Boston Flora

Tag: compost

  • Monday, August 1 – City of Boston Curbside Food Waste Collection Begins

    Starting in August 2022, the City of Boston is launching a free, curbside food waste collection service for residents. To participate, residents must live in buildings with 6 units or fewer. Enrollment is limited, so sign up today.

    This program will begin on August 1st and is available to the first 10,000 households who sign up. Composting ‘starter kits’ (instructions, a roll of liners, a kitchen bin and a collection bin to put on the curb on collection days) will be delivered to enrolled households in July. 

    For more about the program (and to register) go to: https://www.bostoncomposts.com

  • Saturday, February 26, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – Clean Composting, Online

    Compost is the answer to most soil problems, such as compaction, poor water-holding ability and low fertility. In this Berkshire Botanical Garden online class on February 26 at 12:30 pm with instructor Daryl Beyers, students will discover why compost is the key to gardening sustainably and how to use it effectively to improve their garden ground to grow healthy plants. Learn the basics of composting and the techniques to create your own compost at home, using bins, tumblers, heaps or pits or directly on garden beds. Daryl Beyers is the author of The New Gardener’s Handbook: Everything you need to know to grow a beautiful and bountiful garden, available from Timber Press. As gardening certificate program coordinator at the New York Botanical Garden, he helps guide the program’s curriculum and teaches popular gardening classes. Daryl has more than twenty-five years of professional landscaping experience, specializing in residential garden design and development. As a staff writer, photographer and editor for Fine Gardening magazine, he authored two special issues on garden design and served as a contributing garden editor for Martha Stewart Living. His articles on gardening and garden design have also appeared in Horticulture and HGTV Magazine.    Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org

  • Tuesday, April 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Dive into Composting, Online

    There is a biology to composting, and understanding it will lead to healthy compost. The speaker for this Massachusetts Horticultural Society online session on April 6 at 7 pm will review the different types of compost systems you can set at home and offer guidelines for compost maintenance.

    This class is part of our spring Introduction to Gardening series, register for all six sessions and save $$$! Click here to learn more about the full series.  This session is $20 for Mass Hort members, $30 general admission. Register at www.masshort.org.

    Instructor: Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years. 

  • Pacific Horticulture Society Digital Classroom – How Much Compost is Enough?

    Pacific Horticulture Society’s online learning series connects gardeners with some of the most intriguing horticultural and environmental issues of our time. Do you want to begin “gardening like the Earth depends on it”?  Tuning into these conversations is a great way to start.  Today we highlight How Much Compost is Enough? with Calla Rose Ostrander, Marin Carbon Project partner and environmental strategic advisor. Applying compost to degraded soils benefits our gardens by sparking a microbial revolution that holds more water in dry times and encourages plant growth. Learn what up-to-date science is saying about carbon sequestration in landscapes and think through the “Goldilocks Question” of how much compost is just right for our gardens. The video may be accessed at any time at https://www.pacifichorticulture.org/digital-classroom/

  • Beginning April 13: Boston Leaf & Yard Waste Collection

    Turn your yard work waste into compost. If you’re looking for something to do while social distancing, participating in leaf and yard waste collection is a great way to spend time outside, clean your outdoor space, and repurpose your waste.

    The Public Works Department has 20 weeks of curbside leaf and yard waste collection. You can also drop off your collection on scheduled days at the American Legion Highway site.

    The Public Works Department has 20 weeks of curbside leaf and yard waste collection. You can also drop off your collection on scheduled days at the American Legion Highway site.

    VIEW THE SCHEDULE FOR LEAF & YARD WASTE COLLECTION AND DROP-OFF’S HERE.

    Here’s what you need to know for curbside collection:

    • Place all leaves and yard debris in large paper bags or open barrels labeled YARD WASTE
    • Tie branches with string: 3 feet max length and 1 inch max diameter
    • Place barrels, bags, and branches curbside by 6:00 AM
    • Do not include any plastic bags
    • Do not place large branches in barrels.

    We are working towards a Zero Waste Boston. Composted yard waste helps conserve and rebuild a scarce resource — soil. Finished compost makes its way back into the community when it’s donated to Boston’s 100+ community gardens. If you want to make yourown compost, you can purchase a compost bin for $25 here.

    By participating in leaf and yard waste curbside pick-up, you can make composting a regular part of your routine. We can work together to move towards a more sustainable, zero-waste Boston.

    Zero Waste Logo

  • Thursday, June 6, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Compost Compendium

    Horticulturist Conor Guidarelli manages the Arnold Arboretum’s organic materials recycling area and has recently improved the production and quality of the resulting compost.

    On June 6 at 6 – 8 at the Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Conor will discuss the components of compost and the nutrients that can be returned to a site when compost is applied. He will explain the mix of brown to green materials, moisture, and aeration.

    Class participants will start in the classroom and then travel to the Arboretum’s materials yard to see compost in various stages of development.

    Fee $20 Arboretum member, $30 nonmember.

    Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Saturday, June 9, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Cooking Up Compost

    Turn your yard wastes and household garbage into gardeners’ Brown Gold. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop on Saturday, June 9 from 10 – 11:30 will teach students how to select safe compost ingredients, and how to blend and process them into a finished product that will improve and enrich the soil to grow healthier flowers, herbs and vegetables.

    Christie Higginbottom has worked as a costumed interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village since 1981. From 1984 to 2004 she coordinated the historic horticulture program researching, planning and planting the re-created kitchen and flower gardens at the museum’s historic households. She also supervised the Village’s Herb Garden collection, a garden exhibiting over 300 varieties of historic herbs. From 2004 to 2006 she researched and developed a series of self-guided walking trails interpreting people and the environment in the early 1800s. She researched and designed the 2007-2009 exhibit “Taking Root: Gardening in Pots in the early 1800s.” Now retired from full-time work at OSV, she continues to work in costume part-time and to present garden programs for the Village. $15 for THBG members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—cooking-up-compost

    Image result for compost

  • Saturday, September 20, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Composting Together

    Join the Boston Natural Areas Network on Saturday, September 20 from 10 – 12 at the Leyland Street Community Garden, 6 – 18 Leyland Street in Dorchester to learn how your community garden can troubleshoot issues with infrastructure, process and monitoring of an existing compost system. Check the BNAN website and Facebook page for additional Composting Together workshops. Registration required by contacting 617-542-7696 or info@bostonnatural.org.

  • Noanett “Gold”

    Noanett Garden Club invites you to participate in their annual sale of Noanett “Gold”.

    Noanett has become well known for its wonderful bright red bags of organic manure that come from a dairy farm in Western Massachusetts. When you purchase the bags, you support the Noanett Garden Club and you also support the farm. If you want to “buy local”, Noanett Gold is the way to go! And since many of you and your fellow gardeners have ordered before, you know how good this stuff is. The 40lb bags are only $7.50 each – the same as last year.

    Bags available for Honor System Pick-up beginning Friday, April 18th. Please pick up your order by April 27th! Help will be available to load cars on Saturday, April 19th from 10am–12pm at the pickup location, 74 Farm Street in Dover.

    Please send orders and PREPAYMENT to:
    NOANETT GARDEN CLUB
    c/o Elaine Fiske
    74 Farm Street
    Dover, MA 02030

    Orders MUST be RECEIVED and PREPAID by April 10th. Late orders will be accommodated on an as-available basis. Just a reminder: they do not offer delivery. For questions, please call Lin Murray, 508-785-9876 or e-mail murrlin@aol.com.  For product information see

    http://blackgoldcompost.net/Product_Information/.

    http://noanettgardenclub.org/images/558_IMG_2040.jpg

  • Thursday, January 16, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm (Snow Date January 17) – Managing Large-Scale Landscapes Sustainably

    Join the Ecological Landscaping Association (ELA ) and Wellesley College on Thursday, January 16, from 8:30 – 4:30 at the Wellesley College Science Center for a symposium on the development and maintenance of large-scale landscapes that utilize fewer inputs, are designed and maintained with the environment in mind, and become more sustainable over time. Experts who work daily in successful, sustainable large-scale landscapes will lead four panel discussions. If you are interested in sustainable landscapes for colleges, parks departments, public agencies, cemeteries, golf courses, forests, land trusts, public gardens, or other large landscapes, this event is for you.

    Maintaining Large-Scale Landscapes
    Landscapes Over Time, Soil Compaction, Invasive Plants, Recycling Organic Matter, and Sourcing Quality Compost

    Panelists: Dennis Collins, Mount Auburn Cemetery, John Forti, Strawbery Banke Museum, and Stuart Shillaber, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy.  Please note that both Dennis Collins and John Forti are past Garden Club of the Back Bay presenters.

    Large Lawns: Ecological Approaches
    Mowing Frequency, Inputs, Pests, Disease, and Alternative Energy Mowers

    Panelists: Richard Luff, Sagamore Golf, Fred Newcombe, PJC Ecological, and Anthony Ruggiero, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

    Runoff as Resource: Large Scale Stormwater Solutions
    Erosion to Irrigation, Collection Options, Dealing with Large Rain Events, Water Quality, Minimizing Demands of Potable Water

    Panelists: Tom Benjamin, LA/Sustainable Designer, Brad Buscher, Groundwork Lawrence, Eden Dutcher, GroundView, and Kate Venturini, University of Rhode Island

    Managing Semi-Wild Landscapes

    Designating “Semi-Wild” areas, Identifying Invasive Plant Threats, Setting Management Priorities, Tackling What is Feasible (and Leaving the Rest)

    Panelists: Tobias Wolf, Wolf Lighthall, Heidi Kost-Gross, G/S Associates, and Sandy Vorce, Mass Audubon

    Registrations are limited – Use This Link to Register Online Now

    For more information: ela.info@comcast.net

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