Review: Mike McGrath's Book of Compost

If you've ever listened to public radio on a Saturday morning, there's a good chance you've heard of You Bet Your Garden, hosted by the always-energetic, awesomely alliterative Mike McGrath. If you haven't caught the show, let me tell you this guy is an absolute walking Wikipedia of plant knowledge. He knows EVERYTHING you could ever want to know about organic gardening. The man won four consecutive Best of Show awards at the Philadelphia Flower Show. 'Nuff said.

That's why I was so excited when Santa (he reads my blog) brought me a copy of Mike McGrath's Book of Compost. The book is a slim and trim 120 pages and I tore through it in just a few hours. By the end, I was so excited about composting that I literally dreamed about shredding leaves that night. Sweet, nutrient-packed Fall leaves. Mmmmmmmm...

McGrath writes how he talks: with tremendous enthusiasm and copious dry humor, complete with plenty of italics, parentheses and all-caps. Normally these typeface techniques would irritate my inner English major, but in this case it just seemed to be part of the fun. Mike McGrath simply loves to compost and he's not afraid to SHOUT IT. I respect that.

The book makes composting dead, rotting simple. (Spoiler: all you really need for compost are shredded leaves.) You're not going to see charts with carbon and nitrogen ratios or anything of the sort. And if you're looking for elaborate explanations of thermophilic bacteria and the like, you should go elsewhere. Instead, what you'll get is a thorough schooling on how to compost, why to compost, and how to use compost in your garden while ditching harsh fertilizers and pesticides. Plus, don't forget the wonders of compost tea.

You'll come away a true believer that compost is the bees knees when it comes to gardening. As McGrath says, "Two to four inches of compost... will feed every single one of your outdoor--and indoor--plants; and it will feed them better than any chemical fertilizer (and better than just about any packaged organic one, too)!" As I read the book, I began to wonder if compost could cure cancer. Can someone look into that?

As an added bonus, McGrath even teaches you how to have the greenest grass in your neighborhood using only--you guessed it--compost. After you amaze and astonish your neighbors by taking all of their leaves off their yards in the Fall, you'll make them green with envy over your luscious lawn come Springtime. It's fantastic, and by golly I'm gonna do it! With Mike McGrath's help, I'm a real-life beginner composter and proud of it!

Mike McGrath's Book of Compost (Amazon)
You Bet Your Garden (WHYY)

Return Pot Turns PLA Plastic into Compost

The Philadelphia Inquirer had an interesting story this weekend about the Electrolux Design Lab competition. A number of interesting devices are mentioned in the article, but I'm most fascinated with the "Return Pot," which uses a magnetic field to turn polylactic acid (PLA) resin into compost for plants. Here's how it works:

"As the user spins the battery-less Return Pot, a ball bearing moves through a coil tunnel, creating a magnetic field that generates electricity to power the return cycle. The result is water, compost and a small amount of carbon dioxide, according to the inventor."

This is basically a home device that turns plastic into plant food. Wow. From a sustainability point of view, that's virtually a miracle. However, there is one major catch. The Return Pot decomposes PLA plastic, not petroleum-based resins, and there just isn't much PLA being used as of yet. D'oh!

If you haven't heard of PLA, it's a relatively new corn-based plastic that is very slowly being adopted in some packaging, such as water bottles and cups. On the downside, it takes corn to create the product, which could be used for food. Also, because the product decomposes, it can't be used in packaging that has to last a long time or stand up to very warm conditions. However, given the right conditions (heat, humidity and micro-organisms), PLA will fully decompose into nutrients for the soil.

I'm going to be writing more about PLA in the future, but in the meantime, do check out the Inquirer article to see the sustainable marvels that some very bright minds have created.

Designed for Coexisting (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Electrolux Design Lab 2007

Recycle Your Christmas Tree in Philadelphia and Elsewhere

First of all, I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Santa was very good to me this year, bringing me Guitar Hero III for the Wii, as well as several good books on environmental issues. I even got a little gadget that measures how much electricity devices draw when plugged into the socket. Very cool. I'll have in-depth reviews of all that good stuff, except for Guitar Hero. So far, I suck at Guitar Hero.

Second, I would like to weigh in on one of the greatest challenges facing the world today--what to do with used Christmas trees? If you followed my advice and got a real tree this year, pretty soon it's going to start turning brown and looking all ghetto in your living room. You can water it to forestall the inevitable, but sooner or later you're going to have to get rid of your tree. That beautiful formerly living thing is one of God's creatures and should return to the earth from whence it came.

