Garden Rant

I can’t imagine …

... how I would feel if someone came by in the middle of the night and cut down my garden. That’s what happened to a gardener in Shreveport, Louisiana, who was growing vegetables on the strip between sidewalk and road in front of his house.

And here’s more easeway news, though in Minnesota they call it the boulevard. HT Peter Hoh for drawing my attention to this cute dino/hosta landscape (detail above) in the boulevard spot. It’s a neighborhood destination.

 Who knew that such a small patch of land could generate such rage and creativity?

Why all the attacks on the White House Garden?

If you missed the big gardening news this week, here's the summary version:

After the not-surprising attacks on the organic nature of the garden from the lobby group for Big Chem, this latest attack came curiously from the left.  It started with a story in Mother Jones claiming that the garden, with its 93 parts per million of lead, is "contaminated", supposedly due to the composted sewage applied to the land during the Clinton years.   

Then a Huffington Post writer took that ball and ran with it: The Obama Organic Family Garden: Swimming in Sludge? Here's a quote [bold added]: "Recently the National Park Service discovered that the White House lawn, where the garden was planted, contains highly elevated levels of lead -- 93 parts per million. It's enough lead for anyone planning to have children pick vegetables in that garden or eat produce from it to reconsider their plans: lead is highly toxic to children's developing organs and brain functions -- however, it's below the 400 ppm the EPA suggests is a threat to human health."

First, the 93 ppm finding was known by the Park Service months ago and made public back in March when the garden was announced.  And who says 93 ppm is enough to stop people with children from growing food in it?

But to the rescue of good science and journalism is my favorite DC food blogger, Eddie Gehman Kohan, author of Obama Foodoramama.  She got the old-fashioned notion of contacting soil scientists - 3 of them - and their responses are detailed in her post:  The Only Thing Toxic about the White House Kitchen Garden is the Rumors: Scientists Correct the Record on Contamination".  There she calls the attack "the latest from the pooposphere of poor fact checking on Huffington Post".  And she finds it interesting that "some of the people who are most likely to take media stabs at the White House Kitchen Garden are those who profess themselves to be champions of environmental stewardship and of a food system that's local, sustainable, and organic," citing the author of the MoJo story in particular.

And she goes on to indict lots of bloggers:  "Many other food and gardening blogs posted about the Mother Jones sludge/lead contamination, too, without fact checking. Even very reputable ones."  Okay, who was it?

Then Eddie responded on HuffPost itself with this takedown.

And here's a point that bears repeating:

The other bizarre element to the whole bashing thing is that anyone who thinks the White House left a single stone unturned in planning the garden is...what's the most delicate, diplomatic, term? Oh yeah, silly. The White House was well aware that the first food garden planted on the campus since WWII was going to be big news. Of course all details were accounted for. Of course appropriate testing was conducted. The White House has the finest minds in America, experts in every field, available for consultation. It's beyond silly to imagine that the garden wasn't thoroughly "vetted."

That's exactly my impression of the garden gang at the White House (see earlier post about how smart the whole project is).

Oh, and here's the link to the Mother Jones story.  When I tried it, an error message came up saying due to a fire, the server was down, but check back for news of Sarah Palin and "MoJo's scoop that the White House garden has been poisoned by sewage sludge".  Still, after all the debunking!

SHOUT-OUT TO A SUPERBLOGGER
This is yet another example of bloggers getting it right after mainstream or print media get it wrong.  In this case, Eddie's a career food policy writer and consultant, so it's no wonder she knows a thing or two.  [Photo of Eddie on the "Today Show".]  And get this - she got herself invited to the White House Easter Egg Roll - by continuously bugging the Press Office - AND the White House Correspondent's Dinner. I'm so jealous.

MORE ATTACKS
In a close reading of "ObFo", I see that Politico and the Drudge Report have also "bashed" the "WHKG".  It's just more proof that gardening's (finally) a hot topic, so let's enjoy it! 

A Tale of Missoula Chickens

Can the urban farmer and the Solon be friends?

