Thanks for making a difference!

On “Make A Difference Day” (Saturday October 23) over 100 people volunteered in a town wide clean up day. 3,105 pounds of trash and 1,170 pounds of recyclables were collected.

The Westville Environmental Commission would like to send a special than you to Wheelabrator (our corporate sponsor), Donna Domico and public works, and all of the residents who did their part to make a difference.

Upcoming Events

Butterfly Garden Dedication

Saturday, September 25

2:00 pm


The garden at Thomas West Park will officially be dedicated Saturday, September 25 at 2:00 pm. Refreshments will be served. We also will be distributing native plants.



Please come join the Environmental Commission in thanking everyone for their contributions to this award winning project.









Fall Fest

October 9th on Broadway

10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The Westville Environmental Commission will have a booth at The Borough of Westville's first annual Fall Fest!

Stop by and visit for information on the NJ Community Partners Initiative, rain barrels, native plants, a children's activity, and more!

Make A Difference Day

Saturday, October 23, 8 a.m.

The Commission is sponsoring a fall clean up day for National Make A Difference Day. Make A Difference Day is the nation's largest day of service. Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. Millions of people throughout the country participate.

Trash bags and gloves will be provided. Please meet at the gazebo on River Drive at 8 a.m. to help beautify our town and make a difference together!

The next meeting of the Environmental Commission is October at 7:00 pm.


All meetings are at 114 Crown Point Rd and open to the public.

Shoreline restoration project at Thomas West Park

You may have noticed the depleted shorelines at Thomas West Park.
You may also have noticed the new addition of coir logs.
The brown (serpent looking) objects in the banks are coir logs.

In conjunction with Public Works, the Westville Environmental
Commission is currently working to control and prevent erosion on the shores of the stream and pond at Thomas West Park. Coir logs were delivered and installed. Then native plants were planted into the logs.

The coir logs act as an anchor for the erosion. However, once the native plants are established on the shoreline, the plants will take over the task of controlling erosion. This is an ongoing project with several stages planned.

If you would like to help with this project, please email us at
GreenWestville@westville-nj.com or stop by speak with anyone you see
working in the gardens at Thomas West Park. We are always looking for
volunteers and new members! Working at the park and gardens is a
great way to give back to the community and the environment.

As always, meetings are welcome to the public.

The next meeting is October 6th, 7:00 p.m., 114 Crown Point Rd.

Compost Tea

Another use for your compost is to make compost tea.

Compost is a nutrient booster for your plants. Pour it on the roots or spray it on the leaves.

What You Need
~compost
~5 gallon bucket
~water – preferably taken from your rain barrel – if using municipal water, let water stand overnight to reduce amount of chlorine
~paint strainer
~string

How to Make Compost Tea
~fill bucket with water
~fill the paint strainer with a shovel full of compost & tie it off with the string, thus creating your compost tea bag
~drop tea bag in the bucket
~let it soak for a couple of days, periodically dunking the bag
~remove tea bag & put contents of bag around your plants
~use the “tea” to water your plants at their base or dilute it & spray on the foliage
~apply once a month during growing season

Composting: How-to

How Do You Make Compost?

The beauty of making compost is that it is so simple and easy. You use materials that you have in your home and yard. It does not have to be an exact science. Think of a forest floor – it is covered with layers of materials that have fallen there naturally, over the seasons, and they have decomposed into a fluffy, fragrant, rich soil.

To get you started, here are some basic guidelines to follow.
Start by making or buying a compost bin. This can be as simple as making an open bin, in a 3 or 4 feet in diameter circle, out of welded wire or plastic garden fencing. Or you can purchase a compost bin, which will come with a lid. Using a lid speeds up the composting process.
Put your compost bin on the ground, in an easily accessible place. It should be near a water source because you will have to keep your compost pile moist. And it should be in a semi-sunny location.

Add ingredients. Start with a 4 inch layer of chopped leaves and stemmy plants, sticks, or other coarse material on the bottom.

Then, add kitchen wastes, dead plants, and chopped leaves, as they become available.
In your kitchen, keep a small pail or some type of washable container to collect your food scraps.

Make regular trips out to your compost pile and mix your kitchen scraps into the existing pile.
Your compost pile should be a mix of carbon-rich materials, your “browns,” and nitrogen-rich materials, your “greens.” Aim for 2 parts browns to 1 part greens.

Your carbon or brown materials are dried leaves, sticks and dead plants.

Your nitrogen or green materials are fresh or green, such as kitchen scraps.

