By Sara Ryan
St. Louis Composting
St. Louis Composting invites you to join in celebrating International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW), May 5-11, 2014. This year’s theme is “Compost! The Solution to Sustainable Soil and Water”. Planned activities span the globe with celebrations scheduled across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and Ireland. Composting advocates will encourage everyone, everywhere to compost. Come join St. Louis Composting and learn how to be more sustainable!
“The Solution to Sustainable Soil and Water” for many, can mean planting a backyard vegetable garden; the ultimate way to go green. Fresh produce comes direct from the garden to your table, cutting out the middle man. As any seasoned vegetable gardener will attest, the best strategy for boosting yields is to build a better soil by conditioning with compost. Compost delivers four major benefits to the gardener, all of which help the environment:
- Compost improves plant/turf quality. Compost reduces spring transplant shock and, longer term, decreases plant stress response to drought, disease and insects. Because of the intense heat generated in compost piles, compost contains no weeds, insects or insect eggs/larvae. Compost also reduces salt damage and provides nutritional balance.
- The benefits of compost are long-lasting. Rain and watering cause chemical fertilizers to leach out of soil stripping it of its nutritional properties. Conversely, compost binds with the soil and releases its nutrients over a multi-year period.
- Compost strengthens soil structure. Compost reduces the compaction of heavy soil, enhances sandy soil and increases both top-soil and soil fertility while rebuilding worn-out soil. Over time, compost makes any type of soil easier to work with.
- Finally, compost can hold six times its weight in water, which reduces the need for irrigation during periods of drought.
But, perhaps more important to remember when planting is that using all-natural, STA-certified compost is part of a 100% efficient recycling cycle.
ICAW focuses on building awareness of composting and its environmental benefits. Year after year, innovative programs improve community sustainability and promote the use of compost. Join us in celebrating International Compost Awareness Week and get hands-on with St. Louis Composting with a heaping helping of compost!
To celebrate, St. Louis Composting will host events at three of our composting facilities on May 6, 7 and 10. Enjoy BBQ, snacks and veggies that grow GREAT in St. Louis Composting’s STA-Certified compost and soil blends at these three ZERO waste events…
May 6 – Fort Bellefontaine facility in Florissant, Mo. (13060 County Park Road) – 11a.m.
May 7 – Belleville, Ill. facility (5841 Mine Haul Road) – 11a.m.
May 10 – Valley Park, Mo. facility (39 Old Elam Ave.) – 8 – 10a.m. and 11 – 1p.m.
On Saturday, May 10 from 8 – 10a.m. Mike Miller, Host of KMOX 1120’s Garden Hotline will be broadcasting live from the Valley Park facility. Come by and meet him, chat with St. Louis Composting experts and who knows, maybe you could even be on the radio!
We also will host a ZERO waste lunch from 11 – 1p.m. Our experts will be around to educate customers about compost, its benefits and how to begin backyard composting and enrich your backyard vegetable gardens! No registration is required; just show up ready to COMPOST!
Home composters will be available to purchase at the event and all attendees will receive one free cubic yard of compost to take home (offer good for day of workshop only)!
If you cannot make it to any of St. Louis Composting’s exciting ICAW events, be sure to celebrate ICAW at home! Start your own compost pile or incorporate our Black Gold Compost into your lawn, landscaping and gardens and see its benefits for yourself!
For more information about the benefits of compost and composting at home, please visit our website at www.stlcompost.com.