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3rd Annual Ewing Restaurant Week Kicks Off This Saturday

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2024 Restaurant Week April 13 – 21.

Mayor Bert Steinmann, Ewing Township Council, and the Ewing Green Team announce a week+ celebration of great dining opportunities in Ewing with our 3rd annual Restaurant Week running from April 13th – 21st.

Ewing’s Restaurant Week is a week-long promotion bookended by two full weekends that features a dozen unique dining options in the community.  Treat yourself to breakfast out, grab a quick lunch, enjoy a delicious dinner dining experience, or even just pick up a dessert or treat – our participating restaurants offer a variety of culinary options. 

Restaurants will offer diners a variety of discounts, whether that be a small discount on a particular food item or a more robust pre-fixed price menu – encouraging Ewingites to ‘get a taste’ of what Ewing restaurants have to offer.  Chefs will prepare delicious menus at mouthwatering prices! All costs are exclusive of tax, beverages, and gratuity.  Be sure to check out in advance whether you need to mention “Restaurant Week” to receive your discount!

No tickets or special passes are needed. However, reservations are strongly recommended for those who choose to “dine in.” Contact individual restaurants to make your reservations. Specials for the week and restaurant contact information can be found at the bottom of the Restaurant Week page of ewingnj.org.

Jennifer Keyes-Maloney, Ewing Councilwoman, has contacted many of our local restaurants in town regarding their potential participation in this event.  She believes that it is possible that a few more restaurants will participate.  We encourage any late applicants to register their restaurant and specials ASAP (Restaurant Week) to be included in this event that is sure to generate extra traffic at your establishment. 

Mayor Bert Steinmann encourages everyone to come out and support the great restaurants in our community.  “Ewing Restaurant Week is the perfect opportunity to visit your favorite establishment or discover a new one.”

The Ewing Green Team is excited to introduce this fun new way for people to try some new places or revisit an old favorite. We hope you take advantage of these special offers. What a great way to try something new and support local businesses at the same time. Bon Appetit!

Kick the Habit: A Dirty Dozen of Common Gardening Bad Habits You Need to Kick

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Bad Habit #11

Landscape Fabric  

It’s a myth that landscape fabric prevents weeds.  Yes, they may initially, however, the fabric, once down, tends to stay in place season after season and that’s where trouble starts.  Issues include:

Weed seeds blow on top and germinate in the mulch layer sinking their roots down thru the fabric making it/them hard to remove. 

The roots of desired plants grow across and on top of the barrier.  Thus, they are not as deep in the soil as they should be.  The lack of deeply penetrating roots make the plant easily toppled by high winds and very susceptible to drought.  We want to encourage, not discourage, deep root growth. 

Landscape fabric prevents plants from spreading and naturalizing in your bed.  Worse, weed barriers are also sometimes impregnated with herbicides and fertilizers.

A major drawback of the practice is that it inhibits soil building.  When mulch is applied over the fabric it can’t decompose and contribute to building the health of the soil beneath it.  Many of the old weed fabrics aren’t water and gas permeable leaving the soil beneath dry and compacted.  This starves plants for water and nutrients and results in greatly reduced soil food web activity, noticeable by a lack of insect activity and earthworms.   When used on areas that hold on to excess water and become soggy, the weed barrier can trap water beneath it, creating a swampy mess, and a perfect breeding ground for some noxious weeds (e.g. field horsetail). 

A final observation is that many are plastic films, and you know what we think of plastic!!  They eventually break down and you find bits of plastic everywhere.  Landscape fabric is really hard to remove once it starts breaking down and depositing microplastics in the soil.  The long-term implications of the excess of microplastics in our ecosystems are yet to be fully defined, but we suspect that they are not good. 

Kick the Habit There is no magic solution that will eliminate weeds.  Apply mulch, more mulch, and more mulch still.  Wood chips, leaves, other organic materials such as pine straw and compost all will do a better job while eventually breaking down and building your soil.  Even stones and pea gravel are better.  Layer your mulch 2-3″ thick and very few weeds will get through.  Better yet, use a living mulch of native ground covers to outcompete the weeds and reduce the need to add brown mulch each season.  In summary, landscape fabric offers a short-term gain in return for a long-term problem.

Kick the Habit: A Dirty Dozen of Common Gardening Bad Habits You Need to Kick

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From the EGT’s Sustainable Landscaping Series, “The Ecological Benefits of the Not So Perfect Yard”

Bad Habit #10 – Tilling

  • Don’t till seasonally.  If the condition of the soil bed requires it, till once at the beginning of the bed set up and then let it do its thing naturally.
  • Tilling brings up weed seeds that are buried in the soil and setting them free to germinate and do their worst.
  • Tilling destroys soil structure and small microorganisms that are a part of the living soil structure.  This means they are unable to produce nitrogen that benefits your plants.
  • Tilling can create a thick, dense layer of compacted soil known as hardpan.  Hardpan can restrict the flow of nutrients and water through the soil. 
  • Tilling releases carbon into the atmosphere that you should keep in your soil.

Kick the Habit Cover your soil with layers of mulch. Wood chips in particular, placed ON TOP OF THE SOIL, are an invaluable resource.  They are generally available for free and are used by organic gardeners to mulch their gardens. The chips eventually break down and feed the soil increasing its fertility, water retention, and the beneficial organisms in the food web.  Green mulch (plants) is even better.

Kick the Habit: A Dirty Dozen of Common Gardening Bad Habits You Need to Kick

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From the EGT’s Sustainable Landscaping Series, “The Ecological Benefits of the Not So Perfect Yard”

Bad Habit #9 – Not Being Waterwise

As our drought across great swaths of our country last summer makes clear, water conservation efforts are critical.  We frequently go from one extreme to another: either too much or not enough.   Acres of water guzzling lawn, non-native plant species, inappropriate watering habits, all contribute to water scarcity issues.  Excessive impervious cover contributes to stormwater runoff which leads to water pollution and undercharged groundwater tables.
KICK THE HABIT

Reduce storm water runoff and keep our waters clean with the installation of green infrastructure including reducing impervious surfaces, grading all areas away from your house at a gentle slope, and capturing rainwater on site by installing rain gardens/barrels.  Your goal should be to keep as much rainwater on site as possible. 

Remove as much lawn as possible and replace it with gardens filled with native plants.  Irrigate only when necessary but do keep in mind that even native plants need supplemental water as they get established (during the first 2 years).  Be sure to mulch properly but remember that green mulch is the best mulch.   Choose the right plant for the right place, matching your planting choice with the site conditions.   

RESOURCES

MCIA Shredding Event This Saturday, October 8th

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The Mercer County Improvement Authority will be sponsoring a County Document Shredding event this Saturday, October 8th from 9 am – 12 noon.  It will be held at 641 South Broad Street, Trenton, Lot 4, across the Mercer County Administration Building.  

A maximum of eight boxes and/or bags of paper per vehicle will be accepted.  This event is for paper only, no household chemicals will be accepted.

This Shred Day is open to Mercer County residents only; no commercial businesses will be allowed. 
Proof of residency (driver’s license) will also be required.

For more information call 609-278-8086 or visit www.mcianj.org.

The final Ewing Township Shred Day of 2022 will be Saturday, October 15 from 9 am – 1 pm at the Municipal Building.