ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Hoein' & Growin
SOURCE: DIANE RELF
Newspapers, computer paper, paper bags, cardboard boxes and cartons, wood chips and sawdust all are cellulose-based wastes that could quickly fill up a landfill site if not reused.
You say you already bundle up papers and haul them to a recycling center. Try recycling paper products and wood wastes at home. You'll be saving more than landfill space. You'll be saving time, energy and money if you put once-used wood products into your landscape plan.
Suggested uses for waste wood and paper:
Four or five layers of newspaper serve as an effective mulch for garden plants, especially newly planted strawberries. Cover the newspaper with sawdust, straw or wood chips to reduce the white glare and prevent it from blowing away or decomposing too rapidly. Discard color sections as colored inks may contain lead.
If your office discards reams of computer printout drafts, keep it out of the landfill by taking it home to mulch plants and line paths.
Another reuse for paper is as a weed barrier under pebbles or crushed stone used in pathways and around trees and shrubs. Use four or five layers of paper to be effective.
Cardboard can be laid in garden beds and weighted down with soil or rocks to prevent weed seed from sprouting before you get a chance to plant the area. Remove or cut away cardboard as you have time to tend the area.
Keep a few sturdy cardboard boxes on hand. When an early or late frost threatens, use them to protect tender plants. When you divide perennials, use them to transport divisions to other locations, whether in your own landscape or to a friend's.
A piece of corrugated cardboard such as the side of a box forms an effective, portable barrier to use when spraying a nonselective herbicide next to desired plants. By changing the angle of the cardboard, it's easy to spray weeds growing right up to the base of a desirable plant while shielding its stems, branches and leaves. Because some herbicide will get on the shield, the same side should always face the sprayer.
Slip a newspaper or piece of cardboard between potted plants and window panes on cold nights to give plants extra protection from the cold.
A 2-inch layer of sawdust provides good weed control around permanent plantings such as blueberries. Apply half a pound of actual nitrogen per 10 cubic feet of sawdust to prevent nitrogen deficiencies in nearby plants. Break the crust on the surface of sawdust mulch several times a year to improve water penetration.
Save money on mulch materials by using a half inch of coarse wood chips before spreading decorative shredded bark. Wood chips are less expensive and last longer. In fact, companies with contracts to clear power line right-of-ways will dump wood chips in your back yard for free when they're doing work in the neighborhood. It saves them time and money from hauling plant refuse to the landfill. Both you and your community benefit.
Add sawdust from the wood shop and shredded paper from the office to the compost pile.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB