Part II

Laying Sheet Mulch

We all know how important it is to stick to a budget, and I was feeling pleased with the fact that I was able to get many of my materials for free. I was ready to proceed with laying my pathway and sheet mulching. I needed to be ready to plant by the May 15 pickup date, which coincidentally is the ‘last frost’ date for my area. Those CRC folks sure are organized.

Reusing edging and bricks for pathway

The first step was laying the brick path. It needed to have concrete sand as a base, which was one of the materials I had to buy, but it was cheap. I was also able to reuse some metal landscaping edging that we removed when we cleared the rock mulch, to lay out the brick path and provide an edge for the sand. I set out string to indicate the borders of the path, and then my husband, Sean, obligingly completed the path project. I moved bricks around. So far, this was easy (for me).

After the path was in, I was able to start sheet mulching. I learned from David Braden of Organic Landscape Design that it is easiest to work in sections. So, one area at a time, I built up my bombproof sheet mulch. Because sheet mulching includes composting in place, and dry materials do not compost, it is important to wet everything down as you go. First, spray down the ground. Then, spread manure and get that wet. Layer your newspaper/cardboard on top of the manure, and really soak it down. Wetting the paper helps ensure it will compost, and it prevents the paper from blowing away in a gentle breeze. Although it is possible to do all of this yourself, it goes much faster when you have help.

After you’ve laid out the paper about 1/2 inch thick, you add more manure on top.  I know it seems like a lot of poo, but paper has a very high carbon content. For nutrient rich compost, you want a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of 25-30:1 . The C:N ratio for cardboard is 378:1, and manure is 15:1. With 1/2 inch of cardboard and 1 inch of manure, that provides a C:N ratio of 26:1. Perfect!

Sheet mulching around pathway

Now, you can put down your thick layer  of mulch — I used straw. It is easy to put down, because you just remove slabs from the bales and plop them down. You don’t have to worry about breaking it up. You can also use soiled straw, grass hay, etc. This layer is supposed to be 8 to 12 inches deep, but I didn’t want mine that thick, because I wanted it to compost down to only a couple inches. So, I put my straw about 6-8 inches deep – enough to inhibit weeds and keep the moisture in, but not as much as is recommended. If I were doing a raised bed garden, I would have gone for the full 12 inches of straw.

Finally, a layer of compost goes on top of the straw or hay, which adds some good nitrogen content to help break down the straw.

I worked in sections, building each section fully before moving on to the next. When I was done with the bare dirt area where the rock mulch and bushes had been cleared, I moved on to the lawn. Because grass has the same C:N ratio as manure, I could skip the first manure layer and just lay newspaper directly on top of the grass. This was SO MUCH BETTER than digging up lawn! And I wouldn’t have to send anything to the landfill.

Eventually, I ran out of manure, and I had to substitute with worm castings from my worm factory, and leachate from my bokashi bucket. Why these substitutions? They are high in nitrogen, I had them on hand, and I didn’t feel like forking more manure into the truck!

It took most of the weekend to sheet mulch the yard. I don’t think anyone was impressed — it looked a bit like a barnyard. But, now I could stake out my plots for the Sunset Garden and Personal Farmers Market, which gave me a nice visual of how much area I would need to fill in with other plants and allowed me to start spreading decorative mulch in the areas around my two planned gardens.  I really needed to put in some decorative mulch, because I was feeling disheartened by the look of straw and manure.

Planting in Sheet Mulch

Normally, you would put sheet mulch down in the autumn and allow it to decompose, so that you could plant in the spring. However, I didn’t have the luxury of time, so I had to plant directly into the sheet mulch, which can be tricky.

First, you don’t want to plant trees or bushes directly into the sheet mulch. They need to go in the ground, and a thick layer of mulch around the base of the tree will encourage voles to burrow under the mulch and munch on the bark of your tree. This would be bad. Because we had a couple bushes to plant which were previously crushed by snow, we planted them and carefully mulched around them, leaving at least eight inches of clearance around the trunk, which would discourage voles and also allow more water flow to the roots.

If you are transplanting from a pot directly into freshly laid sheet mulch, you need to make some accommodations.  The plants need some dirt to go into – they won’t get enough nutrients from straw! Dig a hole in the mulch at least twice the size of the pot, fill it with dirt, and then plant into the dirt. If you are working with a deep-rooted plant, such as a tomato, cut an ‘X’ into the paper/cardboard. The roots will find their way through the X into the soil beneath.

When direct sowing seeds, the same principle applies. Make a 3×3 inch hole in the straw, fill it with dirt, and plant your seeds in that. Otherwise, your tiny seeds will get lost in the deep straw and may never germinate.

Plants arrive! The large containers are filled with compost.

Finally, Garden In A Box pickup day arrived!  All Things Renewable was invited to have a booth at the pickup location in Golden, where we educated people on different methods of composting. As an added bonus, CRC had a lot of extra plants, and so I was able to take some time, pull out my landscape plan, and figure out what I wanted to use to fill in my extra space.  I bought Hen and Chicks and Rocky Mountain Penstemon, both evergreens, from the Heavenly Hell design.  I’ve always wanted to be a gardener, so I really took advantage and purchased extra tomatoes, basil, peppers, lemon thyme, rhubarb, tricolor sage, and ornamental kale from the Personal Farmers Market. Finally, I topped it all off with Korean feather reed grass and six hills giant catmint from the Sunset Garden. I read that the catmint will eventually grow to 3 ft x 3 ft, and I had lots of room to fill up, and I wanted the grass for winter interest.

Planting took much longer than I thought. I foolishly thought I’d get it all done in one day, but after laying all the pots out, I realized I had about 65 plants, just in my two gardens. It took a week to get those plants in the ground. If I didn’t have to dig those pesky holes and fill them with dirt before planting, it would have gone much faster. My neighbor also bought the sunset garden, and his was done in a day. I keep telling myself I had more plants, more area to fill in, and I was making a long-term Permaculture commitment.

After the plants went in, the top layer of decorative mulch was spread, and I was done!

Well, not really.

Outside the Box

After the Sunset Garden and Personal Farmers market gardens were planted, I still had lots of empty space. Remember those extra plants I bought? Behind the Sunset Garden went two additional giant catmints, surrounded by silver mound artemesia (from a local independent garden center) and rocky mountain penstemon. Another empty spot took some hen and chicks. All of these plants are in danger of being crushed by snow, but I am only concerned about the hen and chicks. As a succulent, they may not take kindly to that treatment.

Front yard, September 2010

After my 100+ pots were in, I went back to the irises I kept from the old yard, and I started dividing them and planting as filler. I also planted some tomatoes, borage, hyssop, and bee balm in the Snow Crusher Zone next to the house. An extra pepper plant went into a planter, and another planter got extra basil and tomato. I always wanted to try growing strawberries, and I had some spare room, so I went to the local nursery for strawberries, iceplant (because it’s pretty) and more silver mound artemesia, which is supposed to repel mice.

I finished everything off by planting lettuce and marigolds in front of the Personal Farmers Market. Although animals aren’t generally interested in herbs, I wanted the marigolds to keep the rabbits away from my lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers.   I intended to have a full border of marigolds, but I just got tired of planting.

After all this effort, I was worried that summer storms would wash away my decorative mulch, so Sean obligingly installed a temporary cedar edging. We didn’t take a lot of time on a showy edge, because once the sheet mulch has composted down, we will remove the edging.

Time to Relax?

Aaahhh, let’s sit back and watch the flowers bloom. Right?

Wrong!

My layer of straw was not the best material I could have used. It seemed like a good idea — I read that a well-tuned combine would remove any seed heads. I did notice seed heads when I was laying the straw, but it didn’t trigger any concern. It should have.

I spent at least four hours per week pulling ‘weeds’ for the next two months. I didn’t have your normal weeds — MY weeds were grass that had sprouted from the seed heads in the straw. I don’t know if it was alfalfa straw or wheat straw, but it doesn’t matter. Both are perennials, and I had to keep on top of it, lest they come back. I had sprouts EVERYWHERE. Granted, it was easy to pull, but it kept coming and coming! Now, my neighbors think that Xeriscape means spending hours pulling weeds, and when I try to explain about the straw and sheet mulch, their eyes glaze over. Live and learn.

Final Thoughts

Garlic chives and marigolds in herb garden

Now that fall is nearly here, I just watch my plants grow and bloom, occasionally go out to see if any more seeds have sprouted that I need to pull (hardly any in the last two months, thank Goodness), and pick some strawberries. I’ve made homemade pesto for the first time with the basil, enjoyed fresh tomatoes, and snipped some fresh herbs whenever I need them. I do water my tomatoes and peppers by hand, because they will not survive on what the rest of the garden receives.

Today, my sheet mulch has composted down enough that now the top of the root ball of some plants is above the level of the decorative mulch. My yard is covered in little plant mounds. Oops! I thought I dug deep enough, but I guess I didn’t. I don’t know how that will turn out next year, but this year the plants are fine!

Inviting nature in by letting predatory bugs take care of the ‘bad’ bugs seems to be working. My front yard is buzzing with bees, butterflies, and even the occasional hummingbird! I’ve seen more ladybugs, dragonflies, and praying mantises than ever before.

Jazz, who loved to pee on a yucca

My plants are doing very well, although they are small. I keep telling myself that the first year of a Xeriscape garden is about establishing your plants: water deeply but infrequently!

I do have one plant that is not flourishing in the sheet mulch. A few years ago, I planted a yucca to memorialize my dog, Jaxx, when he passed away. Yucca (aka Spanish Bayonet) was Jazz’s plant of choice for relieving himself on hikes. We were always amazed that he never suffered an injury in an uncomfortable place.  Jazz’s yucca flourished in its original spot, but then it began to encroach upon the sidewalk, and, finally, was pummeled by the snow sliding off our solar panels. So, we moved it to another part of the yard, in the sheet mulch, and now it is mostly yellow, listing badly, and acting like it won’t survive much longer. I have an emotional tie to this particular plant, so I hope it hangs in there.

Learn From My Mistakes

With every project, there are lessons learned. Here is what I will do differently, when I remove the rest of my turf:

• Sheet mulch in the fall for spring planting
• Don’t use straw:  Too many seeds!
• Don’t put peppers in an exposed, full sun area. The pepper in the pot is much happier, once I moved it to a more protected location.
• Harvest basil early, and often.
• Use drip irrigation – I bought a kit that will let me convert my sprinkler heads into drip lines, but I haven’t yet installed it.
• Don’t be so quick to fill in the empty areas: Even now, a couple plants are looking crowded.
• Be patient. The plants will eventually mature.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my experience replacing a lawn with a low-water landscape. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks next year!

Below are some more pictures.

Planter with pepper and marigold. This pepper is much happier than the one in the garden.

Path with iris, itty bitty hen and chicks, penstemon, artemesia, and catmint

Sunset Garden plumbago (blue) and yellow prairie coneflower

Front yard mulched -- looks like a barnyard!

Planting area sheet mulched and staked with decorative mulch border

Before

After

Part I

Converting to Xeriscape

Potable water is the world’s scarcest resource, and I am always conscious of how much I use in daily life, especially in arid Colorado. One of the greatest ares to conserve water is in your landscape.

Front yard before project. Bushes crushed by snow already removed.

My front yard faces south and is mostly lawn, with a section of icky rock mulch and a nasty evergreen ground cover bush that always looked sickly. The yard gets full sun all day, and it requires way too much water to keep green. In fact, the only reason it is green in this picture is because we had a wet spring. Normally, only the area shaded by the maple tree looks healthy.

I’ve wanted to go low water for a long time, but, as creativity is NOT my strong suit, I couldn’t bring myself to create a landscape plan, as required by my husband and my HOA.  Also, I wanted to do this on a budget and as eco-friendly as I could. Thank goodness I found a program to help me out!

The Center for ReSource Conservation runs many conservation programs, one of which is Garden In A Box. For those of you who are not familiar with the program, the Center has landscape artists design a Xeric plot, and consumers have the opportunity to purchase the plants, with professional design, at an amazingly low price. The program is supported by local municipalities, so only residents of certain cities are eligible to participate. Lucky for me, Golden was one of them! Now, I had two pre-designed areas, and I just needed to figure out the rest of my plan.

Design Considerations

As you can see, we have a Photovoltaic array on our roof, which covers about 60-80% of our electricity usage, depending on the season. The other ‘benefit’ of the panels is they shed sheets of snow, which crush everything in a 4 to 6 ft wide path in front of the house. This past winter, the snow mangled a yucca plant, a lilac, and some other bush that has flowers on it, which I never knew what it was.

Part of my landscape plan had to include moving the bushes and yucca, and being careful of plant selection in the path of destruction.

Landscape plan submitted to HOA. I ended up extending the Xeric garden to the maple tree and through the 'optional' area on the left.

Another priority was incorporate used materials wherever possible, and I was able to reuse some really old stuff.

When we installed a new patio about 8 years ago, we removed the pavers that made up the old patio and stacked them on the side of the house, where they were out of sight, out of mind.  Now, I had a terrific use for them: a pathway that would go through the Snow Crusher Zone and also provide access to the hose on the west side of the house. I made sure there was plenty of clearance between my planned pathway and where I wanted to put my Sunset Garden. I would fill in the snow zone on either side of the path with annuals, or with perennials that would be cut down in the fall.

Although I would love to be turf-free, I decided that removing all of my front lawn was not going to happen. My Sunset Garden and Personal Farmers Market wouldn’t take up enough room, and I had no idea what to do with the rest of the area. So, I kept some turf at the very front of the yard to tackle another year.

Removing Existing Landscape

Armed with my overall design, which featured the Sunset Garden and Personal Farmers Market from CRC, I received approval from my Homeowners Association.  In fact, the comment from my friend on the Architectural Review Committee, upon finding out that I wanted to Xeriscape was, “Good. You have entirely too much grass.”  My sentiments, exactly!

This is as far as I got removing rocks. You can see holes for the bushes removed and the nasty bush in the lower left corner.

After about 8 hours of removing rocks, bushes, and irises, I realized this was way too much work! A few minutes on craiglist solved my problem, and two guys showed up to remove the rest of the rock and the nasty bush. Nasty Bush was very nasty, and we needed to pull its three trunks out with a pickup truck and chain. After removing a couple yards of brush, Sean took a trip to the Rooney Road Recyling Center, where our yard waste would be turned into mulch.

Now, only the turf remained. That stuff is a major pain to remove, and then what do you do with it? Fortune continued to smile upon me, because I found out that David Braden of Organic Landscape Design would be creating a permaculture demonstration plot at the Golden Community Garden, and he needed volunteers! I wasn’t sure what permaculture was, nor if it would help me out with my garden, but I wanted to find out.

The first hour of prepping the plot in the community garden, I learned that some of the principles of permaculture include inviting nature in by planting diverse species and not using chemicals to kill off ‘bad’ bugs, which also will kill off ‘good’ bugs and really make your problems worse. In addition, through the use of sheet mulch, you can have a no-till, no-weed, low-water garden that works in harmony with nature. Gee, that sounded nice and all, but then I learned about something that convinced me.

Sheet Mulch

Sheet Mulch Diagram

The book, Gaia’s Garden, is a great resource for anyone interested in permaculture principles, design, and maintenance. It also provides instructions on how to create a bomb proof sheet mulch. You start with a layer of very high nitrogen material: manure. Above that you layer newspaper or cardboard about ½” thick, to act as a weed barrier. This is also a high carbon material, so now you need more nitrogen, which is another layer of manure on top of the paper. Now comes 8 to 12 inches of mulch (I used straw), and another layer of manure or compost. The layering of high nitrogen and high carbon materials allows the mulch to compost in place. On top of it all, you can use a ‘pretty mulch’, such as bark or shredded wood, so that your planting area doesn’t look like a barnyard.

After pondering the sheet mulch, I realized that would put my xeriscape yard a foot higher than my driveway, sidewalk, and lawn. Then, I remembered that it will compost in place – down to no more than ¼ of its original height. I decided I could live with that, especially when I found out that, in the areas where I am getting rid of lawn, I wouldn’t have to dig up the lawn! I could use the lawn as my first high-nitrogen layer and lay the newspaper right on top of my lawn.

That is A LOT of digging and effort I didn’t need to tackle. SOLD!

Now, I just needed to get the materials…

Materials List for Sheet Mulch

Sheet mulch materials: compost, straw, decorative mulch

Newspaper and/or Cardboard – I saved newspaper and cardboard for about a month, and then went around to my neighbors on recycling days and asked if I could have theirs. Some of them even found huge cardboard boxes they hadn’t bothered to bring out of the basement. I ended up with more than enough, and I recycled what I didn’t need.

Manure – Craiglist has postings for manure, but I also knew about a local resource of people who raise alpacas. I went to their home and loaded as much manure as I had the energy to load. I showed up after som

e serious rains to get my manure, and it was wet and heavy. I should have gotten more than I did, but I was tired.

Compost – The sustainability coordinator for the City of Golden informed me that the city would be providing compost to people who purchased a Garden In A Box. When I did the calculations, however, it wouldn’t be nearly enough, so I bought a yard of compost from a local landscape supply company.

Seed Free Mulch – I found an ad on craiglist for straw at $3/bale. This seemed like a good price to me, as the local feed store sold it at $6/bale. Delivery was included.

Decorative Mulch – Every summer, the City of Golden allows citizens to drop off branches for free. In addition, we drop off our Christmas trees in January. These are shredded and turned into mulch, which the city uses for their landscaping and also provides to residents at no charge. It took me a couple trips, but I eventually forked enough mulch into the truck to cover my Xeriscape garden.

Now that all the materials for my pathway and sheet mulching were on site, it was time to begin the REAL work!

That’s it for Part I. Part II will cover laying the sheet mulch, planting, and ‘after’ pictures.

Below are more ‘before’ pictures.

Personal Farmers Market Plan

Sunset Garden Landscape Plan

This is Nasty Bush

Rock mulch needing removal and irises to save

Bokashi is a form of composting that uses microbes (or probiotics) to rapidly degrade organic waste while suppressing the growth of other potentially dangerous organisms. What this means to you, is that you can have a counter top composting container to put all of your food scraps in that will not smell funny. This composting method even allows for you to put in dairy, meats, and prepared food.

The method is quick and easy. After the container is full you have a couple of options with what to do.

1. You can transfer the waste into a second container outdoors to further the fermenting process before it is buried.
2. You can bury the waste in the ground and let the remainder of the composting process to happen in the soil.

The composting process is accelerated by the microbes and should be fully fermented and ready to be buried in 14 days.

Bokashi allows for around the year composting. Having the microbes assistance, bokashi allows for fermentation and decomposition of food waste during high and low temperatures.

Another plus to the Bokashi method is the compost Tea produced. This Tea is a liquid produced by the fermenting process. The Tea can be diluted with water and added to house plants or your garden as an organic fertilizer. It contains healthy microbes and nutrients that will benefit your plants.

This method of composting is easy to get started with, will minimize waste, and will benefit the health of all your plants.

Complete Bokashi kits are available for quick and easy start up. Make organic fertilizer a part of your indoor and outdoor gardening.

Composting doesn't have to look like this!

I always thought that it was a bit gross to have a pile of decaying produce just sitting in the yard, especially when you want to have friends over for a BBQ. There has had to be a better way.

What I didn’t know then was there are different composting methods, and you don’t have to keep a pile in the back yard. Some of them can even be done in your kitchen, with no smell and no fuss. In the next few months, we’ll delve into the different ways to compost, helping you to not only generate nutritious food for your garden, but also reduce your carbon footprint.

Up to 30% of household waste is organic material that could be composted and used as a natural fertilizer for your landscaping or houseplants. Even if you do not have a yard, you can put your compost to good use in your friends’ garden or the tree down the street. When you don’t compost your kitchen scraps, they head over to the local landfill, where they break down anaerobically and create methane, a greenhouse gas 20+ times more potent than carbon dioxide.

If you’re not thrilled at the idea of collecting your food scraps in a spare Tupperware container, don’t worry! You can use a variety of countertop or under-the-sink bins which not only look nice but also filter out any smell that might accumulate until you get around to tossing those scraps in your compost bin. But which composting technique is right for you?

In the next few months, we will describe different methods of composting, the advantages and pitfalls of each, and what you can, and cannot, compost. We will talk about methods you can use year-round, such as Bokashi and Vermicomposting, as well as more traditional outside bins and tumblers..

Kitchen scraps are a 'green' compost addition

First, we will start off with an more unusual method, due to the season. Traditional compost bins require a mixture of about 60% high carbon (brown) material, generally leaves or straw, and 40% high-nitrogen (green) material, primarily food scraps. Because most people don’t think about starting to compost in the autumn, they haven’t saved their bagged leaves, and the compost pile suffers from a shortage of high-carbon, ‘brown’ material. A high-nitrogen ‘green’ pile is a sure path to frustration and bad smell. Therefore, we’ll start our series with methods you can jump into right now, without having to worry about a lack of leaves.

The first type of composting we’ll delve into is Bokashi, which is fast, easy, and can even compost items meat and dairy products. Check back soon for an update on how to compost year-round with Bokashi.

- by Brandon Varner.

