The weather is certainly feeling spring-like and it is getting the juices flowing in most gardeners.
And the timing is perfect for the yard waste bin program to resume for another season.
What a great program we have at our disposal—no pun intended—to handle our prunings and other organic stuff that used to be relegated to the landfill.
Not many of you know this but up until 1967 the city dump was located on KLO Road across the street from Okanagan College.
It was there for years until it was re-located to Glenmore, where it is today.
I can remember clearly taking truckloads of prunings and garden waste and throwing it in the same hole as fridges stoves batteries household junk and everything else people didn’t want.
There was absolutely no separating of loads. The only equipment at the dump was a large drag shovel to dig the hole and a D8 cat bulldozer to cover the garbage over with fill soil.
The dump or “nuisance grounds” as my dad used to call it, covered an area along KLO from Casorso to about where the Jehovah’s Witness Church stands today and possibly further because I seem to remember accessing it from Gordon, which at the time was only a short road going south off KLO.
What an improved system we have today with our neat and tidy trio of garbage, recycling and yard-waste bins, dependably picked up on schedule.
When we take things to the dump nowadays its like a supermarket with everything in its place.
There is a place for tires, batteries, metal, refrigerators, clean wood, painted wood, asphalt, concrete, and of course yard waste for those who have more than the homeowner bin can handle.
The fees for dumping are still amazingly reasonable and the environment benefits from all the efforts which have helped develop this system.
By the way the yard waste that goes to the landfill doesn’t get buried anymore it is composted into Ogogrow and Glenmore-Grow to be used by homeowners to enhance the garden soil.
A reminder that this Saturday, at 1:30 pm, I will be conducting an information session on growing small fruits and berries at Bylands Garden Centre in West Kelowna.
Next Saturday, my buddy Ken Salvail will present a session on composting and soil.
Finally, a timely garden tip for you: When you are cleaning up your perennial garden beds be aware this is the time of year when things are beginning to grow from bulbs and root crowns.
These are quite vulnerable to damage from stepping on them so be careful where you walk.
This is why I always mark with a stick or tag things like allium, lilies, and other hidden gems so they are kept intact.
