Blog edition. The whole newsletter is available here.
In the News
Found on the Web
On GardenRant
Green the Grounds Update
- Great coverage of a great governor’s garden in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer, thanks to reporter Mackenzie Carpenter.
- And terrific news out of Frankfort, KY. First Lady Jane Bashear started a veg garden recently and in reading the news about it I discovered her plans for greening the mansion – starting with grounds keeping. "Today, using fuel-efficient equipment, water conservation, native plants, fewer chemicals, and soil nutrients. Future – organic solutions and plantings to reduce the mansion’s footprint." Well alrighty, let’s find out more!
Blog edition . The whole newsletter is available here.
In the News
- New evidence that ingredients in Roundup are hurting humans. Read about this big news in Scientific American.
- Here’s news that rooftop farms are taking off in New York City, and that veg gardens are considered desirable amenities for suburban subdivisions. Lordy, it’s a new world.
- Yielding to factual evidence – that only about 3 perfect of rainwater falling on houses reaches streams – Colorado is relaxing its strict prohibition on the collecting of rainwater. This story in the New York Times shows what a nonsensical mishmash water laws in the West still are, though.
- Purdue has promising news – that its new hybrid of the American chestnut tree might just revive the almost-extinct species AND sequester a whole lotta carbon, too (because they grow so much faster than other hardwood trees). The new hybrids have the blight-resistance of Chinese chestnuts, while retaining 94% American genes (somehow). Source: Science Daily.
Found on the Web
- On Treehugger, a good comparison of drip irrigation with xeriscaping.
- Plantwerkz is dedicated to architecturally beautiful plants, defined as plants that are visually aesthetic, that "command attention to themselves, causing all background to fade away in their presence." Yum!
On GardenRant
My So-Called Second Career
I’m busy writing an actual magazine piece – for Fine Gardening, my old fave. It’ll cover plants that can be used to replace lawns – yay! This topic’s near and dear to me and I got a chance to tackle it at the American Hort Society recently – and got great suggestions from Brent and Becky Heath, and a very knowledgeable horticulturist who works there. Seems only natural to do a book on the subject, right?
And some of you will be amused to know that I’ve finally given in to social pressure and the advice of lots of smart people and have begun tweeting. Sure, I tried once before and gave up but this time I’ve installed the much-recommended Tweetdeck, which promises to make it all soooo easy. (More will be revealed.)
Here’s the thing, though. I’m DO write or contribute to 8 blogs and websites, so I may still fail at this social networking thing. (Unless I give in to my lust and get an iPhone. Seeing Carol Michel wield hers planted a seed that wants to grow!
Blog version. The whole newsletter is available here.
In the News
- A garden is reborn – and a gardener born – in the New York Times.
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- The popularity of tree-climbing is growing within eco-tourism circles, and according to this article, it’s considered "slow travel". Well, sure, but not if you’re flying off to Brazil to do it.
- Have you heard about the new water footprint for food? There’s no footprint yet for ornamental plants, but it may come next.
- In the Chicago Tribune, how community gardens pull neighborhoods together.
- Found – good article by the folks at The Natural Gardener in Austin: How to teach sustainable gardening to your customers.
- Food writer Eric Schlosser says he’d rather eat a conventionally grown tomato harvested by well treated workers than an heirloom picked by oppressed workers. Boy, that’s stirring the pot! And this article calls the "organic" label merely "quaint packaging"!
On GardenRant
Out and About
Coming Up
- I’m off to Los Angeles! I get to see family – it’s wedding bells for my nephew – AND such gardening buddies as Shirley Bovshow and (I hope) Debra Prinzing. Also Huntington Garden. I damn well better pack my camera battery charger this time (mistake made in Chicago.)
In the Garden
Blog Edition. The whole newsletter is here.
In the News
- A survey of all those "green" products finds that only 2 percent of them are legitimate. 98 percent greenwashing.
- The Greener Gardens Act would offer homeowners a tax credit up to $1,000 to turn in their gas-guzzling lawn and garden equipment for machines powered with alternative energy.
- In the Whodathunkit Department: Rodale reports findings that farmland does a better job cooling air than forests. That link won’t explain why, though, and I don’t get it.
- "Is fake the new green?" asks this terrific article about artificial turf that includes comprehensive lists of the pros and cons of real v. fake.
On GardenRant
Gardenblogger Out and About
- My whirlwind overnight trip to Pennsylvania included visits to the Rodale Institute, the Rodale publisher, and Burpee’s Open Day event at their Fordhook Farm and Garden. Two wonderful garden writers – Rosalind Creasy and Graham Rice – gave presentations.
- I spoke to an Elderhostel group visiting the Historic Homes and Gardens of Washington – about urban and sustainable gardening.
- Coaching clients attended my Open Garden/Plant Giveaway event and took dozens of extra plants off my hands.
- This must be Make New Friends month because I got to hang out with 3 garden writers I hadn’t met before: Mackenzie Carpenter, Polly Nell Jones and Renee Shepherd. Renee was in town to provide seeds to the Congressional Wives Club’s Big Event (with Michelle Obama in attendance) and Polly made that happen.
