Composting Class
By Carol Stocker
Thursday, June 21, 2012, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
You can improve your soil while getting rid of nearly half of your household garbage by composting. Compost is the basis for healthy soil. Healthy soil grows healthy lawns and gardens without the need for pesticides or chemical fertilizers. You can have a beautiful yard without using chemicals that can harm children, pets and the environment. Learn how to turn coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, yard waste and even paper towels into black gold that will transform your soil into rich, fertile earth. This workshop covers easy composting methods, different types of bins, indoor worm composting for apartment-dwellers, and how compost can eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in your yard and garden.
Ann McGovern is the Consumer Waste Reduction Coordinator and composting outreach specialist for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. She coordinates Massachusetts' home composting education program and compost bin grant program, through which over 110,000 compost bins have been distributed to the public. She has taught the composting session for the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) Organic Landcare Certification Course since 2003, and for the Mass. Horticultural Society's Master Gardener Training program since 1994. In March 2005, the PBS show "Ask This Old House" featured Ann as guest expert in a home composting segment. Ann is an avid gardener and finds most enjoyment when nature thrives in her small suburban lot. Ann is a graduate of the University of Vermont in Environmental Studies and has done postgraduate work in Soil Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has worked for DEP since 1989.
"Thursday at the Hort" presentations begin at 7 pm and go until all questions are answered. The classes are priced at $12 for members and $15 for non-members unless otherwise indicated. There is no need to pre-register and you may pay at the class.
Upcoming "Thursday at the Hort" presentations include:
June 28: "Design and Installation of an Edible Native Plant Garden," featuring Kristin DeSouza, Senior Horticulturist and Plant Record Coordinator at Garden in the Woods.
July 5: No event; holiday weekend.
July 12: Clematis: The Queen of the Climbers featuring Cheryl Monroe - The Garden in the Burrow
Carol Stocker has been writing about gardening for the Boston Globe for 30 years. She has won the top newspaper writing award of the Garden Writer's Association of American three times. Her newest book is "The Boston Globe Illustrated New England Gardening Almanac."
