Our Greenhouse is Getting Greener

We are fortunate to have both a Taj Mahal-like greenhouse and a USDA high tunnel for our Agriculture Career Tech Pathway Students of
Aiken to learn and work in each day. The basics of both are that they are places to grow plants in a protective environment. The applications of both are a little different. Both our high tunnel and greenhouse are heated by passive solar radiation (the Sun). Additional heat is being generated in our greenhouse through composting. Each week we are getting pre-service food scraps from the Sleepy Bee -College Hill (patronize them…they are great community partners!).

Our goal is three fold.

1. Divert waste from the landfill.

2. Create compost to use in our garden.

3.Generate heat to keep our seedlings warm throughout the wacky Cincinnati-Spring.

Through hot composting, we hope to fend off the chill, avoid the fill, and begin to till! To hot compost, we are applying both brown and green waste. Green waste provides nitrogen. Brown waste provides carbon. We need 1 part nitrogen and 2 parts carbon. Food scraps and animal manure (we have a lot of it) work well for green. Dried leaves, cardboard and newspapers work well for brown. So, if you have any of this…let’s get cookin’!