Sustainable Gardening Newsletter February ‘09

Blog version. The original version, with off-topic sidebar, is right here.

This is kinda disappointing: A California study concluded that the energy savings from growing shade trees on the west and south sides homes can reduce homeowners’ summertime electric bill by about $25 a year. That’s it? Details in ScienceDaily.
More impressive (to me) is this New York Times report that large parts of the Northern Hemisphere could be cooled by 2 degrees if more sunlight-reflecting crops were planted. Nice to see people thinking outside the box…coz it’s getting hot in that old box.
From NASA, the best plants for cleaning indoor air.
Urban Apiculture – can you dig it? It’s raising bees, ya know. In apartments.
HuffingtonPost readers sent in photos of their green roofs – check ‘em out.
And here’s a very cool Los Angeles prototype for growing food on roofs.

Lots of buzz about the White House. First Michele covers some fighting in the food-world over the chef’s job. Then I propose Local Picks for White House "Farmer". This photo shows the Rose Garden in 1921.
Why I Wrote the Green Gardener’s Guide is a terrific guest rant by Joe Lamp’l.
Tracy diSabato-Aust’s new book is called "50 High-Impact, Low-Care Plants" – sounds like sustainable plants to me. Here’s an interview with Tracy about the book.
Another guest ranter, photographer Saxon Holt, reports on Sustainable Agriculture.
There’s new evidence that cityfolk need nature.
And Elizabeth in Buffalo knows a thing or two about ridiculous laws requiring lawn and nothing but lawn.

New contributor Allan Armitage covers the greening of his trial gardens at the University of Georgia in Jumping into Sustainability.
Pint-Sized Planters Yield Bumper Crops, by Kathy LaLiberte, is crucial reading for me because I’ll be growing vegetables in these planters on my sunny deck this season. I’m very excited.
Kathy also covers How to Make Compost Tea, something I have yet to try. Looks like varsity composting to me.

I trucked down to Richmond, Virginia to attend the terrific "Gardening in an Era of Climate Change" conference at Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden. Hung out with some real characters.
And Washington Gardener Magazine’s 4th Annual Seed Exchange was another meaty winter learning opportunity, with speakers Janet Draper and Cindy Brown.

Snowdrops photo taken February 7 in Wiltshire, England by Anguskirk.