Sustainable Gardening News

My favorite garden in the neighborhood is at its peak.

In the News

• No more Crocs?  Well, no matter what your politics may be, it's sad to lose such a comfortable, indestructible shoe - my favorite for weeding and strolling.
• Researchers at the USDA think they might have created a fungus that'll solve the national kudzu problem. It works SO fast that if you spray kudzu in the morning it'll show signs of damage by mid-afternoon. It's called Myrothecium and here's the story.
  
• Window boxes are the new allotment gardens, says the National Trust in the UK.
• Justin Timberlake opens his new low-impact golf course.
• SPIN farming to transform cities?  Suddenly I'm seeing it everywhere.

Found on the Web

• Got pests? Better than switching to organic products is switching to trouble-free plants - or using companion planting to control pests. Makes more sense than the simplistic organic-good/inorganic-bad mentality. 
  
• And here's a perfect example of that mentality.  In the first comment to this round-up of reasons to hate Monsanto is the recommendation to use something "natural" rather than Roundup.  Because if it's natural it's safe? Like hemlock, like nicotine?  
  
• Tom Christopher recommends a new book about drip irrigation and implores us to get on board and save BIG on water.
• Danger! Whole campus being sprayed for "general insects".  Really, really stupid.
• Looks like the vegan diet is the most sustainable, and organic gardening with no animal inputs is catching on.
• More reasons to lay off the products?  Read Rodale's round-up of pesticides that end up in our bodies, including the ones in garden products.
• 75 things you can compost that you didn't think you could, by Colleen in her new gig at Discovery's Planet Green.

On the Sustainable Gardening Blog

• The Best Lawn Care "Tips" Ever are by Paul Tukey for the Daily Green.
  
• In praise of doublefile viburnums, gorgeous and beloved by cedar waxwings.

On GardenRant

• EPA shows off low-impact landscaping.
  
• Some cities get it long before others.  See Spokane contrasted with Seattle. 
• Aquaponics have come to Buffalo.
  
• Help get lawn-pesticide documentary seen.
• HOT debate about invasive plants!
  

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!

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