Just when I start to wonder if winter will ever end, the light changes and the garden beckons. I am continually amazed every spring when, with no attention or effort on my part, the lillies return, the apple blossoms open and the lilac bush begins to sprout green leaves.
I can’t wait to dig in and get dirty, but first things first. Let’s get some compost!
Today, Mr TBTAM and I headed to the Fresh Kills Composting Site on Staten Island to get free compost from the NYC Compost Project. Here, Staten Island’s fallen leaves are brought every year, piled up into 10 foot high rows, then lovingly turned and areated with the backhoe till they become dark, rich loam called compost. (The front row of dark compost in the picture above is this year’s – the lighter colored back row is next year’s compost.)
On one weekend in spring, NYC residents are permitted to drive to the site, back their cars up to the rows of compost and fill their bags and bins with as much of the stuff as they want. 
We took away 6 quarter-filled yard bags full. (Note to self – use smaller bags next year. Lugging those babies up the staircase to the roof was no picnic…)
This will be our first year using compost instead of liquid fertilizer like Miracle Gro. I’m not quite sure how it’s all going to work, since adding 6 bags of compost to our container garden means removing the same amount of top soil from the pots. I guess that means carrying it all back down the stairs and out to the trash.
Hmm…..Somehow that seems to defeat the whole purpose of composting as recycling. Should we be taking the old dirt back out to the compost site? But that means gas and another $10 for the Verrazano Bridge. Which isn’t good for the environment either.
Maybe I should have stuck with the liquid fertilizer…
As a former keen gardener (The Chairman and I not only gardened, but grew our own plants from seed!), and composter, may I recommend that you supplement your compost with Miracle Grow. While compost improves your soil and encourages strong growth, nothing gives that final ‘sproing’ like MG.
Still waiting for the NHS to whisk me away to a new life BTW,
Spring!!!
I’ve never gardened where I had to worry about having extra soil. Maybe you can bring up a few more pots and add more plants? (removing top soil just seems wrong; besides, don’t you lose some to wind erosion and such?
I love when the tamarack (aka larch) trees start to green up. My heart has these little thrills. 🙂
You could always make compost tea, and then you wouldn’t have to remove soil.
It’s still snowing and raining here. I think Spring will never come… Man that looks fun!
Oh, BTW, you’re officially tagged.
It’s so funny to see all the city cars lined up to get compost put in the trunk! Love the towncar in the top picture. Do you think that folks hire a car service to take them to the compost pile? That would be hysterical!
An enterprising person would take orders from folks in the city, get the compost from SI, bag it, sell it, and deliver it to all the roof deckers on the UES. I would think that someone could earn a good amount of cash for one weekend’s work!
17th Annual Rotary Club of Staten Island ECOLOGY DAY
Saturday, May 10, 2008, 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. Staten Island Mall
Students and their teachers from schools across Staten Island will display their entries at the Staten Island Mall. It is a proud day for Rotary and for the students and teachers who show off their efforts.
Want to set up an effective recycling program in your apartment building, Coop, or Condominium?
OROE is a program of Council on the Environment of New York City, a non-profit organization working to improve NYC’s environment since 1970.
Our free services include:
• Building waste audits and recycling assessments
• Tenant training sessions (Free recycling bag sets for participants)
• Special waste collections such as textile and electronics
• Special events such as community swap days
• Information on waste reduction, reuse and composting programs offered by the City and other local groups
For information contact
Michael Rieser, Your Staten Island Recycling Outreach Coordinator at 212-788-7931 or visit us online at http://www.cenyc.org
Next year, remove the soil first, and take it with you when you go to the compost center 🙂
Chairwoman – Hmm…Have to consider that.
Bardiac – GREAT idea! Will do it!
Beach bum – But them wouldn’t I have to get rid of the compost?
Dr Wes – Thanks!
Schruggling – “An enterprising person” – which of course would be you…
Actually, commercial use of the copmpost is not allowed. Comemrcial gardeners and such ahve to buy their own. Though I don’t see why – If they bring their debris to the composting center, they should get the free stuff too.
Anon- thanks for all the info!
Our weeping cherry just popped with blooms today! 🙂
My husband is an avid gardener…vegetable and flowers. I do a little such as plant the stor flowers and he used to do most of his stuff by seed and now he buys the young plants and starts seeds.
One of my favorites is that he grows different types of sunflowers around the yard. My favorite are the big ones. They remind me of happy people. I think it’s neat how they turn their big heads to follow the sun during the day. Then the birds get the seeds at the end of the summer.
He also grows a lot of zinnias. They have vibrant colors, are hardy …lasting well into the fall and are prolific. The more you cut…the more they grow and butterflies love them. We always have fresh flowers around the inside of our house during the summer and fall and we are constantly cutting and giving flowers away too. I often stick fresh mint stems in the arrangements along with fresh lavender.
I bought 12 different kinds of Lilies off of HSN a few years back and they have been coming back with gusto.
Anyway…hubby does the hard stuff and I harvest/cook the veggies. I am thinking I might like to try canning again. Last time I did that was 1981…49 quarts of tomatoes and I don’t remember how many sweet and dill pickles. Dills were mushy though.
He used to do his own compost with some house garbage like eggshells, old leaves/plants and I don’t recall what else.
Sorry so long TBTAM…I have been feeling spring fever and this stirred it all up.
Do you know anything about growing herbs? I am thinking I might like to start my own herb garden. I am loving fresh oregano. I had a lifeline client give me some of his Greek oregano (delicious)but then went away without 1st planting in the ground and the son dried it up.