 

Today I am attending a chicken hearing at Buffalo City Hall. This is not the first time I’ve attended a legislative hearing of our Common Council, but it’s the first time I’ve gone to advocate for chickens. Usually I am there to stop demolitions of historic properties or—a couple times—to speak about quality of life issues such as bar patios open too late and so on.

I have high hopes for this. It should provide some entertainment and the word is—as I’ve reported before—that an ordinance allowing chickens is likely to pass here. But on the other hand, it is a bit frustrating that this issue, like so many that affect urban gardeners and farmers, has to be such a heavy lift for local politicians. If I were to ask any of these legislators what LEED standards were, I’m pretty sure they’d be able to say Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (this phrase bothers me, by the way—“energy design?” Huh?). They get buildings and clean energy. But they don’t get sustainability when it comes to uses that don’t have to do with bricks, mortar, and generating power.

And it goes well beyond Buffalo. Here is a woman in Springfield, MA who is trying to sell her vegetables and is running into trouble (though she is prevailing), while fierce battles between developers and urban farms occur in cities throughout the U.S. regularly, including a famous example in Los Angeles that is the subject of the film The Garden (reviewed by Susan).

Urban gardeners are running up against laws and governments nearly daily, and while some of it is easy to understand—you need regulations and order in any community—a lot of the trouble comes from city planning mindsets that seem wedded to the disastrous urban renewal paradigms of decades ago. The plan for success still seems to be: lure a big company, build lots of apartment buildings and parking ramps and make sure there’s a convention center and a stadium nearby. I exaggerate but not by much. For too many politicians and planners, cities still mean concrete and construction cranes, not healthy neighborhoods where people try to live sustainable lives. The path to economic survival in cities has changed and it's got more to do with livability than skyscrapers.

The ash borer cometh

Actually, they’re here. Emerald Ash Borers have been devastating trees throughout the  Midwest since they were identified in 2002, and recently they have been identified as a major threat in New York, where—at 900 million—ash trees are among the 5 most common trees, and where Adirondack baseball bats are made. The little bright green bugs—Asian natives—burrow under the bark of trees in their larval state, killing the trees within a few years. They’re easily transported long distances in firewood; thus, they could kill all the ash trees throughout the U.S., given time and opportunity.

This is something we all want to prevent, of course. So far, I’m hearing of  three different approaches. There are the traps, which are triangular and colorful, and lure the bugs inside with scent. Some kids in London, Ont. thought these were art installations. There are several chemical injections, given at long intervals (and can't be administered prematurely): I’ve heard of Tree-äge, Arbor-Jet, and some that seem to be proprietary to the arborist who administers them. And then there is quarantine stopping infected counties from sending wood to uninfected counties, as well as “burn it where you buy it” advisories. Purdue research in 2008 indicated a natural predator, but I don’t know what became of that project.

I guess this is the type of extreme scenario that we’re warned about when wholesale bans of pesticides are brought up. (That, and bedbugs.) People in New York are scared about this one, and I hope it does not lead to a chemical free-for-all.

 

If Martha recommends it, does that mean it’s OK?

Not so much if you mean that grabbing a bottle of Ortho EcoSense and blanketing your yard with it to kill all the bugs is OK. This is a new product from parent company Scotts that features a number of demonstration videos on its website, including some starring Martha Stewart, showing how various mixtures of relatively harmless oils and soaps can get rid of infestations without harming people and pets.  

It’s true that the products are relatively innocuous, but they do come with disclaimers in the form of this phrase on every label and front and center on the website: not intended to imply environmental safety either alone or compared to other products.

I liked what a Treehugger forum commenter said: I would like to see them offer education on their site about which bugs are actually problematic or which plants are most at risk, rather than seeing 500,000 suburbanites spraying this on every plant in their yard and every bug they see.

I like that comment because I talk to a lot of people every year as they come through my yard during Garden Walk. The longing for an instant solution that’s easier and faster than companion planting or just hosing off aphids regularly or other non-chemical means is universal. We’re Americans. We want something that works immediately and completely.  The nightmare scenario is that instead of malathion, people would just buy a case of this stuff. The ultimate environmental effect would still be killing off wildlife in the form of bugs—many of them beneficial—and the other creatures that depend on them.

