By Connie Nelson

Like most gardeners, I'm trying to be green. I rarely use chemicals in my garden. I feed my plants mostly with compost. When I think they need a boost, I give them a dose of fish emulsion. I use only corn gluten meal when (or if!) I fertilize the lawn. I compost kitchen waste and use all the leaves I can rake (which in my yard is not so many) as winter mulch.

But sometimes I wimp out and use those nasty plastic garbage bags to get rid of weeds. My home composter is too small to kill weeds and I know it's illegal to throw yard waste in the garbage. Pretty soon, I won't be able to do that. And I'm glad not to have the option of using a Glad bag. (Here's the story in case you missed it.)

What say you greenthumbs? Do you use plastic or paper? Do you think this will encourage more people to compost and use leaves for winter mulch? Or wil they just toss them in the garbage?