gardening 101

Now that festival season is over, I’m finally getting around to my poor neglected garden. Luckily it stays hot thru November, so I should still get some tomatoes out of these little guys!

I planted grapevines last year, and was sure I’d managed to kill them (the blackberries sure did die), but look! They came back! Now I need to make some trellises for them.

Last year we had a very late frost, which killed off all the buds on my apple tree. This year, we also had a late frost, but it wasn’t as bad, and it looks like the apples survived! MMMMM there will be many many crisps this fall!

The tree does seem to be dropping an awful lot of baby apples tho. I wonder if it is because of the drought? I guess I need to dump some of my bathwater on this guy too if we don’t get rain soon.

 

seasonal eating made simple!!

whoa. I just stumbled across this fantastic bit on epicurious’ website. You click on the month and your state and it tells you what is in season! So cool!

You also get a shopping guide and recipe tips for using the selected ingredients! this rules, I tell you!

 

Plants to improve indoor air quality

So last night the ladies of SuperCute! and Cody from Scurvy Dog came over and we did a little swag-crafting for the upcoming ICE festival. There might have been glue, and there might have been a few headaches afterwards. oops? Anyway, seemed like a really good time to post this article!

This picture comes from this great article over here:
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com

click the photo here to see it bigger, or the link to go to their site:

 

The New Mafia

This article in Vanity Fair is quite long, but it is a good read on the tactics that a certain corporate giant is taking to ensure they control the world’s food supply. This company and it’s tactics make cinema’s most cold-blooded bad guys seem like common street hustlers.

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear
Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.

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I’m always torn about posting articles like that. On the one hand, I think it’s really important to get the word out about what is happenning in our world (and that idea often wins, but not always), but on the other hand, those articles are scary and sad and often leave me feeling like I can’t ever do enough.

Then I read something like this:
about a woman who turned a barren patch of NYC land into a lush paradise

and it renews my faith that one person really CAN make a difference. And that makes me want to try even harder.

 

The Green List

Two nifty products that are actually available in the states to help you get greener!

First: This new tank lid retrofits into your existing toilet to allow you to wash your hands with fresh water, which is then recycled for toilet flushing. This is pretty cool for older homes where re-doing your plumbing for greywater reclamation would be difficult.

The second one is a spinning composter. It’s compact, and breaks food down odorlessly into fertilizer in under three months. Wow. This is for sure going on my wish list for next year’s garden. I wonder if it’s available locally…

Both products available here:
http://www.gaiam.com/retail/HomeOutdoor

 

Water is the word of the week!

So these days, having a lush green yard is pretty much outdated and old fashioned, and just not the smartest use of space. That said, no one wants a big brown patch of dead, or an acre of concrete. There’s a new way of landscaping that’s starting to catch on outside desert areas, it’s called xeriscaping. I know it had a rap as being nothing but cactus for a while, but really it’s all about using native plants in their native environment. Those gorgeous blooming miles of highway divider on the way to Dahlonega? That’s xeriscaping. Yep. Amazing, eh?

from EarthEasy:
Benefits

Saves Water. For most of North America, over 50% of residential water used is applied to landscape and lawns. Xeriscape can reduce landscape water use by 50 - 75%.

Less Maintenance. Aside from occasional pruning and weeding, maintenance is minimal. Watering requirements are low, and can be met with simple irrigation systems.

No Fertilizers or Pesticides. Using plants native to your area will eliminate the need for chemical supplements. Sufficient nutrients are provided by healthy organic soil.

Improves Property Value. A good Xeriscape can raise property values which more than offset the cost of installation. Protect your landscaping investment by drought-proofing it.

Pollution Free. Fossil fuel consumption from gas mowers is minimized or eliminated with minimal turf areas. Small turf areas can be maintained with a reel mower.

Provides Wildlife Habitat. Use of native plants, shrubs and trees offer a familiar and varied habitat for local wildlife.

Less work AND more benefit? sign me up!

Here are some other amazing examples.

How cool would it be to have a front yard like one of these? Wayne and I are plotting ours out for next spring, I can’t wait for the beds of yummy smelling rosemary and lavender. Another plus is going to be never again having to buy herbs for cooking.

Here are a couple links to learn more about xeriscaping in your area:

http://eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B1073.htm

 

In The Yard

I rounded the corner behind the garage today and found 3 new showy blooms on my rosebush. I should really replant this bush over somewhere I can enjoy it.

Three wise men came to visit:

and stayed for tea

 

Nurturing Mother Nature

When we first decided to buy and renovate this house, one of my top priorities was going to be making the renovation as green as possible. I had visions of solar roof tiles, rain barrels, greywater recovery systems, recycled glass kitchen and bathroom tiles…
And then I really looked around at how difficult it could be to find these things, and how out-of-reach many of them were pricewise for the average person. Thankfully, I found sites like The Victory Garden and NoImpact Man and the 90% Project for continued tips on how to make a difference, even if I couldn’t do the really big things just yet.

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On that note, my friend Becky and I were talking about clothing and sweatshops and other consequences of our material world. Becky pointed me to a PBS Documentary called China Blue about conditions in the factories that make our clothes. Almost in the same breath, we lamented how difficult it was to try and live in a world where one is expected to dress and makeup like a magazine page, and where the tempations of “fast fashion” like H&M and Forever21 are veryvery real.

Then, this morning I read the blog of a long-time online acquaintance to find she started up a new site called the GreenGirlGuide where she and her partners talk about these very problems of fashion and beauty products and showcase people trying to make a difference and give people a more socially-conscious alternative.

Green Girl Guide™ showcases companies that regularly make conscious choices in a realistic way. Just as we can’t eat organic all the time and love mineral makeup but won’t part with our waterproof (and probably mildly toxic) mascara, the Green Girls are about calling out companies that make socially and environmentally conscious choices and share the belief that small, individual actions can add up to big change.

Well now, what perfect timing! I hope lots of people regularly tune into the GreenGirl blog, as I know I will. Sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to change your habits, but I think these girls are going to make it a teeny bit easier.

 

The weekend, in pictures, May edition

I realize that most of you won’t really care about the fact that my veggies are sprouting, because that’s exactly what veggies are supposed to do, BUT given that we had that 3-day totally unexpected freeze right after I planted them, I am certainly happy to see little green sprouts and buds.

here are my tomatoes, hot peppers and beans, in all their baby-vegetble glory:

mmmmmmmmm…. salad!

Yesterday I also spent a little time outside installing some new solar lights, and continuing the work on the disaster that is the backyard. I got a few pavers put down. One day, there will be a path all the way to the deck, but for now Lurch is just happy he has less gravel to walk on:

 

bye bye flowers

This is what my yard looks like right now. See, spring sprang last week, it was 85 last weekend.

Say good bye to it all, as it’s going to be 29 here tonight. I guess I’ll go cut some and bring them indoors to enjoy them. No point in letting them all die.

Thanks Mother Nature. =(