We’ll be asking our resident horticultural researcher Jeff Gillman to do a better rundown on the ingredients of the various products here, though I believe many of them include substances he has discussed before. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Dr. Jeff was leaving for a trip, but he had time to say this:

As with any organic products some of these make sense and some don't. The fungicide with copper? -- That's a no. The soybean oil insecticide? -- I like that one. I also like their slug killer which is basically the same as Sluggo. There are more good products than bad here, but to just assume that they're good because they're called EcoSense? Well, all you need to do is look at the fine print that Ortho includes on its own label.

 

Things are looking up for Buffalo chickens

Buttercup (now in hiding) may be able to come home soon.

Buffalo, unlike Albany, still has a functioning legislative body, and it looks like that body will be looking into legalizing chickens very soon. Over two dozen rules and regulations are attached to the pending legislation, and maybe not all are necessary—here are some: 

No roosters, only up to 5 hens, the coop must be at least 20 feet away from any window or door and it can’t be more than 32 square feet in size, eggs can’t be sold, and—hmmm—property owners within 50 feet must be notified. There would also be inspections. 

Nonetheless, it is likely to be passed, and it’s a start. Of course it was news to most of the male council members that hens don’t need roosters to produce eggs.

See you on the sidewalk

This essay in the Guelph (Ontario) newspaper is a wonderfully sane mediation on lawnless front yard gardening. I was interested that writer Chris Chamberlain uses the word “boulevard” to describe what I call the easeway and what others call the median or the hellstrip. Here’s a quote from it:

As I went about digging up my lawn and boulevard, I was aware I was in some sense choosing a side—aware also of what was being lost in that controversy—the freedom to simply enjoy gardening and how the politics of it all would deter some from doing it altogether.

He also discusses the social aspect of this kind of gardening, which has always been part of the experience for me. As I crouch in the dirt, shirt torn, hair falling in eyes, trowel in hand, passers-by often stop and seem to feel the need to encourage me, no matter how little visible progress or beauty there is. I like to think it prompts some of our neighborhood denizens to think, “Hmm, maybe I won’t throw my empty 40 or loser lottery ticket in front of that house.” Or not.

Pesticides needed in Albany, but not for bugs

Here’s  an update, such as it is, on the pesticide ban that might become law in New York State. First, it’s unlikely that too much legislation is going to be enacted until the state senate finishes up the insanely dysfunctional shenanigans they’ve been up to over the past week or so. I won’t get into it here—thank god this is not a political blog—but there was a coup, the doors are locked, blah blah … suffice it to say that there won’t be any votes on major issues until the internal meltdown resolves itself.

The state assembly did pass a bill to phase out the use of pesticides on state property, which is not nearly so draconian as the alarmist language in emails from the industry had inferred, but it is a good start. There are also bills protecting wetlands, and other environmental initiatives awaiting action in the senate. Looks like they’ll be waiting for a while, as New York is down to one semi-operational legislative chamber for the time being.

Front lawn police in BERKELEY?!!

Rant reader and Berkeley resident Spidra tells us of a neighbor who is being fined hundreds a day for having fruit trees and raised beds (including perennials and vegetables) in his front yard and median.

An image from Asa Dodsworth’s easeway and front garden space is shown at top. Dodsworth is an community activist, gardener, and chicken aficionada who was told by a code enforcement official that the frontyard was supposed to be a lawn. Here are Dodsworth’s violations and the fines:

•Vegetation over six foot tall, a five hundred dollar a day fine, now cited twice in a two week period

•Unpermitted trees, a five hundred dollar a day fine, cited twice

•Unpermitted garden beds, a five hundred dollar a day fine, cited twice

•Two counts of obstruction of the right of way, at five hundred dollar a day each.

•And a we-already-told-you-so citation, a five hundred dollar a day fine

Interestingly, Berkeley is implementing a Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 80%; part of this is official support of community gardens and localized food growing. Here’s a direct quote from the plan’s recommendations to residents: Grow your own food. Join a community garden or plant a garden in your yard. So it could be there is a disconnect between the activities of officially-supported community gardens and what the individual food grower can do.

