The Compost Poster Boy

THE COMPOST POSTER BOY

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 (Napanee Beaver)

Friday, June 01, 2007 (Picton Gazette)

One of the side benefits of my career as an interpretive naturalist is never knowing what familiar face will show up next in the audience. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining TV gardening personality Mark Cullin for breakfast at Picton’s Claramount Inn. He was part of a group I was taking out later that morning on an historical/natural tour of the county. Mark noticed many things on his visit to Picton, not the least of which was the town’s impressive Home Hardware store, a landmark difficult for him to miss since he does regular TV ads on gardening supplies for the store.

Anyway, Mark presented me with his latest book, “Sandbox of a Different Kind.” The book is a collection of his insights into the Canadian gardening experience based on 25 years of working in the industry and in his own garden. Each chapter is preceded by a famous quote, and while most are quite serious and thought provoking, one chapter in the book begins, humorously, by quoting a British writer who claims, “A woman complained that her roses were too tall for her to reach the flowers.’Give it an occasional prune,’ I said. Several weeks later the woman called up and said, ‘It’s had half a tin of prunes now, and it still doesn’t seem to be improving.’ “

It was while perusing these quotes preceding each chapter that I came across, “One thing that unites all gardeners as they contemplate the compost heap is a belief in reincarnation, at least for plants,” a quote from Geoffrey Charlesworth, from “The Opinionated Gardener.”

In this chapter, Mark talks passionately, as do most gardeners, about the benefits of composting. In fact, Mark is quite proud of the moniker that a friend has given him, “compost poster boy.” He writes enthusiastically on how raw organic material, in a few months, will morph into a wonderful metamorphosis of nature – rich, friable compost of the highest order, a natural fertilizer that will assist any plant reach its greatest potential, he says. He reminds us that we are not feeding the plants, but rather, feeding the soil, enriching it so the plant can draw on the nutrients to feed itself through photosynthesis.

What is a sobering thought, is Mark’s revelation that the city of Edmonton has been composting on a massive scale for several years, to the point where it now boasts the largest composting facility in the world. Using a combination of technologies from around the world, they have built a monster “digester” and have eliminated the need for landfills. Incredible. The city the size of Edmonton no longer buries its garbage, for there is no garbage, apparently, to bury. The resulting compost is used to cover up decommissioned landfills, and complete highway embankments. This, in turn, has inspired Hamilton, he says, to build a similar, but smaller, composting facility in that city. Finally, it seems that municipalities are thinking of biodegradable garbage as a resource, and not something unpleasant that must be buried. “And that, to me, is the best part – a complete change of mind and attitude about the stuff that is left over after we have enjoyed ourselves,” Mark concludes.

All homeowners need to look at these biodegradable leftovers, and see them as something of value, rather than disagreeable waste. And municipalities need to take a serious look at establishing composting facilities for those homeowners who are unable to cope with large quantities of grass clippings and autumn leaves. Homeowners who begin a backyard composting program, can actually reduce the amount of garbage they put out at the curb by as much as 30 per cent, says one Internet source. The interior workings of a compost pile is a complicated process from a scientific point of view, but one does not have to be a scientist to create compost beyond learning a few basic dos and don’ts, readily accessible from either the Internet or from the plethora of books, available on the subject in most book stores. The myth about compost bins having an odour, is just that – a myth. If done properly, there is no smell, and provided dairy products or meat products are not added to the cauldron, there is no danger of attracting unwanted animals.

At a presentation I once gave on composting, I claimed that farmers were pioneers in the practice of composting, and were doing it long before the word became fashionable. Manure piles that released columns of hot steam all winter long, vaporized just about anything we chose to bury. Farmers of yesteryear never used commercial fertilizers, as they knew the value of natural fertilization, and returning nutrients to the soil in the most natural way. And I guess that is why we still compost to this very day. While we no longer have fields of oats and corn to fertilize, we do have flower beds and the rich, black earth that was once egg shells, banana peels and grapefruit skins, and a host of other items snatched from the garbage, is recycled, just as similar items were on a larger scale, back in our farming days

Sandbox of a Different Kind features 52 such fine articles – one for each week. The book retails for $14.99. Mark is the resident gardening expert for Home Hardware, and an advocate for Green Earth Garden Products. When not answering gardening questions on his many television and radio shows, or appearing as a guest speaker, Mark lives in Stoufville on a country property with his wife, Mary, and four children.