scraps from the grocer ...

10 years ago

After several fruitless searches, a produce manager from a local supermarket is now setting aside "leftover" vegetables for me to pick up for use in my garden. They include every imaginable leafy green, apples, peppers, pears, watermelon, yams and on and on. Apparently, they are beyond the date to be sold or given to a food bank. (Sad to say but, except for the watermelon and a few apples, much of it seems crisper and fresher than what we have in the fridge!) I am chopping these into chunks and adding them to scraps from our kitchen. All go into 12" deep holes in the garden. I usually fill each hole a third full with scraps and toss the soil back on. With such an abundance of scraps (and no critter problem except for two dogs who are too lazy to dig them up), is there any reason not to dig deeper holes, fill each hole to the top and simply mound the dirt over it? (I'm really trying not to overthink this. I've made way too many mistakes and want to make sure I'm not overlooking any potential problem.)

Also, is there any benefit to adding shredded leaves to the scraps in these holes? As I mentioned in another post, I have a super abundance of leaves this year, thanks to the generosity of neighbors. Was saving them to mix with freshly cut grass to start compost piles next summer but have a surplus that could be used now. Am wondering if the lack of oxygen to this mix in the holes would be detrimental.

Thanks.

Featured Answer

toxcrusadr

10 years ago

I didn't think there was a 'use by' date for produce. I thought they only tossed it when it started to look bad. But I can see having a clock they watch, because some produce can look OK outside while it's starting to rot on the inside. I tell ya, I'd be tempted to take a box of the best of it to a soup kitchen or food bank, with all the packaging removed so they have no idea where it was originally from. Just don't say anything to Mr. Grocer, ever. They get real weird about that. In fact that's why your search has been fruitless up to this point. But we have to do something about how much food we discard and how much of that goes into the landfill.

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Comments (8)

grubby_AZ Tucson Z9
10 years ago
Your results might depend on where you live, but only a little; it's hot and wicked dry here. I bury all the kitchen scraps in plain old holes and they disappear amazingly well. Peelings, potatoes, eggs, steak fat, everything. Non-wet stuff gets piled on the soil to act as sun shade mulch, but it eventually gets buried when I eventually layer on compost from manure. It all gets broken down, under dirt, and it all disappears in time. The ground isn't inert; there's lots of things going on in it, oxygen or not.
kimmq
10 years ago
About the only things I am aware of that would prevent air (oxygen) from infiltrating soil would be too much water, or maybe a layer of plastic. If the Soil Food Web has the chance they will maintain the balance needed to digest the material you put into the soil.

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kimmq
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Much of why grocers are reluctant to allow reuse of discarded produce has to do with Public Health rules, not because the grocer does not want someone taking what is being tossed out. If a grocer could save half a ton of money by allowing composters to take al that produce they would do so.

On one hand many states have banned the placing of yard waste in sanitary landfills they also have rules in place that restrict recycling food waste.

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viper114
10 years ago
instead of a hole try a trench.....you can fit much more in a trench. Trench composting is a common practice. No need to add any leaves or such unless you want to. Within a few months time everything you put in the trench will be gone.
nancyjane_gardener
10 years ago
kimmq, You are right about the public health stuff! I worked with Spec Ed students at an organic store, and they were VERY careful about giving out produce! The people that came had to be an approved organic farm to be able to get leftover produce!

I was able to get coffee grounds, but no produce! Nancy
led_zep_rules
10 years ago
Very interesting topic to me, have been composting and redistributing leftover produce in large quantities from a weekend market near my home for about 10 years now. Today's haul was 11 cases of bananas, 8 of pears, 2 of green peppers, 1 each of cilantro, persimmons, yellow summer squash, eggplant, and pineapple. That's a typical amount, although the exact items vary. I used to drag home bags of corn husks from grocery stores once in a while when corn was on sale, but they usually gave me a very hard time about it. These vendors know we eat some, we redistribute some, we compost a lot. They are partly glad they don't have to schlepp it all somewhere, and partly that I give it to those in need and keep it out of the landfill.

This time of year we pile the stuff on top of our raised beds, which sink a bit each year because there is so much organic matter in them. We also put on fall leaves. Most of the year it goes into numerous compost bins, mixed with bagged leaves we pick up in a nearby city. We wouldn't have the energy to dig holes for all of it. We fluff and fold the compost piles once in a while, and add the compost to the gardens and use it in pots. Our plants grow very well. :-)
nancyjane_gardener
10 years ago
led, maybe markets have different rules than grocery stores? In our area they are pretty tight about the rules! I'm not sure about the farmers markets though. Nancy