Denver’s Home Renovation Bonanza also covers residential photovoltaic systems.  Otherwise known as solar electric systems, photovoltaics (PV) help you reduce your electricity bills as well as your carbon footprint.  All Things Renewable offers complimentary site assessments to help you decide the best size system for your location and budget.  If you are in Xcel Energy’s territory, you are likely eligible for their rebate as well as the 30% Federal tax credit.  Colorado also offers sales tax exemption for PV system components.  Perhaps you’re looking to replace an old hot water system.  All Things Renewable also offers sales and installation of Solar Thermal systems.

We can help you renovate home exteriors with Spray Stone that is offered in a variety of colors and with beetle kill pine siding.

For more information on these options or on any of our eco-friendly goods and services, call the store at 303.307.1317 or email info@allThingsRenewable.com

Here is a description of the Home Renovation Bonanza:

For a limited time, June 1-15, 2009, Denver is issuing FREE construction permits to homeowners and licensed contractors making qualified home improvements or repairs to existing one and two family dwellings, which can increase the value of the home.

The Home Renovation Bonanza is offered in order to encourage the improvement of existing 1 and 2 family homes, raise property value and encourage homeowners to stay in existing homes.

A variety of home improvements are covered by the Home Renovation Bononza, including:

Basic Interior Remodel of existing 1 or 2 Family Dwelling (existing Kitchen, Bath or Bedroom)

Basement Remodel of existing 1 or 2 Family Dwelling

Residential 1 or 2 Family Roof Covering Repair or Replacement

Wall Insulation

Replacement of water heaters

Change out central heating and air

Residential Photovoltaic Systems

Stucco or siding home exteriors

To qualify for a Free Home Renovation Bonanza permit, the following conditions appy:

Projects in 1 or 2 family dwellings (subject to International Residential Code) only

No new dwellings

No additions, garages or accessory structures

Over-the-counter Quick Permits and/or 1 or 2 family walk-through plan review process only

Permit shall be issued on the day of application

All permitted work shall be finished, inspected and approved within 180 days of permit issue

Any re-inspection fees shall apply

Permits will be issued from Downtown office only (201 W. Colfax Ave)

Questions? Please email ResidentialPermits@DenverGov.Org

I’ve had my Zapino electric scooter for about a year now, and I really love it! I had wanted a scooter since high school, and when I found out about electric scooters coming on the market, I did some research and settled on the Zapino. My long wait was over. It is a great way to save gasoline (I try to drive my car as little as possible now). Zapinos can go up to around 30 miles per charge and can zip around at up to 40 mph (depending on terrain and rider weight).  Another good thing is that, since they are fully electric, the horsepower and wattage is such that they do not require a motocycle license to ride. Zapinos can be registered in Colorado for $5.25 for three years at a time.

I have great fun toolin’ around and being able to do 0-30 in 4 seconds! Since the electric scooter has a sealed lead-acid battery, it is best to keep it charged after every single use, even if I go a short distance. Their battery life is longest (around 5 years) when they are kept charged or “topped-off” religiously. That is just about the only maintenance required…take care of the battery by keeping it charged when not in use. Other than keeping a few bolts tightened and maybe the occasional brake adjustment, there isn’t much else to worry about.   To fully appreciate the enjoyable experience you gotta ride one of these things.  Everyone who comes back from a test ride has a big smile on their face.

Feel free to stop by All Things Renewable, located in Northfield Shopping Center in Stapleton, for a complimentary test ride so you can find out for yourself how enjoyable the Zapino is.

The following is excerpted from the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office.

HOA’s [sic] have the ability to make a strong impact in establishing more energy efficient and sustainable communities within Colorado. This page includes information about The Homeowners’ Association (HOA) Bill for HOA’s. Read about the implications of the law, and how you can best use the law in this section.

