P2269@com.qz.se ("ENG-LEONG FOO ", MIRCEN-STOCKHOLM) (03/28/89)
From: Eng-leong Foo, MIRCEN-Stockholm, Sweden I see that the conferences in CoSy computer conferencing system (Guelph, Canada) on "recycling" and "composting" have been very active. I do my part in recycling all organic residues from my 200 m2 vegetable garden that I hire. You might already know that Sweden has a national network of "Garden Associations". Each Association hires a piece of unused land from the commune (district) and then makes it available to its members. There are several of such "gardens" in Stockholm and I am a member of one which has about 75 garden lots (100 to 200 m2 each). Each member pays a membership fee a year + a rental of about USD 0.10/m2/yr for the lot he rents. Most of the members have their own compost and most of them are for organic farming. I have two composts (about 2 m2 each) so that I am able to use a matured compost each spring before the ploughing. I have been doing this for the past 5 years and the practice has improved my once clayey soil; I guess it would take another 10 years to reach the soil that I would really like (my "super soil") but I am working on it. Alternatively I could buy dung (about USD 10.00/m3 - expensive !!). The use of "compost inoculant" is not common here in Stockholm; how is it in other countries ? Can you get such commercially marketed inoculants and what do you think of them ?