Mulching veggie garden with coffee grounds

You may be thinking: "Wow. That EnviroMom must have one heck of a big dog to fill a bread bag half full with dog poop." But that would not be the case. We don't have a dog! And I haven't turned into such an EcoFreak that I'm gathering up the dog poop of others.

This is a bag of coffee grounds. Collected by my husband from his workplace, and delivered to our home via bicycle in a reused bread bag (how's that for green?). We are a family that takes some ribbing for it, but hates to see anything go to waste. That is why we triumphantly brought home the extra cake from a picnic we attended last Saturday chanting "We won the cake!" after the hostess sheepishly asked if she could beg us to take it off her hands. Well, no problem there. We ascribe to the "Leave no cake behind" theory.

Now that theory has been applied to coffee grounds. Years ago, while I was making feeble attempts at gardening, a friend suggested I use coffee grounds as an organic slug barrier around tender plants. A new friend -- a highly successful backyard gardener in my pilates class -- has reaffirmed the coffee grounds treatment. Now, I'll admit my past application of coffee grounds was fairly feeble (equal only to my gardening of a few years' ago), and was not successful. It seemed to have no impact on my slugs, who just plowed on through. But this friend insists it works. She says she gets coffee grounds by the wheelbarrow-ful from Starbucks.

Science project: sugar ant annihilation

We passed up on our kindergartner's first shot at a science fair project. Science fair is tomorrow night. I feared I didn't have the time to devote to it (I feel we're just treading water trying to get her homework done nightly). But we do plan to go visit the science fair, and hopefully be inspired for next year.

In the meantime, we took on a little science fair project here at home. With the return of sunny, springlike weather in Portland, my little ant problem has resurfaced. We mixed up Metro's recommended ant baits, with little success:

"Blend 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar and 1 tablespoon of borax. Sprinkle the mixture in ant traffic areas, but not where children or pets might ingest it. This is not enough borax to kill the worker ants immediately--they take the mix back to the nest, where it will eventually eradicate the whole colony."

What happened is I'd sprinkle some in their path, and they'd sniff or taste or whatever it is they do, then keep on walkin'. Even though they did not really acquire a taste for the stuff last spring, I was hesitant to just throw it out, thus we still had some of the powdered sugar/borax mix leftover in a small container. So this year we decided to conduct an ant bait taste test. In past years, I'd had some success with a syrupy-borax over the counter product, but had not been able to find it again. So this is what we made:

• A mix of the sugar/borax powder with water, to turn it into syrup.
• A mix of the sugar/borax powder mixed with some artificially-flavored bubble gum fluoride rinse I'd once bought for my kids when we were going through a tooth-brushing boycott (but never really used -- have you noticed I have a hard time getting rid of things?).
• And finally, a mix of the sugar/borax with just a smidgen of the Torani Vanilla Syrup my husband takes in his coffee every morning (sorry honey, we only used a tiny, tiny bit).

It turns out the ants have a fairly refined palate. They thumbed their noses at the watered down stuff, and the bubble-gum pink. But they just lapped up the Torani syrup mix. For days the ants came out in full platoons. Bringing it dutifully back to the nest. And now they are gone. Nothing remains but the carcasses of a few fallen ant soldiers.

Science fair project grade: B+. Now, I really did have my kids help mix it. And they also spooned it onto little pieces of paper, which we left by the ant trails on the back of the kitchen counter. Lots of fun, and I do think there really may be a science project in this for us next year...

Have the ants come marching into your house? How are you fighting them?

More on truly 'green' Christmas trees

We had a great discussion here a couple of weeks ago about alternatives to Christmas trees: the live ones are grown with heavy pesticides, while the artificial ones tend to be loaded with lead. Renting a live tree was suggested as a good solution (though they're not organically grown). Well, this morning The Oregonian ran an interesting article about a new program that identifies cut trees that have been grown under specific environmental standards. These trees are then sold on tree lots in a special section identifying them as having 'sustainable certification.' They are NOT grown organically, but they are grown without using excessive pesticides or contributing to erosion. The tree farm's water and soil conservation measures will be reviewed, as well as biodiversity and worker safety. Unfortunately, I can't find a listing of which tree lots will carry these trees.

It's not perfect, but it's a start. I was talking to relatives who own a tree farm about this very subject over the weekend. They said that they'd never heard of anyone growing Christmas trees organically and shudder at the work that would be involved. There is a rampant disease called Swiss Needle Cast that affects Douglas Fir trees in Oregon that has to be fought with chemicals. Bugs are a big problem, too. I'm glad that the industry is starting to take a more sustainable stance, but it sounds like they have a long way to go. I know my family will be heading to our favorite tree lot on NE Fremont again this year for a noble fir -- it's tough to break with tradition.

