On Page 1 we looked at five recycling projects for the holiday season. Now let's discuss the next five recycling projects -- ones you can undertake throughout the year. If you love plants, then making compost is among the smartest recycling projects for you.
Recycling Project #6: Making Compost With Grass Clippings
Don't treat lawn grass clippings as waste. You can either bag them for making compost or, if you have a mulching mower, simply let them "fall where they may." Either way, they'll save you money on fertilizer.
Recycling Project #7: Making Compost With Weeds
Instead of poisoning annual weeds with chemical herbicides, pull them before they go to seed and put them in the compost bin. Without seed heads, they're harmless -- perfectly okay for making compost.
Recycling Project #8: Making Compost With Leaves
When you rake up leaves in fall, don't dispose of them as waste. Instead, turn them into leaf compost or mulch.
Recycling Project #9: Making Compost With Newspapers
You can recycle most newspapers for mulch or shred them up for making compost, instead of disposing of them. Using a combination of newspapers and bark mulch is an easy and natural way to kill grass, if, for example, you wish to convert a portion of your lawn to perennial beds, instead.
Recycling Project #10: Creating Mulch From Fallen Branches
Rural homeowners committed to maintaining large tracts of land often must deal with vast quantities of fallen branches, especially after hurricanes. Using wood chippers, you can convert these branches into chips and have a ready supply of free mulch on your property.
But note that wood chips deplete nitrogen in the soil as they decompose. To counteract this tendency, add a fertilizer to the soil prior to applying the wood chips. The fertilizer should contain at least a moderate amount of nitrogen, as indicated by the first number in the NPK string. For instance, a popular fertilizer such as 5-10-5 would be sufficient.
If you can't afford a wood chipper, consider hauling such branches into out-of-the-way places on your property and building up brush piles with them. Brush piles provide housing for wildlife. But if you have a garden, locate your brush piles away from garden areas. No sense in providing gratuitous cover for garden pests!
