Sustainable Gardening News

Blog edition.  The whole newsletter is here.

Urban Gardening on the Web

• The Fight for School Gardens and Healthier School Foods highlights crazy anti-food rules in one county and a big legislative push in D.C.
   
• A Manhattan designer explores the native/exotic dilemma in "Designing the Politically Correct Garden".  Great comments and absolutely NO consensus.
   
• Great discussion ensued over street trees, especially "When Greens go NIMBY" over them. And more about street trees here.

• Chicago's Mayor Daley pushes green roofs, as reported on The Growing Edge.
   
• Does this count as urban gardening?  It's  How to Love thy Neighbor, Post-Blizzard.

• Corporate Urban Greening, no Greenwashing Allowed highlights great projects in Baltimore and D.C.

Sustainable Gardening on the Web

• Martha Stewart gets Fact-Checked by Hort Professor – and I'm so glad they're helping us non-academics figure it all out.

• Are Natives the Answer? asks Garden Prof Bert Cregg.  His own answer is: "Not necessarily." Provocative stuff!
   
• The White House Grounds ARE Greening – and it looks like ALL federal landscapes will soon be greened up, too.
   
• Good news from EPA – plus good news about the overturning of a bad EPA move.

• I reviewed "The World According to Monsanto" and found it really important, but dull watching.

• Are your spring bulbs coming up already?  Not to worry, says gardening educator Gene Sumi.

My So-Called Second Career

I'm pretty excited about the garden-related trips I'll be taking this year.  First to Long Island to visit Suzy Bales with a day trip to the NY Botanic Garden in the spring. And I wouldn't miss the super-fun Blogger Meet-up in Buffalo. Then the GardenRanters are talking to garden centers at their shinding in Chicago.  I'm also pondering a trip to the Boston area, and still undecided on going to Dallas for the Garden Writers conference.

 Round-ups are Fun

• The Hottest Garden Rants of '09 were hotter than ever.
   
• Here's my review of the Renegade Gardener's Black Spot/High Spot Awards for '09.
   
• Also on GardenRant, Elizabeth's Year in Gardening.
   
• Top Sustainable Food Stories of 2009 include the White House Kitchen Garden, and lots about urban farming.  Food stories are increasingly food-growing stories.

In the Garden

Before/after clearing snow from an 'Ogon' spirea.

• Berries for Bloom Day- coz what else are you going to show off in mid-December? 
   
• And in my neighborhood, the low-maintenance, New-American-Garden-style Priscilla's garden. For locals, it's the garden of Priscilla Labovitz and Joe Cirincione, experts in immigration law and nuclear arms control respectively.

Blog version.  The whole newsletter is right here.

Photo right:  the documentary "A Chemical Reaction" – about the anti-lawn-pesticide campaign in Canada – won the Independent Spirit Award at the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival.  Pictured are Paul Tukey and filmmaker Brett Plymale.  Here's a team review by the Lawn Reform Coalition.

In the News

• France's highest court has ruled that US agrochemical giant Monsanto did not told the truth about the safety of its best-selling weed-killer, Roundup, falsely claiming it's "biodegradable" and "left the soil clean". Monsanto lies?  Who knew?  Here's the story by the BBC.   

• San Francisco's mandatory composting law is now in effect – support is mixed. 

• Is male pee better than female pee for composting? We'll have to ask the National Trust in England.
• Interesting – this report of GMO crops needing MORE herbicides.  But wait – isn't that that the opposite of what they're supposed to accomplish?

• Dirt is dandy because bacteria on the surface of the skin help combat inflammation when we get hurt.  Research findings are called a vindication of common sense parenting. Here's the story.
  

Urban Gardening on the Web

• A DC blogger's chickens are arrested, so naturally she rallies chicken-lovers to change the outdated law, and then writes about it.  While you'e there, check out the team blog she writes for – DC Food For All.  A team blog with a purpose.
• Are commercial bagged soils safe for growing vegetables? is a terrific report in the LA Times. Learn what contaminants are in them.
• Liz Falk, of DC's Common Good City Farm, visited Will Allen's awesome urban farm Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI, and I loved this account of her report.
• "Greens go NIMBY over street trees" prompted lots of comments about the emotionally charged topic of laws that affect us where we garden or play.

Sustainable Gardening on the Web

• Sustainable Sites Folks say: "Landscapes Give Back" is my report from their press conference, and the good news – that there will be a home edition. 
• Giving Hedera a Chance tackles the question – is ivy ever well behaved?  Should any varieties be given a chance?
• In another squirmish in the war against lawns, somebody steps up to defend his "lawnlet". Photo by the lawnlet defender, Frank Hyman.

Blog edition.  The whole newsletter is right here.

Urban Gardening on the Web

• Urban Gardening – What is it? is my definition and a call for links to more great programs across the U.S.
• USDA reports that farmers' markets are up 13 percent over 2008! Here's the story.
  
