Over 30% of landfill waste can be composted to use as soil for plants. Since adding unnecessary organic waste to landfills can contribute to the production of greenhouse gases, it makes sense to try to reduce the amount of organic waste going into landfills. The nutritionally rich soil produced by composting household organic wastes like vegetable rinds, coffee grounds and cardboard rolls is great for house plants, container gardens and small yards. Here are a couple of really cool composting ideas for apartment dwellers:

• NatureMill Plus: Sets the “industry standard” for composting:

If you have a chance, check out the History Channel video on the NatureMill homepage. It is really cool to see this composter in action.

• Compost Crocks: HGTV has the rundown on these low-tech indoor composting tools:

You can also:

• Build your own composter with the Manual for Soil Factory by n55; or,
• Read these Indoor Compost Bin instructions; or
• Use the MAKE:Blog How To Guide

The best part of these composting ideas, in addition to all that great planting soil, is no bugs and no smell!

Ugh, it’s that time of the year again…snail time! I don’t really mind snails as much as some people do, it’s just that I HATE that I never notice them until AFTER I have already stepped on them. It is so gross, and I always feel terrible for killing the snails, even accidentally. I avoided a virtual mine field of snails on the sidewalk in front of my office this morning, and I hope to avoid stepping on any in the near future. I will be very happy when the snails go back to wherever they live, though, and I hope it is soon.

I am lucky that I have a container garden, so the snails leave my plants in peace, but many gardeners have a lot of trouble due to snails eating their plants. I have found a couple of sites that list natural solutions to controlling snail populations, but “natural” apparently does not mean “humane”–one of the solutions involves setting out a beer trap so the snails will get drunk, pass out and get eaten by birds! Commercial products like Sluggo or Garden Safe Slug & Snail Bait seem like the fastest, safest, most effective and least painful way (well, for everything other than snails) to keep snails out of the garden. Or, you could always gather them up and eat them.

n55 is a Danish design group that is known for socially engaged projects documented in a number of manuals meant to inspire environmentally aware conversation and innovation. I am really excited about their manual for city farming plant modules, like the ones shown in the image above. It’s a great solution for people whose needs fall somewhere between a “real” in-ground garden and a container garden, like plant-loving renters who have a little bit of yard to play it, or people who have balconies or patios. It gives a lot of freedom for design and layout, and the component sections seem like they’d be easy to move around for quick outdoor redecorating when the mood hits. Throw in some tiki torches and a good grill, and you’ll be ready for tropical party fun even in the city.

The City Farming Plant Module seems like it would work really well with n55’s indoor soil factory, which lets green city dwellers compost trash at home. If you want a little less mess and potential funky composting smell, n55’s website also has hydroponic garden instructions.

Ok, the second new addition to my container garden is Chamomile. I LOVE chamomile! I stopped drinking coffee a while back and have switched to mainly decaffeinated herbal teas as my main beverage treat, so I am very excited by the prospect of possibly growing and brewing some fresh chamomile tea! I bought some cut chamomile at the Farmer’s Market a few months ago; it was mixed in a fantastic bouquet along with fresh bay laurel, lemon verbena and cilantro flowers. It smelled fantastic while it was fresh, and I dried the blossoms to save for tea. The tea is SOOOO yummy and refreshing! I love it with lots of honey and a little ginger.

Here are some cool chamomile links:

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

About.com: Alternative Medicine

Herb Gardening

eHow: How to Use Chamomile to Treat Sunburns

I recently bought a few new plants in celebration of spring, and so far, they are doing fantastic. I am really optimistic about their progress. They are all technically “herbs“, which is slightly new territory for me. I tried to start some lavender when we first moved in, and it failed miserably, so that shook my confidence for a while. The problem with city living is that all the plants need to be in containers rather than in the ground, and some plants just don’t take well to container life. Here’s hoping that won’t happen again. I have been reading up on all my new plants and gathering lots of useful information that maybe will avert a plant catastrophe.

The first plant is feverfew, which I have only become aware of in the past few years. It currently looks like a mass of parsley, but hopefully it will grow the plant’s characteristic daisy-like flowers in a few months. Feverfew is a pretty interesting plant. It’s been used by herbalists for ages to treat problems from headache to stomach ache to fever (hence the name.) I won’t take any remedy, herbal or otherwise, without my doctor’s OK, but I am curious enough to ask about feverfew during my next checkup, especially if it does work for headaches. I hate taking aspirin or acetaminophen.

It seems to be a very hearty plant, as well. It’s been just over a week since I transplanted it, and it looks like it’s grown at least 25%. I am not sure if credit belongs to all the rain we’ve been having, or the past few days or sunshine, or the Miracle Gro potting soil, or a combination of all those things, but I am really happy with the results.

I am slightly concerned that the pots I used for transplanting aren’t quite big enough to accommodate all this rapid growth. Then again, I only have a limited amount of space available for plants, so maybe I should keep them in the smaller containers to keep them from growing out of control.

Ok, so the next post will be about the next plant: chamomile.