How to Use Kitchen Scraps on Your Plants Without Having to Learn Composting

One of our Eco Church initiatives is to have compost bins placed in the churchyard so that we can encourage those tending graves to put their used flowers and greenery into the compost. We have already had one compost bin donated – does anyone else have one they no longer use that they would like to donate to St Mary’s.

Recycling waste is not just something to do at church though. Even if you don’t have a compost bin or a large garden, you can recycle some of your waste to gain lovely healthy plants that love the attention that you give to them – all for free!

Here are some top tips courtesy of Michelle Ulman from an article for BobVila.com.

Banana peels can help plants form healthy roots

The potassium found in banana peels helps plants transfer water between cells, set down healthy roots, assist in fruit and blossom growth, and fend off disease. All you need to do is bury the banana peel next to some outdoor flowering plants.

“Take care to cover it with several inches of soil to prevent insect infestations or odour,” Ullman writes. “As the peel decomposes, it will release its potassium and other nutrients into the soil, to the benefit of the nearby plants.”

Eggshells provide calcium for plants

Eggshells are chock full o’ calcium, which helps strengthen plants’ cell walls. Here’s what to do with them, per Ullman:

Rinse the eggshells thoroughly, let them dry, and then crush with a pestle or a similar grinder. Then work a handful of the ground shells into the soil around your plants, whether in the flower bed or a container.

The nitrogen in coffee helps with foliage growth

Using coffee grounds as plant food requires a delicate balance. On the one hand, they contain plenty of nitrogen, which helps foliage development. On the other hand, too many coffee grounds can stunt plant growth because of the caffeine content and acidity. Here’s Ullman’s advice:

To be safe, never add more than a half-inch layer of coffee grounds around your plants and cover the grounds with an inch or two of soil to avoid compaction that could prevent water from penetrating the soil.

If you have any top tips please do share them with us.

Plastic Free July

Continuing with ways that we can strive to work towards a more Eco Church and in our own homes, another way that we can contribute is by joining in with Plastic Free July. Plastic Free July® is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities. Will you be part of Plastic Free July by choosing to refuse single-use plastics? Plastic Free July provides resources and ideas to help you (and millions of others around the world) reduce single-use plastic waste everyday at home, work, school, church and even at your local café.

The movement has inspired an estimated 326 million participants in 177 countries. You making a small change will collectively make a massive difference to our communities. You can choose to refuse single-use plastics in July (and beyond!). Best of all, being part of Plastic Free July will help you to find great alternatives that can become new habits forever. There are so many things in our everyday lives that include plastic, from the throw away plastic wrap on vegetables, fruit and meat and fish packages which can't be recycled, to bottles of condiments, drinks, shampoos and body washes. Always check the recycling information on the items before purchasing to ensure that they can be recycled as it is surprising how many can't be! Also keep the plastic caps on screwed on bottles, milk & fruit juice cartons etc when they go into the recycle bin otherwise they may not get recycled.

DID YOU KNOW?

It is estimated that an average of 35.8 million plastic bottles are used EVERY DAY in the UK, but only 19.8 million are recycled each day. This means there are on average 16 million plastic bottles a day not making their way into the recycling bin.

Visit https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/ for more inspiration and ideas and take The Challenge!

Thank you to everyone that has been bringing in empty flat crisp packets, empty plastic bread bags and used blister packets of medicines for our Terracycle project supporting Burnham Care and Share. We received lots in, but there is always room for more! So don't forget to bring them and add to the boxes in the Church Porch.

We've had some great suggestions of ideas of how to make St Mary's a more environmentally friendly building, however there is still room for more ideas and initiatives, so please continue to email in to info@stmaryshitcham.org.uk, we would love to hear some ideas from our youth as well.

New Eco Church page launched!

Our new Eco Church page has now launched. The page details how we are working towards attaining an ‘Eco Church’ qualification in junction with A Rocha. Each week we will be sharing ideas of how we can all play our part to make St Mary’s and the Vicarage more Eco aware as well as updating you on how we are doing!

If you have any ideas as to how we can become more environmentally friendly or would like to join our Eco Team, please do let us know!