The Basics

• The law went into effect on August 6, 2008
• HOA’s are not allowed to prohibit the installation or use of renewable energy devices or energy efficiency measures within their communities based upon aesthetic rules and restrictions.
• Residential and commercial property owners have the legal right to erect and use renewable energy generation devices on property they own.  These include:
  • Photovoltaic (PV) solar electric panels
  • Solar thermal systems (solar water heaters)
  • Solar lighting systems
  • Wind electric generators
• Residential property owners also have the right to install and use energy efficiency measures on property they own. These include:
  • Awnings, shutters, trellis, ramadas, or other energy reducing shade structures
  • Garage or attic fans
  • Evaporative coolers
  • Energy-efficient outdoor lighting
  • Retractable clotheslines
• Any and all of these devices and measures must meet all building code, electrical and bona fide safety requirements.
• Residential property owners do not have the right to erect or install renewable energy devices or energy efficiency measures on limited or general common elements of the Common Interest Community(CIC). This is particularly important for condominium and town home communities, where residents may not own the exterior of their units.
• Unreasonable restrictions on renewable energy devices are void and unenforceable. This law overrides any covenants, restrictions, or conditions contained in any deed contract, security instrument or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property (residential or commercial) that attempts to restrict or prohibit the installation of solar energy devices and wind-electric generators.
• HOA’s can impose reasonable restrictions on the dimensions, placement and external appearance of the renewable energy device. However, an HOA/CIC cannot:
  • Prohibit the installation or use of a renewable energy device.
  • Significantly increase the cost of installation or use of the renewable energy device.
  • Significantly decrease its performance or efficiency

If you are concerned that your HOA will not be receptive to your renewable energy improvements, we might be able to help. Contact us for more information on renewable energy improvements for your home or business, or to speak to your HOA on why renewable energy is good for your community. When your neighbors realize how renewable energy systems improve property values, they will undoubtedly become more receptive.

The following is courtesy of Southwest Windpower:

On February 17, 2009 President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Re-investment Act of 2009. With a significant emphasis on renewable energy technology deployment and job expansion, the bill improved upon the 2008 small wind tax credit by removing “cost caps.” This change allows consumers and small businesses to deduct from their tax liability 30% off the installed cost of a wind turbine. Additionally, businesses will have the option of receiving their credit in the form of a cash grant.

Q:  What does this mean to me?

A:  The entire cost of a Skystream system (plus installation) is reduced by 30 percent provided you have a tax liability over the course of two years. Depending on where you live, you could save even more! States have also implemented rebates for small wind systems which can be used in addition to the Federal credit. Furthermore, in the last two months alone, more than 30 states have introduced legislation that either expands incentives for renewable energy and/or addresses market barriers.
 
Typically, a tax credit is money that you can deduct from any money owed to the federal government at tax time (tax liability). The small wind tax credit can be carried over two years after the product is installed. For more information on how to take advantage of the credit, we suggest that you speak to a tax specialist.

Q:  How do I claim the credit?

A: You will be required to file the long form and itemize your deductions. The IRS form 5695 must be completed and filed with your taxes. The current form does not reflect the changes to the most recent legislation.

Q: What if I want to purchase and install more than one Skystream?

A: The stimulus package allows for a 30 percent tax credit on the total cost of multiple units. There is no cap on the 30 percent tax credit. Businesses may qualify for a grant from the US Treasury in lieu of a tax credit.

Q: I heard I can get cash back rather than a tax credit – how does that work?

A: Businesses can apply for a grant from the US Treasury and rather than a tax credit, receive a cash grant. The details are still being worked out but should be in place by April or May. Keep in touch with your dealer or the manufacturer for more information.

Q: Does this work for all small wind systems, even Whisper and Air Breeze?

A: Yes. The incentive is available to all users of small wind systems.

Q: How much does a Skystream cost?

A:  Although costs vary depending on installation and height, the following is a guideline for a Skystream mounted on a 33-foot’ monopole. 

Installed Cost ……………………….. $    14,000
Federal Incentive (30%) …………… $ ─   4,200
State Incentive ………………………. $            0*
Final Cost ……………………………. $      9,800

* State incentives can reduce costs further in some areas.

Recently, we had a company request information on solar for construction trailers.  During the initial meeting with the client, it became clear that they typically didn’t own the construction trailers, and installing solar directly on them was complicated and impractical.  I presented the idea of a trailer-based solar power station, and they liked the idea enough to ask us to spec one out.  So, Brian and I sat down at a local diner one afternoon and started penciling out design specs and load requirements. Brian Matzen is my systems installation contractor and electrical consultant, and has years of experience in custom solar application design.

Solar generator is easily towable to a job site or field use

Anyway, we did a bit of competitive research, and Brian found a company that already builds these things to military specification.  It didn’t take long for both of us to realize there was little point in trying to build something to the customer’s requirements without having field tested a generic unit, so the logical decision was to talk with the manufacturer.

