So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

...two or three feet. That’s no quick sprinkle with a hose! Visit the Inland Urban Forest Council to download a PDF about how to properly water your trees. Also, we might suggest that this is a great time to install a laundry to landscape graywater system. Many thanks to our excellent arborist, Nick Araya of Tree Care LA, who came out yesterday to look at our drought-stressed avocado tree (no beetles yet, thankfully!) and gave me the 411 on the Poly...

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109 Doubt is Our Product: Bees, Chemicals and Academia

...a State Beekeeping Association oppose legislation that would have required labeling neonicotinoid treated nursery plants? These are just a few of the controversial questions covered in this week’s episode of the podcast. My guests are Stacy Malkan co-director of US Right to Know and beekeeper Terry Oxford of Urban Bee San Francisco. Links: Follow the Honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits “Scientists Loved...

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What does the loving landscape look like?

...first, was transformed by nature into a sort of secret park known only to urban explorers–and then, beginning in 2006, was refashioned into a much loved public attraction by a team of architects and designers. If you can get your hands on Walking the High Line by Joel Sternfeld, it’s well worth a look to see how nature had gained a strong foothold in on the train tracks before the designers moved in, even though she had to work high in the air on...

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Saturday Linkages: Incas, Big Rocks and Cool Cucumbers

...m/e/pugEWv4Z Lost Crops of the Incas http://feedly.com/e/9GygG_Yc Reading: Urban Oasis on a Balcony: From Concrete Furnace to Edible Habitat… http://bit.ly/HSeQ6B Look at My Big Rock by Evelyn Hadden http://feedly.com/e/0gB_TOO6 The coolest cucumber you’ve never met: http://modernfarmer.com/2013/11/coolest-cucumber-never-met/ … Food issues Americans – why do you keep refrigerating your eggs? http://io9.com/americans-why-do-you-keep-refrigerating-y...

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Los Angeles is One Step Closer to Legalizing Bees

...taking a look at our overly restrictive municipal codes as they relate to urban agriculture. HoneyLove cultivated grass roots support and got more than a dozen resolutions from local neighborhood councils in support of legalizing beekeeping. They found a sympathetic councilman to support a resolution. They gathered supporters to go to meetings. And they seem to be on good terms with the media if the press conference was any indication (I’ve haven...

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