Good Compost Ingredients
Leaves, and other dead plant material
Grass clippings ( * NOTE – As an alternative to collecting grass clippings, leave them on your lawn after mowing. They are an excellent way to naturally feed and mulch your lawn. Grass clippings do not cause “thatch”. Clippings are 90% water and decompose very quickly) Fruit and vegetable trimmings
Fruit rinds, peels, cores, egg shells
Coffee grinds & filters, tea bags
Manure from horses, cattle, goats, poultry and rabbits (optional)

Bad Compost Ingredients DO NOT USE
Meat scraps
Fat or butterFatty, sugary or salty foods
Chips or sawdust from treated wood
B-B-Q or charcoal ash
Wood ashClippings from herbicide-treated lawnsManure from dogs, cats or humans


Add water to your compost pile as often as needed to keep the material moist but not soggy (like a wrung-out sponge).

Turning the pile is helpful but optional.

The compost is ready to use when you can no longer recognize the original ingredients. A compost pile is an ongoing activity. You keep adding to it from the top, and you remove your compost from the bottom.

Composting: The Gardeners Black Gold

What is Composting?
Composting is the process of recycling old plants, vegetable matter, yard waste and dead leaves and turning them into a nutrient rich, soft brown material known as compost, a gardener’s “black gold”.

Uses for Compost
Compost has many uses in your garden and lawn.
When setting out seedlings and plants, fill the planting hole with compost.
Side dress plants with compost. It will act as mulch, and every time it rains nutrients will leach into the plant roots to nourish them.
Spread an inch or two over your lawn to fertilize it.

Benefits of Using Compost
Produce healthier plants, thus reducing or eliminating the need to buy commercial fertilizers or pesticides.
Saves you money – you don’t have to buy fertilizers
Lightens heavy or clay soils
Increases the water-holding capacity of sandy soils
Encourages healthy populations of helpful soil organisms
Provides nutrients for plants and crops
Improves the soil’s moisture retention, which reduces the need to water
Improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants

Rain Barrels

Rain Barrels

With a rain barrel for your garden, all that rainwater can be saved. Rain water harvesting is important because it decreases the high demand for domestic water in residential irrigation. By collecting rain water and storing it a rain barrel you’ll have water for future use.

A rain barrel is a large barrel style container that is placed under downspout in an ideal location close to most gardening areas. Most rain barrels have one water inlet, and one faucet style fitting at the bottom of the barrel. The water enters through opening at the top, directly from a shortened downspout. The water remains stored and only accessed out of the barrel via the faucet at the bottom. Gravity provides a low flow and constant pressure that is suitable for soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems.

With rain water being one of the most abundant and consistently available natural resources, the conservation of it is an efficient way to cut down the cost of water usage in the household and help alleviate the burden of imposing water shortages. The placement of a rain barrel underneath the gutters of your home can provide a barrel full of rain water in a downpour, which in turn can be used in practical ways such as watering your flowers and garden or even washing your car. With enough rain water saved up throughout the year, you might rarely use the garden hose for an entire summer.

The benefits of having one does wonders for people who tend to use the garden hose on a liberal basis, saving not just a good chunk of pocket change but also provide fresher and purer natural soft water for your plants.

The Westville Environmental Commission sells rain barrels for $40. Please let us know if you are interested and we can show you how to use it.

Water Conservation

Not only does improper watering waste valuable water, but excess irrigation water can also carry fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants to ground and surface waters.
Some key points to remember during those critical gardening months:

~Use a rain gauge to measure weekly rainfall and apply only the amount of supplemental water needed.

~Avoid frequent watering, it encourages shallow root depths and can weaken plants. One thorough watering event each week is best.

~Use low pressure/low volume watering systems such as soaker hoses and drip irrigation for gardens and beds. This reduces water losses due to evaporation, and the low flow rates minimize the potential for water leaching below the root zone or running off the surface. Water is also applied at or near the root zone where the plants need it most.

~For when it does actually rain in NJ, one of the best ways to harness that resource is to utilize a rain barrel.

Native Plants

Native plants are classified as plants that have been growing in our region since before European settling.

Natives are beneficial to birds and to butterflies because wildlife prefer to feed on natives. Many non-native ornamental plants have no food value to our wildlife. Also, native trees, especially evergreens, provide cover for birds. Our community garden at the Thomas West park pond is filled with native plants. We are in the process of having the habitat certified as a Monarch waystation. Waystations provide resources for Monarch butterflies throughout the breeding season and fall migration.

Some commonly found native plants are
~American Holly
~Red Maple
~Winterberry
~Black Eyed Susans
~Coreopsis
~Common Blue Violet
~New England Aster
~Switch Grass
~Lobelia (Cardinal Flower)


A full list of native plants can be found at New Jersey Native Plant Society.
www.npsnj.org

Remembering Summer Sun

As the days warm and the snow melts, I am reminded of the turtles at Thomas West Park.

Please remember the turtles and do not litter! We want the pond to be clean for Summer 2010, with turtles on the new Turtle Deck.