“Dirty Dozen” is one of those short, alliterative phrases that’s easy to remember and fun to use. In today’s post, I’m applying it to garden products whose production or use can be damaging to the health of ecosystems, environments, and even humans. How many of these products are in your garden shed, or appear in … Continue reading My “Dirty Dozen” garden products
I have a very interesting research project on the effects of urban pressure on Coast Live Oak (CLO). CLO is a California native oak and I am interested in seeing if urban cultural conditions prevent the development of mycorrhizal fungi on their roots. My study is blocked, that means that all the treatments occur in … Continue reading Landscape Fabric Strikes Again–Oh the Horror!
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?
Irrigation bags, often called “tree gators,” are durable plastic bags used for irrigating newly planted trees. These projects have been discussed here and here and I still don’t like them as they don’t consistently benefit trees and often create conditions conducive to pests and disease. Plus, as the blog title suggests, their aesthetic attributes are … Continue reading Irrigation bags: the good (rarely), the bad (frequently) and the ugly (all of them)
It may seem odd to sing the praises of a weird, sometimes gross, looking phenomenon that sometimes freaks gardeners out, but every summer I love educating gardeners about the fascinating lives of slime molds. Here in Nebraska we often get calls about “this weird thing that’s all over my mulch” after a rainy period in … Continue reading Barf! An ode to the fascinating life of slime mold
Yikes! Drought of epic proportion is imperiling many western states this year. For the first time some water districts have proposed curtailment of all exterior irrigation, no applied water will be allowed outside of residences. There are public forums are scheduled with experts and officials giving advice. Of great concern is the certain loss of … Continue reading Saving Your Trees From Drought!
NOAA recently announced that La Niña is favored to continue through summer and fall this year and could last through next spring. This forecast is bound to strike fear in gardeners in the western United States, since La Niña is associated with drought in the western parts of the country which sorely needs more rain. … Continue reading What a third year of La Niña means for gardens
You may have heard about these fungi or perhaps not. But if you look carefully on bags of potting mix and on some fertilizers you will see that they are marketed as “essential” to your garden plants. Claims on mycorrhizal products suggest dramatic growth increases. These claims like many “snake oil” products can be extreme … Continue reading Mycorrhizae! Myco what??
Linda’s post last week about “drought-resistant” plants made me think about drought and how different types of drought affect gardeners in different ways. In her article, she defined drought as “an unusual lack of rainfall”. This is one of four different kinds of drought that climatologists talk about, and I thought it might be interesting … Continue reading “How dry I am “: Four types of drought and how they can affect gardeners and gardens