Having viewed the slide show, I feel positive that these front and easeway beds would likely run into trouble in Buffalo, and would never be permitted to take shape where a homeowner’s association has any say. I like them though. They look very lush and suitable to the bungalow-type architecture I can see in the photos. And really, can we keep our eyes on the big picture, and stop harassing homeowners about their plantings? As long as it is maintained, I’m fine with it and the city should be too.

Pesticide ban in New York?

Landscapers, nurseries and other members of the gardening industry in New York State are alarmed. According to emails I have seen, Bill 4983, in committee now, would do the following:

… eliminate virtually all pesticide use on lawns, flower beds, golf courses, day care centers and schools, residential property, ornamentals, turf, and by any state agency or municipal corporation.

I can’t fully corroborate this in terms of media reports, though I have seen mention of a bill that bans pesticide use on school and daycare center properties. (Personally, I have no problem with that, though I know many gardening professionals don't like bans, whether they use pesticides or not.) It is now making its way through the excruciating maze of frustration we New York Staters fondly refer to as Albany.

There is also talk of using greener practices in New York State parks. I’ll be following all this with interest.

ADDENDUM: I have some calls in and will report further on this.

OMG! A gnome at Chelsea!

We will have a thorough Chelsea Flower Show report on Thursday, written by someone who has actually judged the show and knows what he's talking about, but I could not resist noting this shocker:

Jekka McVicar, who is on the ruling council of the Royal Horticultural Society, is in flagrant breach of the rules by placing her gnome called Borage amid her gorgeous array of organic medicinal and culinary herbs.

I love the idea of gnomes—though I possess none—and never so much when I saw them used in this village of Dunster gnomerama (during a 2004 Somerset trip):

Now that’s a gnome display. I like how they are given their own space, rather than being exploited as mere accessories. And see how they are fenced in—for their own protection, I'm sure.

National Wildlife Federation Responds to Your Comments

In case you don't check back to the comment stream, which I never do myself, this just arrived from an Internet marketing staffer at NWF.

As an employee of NWF and probably one of it's biggest fans - I really appreciate your comments. I know this is "Garden Rant" so the comments tend to be a little on the angry side, but the comments you have made have been heard.

That being said -- It's important to realize that NWF has wildlife's best interest in mind always (and believe me I wouldn't be as in love with my job if we didn't).
Danielle Brigida

Should we be offended?  Does that mean our opinions mean less because we're angry anyway?

In Britain the politicians love to garden too, but they're spending way more than Michelle Obama

Horse manure? Pergola beams? Hedge trimming? All these and more have been claimed as reimbursable expenses in the ongoing scandal over British politicians and their parliamentary expense claims. We have this kind of thing happen over here sometimes, but I’m more accustomed to seeing trips to Vegas and Miami on the list. Hookers, not hanging baskets, are what I’ve grown to expect. It’s kind of endearing in a way—at least they care about their gardens—but yeah, the party’s over. Dredge your moat on your own dime.

I chose a WSJ story for my link, but there are tons of articles online about this, and many involve gardening.

Urban farm approval in Buffalo

It looks like urban farming is now officially sanctioned as a development option in Buffalo. Mark and Janice Stevens will pay $1 a year to lease 27 parcels (about 2 acres in all) from the City of Buffalo, where they will start with about 60 raised beds, hoping eventually to test and amend the soil underneath those beds. The city requires only that the farming be conducted “in a neat and orderly fashion,” and that the produce be sold within the city.

The Stevenses, as I’ve reported before, initially wanted to buy the land, but the city still has hopes that eventually houses will once again occupy the empty space. As these are among thousands of such empty spaces in the city, not to mention all the abandoned houses the city owns, I am most skeptical about those hopes. But it’s part of the “this is the way we’ve always done things” mindset that is so prevalent in city governments everywhere.

So good luck to the Stevenses! As promised, I will be over there taking pictures as they get their operation going. I’d also like to draw your attention to two really neat Buffalo blogs that look at city living in interesting ways. The first is David Torke’s Fix Buffalo. David has graciously allowed me to use his photography here. The title of David’s blog says it all; he focuses on Buffalo’s east side, our most blighted area (Michele and Susan got a tour last year).