• Excellent new resource:  Growing School and Youth Gardens in NY City.  [pdf]

Sustainable Gardening on the Web

• Prune now?  Don't do it! yells Rodale.  But they know what they're talking about.

• Who cares about honeybees, anyway? gripes about all the concern for (nonnative) honeybees.  Commenters agree AND disagree. And here's how to encourage native bees with "insect walls".
• Great overview of the Great Deer Problem and How to Solve it.   Don't miss the comments.
• The lowdown on Eco-Tulips?  In short, they're organically grown.  Also, I like the young Dutch guy who's bringing them to us.
• Does the Daily Green just make stuff up? Their list of best cities for community gardens sure looks like it was.
• Turns out "smart irrigation controllers" aren't so smart after all – they use up to 2.5 times the recommended amount of water, as reported in Nursery Management.
  
• New research explains why pruning encourages plants to thrive – in Science Daily.

Spotted in a Garden Center

Here's a close-up of one of the zillion Christmas trees at Homestead Gardens right now.  Notice that it's bipartisan, with White House ornaments representing both the Obama and Reagan administrations.  Hmm, wonder what happened to the old Dubya ornaments.

Blog Version. The whole newsletter, with sidebar, is right here. 

In Your Garden Now

• Here’s What to do with your Leaves, including a plug for leafmold, and Lee Reich loves leafmold, too.
• And October really is the best time to plant trees, shrubs and (most) perennials here in Zone 7.   

 
On GardenRant

• Glyphosate is the Agent Orange of Our Times" declares a wildlife group, and the Renegade Gardener calls it scare tactics. Commenters not only agree with Don but own up to using Roundup themselves.
• New Hort Research that Gardeners can Use.
• Make Compost, not Garbage is a terrific guest rant.
• So is How the Compost Turns, or Whether it Needs to Be Turned by Frank Hyman.
• How Trees Die by Jeff Gillman gets a well-deserved endorsement.
• Another great guest post, this one about the "Evil Hornworm".
• Children’s art garden in the heart of Washington, D.C. and the young women who made it happen.
• Lawn Reform Coalition Launches, and gives away the American Meadow Garden book by John Greenlee.  
  

In My Garden

• Ew, that’s ugly!  But the chain-link fence around my front yard is GONE at last, and the English ivy hiding it, too.  Sorry I can’t show you the new fence yet, but even this is almost too much excitement for me.  Not kidding.
• In plant news, I brought back some yummy freebies from the garden writers "swagathon": ‘Blue Chip’ Buddleias, ‘Kaleidescope’ Abelias, ajugas (no label), dwarf crapemyrtles ‘Berry Dazzle’ and ‘Sweetheart Dazzle’, and some ‘Heavenly Scent’ gardenias.  Plus Cowpots and a big bottle of Liquid Fence for my new deer problem (about which I’m trying not to whine too much.)

Blog edition.  The full version, with off-topic sidebar, is here.  

Recently on Sustainable-Gardening.com

- A new section about Urban Gardening!  Visit and send me more good links, great programs, awesome stories about school and community gardens, CSAs, park renovations, farmers’ markets, backyard-sharing and container/rooftop/balcony gardening.

- Renee Shepherd joins the website as its newest contributor.  I asked her:  How do veg-gardeners go wrong?  Her answer? Veg-Gardening: What Works, What Doesn’t.

- Growing Vegetables in Containers is a summing up of everything I learned doing it for the fist time this year, with some consulting with Renee to fill it out.

In Your Garden Right Now

- What almost everyone needs to do right now but probably won’t? Overseed the lawn.  Without it, lawns fade away, and homeowners are discouraged – or they hire ChemLawn to force that lawn to green-up, fast!

- AND it’s time to feed your lawn, the second thing that most people should do but don’t.  Scroll down to "Fall" here.   And what do you know? 

- It’s also the best time to start a new lawn.    

In the News  

- At the state’s urging, towns along the Passaic River in New Jersey are lining up to limit the use of landscape fertilizers. 

- Casey Trees (a terrific nonprofit in DC) shows how trees can be cared for by bicycle.  They call it the Water-by-Cycle Initiative.

Found on the Web

- Got a sprinkler?  Is it as efficient as it could be?  Billy Goodnick to the rescue. 

- Vote for America’s Favorite Flower – and note that rudbeckia’s in the lead.  Its competition?  3 Petunias, a penta and a vinca!

- Is rubber mulch safe?  According to Linda Chalker-Scott, not so much.    

On GardenRant

- What Native-Plant Gardens Need by guest David Schmetterling, the Montana Wildlife Gardener, is a dose of reality.  Any garden needs maintenance, even one filled with native plants.

- Greenmapping cities helps them in untold ways.

- On Growing Vegetables in Containers reports the findings of this first-timer.

- Getting the Lead Out covers the controversy over lead in the White House kitchen garden soil’s, and commenters weigh in.