A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
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3 February 2022
Our gardening, as we have previously revealed, is reserved for Thursdays when we put out the garbage (very late at night) for pickup Friday morning. And by Friday morning, we mean 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. lately.
We have a three-bin system in San Francisco. Blue for recycling, black for landfill and green for composting. The gardening debris goes in the green bin.
Considering the size of our estate and the enthusiasm of our gardening, the size of our green bin is a bit modest.
We've learned how to cut up branches into small sections and compress dried leaves so we manage to fill the bin each week with just enough room left for the kitchen scraps in a bio-bag.
But there are times when a lawn bag or three are required.
The 30-gallon bags are made of two-ply wet-strength brown paper treated to resist moisture. You can buy five of them for under $3 at the hardware store. At that price, you won't get attached to them.
For the inveterate shopper, there's also a $10 trash bag insert, which is a corrugated plastic chute you unfold to keep the bag upright and open. We've never bothered. We just wait until we have a nice pile of stuff and dump it into the bag. That keeps it up and open just fine.
The trick (there's always a trick) is knowing when to stop filling the bag. It's a lot sooner than you might think because you have to close the top. And, too, the things can get surprisingly heavy.
Our green bin has wheels. We are the wheels for our lawn bags.
They make an amusing portrait of urban life (particularly if you are a rural reader and indulge in other solutions to agricultural excess). We particularly liked this family portrait gathered at the curb, all smiles.