14
The Gardener’s Corner
The CO-OP Country Round Up November / December 2020 Volume 21 Issue 1
BC Gardeners Contribute to Projects
This has been a challenging year for everyone, but the Bonner County Gardeners Association has been able to continue giving to the community. The city of Hope is creating a public park featuring a statue honoring Veterans that was already in place. The BC Gardeners pledged to assist with funding to provide an attractive path of paving stones. The path is now complete. The organization has contributed to the play and learning area for children on the Cedar Street Bridge. Two successful plant sales helped provide funding for continuing expenses, while providing some rare, unusual or old favorite specimens to those who attended the sale. BCGA has an ongoing commitment to cleaning a section of Highway 95, which allows the eye of the traveler to focus on the lovely scenery rather than trash. We wish you all a good holiday season. BCGA is hoping to return to a regular schedule of events and classes sometime in 2021, when precautions for disease prevention allow. The annual garden tour did not take place this year, but it is an event that will return. Visit our website for additional information about upcoming activities at bcgardeners.org. Reflections on Seasons End The season has ended for North Idaho gardens; garlic is planted, the vegetable areas have yielded their last crops, and the perennial gardens have been put to bed for the winter. Now is a good time to assess the season. What varieties yielded best? Which were tastiest? What crops did not do so well? Were there pests to defend against? Grab a notebook and write down the results. Try to remember the date of the first frost. This information is useful in making decisions for the coming year. Now is an ideal time to start a compost pile. All the debris from perennial beds and veggie beds alike are excellent ingredients to start a compost heap, along with kitchen waste. Just avoid fats and meat products, which attract unwanted visitors. If you have chickens or other stock, some manure will get the pile working, and even steaming on a cool morning. There are few things more satisfying than taking waste material and turning it into beautiful amendments for the soil. Whether one uses a bin or just a pile, composting is easy, fun, and inexpensive. If one lives in a more urban setting, a bin with a lid will prevent scavengers. The only tools needed are a fork to turn the pile occasionally, a shovel to harvest the finished compost, a screen to separate out larger, less decomposed elements, and a wheelbarrow or bin for the final product. Composting waste is good for the environment. It saves trips to the dump, where organic matter is mixed with toxic waste, plastics, metal, and other deterrents to healthy decomposition. Compost adds vital nutrients to the soil, improves the texture of the soil, and provides shelter and food for the living creatures needed to promote productive gardens. One needs to purchase fewer amendments to achieve desirable results. Placement of the compost pile is important. It should be convenient for adding materials, near a water source to keep the compost moist, and fairly close to the garden where it will eventually be used. I like a sunlit pile, as it warms up and thaws earlier in the spring and the heat from the sun aids in keeping the pile working well. Start a compost pile now, and by May or so, there will be some lovely organic matter to give the plants a happy start. By Ann Warwick, BC Gardener
Product Features Low Oxygen Safety Shut Off System
Tip Over Safety Shut-Off Clean Burning and Odor Free