Sunscreen and bug spray

I have a devil of a time getting sunscreen on my kids. They complain and squirm away and beg me not to get it on their lips or in their eyes (if they'd quit with the squirming I'd have a much better accuracy rate). Sound familiar?

So I was intrigued when I heard about combo sunscreen/bug spray lotions. That sounded ideal! I use up all my tricks getting the sunscreen on that my kids run and hide by the time I get the lid off the bug spray. So needless to say, sometimes the bug spray doesn't get on them (we went camping last summer and my 5-year-old came home with 57 bug bites -- we counted. Poor kid looked like a leper!).

However, I've come full circle (thankfully before I went out and bought any of the combo stuff. Turns out mixing the two is a bad idea. Sunscreen should be applied by the bucketful. Most of us don't use enough. Just the opposite with bug spray. Use as little as possible to get the job done -- especially those that contain DEET, or other nasty pesticides.

And since we're talking about sunscreen... Mom go Green has a great blog with informative posts comparing sunscreens. She also gives a thumbs up to a non-DEET containing bug spray with Picaridin. Thanks for all the helpful information!

Hazardous waste collection in Beaverton, May 17-19

Thanks, Tracy B., for this heads-up:

Metro's Hazardous Waste Collection: May, 17 - 19 from 9am-2pm at Beaverton Christian Church, 13660 SW Allen Blvd in Beaverton. Bring unwanted hazardous household products such as pesticides, leftover paint, solvents, automotive fluids, compact fluorescent lightbulbs and rechargeable batteries. There is no charge to drop off these items!

Other upcoming hazardous waste collection events (all from 9am-2pm):

• June 1-2, OHSU parking lot 93, Southwest 6th Avenue and Gaines Street, Portland
• June 8-9, Epson Portland, Inc., 3950 NW Aloclek Place, Hillsboro
• June 15-16, Mt. Tabor Middle School, 5800 SE Ash St., Portland
• June 21-23, Meadow Park Middle School, 14100 SW Downing St., Beaverton

Baby step: re-use boiled water as a weed killer

We often compare our blogs to a virtual playground, as we build community and learn so many things chatting with other parents while our kids play at the playground. Here's a great idea my friend Elaine shared with me (at a playground) last week. Take the water you'd normally pour down the drain after boiling pasta, and pour it on a weed or two instead. The heat of the scalding water will take that weed out faster than a spritz of Roundup (and happily, it's a little less toxic than the chemical approach). Listen up all you weeds growing between the cracks in my patio -- your days are numbered!! We boil a lot of pasta around here...

Home-brewing some non-toxic ant baits

I know it is springtime because of the ants in the kids' bathroom: "the ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!". They start trailing in like clockwork every spring. Luckily, these are not the big nasty, flying carpenter ants. Soil ants are considered a nuisance pest, and they don't carry any diseases. But my kids are pretty bothered by their presence in our house (picture a toddler screaming "get it out! get it out" every time she walks into the bathroom).

So this year I am going to mix up two non-toxic ant-baits recommended by Metro. I feel like a mad scientist. What fun. I'll let you know how it goes with the ants.

Free "natural gardening" presentations by Metro

Did you know that Metro is available to give free presentations to your garden club or organization? A natural gardening expert presents on a variety of topics such as composting, chemical-free lawn care, beneficial insects, safe pest management, and more. Pre-registration is required, and there is a minimum group size of 20. The meeting must also be within Metro boundaries. Check their schedule or contact them to schedule one for your group.

Looking for eco-friendly childcare? Want to become one?

The Oregon Environmental Council has a program that recognizes preschools and childcare providers that incorporate environmentally-friendly practices. They've created a checklist of items that the schools must fulfill in order to qualify. Check it out if you're looking for an eco-friendly provider or want to become one. Many of these items are fairly standard (I hope), like using non-toxic art supplies, keeping garbage covered and not using mercury thermometers. Other items require more effort, like not using pesticides, not allowing cars to idle near the facility and using biodegradable cleaning products. I'm hoping to get my daughter's preschool on the list, and it won't take much time or effort to get there. I think a lot of it involves educating parents and staff, who in turn pass it on to the kids.

Why slugs don't drink at Starbucks

I love to garden on the weekends, and this is the best time of year for planting. You can get the plants situated in your garden, and then let mother nature rain down on them all fall and winter long. The roots will have lots of time to establish before the sun starts making daily visits to Portland again. And then your plants will grow like crazy this spring.

One challenge with tender new plants is that the slugs just go to town on them around here. My friend Damaris gave me a great enviromom tip. Apparently, slugs and snails do not like coffee grounds. So if you spread some coffee grounds around the base of your new plants, the slugs will keep away. And without a doubt - this is a lot less toxic than putting chemical slug and snail killers in your garden. There is certainly no shortage of coffee grounds at my house - and if you are a java-junkie Portlander like me - you should have no problem in that department either.

Good luck and good planting!

(Originally published on ReadySetMom.com)