Prior to the 1930’s (pre- pesticides), US Agriculture lost 13% of crops to insects and disease. Currently, we lose 17% of our agricultural crops to pests and disease. Are these chemicals solving problems or creating new ones? Thanks to Chip...
Read moreYou can grow healthy plants without fertilizer. NOFA’s standards for soil offer a helpful description of the process and rationale: NOFA Soil Standards There are two approaches to matching soils and plants: 1. We can maximize the diversity...
Read moreThis garden around my house is both part of a natural system and an interruption of it. Take nature’s system of feeding the soil with fallen leaves- a perfect cycle that we interrupt every fall when we blow all those leaves into the street to...
Read moreLove this idea for a cloche to protect seedlings from the cold that a client showed me yesterday. Thanks, Mary!
Read moreCritics say Savory’s theory lack sufficient empirical studies, but Joel Salatin has made it work at Polyface Farm 2 Assumptions from Holistic management, as summarized on Wikepedia, that we’d do well to reflect on: Nature functions as...
Read moreMontgomery County is debating whether we should require landscapers to go pesticide free for all the good reasons we know about. The EPA’s Green Landscapers model how we can garden responsibly. Check out the garden by Backyard Bounty...
Read moreDriving to a client meeting, the underside of the bumper started to drag on MacArthur Boulevard. I definitely don’t recommend using pruners to clip plastic, but in case of emergency, they work very well on car parts – a moderately...
Read moreMore and more info. coming out about neonicotinoids (bee killing pesticide) found in plants. More and more evidence linking them to the serious decline in bee colonies… Europe is banning them….Shouldn’t we be doing the same? Bee...
Read moreTook me way to many years to realize that the secret to arranging flowers when you have minimal skill is to get short vases and pick a bunch of leaves- Coleus, ferns, Japanese Forest Grass, Liriope and Coral Bell flowers.
Read moreAhh…figs just off the tree before the rain knocks them down on the deck… Besides fresh, anyone got a favorite recipe? Thinking a little blue cheese, maybe some walnuts and honey…
Read moreI’m still a fan of Solar Mowing’s system for getting power to their mowers, but good to see that the large commercial industry is making some changes to its systems: Turf Magazine
Read moreTime to think fall crops. Weather has finally cooled down a bit and we are thinking of lettuces and greens and beets and carrots (which always do better for me in the fall). Given the successful overwintering of broccoli last year, maybe even...
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