Saving the enviornment: recycle, reuse & refuse!

by Zelpha A. Boyd 
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. This saying comes out of the Pennsylvania Dutch settlements of long ago, and certainly applies today. Recycling, reusing, and refusing extra packaging are all things we can do to help our environment and keep trash out of the landfills.
Unfortunately, the more we use, the more we buy. Why use that old container, when I could just as easily go buy another one? Another way of thinking about this: Each new thing we bring home from the store is another part of the consumerism that is depleting our Mother Earth. The more we consume, the more is produced, and the more we deplete what natural resources we have.
Recycling: Newspapers, cans, glass and plastic all have their places in bins around town. The City of Bozeman also picks up this material at your street corner. No big job to put these items in their places!
Reusing: Sacks, boxes, and paper all can have extended lives. Clothes can be mended and restored. Second-hand stores collect extra stuff from our homes.
Refusing: Buying products having less packaging makes for less material needing to be produced – thus saving trees and other raw materials.
Saving the Environment – one garden at a time – is what we gardeners need to be conscious of. Restoring what is taken from the earth, in form of plant growth, helps maintain Mother Nature’s balance.
Composting organic matter recycles these materials back into the garden soil. Garden debris, kitchen scraps, and lawn clippings. These products decay into useable material providing valuable elements to be returned to the soil. Just like in the forests and grasslands. Mother Nature doesn’t waste her produce – she reuses it!
The innovative gardener finds many ways in which to use it up, or wear it out. Discarded curtain rods serve as posts for a light-weight fence. Chicken wire saved from one project serves for the next. Old watering hoses make good shorter ones. When that old hose simply doesn’t work well any more, cut it into smaller pieces. When connected with sprinklers in between the pieces, it becomes a longer more efficient watering system.
Tomato cages may be used to hold up taller flowers, as well as keeping tomatoes in their places. Plant markers can be made from old mini-blinds. Cut in sorter lengths, then using a permanent marker serve quite well. Egg shells, dried and crushed can be put around susceptible plants to deter slugs.
Wood chips for paths in the garden keep feet dry and out of the mud. These are easily attained – simply hail the next tree trimmer. These fellows will be glad to deliver them to your place. Chips should only be used on paths or on top of soil around plants as they take extra nitrogen as they decay, which they will do eventually.
Looking out for the environment is everyone’s job. Each of us can do something! Use it up, wear it out, make it do! Stopping unnecessary consumerism will benefit our wonderful Mother Earth