Now, most towns have Christmas tree curbside pickup so you can just let the garbage dudes take it away. From there, one of three things is likely to happen:

1. The tree will be composted. (green)
2. The tree will be chipped up and turned into mulch. (greenish)
3. The tree will be chucked into a toxic landfill full of batteries and dirty diapers where its precious nutrients will never enrich the earth again. (not green)

I recommend checking with your local sanitation department to see which of these fates will befall your tree. If the answer is compost or mulch, go ahead and leave your tree on the curb on the assigned day and muse upon the rarely-seen wonders of effective government. If the answer is landfill, then you have to do a little due diligence. Chances are there is an alternative program in your area for recycling trees. You just have to find out where it is and when to haul your tree over there. And then somehow get all of the pine needles out of your car.* Sigh.

For example, in my hometown of Philadelphia, the city will indeed pick up your tree for no extra charge. However, they will dump it directly into a landfill after collection. You would have to do a little research in order to figure that out. You can't just assume that the tree is going to be recycled. Apparently, that's too much to ask. Fortunately Philadelphia does provide a tree recycling option:

"Citizens who wish to drop off their tree for recycling may take it to the Streets Department Sanitation Convenience Centers located at 3033 S. 63rd St. (entrance on 61st St. side), Domino & Umbria Lanes and State & Ashburner Roads during this week only. The sites are open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday, January 7 through Saturday, January 12."

If you don't live in Philadelphia, I recommend running a Google search for "Recycle Christmas Tree [your city or state]". That should get you the answers you need. If not, you can always try the excellent Earth 911 database, which lists many of the tree programs across the country.

Finally, if you have a truck, you might offer to haul a couple of your neighbor's trees to the recycling center while you're at it. It might earn you an extra pile of cookies next year and I might also forgive you for owning a truck.

*Try to avoid using your household vacuum cleaner to suck up pine needles. It usually ends up clogging the machine and you end up with a bigger mess than you started with. Try a broom.

Philadelphia Streets Department Christmas Tree Recycling Information
Interesting Facts about Tree Recycling (Earth 911)

Tumbleweed Composter Unboxing and Assembly

Some "green bloggers" would let you know when their new composter was delivered. They might even write up a little three paragraph review. Pshaw! I'm taking this to the ultra-nerd max and throwing down a good old-fashioned unboxing and assembly montage for the $199 Tumbleweed Compost Maker. If that doesn't get your heart racing--you're dead to me.

The box weighed 25 pounds. That's 25 pounds of composting fury.

Sixteen screws and nuts. Made in Australia.

The leg assembly parts.

Plastic top and bottom, with bonus cat (not included).

You need a couple of wrenches to tighten up the center bar.

Center bar sits in a groove between the bin's halves.

You have to screw the halves together--sixteen times. I found I didn't really need the wrench.

The assembled body.

The legs slide right in with no extra hardware.

The finished Tumbleweed Composter! Note that the top and bottom twist open for access.

The whole operation took me about a half hour, mostly because I stopped to take pictures for you, the loyal reader. A super-handy person could probably put the composter together in 15 minutes. My only complaint so far is that one of the twist-off lids is hard to open and close. It seems like the plastic tabs are a little too tight. I'm hoping that improves with use. In the meantime, I can just use the lid that's easy to open.

The instructions say that I can expect finished compost in about four weeks. I'm guessing it'll take a bit longer because it's currently the dead of winter. I'll keep you posted.

More on the Tumbleweed Composter
Official Assembly Instructions (pdf)
Buy it at Planet Natural

Let's Get Dirty With Our Composters

Noticing some evil glaring from my neighbors, I decided that it would be a good idea to rake up the massive drifts of leaves in my yard this weekend. It turned out to be kind of fun--a bit of fresh air and exercise, and I even got to speak with one of said neighbors. He said, "goddamn the PVC fence put up by the people next to you is butt-ugly." High five! I'm back in the fold.

At the end of my labors, I had five large black plastic bags stuffed with leaves. But wait a minute, didn't I say that plastic bags suck? Did I really want to send all of that nutrient-rich organic goodness to a festering landfill? What would Jesus do?

Composting. It's a badge of honor in the eco-geek community. True granola cred. When I started this enviro-blog, I knew people (six or so) would be looking to me to show them the way. It's a heavy responsibility. I knew what I had to do. I had to go online and order a tumbling composter.

After a couple of brow-furrowed hours searching through reviews and lured by the sweet nectar of free shipping, I whipped out my AMEX and shelled out a couple hunskies on a rodent-resistant Tumbleweed Composter. If it works as advertised, I should be able to fill it with grass clippings, leaves and most kinds of non-meat organic kitchen waste. After that, it's just a matter of flipping the sucker every couple of days to aerate the mix and help the microbes do their work. Mostly, I'll sit back and let the money roll in.



OK, I lied about the money, but composting does save landfill space, improve soil quality, help flowers grow and give you the delicious feeling of being better than other people. You go--sexy composting girl. Shake that dirt!

Don't worry, I'm still humble. I'll keep you posted on my filthy little adventure.

Composting: A Geektastic User's Guide
Planet Natural Garden Supply
The Rad Tumbleweed Compost Maker I Bought
Free Composting Workshops in Philadelphia