Planting in a Post-Wild World

...ither, as the community forms its own green mulch. Every planting has four vertical layers: the structural layer, the seasonal theme layer, the ground cover layer, and the filler layer. Plants stacked on top of plants. Plants intertwining. Plants giving way to other plants as the seasons progress. Another pic from the book showing the system of vertical layering in the design process. They give concrete examples for how this would work in three di...

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Bar Codes on Veggies

...rating with other farming and agricultural associations are adding QR code labels right at the point of origin. In the supermarket, consumers use camera equipped cell phones to scan the QR code on the label. The code links to a mobile website detailing origin, soil composition, organic fertilizer content percentage (as opposed to chemical), use of pesticides and herbicides and even the name of the farm it was grown on. Consumers can also access th...

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Hollywood always gets gardens wrong (I’m talking to you, Maze Runner)

...seems to consist mostly of an extensive trellis system made out of twigs. Vertical gardening! OK! The set designers had probably picked up on some of the recent vertical gardening hoopla and were using that to make for interesting use of visual space. But what was growing on the trellis? Cloth ivy fronds, my friends. Cloth ivy. The sort used to festoon wedding tables, or is sometimes found creeping dustily along the molding in B&Bs. I don’t know...

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Our new front yard, part 2: theory

...n for native sages, which I adore. Instead, I began to think in terms of a vertical meadow. The meadow Strangely, landscapes based on meadows/grasslands/prairies have yet to really catch on in California. I understand from my readings that they’ve been popular in other places for a good twenty years or so. I have no idea why California is dragging its heels. The upshot, though, is that I don’t have many good models of what a California meadow woul...

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New Health Food Trends at the Natural Products Food Expo West

...y have some sort of wheat allergy. However, someone tell me why we have to label products like tomato sauce and raw chicken as being “gluten free?” Most new gluten free products, everything from pasta to crackers to power bars, use quinoa. The Natural Products Expo’s own trade publication noted that the exponential growth of quinoa consumption in the U.S. has created a situation in which the indigenous people of Peru can no longer afford their own...

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