Mown and Blown: The Problem With Leaf Blowers

...aintain ecologically beneficial landscapes. Homeowners who couldn’t afford gardening services would discover the joy of gardening. I’ve also thought of getting our neighbors together to discuss the issue and come up with alternatives, but I’m not sure this would work. So I’m going to toss the issue out to you, our dear readers. Do you have a leaf blower problem where you live? Is this just an LA problem, or is it a national or international proble...

Read…

Back to the Garden

...en. This idea haunts me. I find references to this song, to the Garden and gardening and Eden everywhere I turn, as if the universe is whacking me upside the head, saying, “Pay attention!” Genesis tells the tale of humankind’s expulsion from Eden. It is a myth. The definition of a myth is a tale which is not factual, but which is true. In our age of empiricism this can seem like a contradiction of terms, but it isn’t. A myth is a truth which is al...

Read…

Mulch, mulch, mulch!

...ng stuff fall and lay there. This, by the way, entirely contrary to common gardening practice, which seems to believe that if a surface isn’t covered in turf or cement, it must be swept as clean as a kitchen floor. I see a lot of dead soil in my neighborhood, dry and exposed and baking in the sun–but ever so tidy. Insulating the soil provides the conditions necessary for life to bloom in the soil. Mulch helps retain soil moisture (which lessens th...

Read…

There is Something Beyond the Straw Bale

...of a greater context. What applies to literature also applies to vegetable gardening. You can’t grow vegetables without also considering their relationship to other plants, creatures and human beings. Bale, pomegranate tree and mess I need to clean up. Please note the raccoon poop zone on the slightly subterranean garage roof. Our vegetable garden right now is just one straw bale in the process of conditioning and our philosophy has always been th...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Subterranean Heating Systems, Achocha, Tree Beekeeping and Valentine’s Day Cocktails

...@Botanygeek https://t.co/SLIHfM61BE pic.twitter.com/1j0ywHYznr — Guardian gardening (@guardiangardens) February 6, 2017 Fretting about the decline of hedgehogs? do something about it! Listen to our hogcast with @BillOddie @hedgehoghugh @janeperrone @AlysFowler pic.twitter.com/4f1DFF4g4x — Guardian gardening (@guardiangardens) February 6, 2017 Now: TONIGHT: Meet the man reviving the ancient craft of ‘tree-beekeeping’ #bees #honey BBC1 at 7:30pm pi...

Read…