Virginia Anne Lyon

This book is a great guide. You should be able to find it second-hand online: Barash, Cathy Wilkinson. Edible flowers from garden to palate. c1993. Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, Colorado. ISBN 1555911641 ; ISBN 1555912461 (pbk). It includes culture notes and recipes, and only flowers that have been well-researched and are very certain to be safe are included.

Hi. A couple of bits of information from a couple of sites: Here in Australia, this is the situation: http://www.the-compost-gardener.com/-composting-paper-is-it-safe-.html. As you'll see, glossy paper is made glossy by adding clay, and a printer acquaintance told me that the inks have been changed to non-toxic in the past decades for the health of workers in printing. And (somewhat alternatively) there was this response to a post on the U.S. situation at http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1595964/cardboard-and-newspaper-safe-to-compost dated 2007 : "First, newspaper ink is almost entirely soy-based, and non-toxic.

Second, all newsprint is not bleached, and bleached paper stock is not necessarily harmful or toxic. The cardstock my plant bands are made with are bleached board, and are completley harmless.

Third, Corrugated cartons are made with starch glues, from plant starch like Corn and Potato. They are 100% biodegradable and non-toxic.

Fourth, in this country, the conditions I describe above are mandated by state and federal legislation, and are monitored by a variety of agencies, like EPA, for manufacturer compliance.

Fifth, No nutes in paper products? Horsehockey! Many of the same nutrients, both micro and macro, found in dried leaves and sawdust or wood shavings are found in paper products. Most of the paper in newsprint and corrugation is from wood pulp. Also, the primary purpose of dry browns in compost is to provide Carbon to the composting process. It's more of an energizer than a feeding process. Nitrogen is the fuel, and Carbon is the spark.

Xerox paper, laser printer ink and inkjet ink. Most of the same legislative controls apply. You can check the composition of the inks by looking at MSDS information from the manufacturers.

Paper borne substances to avoid are shiny coatings on paper (like glossy magazines), and plastic tape on boxes. They don't belong in your compost. Brown paper tapes on cartons from many sources are now fully biodegradable, and use the same plant starch glues found in corrugation."