Back in November 2009, Jeff posted an educational and amusing commentary about Harvard’s use of compost tea. Much vigorous discussion followed, and we’ll return to that topic in a moment. But first, I’d like to tell you about my morning yesterday. In September of 2010, I received a ticket for parking longer than 2 hours … Continue reading Parking tickets, compost tea, and pseudoscience in the Ivory Tower
In the last few years, I’ve had a number of people ask me about biochar: what is it and what does it do? Should they add it to their garden? Should they make their own biochar? So while the subject deserves a longer review, I thought it would be useful to discuss it briefly on … Continue reading Should we use biochars in our gardens?
In early December, I posted my thoughts about fertilizing crops vs. landscapes. An anonymous reader asked if we could follow up by discussing the relationship between excessive fertilizers and plant susceptibility to pests and disease. It’s taken a month to get the scientific literature (and my act) together, but here it is. There are decades’ … Continue reading Fast food is unhealthy for plants, too
Recently a well-known gardening blog featured a guest posting by a garden writer who made a case for using Canadian sphagnum peat moss as a horticultural amendment. He defended his preference through “facts” provided by the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association. This is kind of like relying on the petroleum industry for the most objective … Continue reading A sustainable resource? Oh, for peat’s sake!
Today I’m going to write about fertilizers and worms. The purpose of this post is not to encourage you to use fertilizers. I agree wholeheartedly with Linda’s post – we don’t need many of the fertilizers which we’re using. Still, it’s important to know the facts about anything that you’re doing (or not doing) to … Continue reading Of Worms and Fertilizers
We’re on the topic of communication this week…how can Extension personnel communicate best with their audience/stakeholders. It used to be via racks of Xeroxed “Fact Sheets” at your local Extension office. A few of these are said to still exist, but with states gutting their extension budgets, the costs of printing have become prohibitive. And … Continue reading “Leave” Them Alone…Adventures in Extension Podcasting
The answer to today’s puzzle will depend on YOU! I have no idea what this is. (I’m not a mycologist. And did you know that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants?) Anyway. I found this on our wood chip mulch today. We always get interesting fungal fruiting bodies on wood chips … Continue reading Friday fungal fun
We’ve been beating up nurseries over Why-Oh-Why (W.O.W) do they sell things like Scot broom. Here’s one of my favorite W.O.W’s from the landscape side (Homeowner division). Why-oh-Why do people think grass clippings make a good mulch?! This photo comes from near my home. The homeowner put the clippings down about two months ago. All … Continue reading Another W.O.W.
Lots of good, thoughtful answers from you over the weekend about these trees. Here’s another photo from a bit farther away: As Laura pointed out, there’s a relatively new parking lot here. The creation of the parking lot both compacted the surrounding root zone, then covered it with impermeable surface. The dogwoods are huddled on … Continue reading Dying dogwood diagnosis
I’m a particular fan of ground covers, especially those that replace bare soil or synthetic mulches (plastics, fabrics, and the sciency-sounding “geotextiles”). That enthusiasm is tempered, however, by those invasive species, like members of Hedera, that seem to take over the world (or at least my little corner of it). So while logic might dictate a preference … Continue reading A ground cover I just love