National Pollinator Week: JUNE 17-23, 2013  Why you should care about the pollinators (pollinator.org):-   Approximately 1,000 plants worldwide need to be pollinated by animals to produce the food, medicine, and goods on which we depend. -   About 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators: 1,000 of those are hummingbirds, bats, and small animals, and the rest are insects like beetles, wasps, bees, moths and butterflies. -   Some plants depend upon a single pollinator species. If the pollinator disappears, so does the plant that produces that food or beverage. These interdependent foods include blueberries, chocolate, melons, almonds, and others.  -   75% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollinators.  For a list of crops pollinated by bees, click HERE.  The Xerces Society has a Pollinator Conservations Resource Guide, for different regions of the United States, HERE. 

National Pollinator Week: JUNE 17-23, 2013 

Why you should care about the pollinators (pollinator.org):
-   Approximately 1,000 plants worldwide need to be pollinated by animals to produce the food, medicine, and goods on which we depend. 
-   About 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators: 1,000 of those are hummingbirds, bats, and small animals, and the rest are insects like beetles, wasps, bees, moths and butterflies. 
-   Some plants depend upon a single pollinator species. If the pollinator disappears, so does the plant that produces that food or beverage. These interdependent foods include blueberries, chocolate, melons, almonds, and others.  
-   75% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollinators. 

For a list of crops pollinated by bees, click HERE. 

The Xerces Society has a Pollinator Conservations Resource Guide, for different regions of the United States, HERE. 

Just a couple of the “props” we’ll be bringing on Saturday, June 1st, to the Harvest Farm Community Garden for the class on Portable Kitchen Gardens. Presented by, Yours truly. 

What better way to spend a Saturday with the family than at Georgia’s largest (and most beautiful) community garden, in Suwanee?!  

The Portable Kitchen Container Garden: class on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., Harvest Farm Community Garden, Suwanee, GA. Yes, there’s a big, beautiful red barn on the premises, and an amazing butterfly walkway!  Address: 752 White Street, Suwanee, GA 30024. Map and driving directions, here.  

Come and visit this lovely, local community garden … and while you’re there, I’ll show you how to put together a portable kitchen container garden. Find out what organic fertilizer I use (and why all organic fertilizers are NOT created equal). I’ll also be talking about edible flowers you can harvest from herbs, vegetables, and other landscape plants, with some easy recipe ideas. Summer is just getting started, so come on over and learn what you can grow in a small space, with limited time, on a budget, using local ingredients - organically. I’ve prepared an Organic Edible Flowers brochure that I’ll be handing out, while supplies last. 

The class is free, and you do not have to be a member of the garden to attend. Even better … I’ll be giving away some of my favorite garden goodies: organic compost tea, garden markers, and more!   

Learn more about Wallace Gardens, a Suwanee-based garden design business, on Facebook. 

Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Twisty Baby’ (Dwarf Black Locust)  Before planting this tree, it’s important to appreciate the entire tree, for better or worse. It is a native to the southeastern United States, but is considered an invasive species in some regions.   What’s to Love:  Robinia ‘Twisty Baby’ is a fast-growing, small, deciduous, specimen tree (8-10’ tall), best utilized as a focal point in the garden. It has graceful, curving branches, dripping with fragrant white racemes in spring (5-7” long) that smell like orange blossoms. Prune only in spring, just after bloom, to avoid removing next year’s flower buds. The tree is deer resistant.    Black Locust trees are considered an excellent nectar source for honey bees. Bee keepers harvest the monofloral honey from Robinia pseudoacacia (False Acacia, sometimes labeled American Acacia) for its low acid content and its high fructose content, which allows it to stay liquid for a long time.  The Cautionary Side:  Locust borers can be a problem, riddling the trunk and branches with holes where they lay their eggs. When winter ends, larvae burrow into the trunk, weakening the tree, causing it to become stunted and diseased, often killing the tree.  Suckering will occur around the trunk, and these new shoots should be removed regularly to maintain the integrity of the tree. Watch for scale, leaf miner, powdery mildew and canker and treat immediately, or remove infected branches and dispose of carefully. Situate the tree in a well-drained location to avoid root-rot and fungal disease (Phytophthora), especially in regions receiving heavy rainfall. Information on twig blight and cankers can be found here.  In France and Italy, the flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia are eaten as beignets: battered, deep fried in oil, and sprinkled with powered sugar. However, other parts of the plant are considered poisonous. Information, here on which parts of the plant are edible, and which are poisonous.  In regions with heavy snow and ice, the contorted branches are susceptible to winter storm damage.

Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Twisty Baby’ (Dwarf Black Locust) 

Before planting this tree, it’s important to appreciate the entire tree, for better or worse. It is a native to the southeastern United States, but is considered an invasive species in some regions.  

What’s to Love: 

Robinia ‘Twisty Baby’ is a fast-growing, small, deciduous, specimen tree (8-10’ tall), best utilized as a focal point in the garden. It has graceful, curving branches, dripping with fragrant white racemes in spring (5-7” long) that smell like orange blossoms. Prune only in spring, just after bloom, to avoid removing next year’s flower buds. The tree is deer resistant.   

Black Locust trees are considered an excellent nectar source for honey bees. Bee keepers harvest the monofloral honey from Robinia pseudoacacia (False Acacia, sometimes labeled American Acacia) for its low acid content and its high fructose content, which allows it to stay liquid for a long time. 

The Cautionary Side: 

Locust borers can be a problem, riddling the trunk and branches with holes where they lay their eggs. When winter ends, larvae burrow into the trunk, weakening the tree, causing it to become stunted and diseased, often killing the tree. 

Suckering will occur around the trunk, and these new shoots should be removed regularly to maintain the integrity of the tree. Watch for scale, leaf miner, powdery mildew and canker and treat immediately, or remove infected branches and dispose of carefully. Situate the tree in a well-drained location to avoid root-rot and fungal disease (Phytophthora), especially in regions receiving heavy rainfall. Information on twig blight and cankers can be found here. 

In France and Italy, the flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia are eaten as beignets: battered, deep fried in oil, and sprinkled with powered sugar. However, other parts of the plant are considered poisonous. Information, here on which parts of the plant are edible, and which are poisonous. 

In regions with heavy snow and ice, the contorted branches are susceptible to winter storm damage.

abluegirl:

Living Wall

These vegetated surfaces don’t just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building’s energy efficiency.What’s more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what’s called a “street canyon,” or the corridor between tall buildings.

For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.

The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.

Full Gallery

(via mamisgarden)

Not all organic fertilizers are created equal, as is apparent with these Hydrangeas growing in over-sized olive jars. 

For those of you who have been following along for a while, y’all know I’m a big fan of an organic tea from Authentic Haven Brand, made from cow manure. (Regular “users” fondly refer to it as Moo Poo Tea.) 

I’ve been using cow manure tea on a number of container gardens, houseplants and bulbs for some time now - with fabulous results - and this year, it will become an ingredient in every single container garden for spring, so if you’re one of my clients, here’s what you have to look forward to! 

Authentic Haven Brand Natural Brew provides 100% natural soil nutrients, and it’s free of antibiotics, growth hormones, GMO/GE feed, herbicides and pesticides. The company, founded in 1924, is owned and operated by Annie Haven, an American rancher who inherited the company from her father. Her livestock is raised on permanent, native grass pastures at the Haven Family Ranch in California. Annie is committed to raising grass-fed livestock and providing a product that enriches the soil organically for herbs, vegetables, flowers, houseplants, bulbs, seeds, and anything else you’ve got growing in the landscape.  

What makes this organic tea so different from others? It is harvested ONLY from the by-products of Haven-owned livestock. It has no odor (a common concern for people inquiring about the product), and it is easily “brewed” in a bucket with water from the garden hose. Not much effort to get results like this! 

Link to: Authentic Haven Brand products. 

Inspiration for an Urban Kitchen Garden.

Tucked snugly around a terra cotta garden cloche in raised beds: lettuces, chives, rhubarb, and borage occupy a fairly small space. More ideas for the modern urban kitchen gardener include the use of creeping thyme as a ground cover and growing herbs and other vegetables in pots vertically, by arranging them on a vintage step ladder. The cold frame is built into the eaves of an A-frame structure. Take a look at your own outdoor space, and figure out which areas can be transformed into a more serviceable garden. 

Photos from the Malvern Spring Gardening Show by Sally Nex.