Sustainable Gardening

Practical answers from nature-loving garden gurus

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About the Contributors

• SUSAN HARRIS is the editor and primary author of this website.  Read all about her here.
• ALLAN ARMITAGE is a professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia and author of many books — about perennials, native plants, annuals, etc — and a frequent contributor to GardenRant. He reports here on the sustainability of the famous trial gardens at the University of Georgia.
• Los Angeles garden designer SHIRLEY BOVSHOW contributes three great delawning projects: "Front Yard Garden Replaces Lawn and Lone Palm"; "Create a Neat Edible Front Yard with a Knot Garden"; and "Extreme Lawn Makeover...Low-Water Plants Take Over."
• Scott Arboretum Curator ANDREW BUNTING explains "Peat-Free Potting Soil.
• LINDA CHALKER-SCOTT is an extension urban horticulturist and associate professor at Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University. She is the Washington State editor of MasterGardener magazine and for six years she authored an online column, 'HorticulturalMyths'. Her first contributions are:  The Myth of the Wandering Weedkiller, The Myth of Tree-Staking, and The Myth about Drainage Material in Containers.
• DON ENGEBRETSON, Renegade Gardener, Minnesota landscape professional and award-winning author: "10 Landscaping Blunders and How to Avoid Them", "Myth-Busting: When planting a new tree DO NOT amend the soil", "Myth-Busting: Moss growing on lawn is a sign of acidic soil," and "Dividing Shrubs?  Don't DO That!".
• Garden Lady C.L. FORNARI in Massachusetts: "Carefree Perennials," her favorites for sustainable gardeners.
• JEFF GILLMAN of the U. of Minnesota Dept of Horticulture opines on Cold-Hardy, Disease-Resistant Roses, and No-Till Gardening. He also reporting to us quarterly New Hort Research that Gardeners Can Use.
• Landscape architect BILLY GOODNICK, the Garden Wise Guy in Santa Barbara, California:  "The Pro's and Con's of Faux Turf" is a fair and balanced accounting from an arid-climate perspective.
• LIZ HAEGELE, also an expert at The Scott Arboretum, writes about Apartment Composting.
• Climate change expert MICHAEL JOHNSEN contributed "The Carbon Footprint in your Garden."
• KATHY LA LIBERTE is an avid gardener and award-winning gardening author. She has worked for Gardener's Supply since it began more than 24 years ago, and currently serves as Director of Gardening. Check out her 3 Steps to Organic Gardening Success, the Secrets to Great Soil — or How Fungus Turned my Thumb Green (which won the Garden Writers Association's Globe Award), and Know your Climbers — Clingers, All About Twiners and Scramblers.
• Writer/speaker/Master Gardener JOE LAMP'L (Joe Gardener) in North Carolina: "Grasscycling; Going Bagless for the Environment"; "To Mow or Not to Mow" weighs lawn against an all-Mondo-grass alternative; and all about "Integrated Pest Management" (IPM).
• Organic gardening guru ANN LOVEJOY has authored 18 gardening books and been featured on HGTV, National Public Radio, and national public television. She lives and gardens on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle. On this website Ann has contributed (so far, more coming soon) Keep your Thirsty Lawn Happy.
• Master Gardener and garden designer LISE MAHNKE of Dry Ideas in Denver:  "7 Principles of Xeriscaping" and "How to Make your own Solitary Beehouse."
• Garden Girl TV PATTI MORENO in Boston gives us these videos with text:: "My Garden" shows us her urban sustainabale and edible garden; and in "Urban Sustainable Living" we learn that Patti's gone waaay beyond gardening.
• Author and reformed academic LEE REICH tells us all about Weedless Gardening and Pruning Made Easy. He just happens to have published books about Weedless Gardening, and Pruning.
• Australian garden writer STUART ROBINSON, author of Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas and mastermind behind Blotanical:  "Using Rubber Mulch in your Garden", "Vegetables that MUST be Organic", and Foliar v. Slow-Release Fertiliser".
• RENEE SHEPHERD is an established garden writer and speaker and the force behind Renee's Garden,her seed company in California.  Renee is a pioneer in introducing international specialty vegetables and herbs for home gardeners and gourmet restaurants.  Having received her Ph.D. from the University of California in Santa Cruz, she then taught in the Environmental Studies department there. She contributed her Growing Vegetables?  What Works and What Doesn't Work and helped write the article here about Growing Edibles in Containers.
• GINNY STIBOLT, author of Sustainable Gardening for Florida and the Transplanted Gardener: "Just say no to poisons".
• DEBRA TEACHOUT-TEASHON of Rainy Side Gardeners in the Pacific Northwest: "My Gardening Practices aren't so 'out there' after all," about her lifelong commitment to organic gardening.