As retirements have decimated our Horticulture Department’s faculty ranks, I find myself in the interesting position of teaching a course in small fruit production next fall semester. I’m working on the syllabus as was speak (hence this post). If you’ve read my bio (“About Us”), you’ll see that this is not my bag. But our … Continue reading Duty Calls
One of the gardening topics I’ve researched extensively is the use of landscape mulches. (You can read a literature review I did a few years ago here.) So I was more than a little frustrated to see one of the worst mulching techniques – sheet mulching – extolled in the book Gaia’s Garden (pp. 85-90). … Continue reading Permaculture – more concerns
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 … Continue reading Permaculture – beginning a discussion
As with last week, this past week and weekend were largely occupied by my role as a faculty advisor for the MSU Horticulture club. This weekend was our annual Spring Show and Plant Sale. Each year our undergraduates commandeer the Horticulture department’s conservatory, bring in a boatload of plants, pavers, turf and mulch and design … Continue reading Selling dawn redwood
There are people who are fascinated by plants and people who are fascinated by the science of growing plants. While I love plants I must confess that I consider myself to reside more firmly in the latter group that the former. I do love to see the beautiful flowers on an apple tree in the … Continue reading Haber and Bosch
I grew up on a small farm (30 or so acres) near Tacoma, Washington. We raised our own Herefords, I gathered eggs from my frizzle chickens, and we all enjoyed apples, plums and cherries from our fruit trees. Neither of my parents were farmers by profession, though my grandfather owned a dairy farm in Oregon. Eventually, … Continue reading Organic or local?
Some of my favorite plants are those that “do something” when little else is. Do we really need more June-flowering perennials? No! Well, yes. Never mind. Edgeworthia chrysantha – “Paperbush” is the common name – is a deciduous suckering shrub , native to China. It usually maxes out around 4′ to 5′ tall and as wide. The large, matte … Continue reading Edgeworthia!
Let’s take a very brief respite from the socio-religious implications of science, soil testing, and compost tea to ponder a more lighthearted topic. I need a bit of a morale-boost. You: “O.K. Holly, Spring’s allegedly coming…how about a closer look at some wildflowers?” Me: “Done!” (fingers snapping) For a short time in March, forest floors across Eastern … Continue reading I’m Saving Myself for Pollination
First of all, who we are and what we do. All of the Garden Professors are in the business of the science of Horticulture. What’s Horticulture? The standard definition of Horticulture is the art and science of tending a garden. Horticulture is clearly more than science but science is the foundation and underpinning. For anyone … Continue reading Art, Science, and Faith
To no one’s great surprise by now, the white substance in Friday’s photo is mesh: Like so many “instant” lawns that never really establish, the original grasses in this sod have died, leaving only weeds, debris, and the netting used as a matrix to support bunchgrass production. (I have a personal grudge against sod netting, … Continue reading Friday turf troubles