Saturday Tweets: Cow Appreciation Day

...thinner roots less dependent on symbiotic fungi. This gives new insight to plant invasions & how to prepare sites for restorations https://t.co/ldBMjI2O0H pic.twitter.com/UUjSRy25IG — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) July 13, 2018 How to Design a Wildlife-Friendly City Whether it’s giving endangered species a break or providing our children with a firsthand look at nature, the benefits of biodiversity are bountiful. https://t.co/4jtwbEzrWn via @und...

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February 2019 Garden Update

I had a personal request from über-gardener and plant authority Nance Klehm requesting an update on what’s going on in our garden. So here you go Nance. A lot like the first step in Alcoholics Anonymous we admitted that we are powerless over doing garden design work ourselves and sought out the help of a design professional, Haynes Landscaping, to come up with a plan and do the hardscaping that we never seemed to be able to get to. Last year, whi...

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Garden Update Part II: The Good the Bad and a Lot of Ugly

...e asparagus fern (Asparagus aethiopicus) on the right, a vile and invasive plant that is proof of the fallen nature of this vale of tears. The plant in the center is from Annie’s annuals and I can’t remember the name of it. Kelly knows what it’s called but she’s visiting family this week. You get bragging rights if you call it out in the comments. Part of the reason for the lushness of the yard is that we divert the rainwater from the roof to a pi...

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Why I’m Growing Vegetables in a Straw Bale

...getables with a high chance of success. When figuring out where and how to plant a vegetable garden we’ve got to include both biological and social considerations, i.e. we’ve have to consider both plants and people. If you’ve got more space, time to compost and healthy soil roll with that. If you’re in an apartment grow some herbs in a pot on your windowsill. If you’re a dilettante appropriate technology blogger with limited time for gardening and...

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Our Hot Streets Are an Opportunity

...eet was 120.8º F (49.3º C). Being a crank I have two conclusions: 1. Let’s plant trees. 2. How about instead of painting streets gray we do something really radical and pull them up entirely and start cooling people rather than serving cars? According to the Los Angeles Times, “Recent research has found that when manufacturing emissions are taken into account, most cool pavements hurt the climate more than they help.” So, as is typical for our may...

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