The Breakdown on Compost
Posted in Programs and Events on August 20th, 2008 by Plant Talk – 1 Comment  |
Kate Murphy, a junior at Fordham University, and Genna Federico, a senior at St. John’s University, interned in the Communications Department this summer. |
The weekly Farmers Market not only features vendors with regionally grown produce and home-baked treats but also offers demonstrations on the first and last Wednesday of every month. We decided it would be fun to check out the demonstration on composting led by staff from our Bronx Green-Up program.
The New York City Composting Guide The NYC Composting Guide describes composting as “the process of creating the ideal conditions for the rapid decomposition of organic materials.” In other words, it’s what happens in your pile of vegetable and fruit peels, garden waste, and raked leaves after tending it in a particular way for a while.
Our first stop was the composting table at the Farmers Market, where we found lots of free information and learned that there was hands-on experience to be had if we visited the Home Gardening Center’s composting station, a short walk away. There we met a group of students from Adlai E Stevenson High School in the Bronx who are part of New York City’s GreenThumb-certified summer program.
The students were here to learn about composting so that they could use it when planting and maintaining the more than 20 vegetable beds at the Stevenson campus community garden, where the students also learn how to cook with what they grow. These students have also planted gardens at a local elementary school and have worked with a local homeowners’ organization in planting trees in nearby neighborhoods as part of the MillionTreesNYC initiative. (The Garden is involved in this initiative, too.)
Want to know more about composting for your own garden? See the tips after the jump. read more »