be in a partly- to mostly-shady location.

If the pile smells bad it is probably too moist, resulting in anaerobic conditions. Provide drainage, allow it to dry out, and turn the pile to provide aeration. You can make a pile of sticks for a base for your compost pile. That will aid in drainage and aeration. If you want to use wood clippings or sawdust, add a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, such as blood meal, to ensure adequate nutrients for the decomposing microorganisms. The low-maintenance compost pile can take as long as 6 months, but doesn’t require regular turning – although an occasional redistribution of materials helps – and relies on rainfall for moisture.

In the end, you save organic matter from the horrible fate of the landfill, and give it its rightful home in the garden. And, just think, you get to feed lots of earthworms and other beneficial organisms that will help aerate your garden soil and make you an even better gardener next spring, when the warmer weather will surely be upon us again.