AboutLong Island Gardener Expertise There is NO EXCUSE today for a gardener to use chemicals. Perfect Lawns? Pristine Roses? Immaculate Flowers all Summer long? If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I'll guide you down the non-toxic road to Organica - and you will not believe how easy it can be. Yes, it can be complicated, but backing off from Ortho and Scotts is not as hard as you think. Your neighbors won't believe their eyes. I have intelligent answers on soil care, bug killing, weed control and fungus-freedom!
Experience I have college credits in horticulture and botany, and 30 years of gardening for personal pleasure. Plus I am a volunteer docent at the local botanical gardens. But a person's real gardening skills are learned from trial and error. I am strict about not using chemicals in the garden. Always have been. Always will be.
Question Just wondering if there are any reliable businesses to buy tested, organic compost in DuPage County, Illinois. Trying to get our yard to be more hospitable to butterflies, hummingbirds, etc... Thanks!
Answer First, there's Coast of Maine products, including an organic compost, is carried by Whole Foods Markets throughout the nation, including Wheaton, your county seat. The Portland, Me., company takes refuse from the region's plentiful salmon aquaculture farms, and following various recipes adds wild blueberry barrens and evergreen wood, adding seaweed, lobster, chicken manure, aspen bark and sphagnum peat to make its final compost products. They have a zipcode box on their website to help you find their products: www.coastofmaine.com/distribute.shtml
You can also email their marketing department to find exactly what you're looking for: sales@coastofmaine.com
Be sure to look over the Coast of Maine product list they post. It's pretty impressive and they are certified organic.
Next: An Illinois company called Mid-West Bio Systems makes the specialized equipment needed to produce compost. They have a strong support system for potential compost makers/suppliers, including on site instruction and a leasing program to rent equipment. Their line is strong and they know what they're doing, which is why I think you should contact them to see who is leasing their equipment and even who they can recommend you buy from: 800-689-0714 or MBS@MidwestBioSystems.com.
Then there is the matter of YOU. Get your grass clippings, dead leaves and kitchen scraps in a pile and let it compost itself. Air it every day -- get a pitchfork and turn it inside out to get air inside and keep the bacteria aerobic. The more Oxygen, the better and faster your compost will be made.
Bravo on your pro-Earth project! Keep me posted and let me know how it turns out.
