Heather Galindo, a gardening writer with the Houston Chronicle, recently listed this humble blog among four she considers "must reading," and had these generous words to say:
"Well Rounded: Takoma Gardener. Also a marvelous writer, Susan’s posts are always informative, full of ‘go get ‘em’ spirit, and activist-minded. She’s a terrific garden designer and an actual, real life Gardening Coach. ‘Drop and pull 20 weeds!’ Okay not quite like that, but man, I wish she was near here rather than in the DC area to coach me. Just today, her blog convinced me to try overseeding our small, pathetic yard with clover. I’ll report back on that later."
Heather went on to demonstrate exquisite taste in her choices of Amy Stewart, Michele Owens and Kasmira – all favorites of mine – as the other must-reads.
Heather, the next time I’m in Houston you’d better believe I’m stopping by your place for a coaching session – off the clock.
[Photo: Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. Great site for free outdoor concerts.]
First, to vent. I haven’t posted in a few days because my whole photographic world is in shambles. I won’t burden you with the details but think New Editing Program, New Pixel-Packed Camera, the Burning and Copying of countless CDs and their subsequent Storage for ready Retrieval, and finally, Old Editing Program that suddenly won’t even talk to me, complaining of a "full scratch disk." I’ve heard that one that before. But because we Southerners know how to carry on in adversity, I’m choosing lawns as a good photoless topic and forging ahead.
Lawns are a huge topic these days, specifically how to reduce their size or even get rid of them altogether. Then there’s the more moderate approach that I took in my recent column, "Earth-Friendly Lawn Care Throughout the Year," in which I lay out the consensus among environmentally responsible experts – to use only organic products, mow higher, tolerate some weeds, and so on. I think I even slipped in a promo for clover, to no one’s surprise.
Next up is a column tackling a much more controversial subject: are turf grasses inherently bad, even if they’re cared for using these environmentally correct techniques? And what alternatives really work? I’m hearing totally contradictory statements by seemingly unbiased, well-informed sources – so I’m loving it!! I’ll let you know my take on the subject as soon as I have one.
FOR MY OWN LAWN I do have a position and a plan: I’ve reduced the size considerably but will keep what’s left for utilitarian reasons – like walking, hauling a garden hose in every direction, and occasionally mowing. And I’m keeping my lawn because – don’t let anybody fool you – most alternatives are more maintenance than the lawn itself! Yes, as heretical as it sounds, ask people who’ve gone lawnless how much less maintenance they have now and they’ll laugh. Seriously. That’s because it’s really the traditional, perfect lawns that are so much work, not the profoundly imperfect kind of lawn I have. And most borders, god love ‘em, are a lot of work.
And here’s the other part of my plan: to gradually transform the lawn I have left into a healthy patch of biodiversity, to include turf grass, clover, attractive weeds like violets, and anything else I can find that might work. So what do you suggest? Remember it can’t be so tall that a garden hose would catch on it, and it has to be drought-tolerant, walkable and mowable. Perhaps a touch of thyme?
The old-fashioned idiom to be "in clover" means living a carefree life of ease, comfort and prosperity." Okay, count me in. And everyone knows that clover of the four-leaf variety is good luck.
But we’re gardeners here, so what about planting the stuff in our lawns? Here’s what Less Lawn has to say about it:
"Clover is often planted by gardeners as a soil conditioner. It grows quickly and easily, chokes out weeds and is easily ‘turned in’ to the beds when planting time draws near. The deep root system reduces soil compaction. Clover is also a nitrogen-fixing plant, which enriches the soil with natural fertilizer. Clover also works well, however, as a replacement for turf – consider the benefits:
Low Maintenance - Clover needs little to no watering or mowing.
No Fertilizers - Chemical fertilizers are not needed to grow clover.
Color - Clover stays green even in the driest part of summer.
Inexpensive - It costs about $4 to cover 4000 sq. ft. of turf area.
Comfortable - Easy to walk through or play on, although not as durable as grass."
Did you catch the bit about clover being a "nitrogen-fixing" plant? Now I’m no botanist, as Readers here have surely noticed, so I looked it up for you and it goes like this. Bacteria that live in nodules on the roots of clover convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that’s usable by plants. There, that’s as technical as you’ll ever get from me. Cool stuff, though.
And if you care about biodiversity (and who doesn’t?), clover also supports more wildlife by providing nectar for those pollinating bees we all love and even attracts small, non-stinging but aphid-eating wasps.
So what’s not to love? I’ll concede that the romance of running barefoot across fields of flowering clover is sometimes ruined by the screams and curses of the newly bee-stung. But isn’t that why God created gardening clogs and TEVA sandels?
Look out, Washington, D.C. The Master Gardeners are getting organized and are coming soon to a plot of ground near you. We’ve already invaded cyberspace – as of 2 days ago – and there’s no stopping us now. (Update: DC Master Gardeners have become DC Urban Gardeners. Visit the site or the news blog for all the dope.)
I started the blog to help create a Master Gardener program in D.C., and used my own Typepad account to do it? Next up on the blog are photos and interviews of Master Gardeners at work. Like the elementary school garden I’ll be visiting this week to chat with and photograph 15 kids with their little watering cans – Omigod, how cute is that!? Well, stay tuned and see.
And Readers, once again I ask for your help. I’m looking for ideas from Master Gardeners everywhere about your local program. How does it work? What kinds of events do you have? Who are you – god, I hate this term, but it works here – liaising with? And, of course, I want your link! Thanks in advance from me and all the passionate gardening activists here in D.C.
First there was this, a huge ‘Francee’ hosta in my garden, the gift of a local garden designer with too many plants. Now it looks way too boring to merit a photo; it’s the plain old solid green we stick where the sun don’t shine and ground’s gotta get covered. I want to tell Francee to "Change back!", knowing it ain’t gonna happen.
Next up is something I’ve shown you before but only the remaining good parts, the stunning variagation in my ‘Sulphur Heart’ Persian ivy. But here you can see the real story. There are two plants here, the one on the left having reverted to solid green, either light or dark, while the plant on the right is still holding onto its original coloration but probably not for long.
So what does the inquiring gardener do when stumped by the mysterious forces of botany? Research, of course, so I can impress the hell out of you guys. And gardening resources on the Web are getting better all the time so I confidently perused the links on this very blog and found nothing. Any plant in the known world, no problem, but about something arcane like reversion – bupkis.
So naturally I resorted to the Great God of Google and there I learned that "Mean reversion is a tendency for a stochastic process to remain near." Who knew! I believe the subject matter was the stock market but don’t quote me. There’s also reversion to paganism, a supposed trend among New Agers, reversion as a British banking term, and lots of references to reversion in medical research. Oh, and I almost forgot "Reversion Acne Control."
So it’s a versatile term. Fine. Now what the hell’s happening to my plants?
Heather Galindo, a gardening writer with the Houston Chronicle, recently listed this humble blog among four she considers "must reading," and had these generous words to say:
