Ready or not, fall is here, and now is the best time to zero waste your garden before the frost starts nipping at its nose.
Start outside, where the changing temperatures are most quickly felt. With the rain in abundance, we can drain garden hoses and irrigation systems. Hoses degrade in the elements and can crack if temperatures dip at night.
Turn off exterior pipes and interior water shutoff valves to prevent bursting later in the season. If you already have damaged hoses, look for fun upcycling projects online, like a durable doormat, outdoor woven seating for a bench, or small sections of hose to cushion metal handles on buckets.
Harvest your garden’s abundance to deter furry visitors and fill your pantry or freezer with local, organic fruit. If time is an issue, keep preservation simple and opt to freeze, dehydrate or drop off at a u-brew for winter wine.
Apples and pears on a neighbour’s tree? Offering to glean them might be very well received. Fallen or damaged fruit can either be composted at home, or taken to one of the two community compost drop-off locations in Westview. Be bear aware on the home front and cover any fruit in your compost with a few inches of sawdust, wood shavings, or dry leaves.
Speaking of harvest, the outdoor farmers’ market is still open in Paradise Valley until September 29. Bring your basket for an even lighter eco-footprint on this last weekend before it moves indoors.
Garden beds can either be replanted with cooler weather crops, such as garlic, broad beans, mustard, arugula and spinach, or put to sleep for the winter with a top dressing of mulch. Use free resources like cardboard sheets and leaves rather than plastic, which will break down over time and be nearly impossible to sift out. Shrubs can also be pruned, and flowers dead-headed and added to your compost pile.
Harvesting herbs can be very rewarding, but what to do with them can be a head-scratcher. Rosemary and lavender have many uses; one is as ingredients for a cold and flu disinfectant spray. Find recipes online that include tea tree or thieves oil and arm yourself against viruses early. Use them on door handles and surfaces where many hands visit.
If cuddling up by the fireplace is on your mind for the winter, now is your last opportunity to take advantage of the woodstove rebate for 2019. Those who qualify can receive up to $350 for upgrading their stove to a certified, lower emissions model, or $550 for replacing an uncertified woodstove with a heat pump, an electric fireplace insert, or a pellet, propane or natural gas appliance. Contact Let’s Talk Trash to enquire.
May this fall bring you a harvest of zero-waste coziness.
Let’s Talk Trash is qathet Regional District’s waste-reduction education program.
