One of the “advantages” of being in the same office suite as me is hearing (a) that arborist wood chips are about as close to a miracle product as you can get and (b) that landscape fabric is hell on (the) earth. So my office mate Liz, either because she was convinced of the above or just wanted to shut me up, decided to rip out the landscape fabric in her ornamental bed and replace it with wood chips.… Continue reading this article “Keep the fabrics in your closet and off of your soil”
Month: April 2019
Problems with Planting Trees
Ok. I admit this blog is going to turn into a rant pretty quick because there seems to be a lot of ways to screw up a fairly simple horticultural practice—tree planting. Since Arbor days are happening/happened everywhere around now, its a good time to talk about how to plant trees. First let me state some simple and useful guidelines for a successful tree planting.
-When at all possible, plant trees bare-root. Even washing the container media away.… Continue reading this article “Problems with Planting Trees”
The Scoop on Poop: Manure in the Vegetable Garden (and potential food safety risks)
“Can I use manure to fertilize my garden?” That’s a common question we get in Extension and on the Garden Professors page. The answer is absolutely, but there’s a “but” that should follow that answer that not everyone shares. And that is…but for fruits and vegetable gardens the manure you apply could be a potential source of human pathogens that could make you or your family sick. There are procedures and waiting periods you should follow to reduce the potential risk to human health from pathogens in manure and other animal products.”… Continue reading this article “The Scoop on Poop: Manure in the Vegetable Garden (and potential food safety risks)”
Rethinking the monocultural lawn (again)
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been in London having some unforgettable garden experiences. Thanks to the generosity of my UK colleagues Glynn Percival and Jon Banks I was treated to Kew Gardens, RHS Wisley Gardens, and Windsor Castle. I hope to construct several blog posts from these visits, but today’s post is an homage to the English garden meadow. Instead of monocultural turf lawns, mowed and sprayed into submission, why not consider a more biodiverse and visually pleasing approach to groundcover?… Continue reading this article “Rethinking the monocultural lawn (again)”