Current News You Can Use

       This yard was fine bark mulched; it is now covered with blue star creeper, white thyme; and sweet woodruff; the brown is fresh locust leaves from the tree above.  They cover it through the winter.          Properties from tiny yards to large parks have trees for shade and beauty.   They produce leaves that mostly drop in the fall, and flowers, fruit and seeds that drop any time of year, depending on the plant.   These properties also may have lawns, shrub borders, paths, pavements, or even unplanted waste areas.           Leaves and other tree debris must be removed from lawns, lest they kill the grass, though some can be mulched into the lawn without harming it, with the grass clippings.   They have to be removed from buildings, lest they rot roofs and clog gutters.   They have to be removed from pavements, lest they be a s...

Leaves are the cheapest and most effective mulch for weed control, when enough of them are used.   This natural gardener has been using them professionally on clients’ yards for 13 years.   All other mulches are seed beds by comparison.   Leaves feed the soil and thus the plants; soften it for easy weeding; and can stop sprouting of most small seeds, just by keeping the sun off them.   As long as leaves stick around, they stop germination of seeds that land on top of them, because the top few layers dry out quickly and don’t allow seeds on top to sprout. One can smother nearly any annual weed, and many small perennials, with enough leaves.   But to be efficient with a client’s money, a professional gardener must figure out the least that it takes to do the job effectively when one has to bring them in from other places. There is no need to shred leaves to use them for mulch in most situations.   Whole leaves are better for blocking weeds, but leave...

The Daily Courier reports that Josephine Community Libraries wants to try for a tax district this year, and is asking for input from the public to figure out what services we want to force each other to fund.  After all, we are already sending them what we can afford if we wish to pay for it. We haven't even funded our jail and justice system yet.  The library was cut loose from county government because the commissioners need to fund public safety first.  The public safety situation has only gotten worse.  Citizens Securing Our Safety are finally pushing their own levy, rather than asking the Commissioners to put it on the ballot.  Almost certainly, JCL’s tax district will fail.  If it is on the same ballot as the levy for the jail and juvenile justice system, the levy may go down with it.  If it goes for the November ballot, it will still interfere with the levy campaign. The beauty of a non-profit is that it doesn't need a majority vote...

Jo Gro, our city’s composting operation, will soon be under the management of Republic Waste Services, minus the sewage bio solids that it was originally started to make use of.   Those will be hauled by Republic to Dry Creek Landfill to make methane for electricity generation.   The city will be running Jo Gro long enough to decompose the rest of their bio solids, and then lease the operation to Republic, who will run it as a regular composting service. Leaf bags waiting for pickup One might expect “free” leaf pickup to go away, since it was instituted to provide material for Jo Gro to help decompose those bio solids.   But leaves will be picked up by Republic and Southern Oregon Sanitation from the curb for free as part of their franchise agreements with the City, as they always have.   The only difference is that they will be free to take them to any DEQ-approved composter, to seek the best price for dumping.   Such “free” leaf hauling...