Get your green on this spring by attending one of the PA Resources Council backyard composting and rain barrel workshops in Allegheny County in April and May.

You’ll leave the Backyard Composting Workshop with an 80-gallon composting bin and the Watershed Awareness/Rain Barrel Workshop with all of the hardware needed to make your own rain barrel and a coupon for a $10 discount on a food grade, 55-gallon drum.

Not sure what to do with your kitchen, garden and yard scraps? Would you like natural, home-made compost for your lawns and gardens? Expand your recycling efforts to include kitchen scraps and yard debris.

This workshop thoroughly covers the importance and benefits of composting, the process, setting up a compost pile, proper maintenance, and ways of using finished compost.

The cost is $50 single/ $55 per couple and includes one compost bin.

The Backyard Composting Workshops will be held--

-- April 3 at 6:30 p.m. - CCI Center, South Side

-- April 8 at 7:30 p.m. - Mt Lebanon Library

-- April 16 at 6:30 p.m. - Blueberry Hill Park, Franklin Park

-- April 28 at 6:30 p.m. - Baldwin Library

-- May 15 at 6:30 p.m. - Churchill Municipal Building

Also in celebration of the season PRC is offering a Watershed Awareness/Rain Barrel Workshop at various locations.

Rain barrels, a great way to conserve water, supply non-chlorinated water for gardening and keep excess water out of the stormwater system, alleviating one of the causes of flooding, water pollution, and combined sewer overflow in the region.

The workshop will address rainwater harvesting, water pollution issues and solutions. The workshops will be held--

-- April 10 at 6:30 p.m. - Churchill Borough Building

-- April 21 at 7:00 p.m. - Upper St. Clair Library

-- April 24 at 7:00 p.m. - Phipps Garden Center

-- April 29 at 7:00 p.m. - Whitehall Public Library

-- May 1 at 6:30 p.m. - CCI Center

-- May 6 at 6:30 p.m. - Blueberry Hill Park Activity Center

-- May 13 at 7:00 p.m. - Mt. Lebanon Library

-- May 21 at 6:30 p.m. - East End Food Coop

For more information or to register, visit the rail barrel and backyard composting workshop webpages or call Nancy at 412-488-7490 X 247.

4/7/2014