What do Obama, McCain, the Nashville Predators, recipes, a 2002 Chevy, and the Williamson County Honor Roll have in common? Well it's not politics if you can believe it! While I have definite political opinions, I wish to stay non-partisan on this blog and will have to tell both Obama and McCain that they will now become dirt, or really compost! What am I talking about? Newspapers!
Change is definitely coming thanks to bacteria and beneficial microbes as they eventually break down our old newspapers. And to those who made the honor roll, congratulations you did a great job, but now its time to make yourself useful in the garden. As for the Chevy, the Predators and the various recipes we have no use for they will join the myriad of published stories that will help our garden grow! Putting shredded newspaper in the compost bin is just one neat idea for getting more brown material to make that coveted substance called gardener's gold.
The process is pretty simple. Just take a little shredder, a trash bag and trash can to mount the shredder on then shred away. Ideally a cross cut shredder works best since the pieces will be much smaller but the regular cut shredder we have works well enough. It's the same principle behind leaves in the compost bin, the smaller the pieces the quicker it will break down. You will still want to mix your compost well with green materials and keep it aerated by turning it but the shredded newspaper is a great way to help fill that bin.
Most newspaper today is made from environmentally safe products like paper and soy ink. The glossy parts of the paper like your advertisements and coupons should be avoided since they may contain harmful chemicals in the ink and won't break down as fast. It's just one fitting end to our Tennessean newspaper!
Labels: compost, garden thoughts
