Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

#home gardening

Preserving the Harvest

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It’s the height of harvest season which means an abundance of produce! Sometimes, a large harvest can result in food waste when not planned correctly. If you don’t know what to do with your harvest, try canning!

Food preservation, like canning, has been around for centuries and it wasn’t too long ago that these methods were common knowledge. Most home canning involves a method called water bath canning.  Supplies needed include a large pot, canning rack, unused mason jars, a jar lifter, and a funnel. Here are the basic steps:

  1. Boil the jars in water to sanitize them before filling them with produce.
  2. Once sanitized, fill a hot jar with prepared food (following a trusted canning recipe) using your funnel and make sure to leave some space.
  3. Wipe the rim and seal your jars with the lids, twisting the band securely.
  4. Place the jars onto a rack in a pot with simmering water, covering the jars with at least 1 inch of water. Boil jars according to your recipe (add more minutes for higher altitudes).
  5. Turn off the heat and let the jars sit for 5 minutes. Then, take the jars out and let them cool for a day.
  6. Check to make sure your jars are sealed properly!

Home canning is a great way to eat local all year long while also reducing food waste. Other great food preservation methods include pickling and canning. Check out USUS Extension’s Food Preservation Resources for more info at https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/canning !

Water Conservation in Gardening

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Gardens provide benefits pertaining to soil and air quality, but they can aid the earth even further when deliberately planned. Through simple actions, a great deal of water can be conserved. This is increasingly important since over two-thirds of Utah’s land is currently classified as being in an “extreme drought.” 

There are many ways to orient your garden to conserve water. One technique is to fill your garden with native plants. Native plants are accustomed to the soil and weather conditions of your area, therefore requiring less manual watering. Buckwheat, Globemallows, and Serviceberries are a few plants local to Utah. Aside from the aesthetic factor, planting your garden in 2-3 inches of natural mulch will prevent evaporation and weed growth. This mulch can be found in various nurseries and landscaping stores around town. 

Once these initial actions have been taken, there are additional conservation measures that can be carried out. One simple action is reusing your household water in lieu of a hose. This excess water can be collected from water bottles, pasta water, or shower buckets. Rain gauges are also a great tool that display the average rainfall in your area. By installing a 5-inch rain gauge into an open area of your garden, you will gain a better understanding of how much manual watering is necessary as the weather fluctuates. 

As the snow begins to melt, start thinking about how you can better orient and maintain your garden to save water! 

By Lauren Allen

Growing Food at Home

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Spring is officially here! It’s time to pull out your gardening equipment and prep those planters. Growing your own produce is a great way to obtain natural, fresh fruits and vegetables, while also avoiding the food miles accompanying most grocery store produce. 8% of an average American’s carbon footprint is from food, with more than a quarter of that coming from the transportation of food. An ambitious gardener that replaces 20% of store-bought food with produce from their garden can reduce their carbon footprint by about 68 lbs of CO2 per year!

Another sustainable gardening practice includes planting pollinator-friendly plants, like cornflower, milkweed, and daisies. Pollinators are vital for the creation and maintenance of the habitats many animals rely on for food and shelter, including us! Approximately 35% of the food and fiber grown throughout the world depends on pollinators. By introducing pollinator-friendly plants into your garden, you can create a thriving, diverse environment.

Support the health of pollinators and yourself by cutting out toxic synthetic fertilizers. These fertilizers contribute very little to the ecosystem and structure of your soil, causing more harm than good. There are high levels of nitrates and nitrites in synthetic fertilizer that contaminate surface water through runoff, as well as decrease the fertility of your soil. Opt for organic fertilizers that are more sustainable and enrich your soil. Consider the health of the environment when gardening to create an area that is beneficial for you and the surrounding ecosystem!

By Anna Duffy

The Secret to a Productive Garden

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My garden exploded last year and I know exactly why. The spinach, arugula, kale and radishes, especially, were out of control. I promised my fellow plot gardeners that I’d reveal my secret this spring. Ready? Biochar.

This ancient soil addendum, once used by pre-Columbian Amazonians, is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Ancient civilizations would dig deep trenches, fill them with food and agricultural waste, burn the waste then cover it with soil. The practice of ‘Pyrolysis’ involved the use of very high heat and low oxygen, today produced in specialized capsules. The result? Biochar: a carbon dense, porous, rich, dark and charcoal filled soil.

Studies are showing that this amazing soil amendment helps to absorb and hold water, nutrients, toxicity, in addition to increasing carbon storage. The soil acts as a carbon sink to help absorb our over-abundance of Carbon Dioxide that we humans emit. Hefty roots, higher plant yields, less water usage water and carbon absorption – amazing!

Best yet, a single application of biochar lasts for many years. Home gardeners need less than 10% in the top six inches of soil, often mixed with compost. This includes pots! Mix it in with your hands or a small rake. Fortunately, farmers are starting to catch on to the secret, too. Where to buy it? Most gardening stores carry it and we’re also fortunate to have GoBiochar (www.gobiochar.org) in the area. My secret has been revealed and I can’t wait for the next summer 2022 explosion. 

By Mary Closser