This past week I was out of town at a conference, and since the week was supposed to be a scorcher I made sure my husband was going to water the container plants daily. And indeed, temperatures were in the 90s, dropping to the mid-60s at night. But the container plants looked great when I … Continue reading Diagnosing Disasters: The Case of the Mopey Mophead
As many parts of the US face drought or dryer than normal conditions and issues about water availability especially in the western states, many gardeners are reassessing their relationships with plants and irrigation. Many gardeners, especially in the west, are replacing their lawns and landscape plants with more drought and dry-weather tolerant options. But there … Continue reading Don’t get hosed: exploring the efficiencies of garden and landscape irrigation systems
You might have heard of the concept of crop rotation, or even have had someone tell you that you should be practicing it in your home garden. But does this practice developed for use on large-scale farm fields work for small-scale home gardening or backyard farming? And if so how do you even do it? … Continue reading Crop rotation makes the garden go ’round
I am constantly slaying horticultural snake oil dragons. There is so much misinformation on the web and even within University/Extension publications. In this blog I turn my attention to compost–a subject that is almost universally cherished by gardeners, gardening groups and horticulturists. Unfortunately there are a lot of misnomers about compost. Plants are composed of … Continue reading The Yin Yang of Compost
I just returned from one of my self-imposed retreats where I have no cell phone service nor internet. This means I can focus on writing without interruption. One of my projects this year is to publish a scientific critique of permaculture (stay tuned for that late 2023). Part of my process is to read popular … Continue reading Deep sheet mulching is “bat-sheet crazy”
I received an email this week from an arborist colleague who had been sent an “engineering solution” which claims to help with rooting issues in clayey soils or areas where root area is reduced. There was a spiffy diagram accompanying this which I’ve reproduced below. I could dissect this for you and point out all … Continue reading Another “drainage solution” that makes problems worse
I’m resorting to clickbait tactics to get your attention. Here’s another – “Warning! Graphic photos follow!” Uncorrected roots in containers or landscapes will create chronic water stress problems for trees. If you have failing trees on your own property or on property you manage, you need to do one simple thing before you assume that … Continue reading “This one secret hack will save you time and money!”
Spring bulb planting time is on across North America! Many types of bulbs do well in desert and xeric gardens: hyacinths, ranunculus, iris, narcissus, crocus, alliums can all be happy. One bulb that’s often left off the list are tulips. Why is that? The tall flashy hybrid or Darwinian tulips that fill the catalog photos … Continue reading Tulips for the desert?
This Independence Day weekend blog post is about John Bartram, the American gardener and botanist who revolutionized gardening. John Bartram was born a third generation Quaker on a farm in Darby, Pennsylvania on March 23, 1699. While he had no formal education beyond the local school, he was interested in medicine and medicinal plants. Stymied by … Continue reading People and Plants