For completely different reasons, I also love writer/chef Joe George’s blog Urban Simplicity, in which he talks about growing corn in his front yard, all the things you can carry on a bike, and how to make great bread, among other things. Joe would hate to be called a locavore or an advocate of sustainable living. Maybe he even hates it that I’m calling out his blog here. But I think many of you will enjoy it.

ADDENDUM: I neglected to mention that there is talk of enacting a Right to Farm law in Buffalo, an unusual step for a city to take. More on that as it evolves (or doesn't evolve). Also, as David notes in comments, had the Stevenses purchased the land, their efforts would have been subject to zoning and other legal hurdles that would have considerably delayed any farming endeavor. So perhaps this "try it and see" decision was the best.

Big brother is reading

Almost every time I have mentioned a company or product on this blog—like Hort Couture or video game makers iwin.com (to choose two wildly disparate examples)—the subject of my wrath, praise, or mild derision has never failed to find my post. Hort Couture left a very nice, good-humored comment, for example, and the makers of the video game Garden Defense quite understandably called me out for not have played it. (Hey! No Mac version!)

It’s not surprising. Many of us use Google alerts to follow mentions of our names or blogs on the web, and probably some companies have even more sophisticated digital monitoring strategies in place. But I have to admit I was surprised when I received a letter from Scotts Miracle-Gro just a few days after the May issue of Buffalo Spree, the city/regional magazine I edit, hit the streets. In it, an article by gardening author Sally Jean Cunningham on vegetable growing said, among many other things,

Plants don’t need Miracle Gro or other synthetic fertilizers to grow, and the synthetics set back your progress if the goal is rich, lively, organic soil. Trust compost.

The letter from Scotts was addressed to Sally and offered a basic defense of their organic line, concluding,

I would be happy to put you in touch with an expert in our organic research department, who would be able to discuss the science behind our organic products, or refer you to any of our lawn care scientists at ScottsMiracle-Gro as sources for future stories on organic or conventional lawn and garden care.

I wasn't surprised by what they said, but was surprised to hear from them so quickly, because we don’t put all our content on line, and this article isn’t available on the website. [ADDENDUM: It now is, for your benefit.]

I don’t question the right of a company to defend their product—if they don’t care, who will—but it kind of creeps me out just a bit to see how closely these discussions are followed. Indeed, quite a number of companies follow members of the gardening community on Twitter, as I am sure many of you have noticed. What do you think about it? Welcome addition to the conversation or just a little too close for comfort?

The Real Dirt on Peat Moss

by Guest Ranter Ken Druse

"Do you know what sphagnum peat moss is? Do you know what it's used for?"

I asked several gardeners these questions after a lecture I gave in Connecticut a while back. Here are the results of my informal poll.  Fifteen out of 20 people did not know what peat moss was, including the manager of a garden center. (He thought it was the same as homemade compost.) Perhaps more surprisingly, seven out of the 20 people did not know what peat moss is supposed to be used for (although they all bought it). One person said her husband spread it on their lawn. Most of the gardeners suggested that peat moss was a mulch to put on top of the soil.

Peat moss is the partially decomposed remains of formerly living sphagnum moss from bogs.  Because it's nearly impossible to rewet once it's dried, it repels water and makes a terrible surface mulch.  As a soil amendment, which is what the baled product is mostly sold for, peat moss is also a poor choice.  It breaks down too fast, compressing and squeezing air out of the soil, creating an unhealthy condition for plant roots.  Peat moss can be a useful growing medium for containers, however, when lightened with a drainage material like perlite. 

The biggest problem with peat moss is that it's environmentally bankrupt.

Peat moss is mined, which involves scraping off the top layer of living sphagnum moss. The sphagnum peat bog above the mined product is a habitat for plants like sundews, butterwort and bog rosemary, as well as rare and endangered animals like dragonflies, frogs and birds, not to mention the living moss itself.  Despite manufacturers' claims that the bogs are easy to restore, the delicate community that inhabits the bog cannot be quickly re-established.  Yes, peat moss is a renewable resource, but it can take hundreds to thousands of years to form.

