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A more rustic trellis
Here’s a more rustic trellis than the one pictured earlier and made with metal supports and nylon mesh. This one is made out of fallen branches tied together at the joints with pieces of wire or string. Pieces that fall apart are easily replaced. Very good for peas, but not recommended for heavier veggies like…
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My view of composting
by Nathaniel Smith, June 8, 2020 I have never figured out how to build a compost heap that would heat up enough to kill weed seeds. The compost manuals make it sound simple, but it isn’t! (See lots of really good composting advice from the Chester County Solid Waste Authority, though.) For me, patience is…
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“Nature abhors a vacuum”
Life tends to fill all possible niches, from the extreme depths of the sea to roofs of our homes to even our own digestive system. Gardeners know this all to well, because it’s not as if we weed once and relax. There are millions of weed seeds just waiting to be dampened, or warmed by…
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Building a backyard veggie trellis
by Justice Mogano, West Chester Here is my tip for building a backyard trellis. Purchase two pieces of 1/2” thick rebar, about 3’-4’ long. Space them appropriately and hammer them into the ground, leaving about 18” above ground. Then, slide two pieces of 3/4” diameter conduit over the rebar These will be the uprights. These…
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West Chester’s Goose Creek fire of 1931
In the recent Earth Day commemorations, commentators mentioned the infamous 1969 Cuyahoga River fire, which although hardly the first time the chemically-polluted surface of that river in Cleveland caught fire, was strategically timed to dramatize environmental efforts building at that time toward the first Earth Day the next year. West Chester had its own river…
West Chester Green Team 