As a result, All Things Renewable now carries solar power stations. These units come pre-designed to military specs, so they are incredibly durable and sized to replace a 10kW diesel generator, except quiet and with no fumes.  These solar generators can be customized to suit specific output requirements, include wind turbines, propane backup systems, and even  mobile workstations.  Stop by the store to find out more.

Sean.

Sounds like a good plan.

Now, I’m not a gardener, but I do want to reduce what I send to the landfill, especially since, with the lack of oxygen, my food scraps and yard clippings will take a very long time to decompose. Personally, I won’t be composting for the benefit of my sad, weedy landscape. But, who knows? My grass and perennials might appreciate the attention.

I bought a plastic compost bin at a discount store and started throwing stuff in. I had read a little about composting, so I knew that I needed more ‘brown’ (leaves, soiled straw) than ‘green’ (kitchen scraps). Unfortunately, I had no brown.  So, I went over to the local recycle center and picked up some free mulch as my brown material.

Julie's raccoon-resistant compost bin

Over the course of the next year or so, I threw stuff into the compost bin. Everything from kitchen scraps to dog hair to used paper plates from a picnic went in. I didn’t pay it much attention, except to note that the latch didn’t seem to work well, because lid would open overnight. (The mystery was solved when Sean busted the neighborhood raccoon climbing out of the bin, grasping a peach. Solution: bungee cord.)

In early fall, I figured I should have something to show for my not-so-conscientious effort, and I decided to check the status of my pile.

Opening the bottom doors of the bin, which is where the good stuff is supposed to hang out, revealed the mulch I put in as my ‘brown’ material, tightly compacted, and impossible to dig into. Hmmmmmm…

So, I grabbed various yard tools and went into the pile from the top down, determined to both aerate and find some good composting action. With a lot of effort, I got about a foot down, only to discover the paper plates, corn cobs, and various food items from that picnic, looking exactly the same as the day I put them in. To be honest, the food did look different — it had shriveled and dried.

You mean I have to WATER this? I know that Colorado is dry, but I can’t even manage to water my houseplants.

At this point, I realized could possibly be doing something wrong. I might be doing something wrong. I relieved some frustration over the next several hours by hacking away at the pile, trying to get some oxygen in there.

A couple months later, when autumn had truly arrived, I rescued bagged leaves from my neighbor’s driveway for a supply of brown material. I even watered my pile, from time to time.

(In actuality, ‘watering’ consisted of emptying my compost pail, filling it with water to clean it out, and dumping the water on the pile.) Still, aeration was too much of a pain, so I didn’t bother.

Then, FINALLY, I found a manufacturer of a compost aerator and brought some aerators into All Things Renewable. They arrived last week! I brought one home and, on Saturday, I ventured out into the snow to test out this product, expecting a completely frozen pile and a frustrating struggle.

My new favorite tool

I’m happy to report that this thing ROCKS! I was able to fully loosen and turn everything in the bin in a few minutes and with little effort. This is when I experienced one of those ‘simple pleasures’ moments. My pile wasn’t frozen, which means that something is working. I didn’t see ANY identifiable corn cobs or paper plates, and I even found some actual compost!

I did get a little too excited in my aeration efforts and managed to bust open the corner of the bin. Did I mention it was a cheap bin? I’m planning to switch to a tumbling composter in the spring, or perhaps a worm bin. Maybe both! I’ll decide after attending our composting seminar.

Although it has been a small challenge, composting has made a huge difference in the amount of trash Sean and I send to the landfill. We’ve always recycled the usuals – newspaper, aluminum, glass, plastic bottles, etc. When we started composting and taking cardboard, paperboard, and mail to the local recycling dropoff, the results were amazing.

Those two simple changes took us from landfilling between one and two 45-gallon trash bins a week down to less than one 10-gallon bag every week. Now, we put our trash on the curb less than once a month.

If you are interested in reducing your waste and improving the health of your garden through composting, I highly recommend that you join me on Saturday, Feburary 28 at 10:00 a.m. for a workshop led by Steve Lawrence.

Steve will help you avoid my newbie mistakes

Steve is a Master Composter and a volunteer with Denver Urban Gardens public education program. He’ll cover all kinds of great stuff, including
* what you can compost,
* how to maintain water content,
* the problems you may encounter, and
* how to build an indoor worm bin.
(If you want to try worms but don’t want to build anything, you can buy a worm bin.)

If you register in advance and attend the workshop, you get a free gift from All Things Renewable. Is that a good enough bribe to make you get up on a Saturday morning?