Confession: I am a trash-picker -- and damn proud of it. I will rescue perfectly-fine bouquets of discarded flowers out of trashcans on K Street. I will go into neighbor's recycling bins on trash day and pull out choice Mason canning jars. And, I have been known to pick up Popsicle sticks off the sidewalk to use for plant labels.
You would not believe the things I have pulled out of our communal compost pile at the Fenton Community Garden. This pile gets carted away every few weeks by the county park's service, so it is fairly often refreshed. Every once in a while I throw a bucket of my weeds into it and each time I do, there is something that catches my eye, makes me pause, step in and pull out a "treasure."
Here is a short list of a few of my compost pile finds:
~ branches of dried Hot Peppers
~ Celosia seedlings
~ Cucumbers
~ Onion bulbs
~ Okra
~ Tomatoes
~ sprays of Globe Amaranth flowers
~ Wooden plant stakes
What about you -- do you "trash pick" for your garden too?
About Fenton Friday:
Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 5th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)
I trash pick too! The cemetery near where I live throws away many potted flower arrangements leftover from funeral services into a big, outside trash barrel. I've "rescued" many bearded irises, creeping jenny, English ivy, etc. from that barrel. One time, I rescued the most gorgeous, blood red canna lily from a raised concrete planting bed that was going to be destroyed by a bulldozer the next day. That canna lily grew into a huge, show-stopping clump at my home garden and was my pride and joy.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Just the Right Size! I can picture that red canna in my mind now.
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If you throw weeds into the compost pile that is used for a garden ... you will be spreading weeds into your garden ...
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous -- yes, if you put weeds with seeds formed already on them they will spread - if the compost is not heated up enough, luckily our pile is taken to a county facility and is brought to a high temp and all weed seeds in it are killed.
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