The most wonderful season has finally returned- Fall! Which means our leaves are starting to do just that!  Instead of  bagging your leaves and tossing them in the trash, simply leave them!

"Leaving the leaves and other plant debris doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your yard to the wilderness. The leaves don’t need to be left exactly where they fall. You can rake them into garden beds, around tree bases, or into other designated areas. Too many leaves can kill grass, but in soil they can suppress weeds, retain moisture, and boost nutrition." Xerces Society

Avoid shredding leaves with a mower. Raking or blowing (electric) are alternatives that will keep leaves whole for the best cover and protect the insects and eggs already living there.
If you decide you need to mow and mulch the leaves to clean up the debris in spring, make sure you wait until late in the season so as not to destroy all the life you’ve worked to protect. 
Then when you do, you will see the benefits of leaf mulch, like:

• Fertilize your lawn.
• Improve soil quality.
• Suppress weeds.
• Prevent topsoil erosion.
• Provide habitat and food to micro-organisms, pollinators, and other small critters.

 
Let’s say you’ve mulched as many leaves as you could into the lawn, but you still have more… now what? Use your leaves (shredded or whole) as an ingredient in your compost pile! Composting is a simple way to recycle household/kitchen/yard waste into a nutrient-rich and biologically stable soil amendment. The four main ingredients to a compost pile are: carbon-rich materials (i.e. your leaves), nitrogen-rich materials (like grass clippings, coffee grounds, tea bags, and fruit/veg scraps), water, and air. The goal is to maintain a 30:1 ratio of Carbon and Nitrogen. In other words, you’ll need a lot of leaves to mix in with your household scraps.

​Fall is a great time with great weather to be had, and we like to spend our precious time enjoying it. So when your yard is full of leaves and you think of reaching for the rake, leave it be! 

Additional Resources
 
USDA- Leave the Leaves
PennState Extension- Composting Leaves Guide

It is hard to believe but our food waste and other organic materials such as paper and yard trimmings equate to nearly 55% of our total waste with food making up 20-30% of this total.  When these items are in our landfills they breakdown and create a material called leachate, which is toxic and can pollute groundwater, surface water and soil. Vermicomposting, a process that relies on earthworms and microorganisms to break down organic matter and transform it into a product that can be used as a valuable soil amendment and source of plant nutrients, can help homeowners with their gardening efforts but also keeps organic materials from causing problems in the landfill!
Vermicomposting is a way to get earthworms to work for you in a more organized way. You can become a worm farmer easily. North Carolina State University Extension is a leader in vermicomposting. Rhonda Sherman with North Carolina Extension, states that you need 4 items to begin worm farming.

1. Worm Bin – You can purchase this through many different garden centers and websites. You can even make this on your own. If you choose to make your own bin, make sure that it has a tight fitting lid and is a dark color. The bin size depends on the amount of food discards produced by your household. According to North Carolina State University, “The general rule of thumb is one square foot of surface area for each pound of food discards generated per week. So if your household creates two pounds of food scraps weekly, you will need a 2-foot by 1-foot worm bin that is 8 to 20 inches deep.” To access plans simply search on the internet for, DIY worm bin.
2. Bedding – Bedding is needed to provide a good living environment for the worms. Bedding should be a material that is nontoxic, holds moisture, and allows air circulation. Items to use could be, shredded paper, newspapers, paper bags, office paper, cardboard, decaying leaves, or coir (coconut fiber). Glossy paper or magazines should not be used.  The bedding should be soaked for 5 to 10 minutes in a bucket of water and then should be wrung out. The bedding should be damp but not soaking wet. Worms should have 6 to 8 inches of bedding or at least half the depth of the worm bin.
3. Worms – It is not as simple as digging worms from a yard or garden. Out of the 9,000 worms only 7 species are known for use in vermicomposting. Of those, the Red Wiggler (Eisenia fetida) are the type of worm that is used most often with home composting systems. You can buy red wigglers from worm growers found online but be sure to shop around because prices do vary widely.  Once you receive the worms, worms should be placed on top of the bedding in the bin. The worms will immediately start to tunnel under the bedding to avoid the light. If you notice worms outside the bin, place the bin in a well-lit area for a couple of days to help the worms get acclimated to the bin.   
4. Food Scraps – After a few days worms should be ready to have some food scraps added to the bin. Items like vegetables, fruits, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, shredded paper, shredded garden debris are acceptable. Meat items including fish should never be added to the bin. Other items that should not be added are pet/human manure, fat, citrus, tobacco, or onions and garlic. Once scrapes are added, cover them with 1 to 2 inches of bedding to prevent fruit flies.
   
   

Harvesting compost overtime is why you vermicompost to begin! It is the valuable mixture of earthworm castings and decomposed bedding and food scrapes that will help your plants thrive. There are several methods that are documented by Rhonda Sherman, Extension Solid Waste Specialist with North Carolina Extension:

1. Sideways Separation - To do this you feed the earthworms on only 1 side of the bin to harvest the vermicompost from the other side.
2. Light Separation - Empty all contents of the worm bin onto something like a plastic shower curtain in the light. Wait 5 minutes and scrape off the top layer of vermicompost. Continue to do this until you find the worms in clusters. Replace the left-over contents back in the bin. Be sure to add fresh bedding (6-8 inches) to the bin.
3. Vertical Separation – By feeding the worms in the upper bin the worms will migrate to where the food is, leaving the compost in the bottom bin to harvest.
   
