Sustainable Gardening News – June 2008

Highlights from the latest newsletter.

In the News

• Consumer Reports did some polling about turf and found that 64% said their neighbor has a best lawn than they do; 23% said they spend at least 5 hours a week doing yard work, 79% said they never use hearing protection while mowing, and 12% said they throw back a few brews while pushing the mower.  Wow, it’s dangerous out there – surveys also show that almost no one reads product directions. 

• Speaking of gardeners who might be knocking back some brews (all national stereotyping aside, of course) how about these Aussies?  Would you believe – they’re Guerrilla Gardeners intent on doing good work.  Hmm, I thought law-breaking activists tried to stay under the radar.

• More on the increasing popularity of gardening: here in Michigan, in the SF Chronicle, the The Wall Street Journal, the News-Herald.com, and Knoxvillebiz.com.

On the Blogs

• Here’s a great review of the battery-powered Neuton lawnmower by Nancy at Gardening Gone Wild.

• Are rain barrels the new hot item? asks Project Green Industry. They say they haven’t seen so much buzz since Crocs!

• Treehugger.com is pretty excited about a product that might just meet city dwellers’ composting needs. 

• Just a month or so after About.com hired Colleen Vanderlinden to write their organic gardening articles, Robin got herself hired by the Examiner papers as National Gardening Examiner.  Woo-hoo!   And well deserved.  I met and bonded with my fellow Marylander at the Austin meet-up; now if I can only snag an invitation to come see her garden.

• Anne Raver wrote a terrific profile of journalist Margaret Roach, her garden, and her blog A Way to Garden.  This quote captures the feelings of so many bloggers: "’Do I want to hand stories to some magazine and have them rewrite them?’ she said. ‘Forget about it; I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it. Did I say I’m not doing it? You know what? I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s just not a stage in my life I can go to.’  Amen, sister."

What’s New on Sustainable-Gardening

• Organic Gardening has its own section now with my own articles, plus links and recommended books, but please suggest others.

In the Garden

• On GardenRant I proclaimed the Joys of Going Lawnless, so I’ll just add that the joy is spreading quite  nicely – in the form of creeping sedum.     

My So-Called Second Career

• That’s the home page of the EcoWomen website heralding (in a photo too large for comfort) their monthly event – ME.  And not talking about gardening this time but all about how I’m saving the environment. (Kidding!) Actually, EcoWomen promotes career advancement, so I plan to regale them with the story of my rise to the heights of garden bloggerdom. (More kidding!)

• Happy to be a go-to person for anything remotely garden-related, I agreed to speak at the opening of "A Man Named Pearl", the documentary about a topiary artist in rural South Carolina.  Here’s my report.

Sustainable Gardening News Archives

May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007