August 2008, GardenRant Edition. The whole thing, with sidebar, is archived right here.
In the News
-
Kudos to the Missouri Botanical Garden for their award-winning plastic pot recycling program [pdf]. Started in 1997, the program has kept 300 tons of hort waste out of
landfills. -
Treehugger reports some good news about
switchgrass – that it improves the soil and is looks promising as a nonfood
biofuel. Speaking of fuel, can kudzu
be turned into ethanol? How about giant miscanthus?
It’s proving to yield more biofuel per acre than corn.
- In more plant news, rubber is being produced from dandelions,
which may turn out to be THE low-cost alternative to trees.
- While there’s still no definitive explanation for the Colony Collapse
Disorder of honeybees, bumblebees aren’t doing much better, reports Adrian
Higgins.
-
Great story about urban
farming in Cuba – improving diets and creating 350,000 jobs. - Troubled by deer in your garden? Hey, it could be bears
– the kind that attacks gardene
rs.
On the Blogs
- SOME gardenbloggers are willing to go off-topic long enough to promote a candidate
for office – like Craig at Ellis Hollow and Amanda at Kiss my Aster. Others of us are keeping our political preferences a big secret.
New on Sustainable-Gardening
Exciting news: contributors! Like who?
- Rainyside Garden’ Debra Teachout-Teashon wrote "My
gardening practices aren’t so out there after all!" about her life-long affinity for organic gardening.
- Garden Lady C.L. Fornari wrote about her favorite "Carefree
Perennials" for sustainable gardeners.
- Florida’s Ginny Stibolt urges readers to "Just say no
to poisons".
- And back to me, I try to cover the lawn basics for early fall: "How to start a new
lawn," "How to overseed
a crappy lawn" and "How to patch bare
spots." And thanks to Jeff Ball for
all his help!
- Poison Ivy
Update is all the latest advice, including comments from GardenRant
readers.
- Weeds and
Weeding is an overview of our Job One this time of year. Then in The Weeds in My
Garden I get up close and personal, with photos.
My So-called Second Career
Sustainable-Gardening.com has its first sponsors! They’re in the sidebar
on every page and on the About Sponsors and
Partners page. Thanks and welcome!
My new articles on
OrganicGardener.com:
- Earthworms,
those Fertilizing, Rototilling Wonders of the Garden - Master
Composters are Here to Teach - Easy-Care, High-Impact Hydrangeas
- How
to Water your Garden - Find a Gardening
Blog Near You - Learn
to Grow Food Organically and Sustainably