Use compost and wood chips on your gardens!
Benefits
- Save water and labour: less watering needed, no weeding and more rain
absorption
- No need for chemical weed killers or pesticides
- Nourishes the soil by adding nutrients as the chips decompose
- Keeps soil and roots from overheating in hot summers
- Stimulates growth: mulch-covered trees grow faster than non- covered
trees
- Makes trees more resistant to disease and insects
- Reduces bruising of fallen fruit (under fruit trees)
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Compost
Available for free!
1. At Environment Day locations
http://www.toronto.ca/environment_days/schedule.htm
Thursday events are from 4:00pm to 8:00pm
Saturday and Sunday events are from 10:00am to 2:00pm
2. The City of Toronto’s free compost depots
They will be open from April to October 2007.
Residents can get up to one cubic metre of leaf compost
(approximately one car trunkful) at the sites listed below.
Compost is available on a weekly basis, while supplies last.
Community Location & Times
http://www.toronto.ca/compost/leaf.htm Note: Bring your own containers
and shovels
Wood Chips
Three easy steps for using wood chips
1. Step One: Spread an 8 to 10 cm layer (3 to 4 inches) over
garden beds (be sure to keep wood chips slightly away from tree trunks)
2. Step Two: Level out the chips
3. Step Three: Tamp down lightly
More great ideas for gardening
Composting
http://www.hgtv.ca/green/outdoors_compostingcompanion.aspx
10 easiest vegetables to grow
http://www.hgtv.ca/green/outdoors_10easiestveg.aspx
Green roofs
http://www.hgtv.ca/green/outdoors_greenroofs.aspx
Organic gardening ~ pesticide alternatives
http://www.hgtv.ca/green/outdoors_organic.aspx
Get rid of the leaf blower!
Retire the gas lawnmower and leaf blower. They are murder ~ especially on
poor air quality/smog alert days. — Gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers feed
hungrily off fossil fuels, releasing 80,000 tonnes of GHG emissions annually in
Canada. Keep the leaves as compost and you can save 80 lbs of carbon dioxide per
year. And no more gas or fumes!
Leaf blowers and clothes lines don't mix!
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