One of the best cures for writers’ block for a Garden Professors is to spend a little time in front of the tube watching home gardening shows. Now, to be sure, there are useful nuggets of information that can be gleamed from an hour or so of gardening or landscaping on HGTV or PBS Create. But there are moments when I just stare at the TV in disbelief and go, ‘Have these people lost their frickin’ minds?’… Continue reading this article “Plastic grass and organic gardens”
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Compost tea…again
My not-fan Justin has emailed me again with some more substantial comments of my criticisms of compost tea. I’ve posted his email here, along with my responses in a point-counterpoint format:
1. “Compost teas do vary from batch to batch, the same way galaxies vary. Without the complexity and biodiversity present in the tea, you might as well just be using water.”
Yes, they do vary, and this is why it is so difficult to conduct replicated and repeatable studies on the efficacy of compost tea. … Continue reading this article “Compost tea…again”
Fan mail…NOT!
Below is an email I received this morning. I’ve apparently made Justin really angry. So as he’s requested, I’m giving him the chance to debate me.
"LISTEN HERE DR. FACE
Who owns you Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott?
You are a cheap mouthpiece and I don’t believe a word that you say. I’d debate you right under the table.
Any day, Lady.
Why don’t you just bring it on sister girl and first describe how vegetation thrived on this planet for millions of years before the phony baloney chemical crap that you use.… Continue reading this article “Fan mail…NOT!”
Permaculture – my final thoughts
We’ve had some good, vigorous discussion about permaculture, specifically around the book Gaia’s Garden. I’ve pointed out some problems with the author’s understanding of relevant plant and soil sciences and will wrap up this week with a look at the glossary and bibliography.
Glossary
The glossary contains a number of scientific-sounding words and phrases with unscientific definitions; for example:
“Buffer plants: Plants placed between guilds or between allelopathic species. They should be compatible with the trees in each guild and should have a positive effect on one or both of the guilds to be linked.”… Continue reading this article “Permaculture – my final thoughts”
Building a Better Container
As most of you know, roots circling around a container isn’t considered a good thing. And so people try various things to control circling roots. One of the more creative horticultural minds out there, Carl Whitcomb, a guy why basically got sick of academia and went into private industry (and, as far as I can tell, loathes peer review and the whole process of publication), decided to see what he could do about making containers that don’t encourage circling roots. … Continue reading this article “Building a Better Container”
Permaculture – the discussion continues
We’ve started a robust discussion on the topic of permaculture, especially as applied to home gardens. Let’s continue looking at some of the advice provided in Gaia’s Garden targeted towards home gardeners.
The book contains several lists of plants suggested for specific functions. For brevity’s sake, I’ll just mention two:
“Host plants for Beneficial Insects” (pp. 157-159)
This list is prefaced in the text with “many of these florae are very attractive and can (and should!)… Continue reading this article “Permaculture – the discussion continues”
Everything is obvious once somebody shows you…
It’s amazing how many things in life seem complex when we try to figure them out for ourselves but then we end up smacking ourselves on the forehead when someone shows us how simple it really is. The infield fly rule comes to mind. Some colleagues of mine here at Michigan State may be on their way to such a solution for the problem of white grubs in lawns. Drs. Dave Smitley (Entomology), Kurt Steinke, and Trey Rogers (Crop and Soil Science) are investigating the effect of mower height on turf damage from grubs.… Continue reading this article “Everything is obvious once somebody shows you…”
Some Super-Cool Stuff
For the past ten years or so I’ve worked to try to transfer information about horticulture to people. It sounds simple, but it actually took a lot of time and effort to figure out the best way to do it, and I’m still not there yet — and probably never will be. The reason that I mention this is because I appreciate it when another horticulturist, such as my fellow garden professors, work to get information about horticulture out to the public. … Continue reading this article “Some Super-Cool Stuff”
Permaculture – beginning a discussion
Among other things, part of my job involves reviewing educational materials for use in WSU’s Extension programs related to urban horticulture. One of the books is “Gaia’s Garden: a guide to home-scale permaculture” (T. Hemenway). It occurred to me that my review might also be of interest to our GP readers.
I’ve created a fairly extensive review and I will break it into separate posts over the next few weeks. So let’s start the discussion off with a topic we already know is inflammatory: invasive species. … Continue reading this article “Permaculture – beginning a discussion”
Call for “visiting professors”
I’ll be posting my usual blog later today…but in the meantime we’ve got an invitation for you.
Are you, or someone else you know, a "Garden Professor?" In other words, do you use current, relevant plant and soil sciences to inform yourself and others? If so, we invite you to submit a guest posting to our blog.
We’ll post your article without editing, though we may make comments.
If you’d like, send a photograph of yourself and any other illustrations you want posted along with your blog. … Continue reading this article “Call for “visiting professors””