- For Earth Day, I hung out with a bunch of sustainable ag types (including three from the Rodale Institute) at the USDA’s People’s Garden.
What’s Next?
One more overnighter in the Philly area, this time to see Chanticleer, the Morris Arboretum, and the Scott Arboretum, plus the personal garden of its horticulturist Andrew Bunting. (I’m prepared to be blissed out.) Then over Memorial Day weekend I’m off to the
Garden Blogger Spring Fling in Chicago – more amazing gardens and tons of fun. And I’m giving a talk on Lawn Alternatives at an
American Horticulture Society event.
- Nice write-up about Green the Grounds in the Christian Science Monitor.
- That was followed immediately by a phone call from Maria Shriver’s press secretary, asking that her plans for a veg garden in State Capital Park be included, there being no official governor’s residence in California. When asked about landscaping practices, he assured me that they’re very green and that their horticulturist would call me with details. But now it’s been almost a month, so…
- The CSM story also resulted in an interview by Rod Thorson of WLPO radio in Illinois about Green the Grounds.
- Feature story coming soon in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- NBC and CNN anchors have expressed interest in the Green the Ground story, so stay tuned.
- We received a long, fully detailed response from the South Carolina governor’s horticulturist – much appreciated and the results are impressive indeed.
National Arboretum photo by Afagen.
Blog edition. The whole newsletter is here.
In the News
- Michael Pollan’s anti-lawn rant made a comeback on the pages of the New York Times; commenters weighed in.
- New green job opportunity! Most cities are still sending organic kitchen waste to landfills, but not in British Columbia, where Bin to Curb is operating.
- The Women’s Bean Project. It’s green, it fights poverty – what’s not to love?
- Got more squash than you can eat? The online VeggieTrader is here to help you find takers. (Or you could use a neighborhood Yahoo group – which if you don’t have one, why not?)
- To dispel any doubts that fresh, local foods are IN, there’s a $3 iPhone Locavore app to help you find them.
- Due to drought, Tampa, FL has banned the use of lawn sprinklers. Another reason to delawn.
- Excellent eco-friendly lawn care advice from the New York Times.
- See the results of the Great Backyard Bird Count here – including 93,000+ checklists and 619 species, including a new invader.
- Scientific American has the definitive update on Colony Collapse Disorder.
On GardenRant
- I’m reading Michele’s Rules for Beginning Veg Gardeners. (Newbie here!)
- Here she makes the case that growing food isn’t expensive.
- Then she rants about a bill in Congress that could threaten small-time organic growers.
- After a British blogger bashes raised beds, a discussion ensues.
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- Our Buffalo Ranter rallies the troops again – this time for an urban garden. Oh, and also for urban chickens.
- In D.C. the Obamas and other feds are showing organic some love, and Big Chem isn’t happy.
- Don’t miss Jeff Gillman’s Hort Research that Gardeners can Use, 2nd Edition.
On Other Blogs
- Blogger Tom Alexander does NOT shy away from politics. Here’s his rant about "wingnut" climate-change deniers.
- Joe Lamp’l's $25 Victory Garden Challenge is getting lots of (well-deserved) attention. Watch episodes here and here. Press coverage detailed here.
On the Home Front
- I announced the new national media campaign Green the Grounds.org and called on bloggers to post about it on Earth Day. Supporting Organizations are coming on board and it’s starting to be FUN.
- And in the garden, it’s all about the mulch – about 150 loads of it from my driveway where it was dumped to the beds.
- And I finally met – at least by phone – one of my favorite gardening gurus – Paul James, the Gardener Guy of HGTV fame. Story coming soon!
Blog version. The whole newsletter is right here.
In the News
- Next, what we gardeners know, that horticulture ALSO combats climate change, according to an article in the U.K.-based publication Horticulture Week. And food gardening is singled out as extra-helpful because it reduces consumption of meat, which is so resource-intensive to produce.
- What else combats climate change? According to this article [pdf], mycorrhizal fungi. With the addition of our favorite fungi, soils and perennial grasses sequester even more carbon.
On GardenRant
On Sustainable Gardening.com
- Knock Out Roses, the newest sponsor of the website, the blog and this newsletter, get their own page. With full disclosure, of course.
- Like Knock Outs in being easy, disease-resistant and long-blooming, but shorter, are ‘Flower Carpet’ Roses.
My So-Called Second Career, the Update
- My spring garden-coaching article in Organic Gardening Magazine is now on the shelves. Here’s my blurb about it with another photo by Rob Cardillo for the article.
- And, in fact, spring coaching is going strong, and the coaches of N. America have organized themselves in a cool new way – using Wet Paint.
- With my girl-blogger press badge, I attended a whole day of talks about water management (waaay more interesting than it sounds) and another showing the 10-year transformation of a horticulturist’s garden, both at Brookside Gardens in MD. Reports with photos are coming soon.
with everyone chiming in and Owen responding. Hottest topic? Soil amendments – bad, good, needed?
