What's a Proper Sheet Mulching
vanburenproud asked, and so I offer you my infinite expertise: Sheet mulching is composting in place. If you search the internets for the term, you’ll come up with a zillion links. Basically, a “proper sheet mulch” means clearing the ground with a weed whacker, laying down a thick layer of compost or grass clippings or…
vanburenproud asked, and so I offer you my infinite expertise:
Sheet mulching is composting in place. If you search the internets for the term, you’ll come up with a zillion links.
Basically, a “proper sheet mulch” means clearing the ground with a weed whacker, laying down a thick layer of compost or grass clippings or manure. Any weeds you’ve pulled up and chopped up go in this layer.
And they laying down a barrier, like cardboard. Or newspaper. You’re supposed to be on the lookout for toxic ink if you use newspaper. That is already too much thinking for me, so I use cardboard.
Then laying down a thick layer of mulch: wood chippings and fall leaves.
And leaving it like that for the winter.
That is “proper sheet mulching.” Sometimes called lasagna beds.
If, however, you don’t have food waste, manure or grass clippings, or you’re nervous about rats, you can still do layers of:
whatever, followed by cardboard, then leaves.
And achieve the dual goals of richer soil and a not having to haul your leaves somewhere.
Vanburenproud, home compost is legal. End of story.
People who freak out about compost … I don’t even have time to go there. I do a lot of composting in a community garden, and I work with kids there and we’ve had rat problems in the past (we’re pretty high volume and the tear down next door didn’t help much) so I’m particularly attuned to the potential problems posed by rats.
I’d discourage anyone from composting in the open (rather than in a container) in NYC, but if it is working for you, that is great.
And … I guess sheet mulch is lazy. It is also not necessarily true that the most labor intensive solution is the right one. Twice a year our neighbors tear out their overgrown back yard and leave bare dirt. And the weeds grow back. If they were mulching all that they’d have soil they could grow something nice in.
The NYT switched to soy ink some years ago, I think when they moved their printing ops to College Point. Not sure if that applies to 4c stuff like the magazine.
If you dig a little deeper into the link above, you’ll find links to such sites as: http://www.nyccompost.org/program/lawn.html, in which NYers are encouraged to “leave it on the lawn.” When one considers the number of overgrown gardens, rusted patio furniture, etc., it would seem impractical or even impossible to create and enforce a law defining what compostable v. non-qualifying waste can be kept in a yard, especially when green waste falls in a distinctly different category than rubbish. Just a note re: printed matter–at least 25% of all material now printed in the U.S. uses soy-based inks. During the early transition, that explained newsprint ink which came off on your hands. The technology has improved enough that ink transfer is no longer the norm. I cannot give you an easy way to tell one ink from another, except that many but not all users of soy ink often include a logo to that effect on their finished product.
Thanks Vinca. Those laws are all about bagging up your leaves and bundling up your sticks, etc. Honestly, I did the basic search after the party because I was slightly offended, and didn’t really find anything.
Vanburenproud, not sure that this quite answers your question, but you might want to look at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/at_agencies/laws_directives.shtml#yardwaste
Thanks, Serpentor!
I did wind up googling it myself. I like it cause it’s lazy, and because I am still looking for something to do with all that cardboard my ikea kitchen produced.
About composting in general, I’ve been putting food waste out in a pit-pile hybrid all summer and have not seen an increase in fauna, nor have I had a problem with smell (and I cook a lot, so there’s a lot of food waste going out there). From where I sit, all I’ve got is good compost because I follow the rules: I bury food waste with brown stuff immediately, so that the microbes can start getting it and it doesn’t sit out in the air, and I don’t include anything with animal protein. It’s an efficient process if you do it right: whole ears of corn I forgot to cook, gone in a month with no nastiness!
But I did have a party and showed a guest my compost pile, and they were revolted and said that it was probably illegal, that I was drawing rats and didn’t realize it, etc.
I feel that this guest was overly fussy and rude, and that I have eyes in my head and would have noticed rats ages ago. For that matter, both of my neighbors are a little intense, and would have definitely approached me if they saw a problem.
But I honestly couldn’t answer the legality question. Anyone heard anything about this?