This is always a disconcerting thing to hear when you’re talking to people who spend most of their professional lives working in the horticultural field. But I’m almost getting used to it. The last time it happened was at the IGC show in Chicago this past week, as I was talking to some PR guys [...]
Read more in: Designs, Tricks, and Schemes, Ministry of Controversy
Body: Posted by Bert CreggLast week I posted about some horticultural disasters I witnessed in the Czech Republic. This week the chamber of horrors. […]
Biodiverse Lawn by Coalition Member Thomas Christopher Like other members of this group, I believe that the contemporary model of lawn has got to go.. […]
Body: Posted by Linda Chalker-Scott If you've been following us for a while, you might remember a post from August 2009 when I got cranky about a pot. […]
Here’s a guest rant/repost from Transatlantic Plantsman and Friend of Rant Graham Rice. And I thought Americans preferred their government, from federal to local, to leave them alone, let them to get on with their lives and not interfere… Well, it turns out that for many people in private...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyPotting media is one of those things I buy with very little pleasure. It often seems too expensive, the bags are heavy, and it gets used up all too quickly, no matter what tricks I employ (other empty pots in there taking up space, and so on). And then...
Read more in: Ministry of Controversy, Taking Your Gardening DollarA couple of years ago, I wrote a novel about a bookstore struggling to survive after digital books became wildly popular. It was a satire of sorts, based loosely on the bookstore I actually own, and it allowed me to explore every bookseller's worst fear: What if people loved...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyOn the face of it, there's no good reason for a gardener to object to sewage sludge (which we will henceforth call biosolids) in the garden. It's just manure, right? And if they can cook the salmonella and other microbes out of it–well, why not put the stuff to...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyThere's a great story by Adrian Higgins in today's Washington Post titled "Lose the Lawn" – and look at it on the cover of their Local Living section! Here's the introductory story, in which Higgins weighs in with his own conclusion on the subject: "Toss the turf." (As if...
Read more in: Lawn Reform, Real GardensWe knew this was coming – the great lawns of college campuses are being challenging on environmental grounds. As Mark Hough, Duke's landscape architect, says in a recent issue of Landscape Archiecture Magazine, "Everyone now knows that high-maintenance turf must be questioned." And "The use of lawn is being...
Read more in: Lawn ReformActual words used on GardenRant to talk about what people do with their front yards: "Practically no one wants a meadow out their front door." "A meadow in a suburban development looks suspiciously like a weedy, unkempt yard at an abandoned property. Neighbors are not amused." "Mowing requires...
Read more in: Lawn ReformAll the talk about meadows we're hearing these days is great, but let's get real – practically no one wants a meadow out their front door. Or out their back door. Or anywhere they have to walk through. Which kinda leaves the back 40 for real meadows, or at...
Read more in: Lawn ReformMichelle Obama's Favorite Flowers for Arrangements This story is packed with juicy nuggets for us gardeners: The floral preferences of the Obamas. White House Floral Designer Laura Dowling's "garden" style. It's more relaxed, with lots of unexpected touches. The exciting Top Florist-type competition for the job. The role of...
Read more in: Green the GroundsSaxon Holt, photographer of meadows, grasses, lawn alternatives and sustainable gardens of all types, has joined us. We are now 10. We have a Facebook Page, y'all, so click here to "Like" us and follow what's happening. If you're one of the hundreds who joined our Facebook Group, sorry...
Read more in: Lawn ReformThis quilt representing the Three Sisters is by M. Joan Lintault. For decades, the theory of companion planting has been common wisdom in organic gardening circles. We even feature a book about it on our sidebar, Sally Jean Cunningham’s Great Garden Companions (it’s a fun read too). But every...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyOne of many “weedy” spots I have, though I think at least one of these is native. I have much worse areas, but couldn’t find the images. And I thought I’d seen the last of the term “politically incorrect,” which has become almost as combustible as “liberal.” But just...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyOriginal photo by John Stoneman. And unbelievably, yesterday, the very same day the governor closed them, he attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new section of Hudson River Park in Manhattan that had apparently long been scheduled. “It pains me,” he commented. It may pain him (I doubt...
Read more in: Gardening on the Planet, Ministry of ControversyPlease welcome Kate Munning, who is here to enlighten us on those crazy commercials advertising seeds for "one-acre crisis gardens." There’s a new sensation sweeping the right-wing TV and talk-radio airwaves: apocalypse gardening! For the low, low price of $159.95 plus shipping and handling, you too can get a...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversySo. Farmers are dealing with bigger, badder, more aggressive weeds that are resistant to Round-Up. A situation that sorta blows the whole rationale for buying genetically modified corn and soybean seed manufactured to be Round-Up resistant, thereby allowing famers to spray herbicides liberally across the fields. Between that and...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyMainly, he just can’t be bothered. In the New York Times today, opinionator Robert Wright states that: my eco-friendly ethos dovetails suspiciously with my laziness. Waging a war on weeds takes more time and energy (or money, if you outsource it) than just mowing the lawn every once in...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyNot that I needed one, but in today’s NYTimes, Thomas Leo Ogren discusses street trees and allergies. He notes that Norway maples (there is at least one in the mix above) are one of the most common trees on the sidewalks of New York—as they are in Buffalo and...
Read more in: It's the Plants, Darling, Ministry of ControversyAnd I must report it is in my own neck of the woods: Lancaster, an eastern suburb of Buffalo. It’s interesting though—in a gruesome kind of way—that lawn mowers are even occasionally used as alternative transportation—I have seen reports like this a few times, and I don't intentionally search...
Read more in: Ministry of ControversyThe lawn-o-sphere is abuzz over another case of a homeowner getting penalized for trying to do something sensible about their lawn. According to this story in the LA Times and another one on KTLA News' website, Quan and Angelina Ha are facing a day in court, a fine of...
Read more in: Ministry of Controversy
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { When I look at the healthiest people on the planet vs. their local cuisine, it appears that the ones that live the longest to the... } – May 20, 4:18 PM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { I'm a fan of the NYTimes food critic Mark Bittman, and he's just put out a part-vegan diet/cookbook (advocating eating vegan before 6pm for health... } – May 20, 11:32 AM
Commented on Kale-a-Rama makes me Wonder: Is Veganism the Next Big Thing? { Kevin, Well said. Also read The Vegetarian Myths by Lierre Keith, whose health was permanently damaged by her determination to stick to a vegan diet... } – May 20, 1:40 AM
Commented on Roses redux { Susan - Years ago, I read somewhere (maybe Organic Gardening magazine; can't remember) to plant peonies near your roses to curb Japanese beetles. I tried... } – May 19, 11:11 PM
Commented on OG Mag on Wildlife-Friendly Gardens: What's Wrong with this Picture? { It is unfortunate that a very good article is being overshadowed by the "cat" issue. Sometimes we have to save our criticism for another time... } – May 19, 10:00 PMWe are:
perfect
magazine
gardens.
Gardening
our
asses
off.
Having a
hell of a lot
of fun.
