Midtown Garden Depot
The Midtown Garden Depot and Midtown Community Garden (click here for Garden info) share a fenced commercial lot at 2930 Cheechako Street, near Arctic and Benson. The Depot is on the north side of the lot (closer to Benson), and the Garden is on the south side (further from Benson).
The Depot is a space to donate, store, and pickup free gardening supplies. Painted plywood signs mark the materials being collected and shared with the public. The signs also have tips on how to use the different materials.
Hours of opertion: Open 7 days a week. Please respect the neighbors and neighborhood by limiting visits to daytime hours (e.g. ~7am-9pm)
What's available? What can I drop off? What do you do with it? Yarducopia keeps piles of wood chips, leaves, and manure stocked May - September. Shovels and pitchforks to move materials are usually on site (might not be immediately obvious, look around). Donations of tools, leaves (loose or bagged), and other gardening-related things are welcome and encouraged. When donating, please put like-with-like, keep the place organized, & stack pots neatly.
- Plastic plant pots and trays (preferrably clean, no broken pots)
- Tools (hoses, shovels, etc)
- Tree Leaves (bagged and delivered by landscapers)
- Woodchips (spruce, cottonwood, birch deliverd by arborists)
- Manure (mostly horse, varying ages and states of composting)
- Compost (see compost instructions below)
- Mushroom 'bricks' (the size of a big loaf of bread and made of grain or sawdust that has been broken down by mushrooms)
- Sand, gravel, and rock
- Potted perennials
No branches or grass accepted at the Depot. Grass rots quickly and heaped and bagged grass smells awful. We want to respect our neighbors, so please take grass somewhere else. Same goes for branches. No, thank you. Alternative options include the MOA Wood Lot and SWS organics recycling drop off across the street from the entrance to the new Central Transfer Station (may - october).
Compost Instructions: The Depot compost pile provides a home for pesticide- and trash-free household kitchen scraps and yard trimmings (no grass). The compost is turned as often as individuals like yourself have time for. Please mix and cover food with an equal amount of leaves (provided on site or bring your own). The leaves balance out the compost chemistry and break down fairly quickly, so the resulting compost should be suitable for vegetable gardens or spreading around perennial plants and trees. By mixing and covering the food scraps with leaves, you're also greatly reducing the risk of pests being attracted to the compost pile (birds, dogs, etc). No pests means happy neighbors and a happy Depot. So please help keep the pile tidy so we can continue to have this resource. Reward yourself by grabbing some older compost to bring home to your garden :)
Questions? Interested in dropping off manure, wood chips, leaves, or mushroom bricks at the Depot? Give us a call at 717-4392 or [email protected]. *Note, most donations of small garden-related things are welcome at any time
Other questions welcome too! Nick @ 717 4392 / [email protected]
