Today’s daily green post is about sustainably protecting a planter over winter. As the weather turns cold, I had learned that to conserve the nutrients in the soil of my annual planter for next year. I wanted to combine this activity with the daily green initiative. I opted to cover the soil with scrap packing paper and wood scraps found around my yard, weighting it down with a few spare bricks. This cost nothing and reused materials I already had, avoiding new purchases. In the spring, the covered soil should retain more nutrients for new plantings. Though small, steps like these help me inch towards goals like enriching my own soil. It was fun to re-use what I had and learn more about how to protect and make healthy soil. I am also researching sustainable small scale greenhouses for a project good to be getting a bit closer to that project by working with the planters.
Calculating the overall impact of the recycling, benefit to the re-use of the soil in the future as well as other impacts on my decisions for the day and days to come I expect to be a common them in these posts.
Here are some related links to winter soil maintenance advice.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/prevention-protection/preventing-winter-damage
YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzQqdFn1lg