The Coastal Gardener:

Which plastic bin do you use?

If you’re a homeowner in coastal Orange County, I’ll bet a nickel that you recycle. You sort out your milk bottles, soda cans, soup cans and so on, to go to a recycling facility, to be remade into new products. Good for you: You’re doing the right thing!

Now consider this scenario. You buy colorful plastic bags of fertilizer to apply to your plants to make them grow. As soon as they grow you pay someone to come by and trim them back. These trimmings go into a big plastic bin with wheels that waits patiently by the side of your house. Once a week you roll this big plastic bin, full of trimmings and clippings, to the curb to be trucked away.

Somewhere, out of sight, your plant clippings are ground up, composted and turned into organic mulches and soil amendments, which are, in turn, put back into colorful plastic bags and trucked back to your local garden center. You buy these plastic bags, open them and spread their rich ingredients around the plants in your garden.

Whoa! Stand back for a minute; the scenario is almost comical. Why do you have this plastic bin on wheels? Why are you sending your clippings, leaves and trimmings away, only to buy them back later?

Compost may be at the center of all gardening. In order for just about any plant to grow properly you need to feed your soil and the invisible organisms living therein.

Almost all of the nutrients that a plant takes in are from its roots. A layer of compost on the ground provides the nutrients that nature had intended all along.

You already recycle your bottles, cans and newspapers. Why not compost your garden waste as well, or at least a portion of it? Your plants will thank you, and so will the planet.

Here are a few simple steps to get started. More assistance is available online or at your local garden center.

Choose a compost bin.

There are many types of bins used to hold compost materials. Being in an urban area, most of us will use a plastic, commercially made, square or round compost bin. Bins that turn, either round or tube-shaped, are increasingly popular. Each type has advantages and disadvantages, but almost all of them can be used to make great compost.

Select a location for your compost bin.

Choose a site that is level and well-drained. It should be easily accessible and convenient. Placing the bin over bare soil rather than concrete will ensure that worms and beneficial organisms can find their way into the compost.

Add composting materials.