   

With all methods of harvesting you will need to incorporate fresh bedding (6-8 inches) into the mix to ensure that the worms have enough to continue to “work” through. Once your mixture is harvested it can be used immediately or it can be stored for later use. It is best to incorporate it lightly with the preexisting soil in the vegetable garden or around trees and shrubs. Vermicompost can also be used as a top dressing for your lawn.
Sometimes worm bins may have issues that arise over time. It is important to note that your bin should not:

• smell bad (could be that the bin is too wet, or not enough air is moving through, or too many food scrapes have been added),
• attract flies (could be too much food has been added, or food scrapes have not been buried enough),
• have mold (could be that conditions are too acidic),
• have dry bedding (could be too much air is moving through the bin)
• have large numbers of worms dying/crawling out of the bin (could be too much food or too little food has been added, or the bin has been exposed to extreme temps, or the bin is too wet or too dry), or
• have lots of liquid in the bottom. This is called leachate and should not form in the bottom of the bin (could be too much food has been added or that there is poor ventilation or overwatering). It is important to note that leachate is not compost tea and should not be added to your garden.
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Vermicomposting is a way to get earthworms to work for you and convert your organic waste into a valuable soil amendment that you can use in your garden! Over time you will learn to understand feeding, worm care and how to best harvest your compost. For more questions regarding Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District programs and/or technical assistance on water or soil questions, visit http://warrenswcd.com or call, 513-695-1337. 

It is very rewarding to grow your own veggies and to have showy flower beds! Utilizing compost is a great way to create thriving gardens and increase the porosity of your soil and give you the gardens you have always wanted! Through composting you enhance your garden’s ability to grow healthy plants while reducing your volume of trash.
Compost strengthens the soil food web, which is made-up of microscopic bacteria and fungi, along with earthworms, insects and many other life forms. Fungi form mutually rewarding partnerships with plant roots, making it possible for vegetables to feed themselves more efficiently. The addition of composted materials also improves soil physical properties, such as tilth, infiltration, drainage and water-holding capacity.
Compost is decomposed organic matter. It can be made from leaf/grass debris, food scraps, manure from animals or other organic materials. It can be bought or you can make your own. The key is to ensure that it cannot be distinguished from what it once was! If your product still has distinguishable items (banana peels, manure clods, etc.) in it, key nutrients like nitrogen will be used to break down this material instead of being available to the plants.

For example, if large quantities of uncomposted leaves are incorporated into the soil, microbes will compete with plants' roots for soil nitrogen during leaf decomposition. This competition for nitrogen can result in nitrogen deficiency and poor plant growth. Composting breaks down organic materials into an end product that increases the availability of essential minerals, such as potassium and phosphorous, to growing plants and reduces the competition for nitrogen.

Composting at Home
Composting at home is a great way to keep food wastes (non-animal) products out of our landfills and it is fairly easy to do! You need to make sure that you have a good ratio of “greens” or nitrogen and “browns” or carbons and is much like a recipe. It is referred to as the C/N ratio.  The C/N ratio refers to the amount of carbon ( C ) and nitrogen ( N ) in materials that are added to a compost pile. The preferred C/N ratio is 25 to 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Materials categorized as "brown," such as straw, contain more carbon than nitrogen and have higher C/N ratios than "green" materials such as fresh green grass. A compost pile will decompose faster at lower C/N ratios, with more green material, however, much of the nitrogen used by decomposers as energy will be lost more quickly and will need to be replenished. If too much brown material has been added to the pile, the pile will decompose slowly.

Acceptable items to compost:
"Green" materials

• Fresh leaves, plant cuttings and weeds
• Thatch
• Grass clippings. Though they will compost, they will also benefit your lawn if left to decompose on your yard.
• Fruit and vegetable peels and other fruit wastes
• Manure
• Coffee grounds and tea bags

"Brown" materials

• Dead weeds and dry leaves
• Clipped brush
• Wood ash
• Egg shells
• Sawdust
• Wood chips
• Straw

 
What not to include in the pile

• Meat
• Bones
• Cheese, salad dressing, oils and other fats; they can cause odors and attract animals
• Plant material with visible signs of disease or insect infestation
• Weeds that can easily grow from root or stem cuttings
• Check with local and county codes as some materials such as raw animal manure may be prohibited in a compost pile
• Human and pet waste

 
For most efficient composting, use a pile that is between 3 feet cubed and 5 feet cubed (27-125 cu. ft.). This allows the center of the pile to heat up sufficiently to break down materials.  Smaller piles can be made but will take longer to produce finished compost. Larger piles can be made by increasing the length of the pile but limiting the height and the depth to 5 feet tall by 5 feet deep; however, large piles are limited by a person’s ability to turn the materials. You may also want to have two piles, one for finished compost ready to use in the garden, and the other for unfinished compost.

