Hello Acadia! – June 2021

BASICS OF COMPOSTING


Compost, Garbage, Biological, Waste, Fruit, Vegetables

Hello Acadia Neighborhood!

As we become more environmentally minded, perhaps composting comes to the minds of many.  Last year Acadia Community Art and Garden Society started composting in our rotating compost tumblers which were generously donated to our garden.  (A huge thankyou goes out to our valuable donators!) 

It was the year of the learning curve – wrong things and some things right.  We have since visited other community gardens who have been composting, watching composting webinars and YouTube videos and are learning lots! We hope to have a lovely pile of finished compost by the Fall for use in our garden!

Here are a few of the basics we have gleaned.  

  • The perfect compost ingredients are 1) greens, 2) browns, 3) air and 4) moisture.
  • Ratio of 2 browns to 1 green seem to work well.
  • Greens are the nitrogen part which help heat up the pile as they aid the microorganisms in the pile to grow and multiply quickly.  
  • Greens include grass clippings, fruit and vegetables peels and scraps, weeds (without the seeds), plants, tea leaves and tea bags, coffee grounds, and chicken manure (excellent compost ‘activator’).  Do NOT use diseased plants.
  • Browns are the carbon part whose main job is to be a food source for all the soil-dwelling organisms that work with the microbes. They also add bulk and allow air to filter through the pile.  
  • Browns include woods materials (wood chips, etc.), straw, sawdust, corn cobs, cardboard, and shredded paper.  This is the biggest challenge – finding enough browns.
  • All ingredients added need to be broken or cut into small pieces so there is more surface area subjected to air and moisture.
  • Do NOT add meat, dairy, cooked items, fats and oils (which would cause the compost to smell) or evergreen tree parts. Also, avoid twigs and pieces of bigger wood as they take too long to break down.
  • If your mixture smells sour or rotten, you have added too many greens or it is too wet.  The compost should not be “stinky” smelly but should have a slightly sweet smell! (Who would have thought that!)
  • Turning your ingredients often introduces more air and speeds up the decomposition.
  • Add some water every few layers.  You want moist – NOT soggy.
  • As the microbes break the matter down, they give off heat. Temperatures can reach up to 65 degrees C.  After the mixture cools, worms will move in to finish the process.
  • Any large bits when composting is near finished can be sifted out and put in your next compost mixture.
  • Composting can be done on the ground in a 3’ x 3’ space or using the rotating compost tumblers.

Composting is fun and the satisfaction of turning table scraps, grass clippings, and fall leaves into something which looks like amazing nutritious soil is well worth the effort.   If anyone would like to join our composting committee, please contact one of the following emails:  secretary@growingacadia.ca  OR treasurer@growingacadia.ca.  We would love to have you on our team!

Melody Plummer
Secretary of ACGAS


Acadia Community Garden & Art Society is committed to providing an environment free of discrimination and harassment, where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, can contribute fully and have equal opportunities.  If you experience any discrimination or harassment, please contact us on our phone or media sites.

Hello Acadia: April Issue

Acadia Community Garden & Art Society 

Those of you who read this article regularly – and that’s all of you, I’m sure – may have noticed that we’re pretty keen about gardening. It’s true, we love to garden. We could likely talk about it day and night, month in and month out. But I’m going to tell you a secret: we like other forms of art too. It’s true! And now I’ve got to ask, are there any quilting fans out there? Continue reading “Hello Acadia: April Issue”

Hello Acadia- January Issue

Water-Wise Gardening

Whether you call them water-wise, drought-smart, or xeric, methods of gardening that contribute to the conservation of water are essential to ecosystem preservation on a global level. Let’s face it, we’re seeing an increase in the desertification of land and freshwater rationing in many parts of the world. The writing is on the wall and we’re going to have to learn to embrace techniques to save this precious resource before it’s too late.

Fortunately, as gardeners, this is well within our grasp. Continue reading “Hello Acadia- January Issue”

Happy New Year with Xeriscaping

Happy New Year Everyone!

On this very snowy January 1st, after you’ve shovelled your walk, and perhaps your neighbour’s too, why not kick back with a cup of coffee/tea/nog, grab a nearby gardening book, and settle in for a nice day’s read.

What sort of book will you choose? The latest gardening magazine? The seed catalogues that might be piling up around you? Perhaps you’ll delve into permaculture, explore cottage gardens, or plan to graft a franken-apple tree (please do this!) Continue reading “Happy New Year with Xeriscaping”

Cat Poop on a Stick

(photo taken from the City of Calgary website, see link below)

If you have a Mayday, Schubert’s Choke Cherry, or any other tree/shrub from the Prunus family, you’re likely familiar with the Black Knot Fungus issue in Calgary. It’s ugly, it spreads quickly, and it looks like cat poop on a stick (cannot be unseen)!

It’s easy to see now that the branches are bare so once you spot it, it’s time to act.

Continue reading “Cat Poop on a Stick”

Celebrating Lori Weidenhammer’s “Victory Gardens for Bees”.

To celebrate another amazing season, with all of you, our gardening buddies and social friends, we’re giving away this amazing book by Lori Weidenhammer, “Victory Gardens for Bees”.

As you know, Pollinator Gardens are a focus of ours and this book is getting some pretty incredible reviews! It’s chalk full of practical tips, planting plans, and care techniques. You’ll LOVE it!

Like this post to enter the contest, share this post so your friends can enter, and please take a moment to comment on the facebook post because we love to hear from you.

Hello Acadia – November Issue

This month there’s no preamble – no pithy story to serve as an introduction. This month we’re serving up a chaotic buffet of facts.

Here are the 10 Random Things that Calgary Gardeners Ought To Know:

1. Your Zone changed.

You used to be a Zone 3. Now you’re a Zone 4. The world is now your oyster. Continue reading “Hello Acadia – November Issue”