Month: August 2011

Podcast #6 – Garden Hocus Pocus

Forgive my tardy posting – I spent yesterday traveling from Indianapolis back to Seattle.  I was in Indianapolis for the Garden Writers Association annual meeting and gave a talk on “evidence based garden information.”  It was encouraging to see how many garden writers DO want reliable sources of good gardening science.  And I got to meet Joseph Tychonievich, a frequent commenter on this blog and a PhD student at Michigan State.

Anyway, on to this week’s podcast.… Continue reading this article “Podcast #6 – Garden Hocus Pocus”

Just for ewe: An alternative approach to weed control.

As I mentioned in the last post I was in Austria this past week for the International Christmas Tree Research and Extension conference. We hold these meetings every two years for Christmas tree researchers in Europe and North America to get together and share the latest research on various aspects of Christmas tree production and marketing. In addition to research presentations the programs also include tours of local Christmas tree farms, which is always the most interesting part of the conference.… Continue reading this article “Just for ewe: An alternative approach to weed control.”

Wonderful Plant Wednesday

[So I’ve veered off the “weird” track into “wonderful” already.
Whoops.]

“Mint!” is tantamount to the cry of “Bear!” to many gardeners.  Mints tend to run amok, in just about any environment, and are difficult to remove once established. A pot or hanging basket is useful for containment, but not always successful.  It wants out.  The upside to mint in your garden is, of course, cocktails. Essential for the mint julep and the mojito.  Also useful in lots of dishes – I prefer my tzatziki with mint, thank you.… Continue reading this article “Wonderful Plant Wednesday”

Podcast #5 – Selling Sustainability

Everyone (including me) hates how the word “sustainability” has been overused and misused. Yet there are some good concepts associated with the word that can help gardeners make rational decisions about products and practices. This week’s podcast deconstructs sustainability into specific actions that gardeners can easily follow:

  • Discovering and nurturing the natural processes that keep your gardens and landscapes healthy and functional
  • Choosing plants and products wisely to conserve natural resources
  • Creating gardens and landscapes that don’t require constant inputs of packaged fertilizers and pesticides

The podcast illustrates each of these points. … Continue reading this article “Podcast #5 – Selling Sustainability”

If it’s Monday this must be Austria…

Just a quick post from on the road.  My family and I have been traveling through Europe the past week and a half.  A bit of a whorl-wind trip combining some vacation and work travel.  We started off a week and half ago, flying into Frankfurt.  We rented a car and drove to Paris where we spent a couple of days sightseeing. Then it was off to southern France to visit friends that run a bed and breakfast there.… Continue reading this article “If it’s Monday this must be Austria…”

Striking a Balance

About two weeks ago a reader (Julie) e-mailed me about some young gardeners/farmers and how they believed in a natural balance.  The e-mail read: “Would you mind devoting a blog or two to the philosophy that nature is perfectly balanced and will find a solution to whatever ails it and therefore we do not need to use any chemicals or poisons to fight pests and disease?”

I thought this was a good question, and here’s my quick answer (followed, naturally, by a more long and drawn out answer). … Continue reading this article “Striking a Balance”

Podcast #4 – Going Native

Another one in the can! This week the podcast focuses on native plants; I’ve got an interesting research item about using mixtures of native grasses for lawns.  You’ll also hear why sometimes native plants might not be the best choice, whether the goal is attracting fruit-eating birds or creating a sustainable urban landscape.

And you will love this week’s interview with Lacia Bailey – Seattle gardener and urban dairy goat maven. Once again I enlisted my son Jack to capture the moment on film:


“I’ll bet that camera is edible, too!”… Continue reading this article “Podcast #4 – Going Native”

So…How Much Pesticide Is Actually In Our Fruits and Veggies?

We have discussed the dirty dozen here before – those foods which a group called The Environmental Working Group (wow—fancy name – everything they say must be true!) has established contain more residues of different pesticides than other foods.  I’ve already stated my concerns about selecting organic foods instead of conventionally grown ones because of a fear of pesticides so I won’t restate that here.  Instead what I want to call your attention to an article sent to me by our visiting professor, Charlie Rowher. … Continue reading this article “So…How Much Pesticide Is Actually In Our Fruits and Veggies?”

What I did for my summer vacation

[Warning: pointless post/ramblings]

Actually it was a "staycation." We usually scoot to the Caribbean for a week.  I’d like to say this was better.* Though home from our regular jobs for a week, we worked like fiends.  Our primary target was the multitude of Autumn Olive (exotic invasive) and Sycamore (native yet ridiculously prolific) taking over a nice four-acre field.  We we don’t quite know what to do with this creek bottom, except to not let it grow up into a monoculture (biculture?)… Continue reading this article “What I did for my summer vacation”

Podcast #3 – Plants, Drugs and Rock and Roll

I’m starting to have fun with these!  This week the podcast has some fun items about the wide world of plant secondary compounds, which are all those interesting chemicals that aren’t related to the basic building blocks of life (the carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids).  Plus there’s a myth segment on how music affects plants – is “acid rock” as bad for plants as it is for young developing brains?

And the highlight is my interview with Robin Haglund – Seattle gardener and urban beekeeper. … Continue reading this article “Podcast #3 – Plants, Drugs and Rock and Roll”