For questions regarding Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District programs and/or technical assistance on water or soil questions, visit http://warrenswcd.com or call, 513-695-1337. 

April is Native Plant Month in Ohio!  And while many of us wish to incorporate native plants into our landscape, some of us are dealing with shade in that landscape and struggle to find what might grow in this environment. Native shade loving plants are a nice choice for shady areas because it is an opportunity to mimic a naturalized forest structure. Native plants add  biodiversity needed to attract beneficial insects and songbirds that are generally found in wooded areas

According to the University of Delaware, research shows that aiming for a minimum of 70% native plant cover in your landscape is essential to provide enough food to support birds into adulthood. Researchers termed the areas with less than 70% a “habitat sink” or a place that is insufficient to support long-term bird survival or the survival of their young.
As with any type of garden you must consider the growing conditions (moisture, soil type, light, pH). With shade gardens you also need to ask yourself, what type of shade does your garden have? Is some light being filtered through the trees? Or is it shady part of the day and sunny the rest?

Typically, light shade means that the growing area has between 3-5 hours of direct sun. Partial shade equates to about 2 hours of sun a day and full shade means less than an hour of sun per day. In the case of dense shade, or no direct sun, growing conditions can be very limited and one should consider the fact that no plants may survive in this type of growing situation.  Some native woodland species that attract beneficial insects to consider for your shade garden are:

• Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) – Grows in part to full shade and in moist, well-drained soils.
• Celandine Poppy or Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) – Grows in part to full shade with rich, humus/loam, well-drained soils.
• Zig Zag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) – Grows in part to full shade with dry, well-drained soil.  
• Sessile Trillium (Trillium sessile) – Grows in part shade to full shade with rich, moist, well- drained woodland soils.

Some plants are harder to find but you should never collect from the wild unless you have obtained a permit or you have express permission from the landowner. Native plants should be purchased from nurseries that propagate native plants and do not collect from the wild.

Native plants provide many benefits to us, our natural resources, and local ecosystem. These benefits include but are not limited to water conservation, filtering out water pollutants, lowering maintenance requirements, and providing vital habitat for birds and many other species of wildlife.

For information on the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District annual plant sale go to https://www.warrenswcd.com/. If you have additional questions, please contact the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation office at 513-695-1337.

Spring is a time of awakening when the cold of winter starts getting shrugged off to make room for the warmth which accompanies new growth in the natural world. 
For birders, it is exciting because of the return of migratory spring birds!  From songbirds to shorebirds and even some waterfowl, about 200 species of neotropical migratory birds annually make this incredible trip that spans continents. Final destination nesting grounds for these birds vary widely throughout the United States and north into Canada, but all require stopover sites where they may rest and refuel for the next leg of their trip.
If you want to help these birds in their spring preparations, consider bird-friendly landscaping that includes native, early-blooming trees, shrubs and flowers with colors that attract birds. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, it is important to plant these 7 important plant groups:.

• Conifers: Evergreens such as pines, spruces, firs, arbor vitae, and junipers provide excellent shelter, nest sites, and food. For example, some northern finches specialize on extracting seeds from conifer cones, and some hummingbirds take insects and sap from the tips of conifer branches when they first return in spring.
• Wild grasses and forbs: Untrimmed wild grasses (as opposed to closely cropped lawn grass) as well as “weeds” provide cover for ground-nesting birds. Their seeds provide abundant food for many birds.
• Nectar producers: Flowers, especially those with tubular red corollas, attract hummingbirds and orioles. Insects attracted to these plants also serve as food for many birds.
• Summer fruits: Cherry, chokecherry, native honeysuckle, raspberry, serviceberry, blackberry, blueberry, native mulberry, and elderberry provide food for many birds during the breeding season.
• Autumn fruits: Dogwoods, mountain ash, cotoneasters, buffalo-berries, and other fall-bearing fruit and berry plants provide food for migratory birds, both to build up fat reserves before migration and to sustain them along their journey. Non-migratory birds also fatten up on these so they can enter the winter season in good physical condition.
• Winter fruits: Plants that hold onto their fruits long after they ripen in the fall provide a winter food source for winter residents and early-returning migrants. Robins, waxwings, Pine Grosbeaks, and mockingbirds are among the birds drawn to fruit trees in winter. Crabapple, snowberry, native bittersweet, sumacs, viburnums, American highbush cranberry, eastern wahoo, Virginia creeper, and winterberry (holly) are all valuable for these birds.
• Nuts and acorns: Oaks, hickories, buckeyes, chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts, beeches, and hazels provide food for titmice, jays, turkeys, some woodpeckers, and other “mast-eaters.” Insects drawn to their spring flowers provide food for spring-migrating birds. These trees also provide nesting habitat for many species.

Last but not least, you should think about offering a water source for your birds. If you already have a natural source that is great, but if you don’t, offering a bird bath will help to provide water for drinking and preening.

For more questions regarding Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District programs and/or technical assistance on water or soil questions, visit http://warrenswcd.com or call, 513-695-1337.