Newsletters

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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.

Blog edition.  The whole newsletter is available here. 

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 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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 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

• The "garden’ at the American Indian Museum is actually one of the exhibits – recreations of natural history and human history in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  It’s a great success.
• Human pee is explored as a low-cost deer deterrent, and even demonstrated by Joe Lamp’l.
• With all the attacks on lawn lately, Roy Blount, Jr. rises to defend the stuff.
• Veggies are Amazing! Update from a Newbie shows off some very impressive-looking produce, I must say.  And as always, I ask for advice from readers and get it.

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!

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Blog version. The whole newsletter is available here.

In the News

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

• Guest Ed Bruske stirred up quite a commotion when he challenged the traditional notion of community gardens.
• Guest Ken Druse ranted about that unsustainable product – peat moss.
• For Earth Day, I reported on the awesome gardens at Ohio’s Governor’s Mansion.

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. 

Update on the Green the Grounds Campaign 

• 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.

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