Like all precious wetlands, peat bogs purify fresh air and even mitigate flood damage. 

And there are archeological reasons to preserve peat bogs.  In the acidic moss below the living layer, wooden artifacts of people who lived long ago survive, even the remains of the people themselves.  CO2 is also preserved – trapped in the moss, but released into the air when mined. In fact, peat bogs store about 10% of all fixed carbon.

In the U.S., peat moss is almost exclusively used by the horticulture industry. 40,000 acres of sphagnum are currently being harvested in Canada, with 90% of the product destined for gardens in the U.S.  In the U.K., where peat moss is burned as fuel, as well, nearly 94% of the lowland bogs have been altered or completely destroyed due to harvesting.  And most of our peat is shipped hundreds of miles, often when it’s wet and heavy, which adds further to the fuel required for shipping.

Many conservationists, gardeners, and wetlands scientists in these countries have recommended a boycott of peat. The Royal Horticultural Society hopes for a 90% reduction by 2010.  Areas in Ireland have already banned the harvesting of peat moss altogether.

Producers in both Canada and the United States maintain that they never cut sphagnum faster than it grows, and leave behind enough peat to ensure regeneration. The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association claims that peat-moss operations keep the bogs from being drained for development, that five to ten years after harvesting, the bog will be a "functioning wetland" again, and that after 25 years, 90 percent of the original flora will grow back.  I have my doubts. Some wetlands scientists point out that a managed bog lacks the biodiversity of the original bog.

In a development at the center of the gardening world, Monrovia Growers has just introduced a new line of bagged “soil” which contains peat moss.  That's according to their press release about the products; the word “peat” never appears on their website.

Though gardeners seem to have been programmed to buy peat and are as loyal to the product as some car-buyers used to be about their beloved Pontiacs, there's simply no need to use it. Chopped leaves make a much better and more attractive mulch, and compost is superior as a soil amendment.

If only more Americans could be encouraged to compost.  If only corporations started their own composting facilities, and if only more municipalities got serious about composting.

In addition to homemade compost, I use coir, a byproduct of the coconut processing industry.  (Here's one reliable source.) This formerly discarded material can be shipped completely dehydrated – very lightweight – which reduces its energy requirements for transporting. 

What do other organic gardeners think about peat moss, coir, or about Monrovia’s new products?

This week on the radio show "Ken Druse Real Dirt," Ken interviews Tovah Martin. It'll be available  tomorrow right here.
Canadian peat bog photo credit.

Hope for urban farming in the Buff

The land in question

Remember this story? It must not have taken long for the Mayor’s office in Buffalo to realize: “Oh crap, if we don’t let these people farm that empty East Side land, then we’ll be expected to do something with it!” (The city owns this property, as explained in the earlier post and links.) Or maybe they saw some federal funding headed toward urban agriculture projects.

In any case, Mark and Janice Stevens will likely be allowed to lease—not buy—the two acres they want to farm in the heart of the city’s blighted East Side. Even though the Stevenses won’t own the land, there will be a lot of scrutiny on any attempt by the city to take it back; they would have to have a plan ready to put into action. Most of us are thinking—hmm, not very probable.

As the land is not plowable at this time, the couple is planning to use raised beds, outlining the following familiar strategies for growing tomatoes, lettuces, herbs, peas, green beans, beets, turnips and onions:

“Our main focuses would be composting and vermiculture — earthworms,” he said. Done properly, Stevens said, there won’t be any unpleasant smell. “Have you ever stuck your hand inside good compost?” he asked. “It smells like fresh dirt. . . . [The farm] isn’t going to smell like a dairy farm.”

Sounds good to me! It’s a financial win for the city, as a lease is some kind of income, and a boon to local farmers' markets, where at least of this produce should turn up. I look forward to visiting this farm once it gets started—as I hope it will. I’ll take pictures.

