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The Tucson Gardener |
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The City of Tucson and Tucson Organic I drove south on Alvernon toward the designated site at the neighborhood recycling center at the northwest corner of 22nd Street and Alvernon Way at a little before 8 a.m. About the time I hit the turn off to the golf course I began to wonder what the heck was going on. "Had there been a traffic accident?" Cars were backed up moving at less than a snail's pace. I pulled into the parking lot for the driving range and decided I'd hike the rest of the way. The last thing I wanted was to get tied up in traffic and waste the better part of a Saturday morning. As I hurried along the walk leading to the recycling center I began to notice a large crowd of people milling about. By the time I got to the site of the one day home composting bin sale it looked like Elvis had come back to life and was planning on putting on a concert in Tucson. All you had to do was stand in line for hours to get your ticket. As I wandered around clicking a few pictures here and there, I came to realize all the people wanted to purchase a compost bin. I also heard some grumbling about the long line, but that didn't stop the line from continuing to grow as more people arrived to purchase their compost bins. The idea was to stand in line until you got to the place where you wrote a check or paid cash for any of three available compost bins. The most expensive was a $25 snap-together "Earth Machine". Also available was a roll up plastic tube and then a large, bulky, recycled trash container. Some people were buying all three and I would have, too, if my vehicle had been parked closer and I was willing to wait with the herd. I give credit to Tucson's Solid Waste Management, Tucson's Organic Gardeners and the hardy souls who stood in line. If the worthwhile project is ever repeated it would be nice if purchasers could drive up, pay their money, and have someone drop the compost bin(s) in the trunk of their car or bed of their truck without ever having to get out of the vehicle.
Editor's note: The Tucson Organic Gardeners regularly sell compost bins. Check their website for costs and distribution location. Help reduce Tucson's landfills and start composting. It's not that difficult and you'll have great compost to add to your garden's soil.
Which Is Really Better? The first ones I bought were made of a green plastic. Then I started buying metal, zinc plated ones for a little more money thinking they were better. It didn't make any difference. I could have continued to use the plastic ones because both had the same plastic lever and ball for shutting off the water flow. When the valves failed, it was usually at the screw that went into the plastic ball inside the valve. I still use both plastic and metal shutoff valves always keeping an extra or two on hand to replace the ones that fail. If I have a location where the shutoff valve gets a regular workout I use an all brass, inside and out, shutoff valve. They cost more but they're not nearly as apt to fail. All three products pictured below were purchased from a Home Depot in April, 1999.
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