The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

¥ "A Family Tradition for 128 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Wednesday, October 11, 1995 - 15 Loads of leaves? ...Try composting them It's an option that prevents waste going to landfill, and benefits lawns and gardens By Philip Gebhardt One estimate has sug- gested that 30 per cent of landfill is taken up by yard waste that includes grass clippings, leaves and branches. Grass clippings are small, relatively short pieces which take up little room. This makes them easy to work with. As a re- sult, more and more home- owners are using them. They can be left on the lawn. They can be com- posted. They can be dried and used as mulch. Leaves are not quite so neat. Even when leaves are packed tightly into bags, it doesn't take many trees to produce a pile of bags for garbage pickup. You can, however save the cost of the bags, make use of your leaves, and at the same time reduce the amount of garbage you put by the curb. Just treat your leaves as you do your grass -- cut them with your lawn mower. Rake your leaves into piles as you normally would, taking care to avoid collecting large twigs or branches. If you have a vegetable garden, rake toward the edge of the garden. When you run the lawn mower through the pile, the cut leaves will be discharged into the gar- den plot. If you have a large garden, you can rake the leaves into one or more rows and then run the mower along the row. The chopped leaves can be left on the surface, or dug into the garden soil. If you have a lawn mow- er which bags grass clip- pings, you can collect the cut leaves in the bag and then spread them throughout your garden or put them in your compos- ter. Whether you use the leaves in your garden right away or store them for later use, it actually makes a difference when you cut the leaves into small pieces. Here's an easy way to demonstrate Just how effective leaf cuttingis. Open a 190 gram bag of potato chips and empty it into a 2L (8 cup) measur- ing cup or bowl. Once you note the level of the chips, return them to the bag. Now crush the chips into small pieces. Empty the contents into the same measuring cup. Note the level this time. (You can use the crushed chips in tuna casserole.) Even though the same chips were used each time, you can see the difference crushing the chips into small bits makes to the volume they occupy. Whole leaves, like whole potato chips, don't stack very neatly or compactly. As a result, a large volume of air 1s trapped between the leaves. Once you re- duce the size of the pieces so they can fit together more compactly, you re- duce the volume of air trapped and therefore re- duce the amount of space the leaves require. There's another advan- tage to cutting up your leaves. Small pieces will decompose more readily whether they are in your garden or in your compost bin. Leaves are an excellent source of carbon material for use in home compos- ters. Adding layers of leaves to kitchen scraps, grass clippings or plant trimmings will provide you with lots of compost for use as mulch or as a soil amendment in your garden. Your compost will return nutrients to your garden instead of a land- fill site. And after all, Buy 50 photocopies & receive 2D more FREE] (of the same thing) *ANy size * Coloured Faper Extra i October Special Offer Expires Oct. 31,1995 985-7383 Rather than putting them out for curbside garbage pick-up, owners can i: compost the leaves they rake up in their lawns this year. The process results in less garbage going to landfill sites, and produces valuable gardening material. when you were at the gro- cery store, you paid for those apple cores, potato peels, lettuce leaves, par- snip ends and carrot greens. Why give them away when you can use them in your garden? Before you bag those TWO WEEKS ONLY! | leaves this fall, consider using them in your garden or in your backyard com- poster. You'll save money, you'll be doing the envi- ronment a favor and at the same time you will be do- ing your part to ensure that the already serious landfill crisis doesn't get worse. Philip Gebhardt is a res- ident of Port Perry who has been recognized by the Re- cycling Council of Ontario as a Master Composter. He provides instruction on ef- fective home composting. * Install up to 5 litres of Autopar "Warranty Approved" Motor Oil and an Autopar Oil Filter * Inspect C-V joint boots (where applicable). I CUSTOMER Va¥ | C I RE. You can depend on it! Oil and Filter Change $ 19° Safety Check $3 495 MOST CARS & LIGHT TRUCKS Engine Tune-Up * Install new Autopar spark plugs * Check plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, coil PCV valve belts, and hoses. * Adjust timing and idle. * Service air cleaner and battery. $B5Q95 4 CYL. do Ad 6 CYL. $895 8 CYL. applicable). Cooling System Tune-Up * Flush and drain the cooling system * Install Autopar 4 Season Coolant * Check rad cap, thermostat, belts and hoses. SCUGOG CHRYSLER Winter Check Inspect/ Test and report on: _* Battery and charging system * Antifreeze + All fluid levels * Wiper blades + Headlights and all bulbs * All hoses, clamps and belts * Tires and shock absorbers * Exhaust system * Thermostat and heater * Lube all hinges * Inspect C-V joint boots (where 4.9 95 SBA4°5 4 CYL. 580995 6 CYL. $64?' 8 CYL. HWY. 12-7A MANCHESTER, PORT PERRY 985-7354 OR 404-8220 Brake Inspection * Inspect front disc pads and rotors, rear linings and drums, master cylinder, calipers, wheel cylinders, brake lines, hoses and emergency brake. Plus tire rotation. 4.9 95 oN wr ; SCUGOG - PORT PERRY CHRYSLER $ IT HWY 7A OSHA WHITBY WA