The photo above is of the land where the farm will be. It was taken by Buffalo activist David Torke, whose Fix Buffalo blog has been closely following the urban farm story.

About those raised beds …

This is a nice vegetable garden in Ashford Hollow, New York. It is really more an illustration of companion planting.

… which I just mentioned as part of the proposal for the urban farm in Buffalo. We recently got an email from a gardener/garden blogger in England, Simon of Simon’s Allotment, who has been posting about raised beds versus traditional vegetable gardening (if there is such a thing) where soil amendments are dug in.

I invite you to read Simon’s posts about this on his blog—we will not republish his entire post here—where, calling himself a “traditional organic gardener,” he explains that he follows the methodology he’s seen older, self-taught gardeners using. His posts against raised beds were prompted initially by favorable reviews of Jon Jeavons’ How To Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible. Simon disagrees with Jeavons, and here’s an excerpt of what he says:

I would like to postulate that the more space [soil] has to move around in, the more life and diversity there is likely to be. So it follows that if you divide your plot into narrow raised beds enclosed by boards the less beneficial life you will have in your soil. I'm not a scientist so I can't prove this, it just seems like common sense.

and here

Raising the soil a foot above the water table inevitably means lots of watering, especially around the edges near the boards where the soil will quickly dry out. Using traditional methods once I've watered in my plants or my seed drill I never need to water, except in extreme drought conditions. One of the prime reasons for digging in manure or compost is that it holds the moisture in the soil.

Personally, I tend to like a raised bed, but I am in a tight urban space, where there’s not that much room for anything to move around. I have to nurture my little micro-beds surrounded by hardscaping. And I don’t grow vegetables. But it’s an eternal argument. "Top down” “no till” is the wisdom now. What will be the wisdom decades from now? Is there a compromise? Michele may be working in the middle ground, as she doesn't use raised beds, but doesn't till either. I used to read pages and pages of arguments about this on Gardenweb, back in the day, and always found it fascinating.

Urban farmers fight City Hall

What is it about politicians and dirt? You’d think they’d feel right at home, but at least in Buffalo (and I can’t believe we’re alone) the reigning powers in City Hall have a tough time wrapping their minds around the idea of using land for food in the city

First, it was Monique and her chickens. Hopeful news on that front: a “chicken task force” has been set up and lawmakers are figuring out how best to change the law that made chickens illegal here in 2004. Meanwhile, the chickens are safely waiting in sort of a witness protection program.

Now the problem is a couple, Mark and Janice Stevens, who want to buy 2 already-vacant acres on the East Side of Buffalo, where they would build raised beds and grow vegetables. The land belongs to the city, and it might require a zoning change. City Hall says no; they have another purpose for this land, which has been sitting empty for years (it’s actually 27 city-owned lots). After the mayor’s office said that Habitat for Humanity was planning to build on the property, the Habitat people said they’d be happy to step aside and find other vacant property (of which there is plenty in this area). No deal, said the city; building houses here—at some point in the future—is part of a planning strategy from which there can be no deviation.

There has been an outpouring of support for the Stevenses from both unaffiliated citizens and those who are already practicing urban farming in Buffalo. We have 2 on the other side of town and one in the planning stages. These projects have been started and successfully managed by local activists and non-profits. I haven’t noticed a lot of buy-in from the planners in City Hall—maybe some pats on the head now and then.

As far as I can tell, politicians get excited about buildings: stadiums, courthouses, casinos, shopping malls. The bigger the better. I’ve never seen a politician turn up for the ribbon cutting or the first shovel of dirt for a garden or a farm (aside from all the brouhaha over the White House veggies). But cities have changed, especially in the Northeast. We can’t bring back everybody who left for the suburbs, but we can create livable, sustainable urban neighborhoods. And, as we’ve sporadically reported here, urban farms and community gardens are becoming a big part of that.

It seems like all my life, I’ve been affiliated with areas that other people consider “frills:” art, gardening—things that are considered nice or pretty, but not necessarily important. I’ve always disagreed with that; here’s an example where food gardening could turn a neighborhood around or at least make it many times more productive, and once again, it is not being taken seriously. When are these guys going to get a clue?