Eco-Friendly Benefits of Veggie Gardening

We all know the obvious environmentally friendly benefits of “green” gardening. Green gardeners often work to eliminate all harmful herbicides and pesticides from their yards, incorporate more native plants,  and conserve water by choosing plants that are drought tolerant.

But a recent article on the National Geographic website lists several benefits of veggie gardening  that go beyond these obvious ones.

Here are a few excerpts from the article, entitled How is Growing a Veggie Garden Eco-Friendly, by Fred Decker:

“Infiltration:   Rooftops, driveways, patios and lawns don't allow much water to infiltrate. However, the loose, crumbly soil of a well-worked garden absorbs water like a sponge, especially if it's well composted. This limits runoff, and maintains water quality.

Emissions -  Depending on the time of year and where you live, much of the produce you eat might have traveled thousands of miles to get to your local grocer. Every vegetable garden, and every homeowner growing vegetables instead of buying them, helps reduce [carbon emissions].

Urban Cooling - The high density of pavement and rooftops in urban areas can create "heat islands," places where the sun's energy becomes concentrated. This creates an increased demand for cooling and air conditioning, which is a drain on energy and the environment. …gardens  can  help provide cooling by reducing the number of unshaded heat-reflecting areas exposed to the sun.”

You can read the full text of the article by visiting the National Geographic Green Living website.

Environmental Concerns Native Plant Sale – May 18th & 19th

What: Environmental Concern’s  Spring Native Plant Sale!

When: Friday May 18th  from 9am-4pm & Saturday May 19 from 9am -2pm

Where: 201 Boundary Lane, St. Michaels, MD

Native plants ideal for Rain Gardens, Butterfly Gardens, Shade Gardens, Wetlands, Salt Tolerant Plantings and Songbird Hedgerows will be available.  Plants are grown from seed (local and regional ecotypes) right here at the nation’s first wetland plant nursery!

Pre-orders will be accepted any time up to Wednesday, May 16^th.

Environmental Concern is located at 201 Boundary Lane in St. Michaels, MD.

For more information, call EC at 410-745-9620 or visit www.wetland.org.

Gardening and your Mother

This weekend is, of course, Mother’s Day, and I hope that everyone will spend some time in a garden with their mother.

Garden with your mother: If your mother lives close enough, plan on spending some time working in a garden with her. I’ve often mentioned what a therapeutic place a garden can be. Working side by side in a garden with your mother gives you some nice, quiet time together to dig deep into personal, bonding conversations and help your relationship grow.

Teach your mother about green gardening: Like many people of their generation, my parent’s idea of gardening was all about creating colorful, flower-filled beds, neatly trimmed shrubs and lush green lawns, using whatever chemicals and techniques were necessary to produce the best and quickest results. Take the time to teach your mother some of the things you have learned about being a little gentler to the earth, such as using native plants, beneficial insects and creating compost.

Visit a garden with your mother: There are plenty of great public gardens in the area. If neither you nor your mother have a garden of your own to work in, take your mother to a public garden or park where you can enjoy the same quiet benefits of being together in nature.

Be a gardening mother: If your favorite part of Mother’s Day is spending time with your kids instead of your mother, gardening provides the same opportunities to bond with your kids as it does with your mother.

Take care of your other Mother: If you don’t live close enough to your mom, or if she is no longer in your life, spend some time in Mother Nature, anyway. Taking care of a piece of the planet gives you a great opportunity to do some mothering of your own. You have the perfect opportunity to nurture and grow something that will add beauty to the world for generations to come.

Take photos of your garden experience: No matter how you spend time with your Mother this weekend, I encourage you to take photos. When I was getting ready to write this post, I really wished I had some photos of my mom in her gardens. She always loved to garden and she was still outside putzing around with her plants well into her late ‘70’s.

So if she doesn’t live close by, take some garden photos and send them to mom. If you do get to spend time with her, capture the experience with a few photos.

And if she laughs, hit the record button and record that beautiful sound. For no matter how much beauty you may be able to create in a garden or experience in nature, none of it can really compare to the laughter of your Mother.

"Earth laughs in flowers." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wild” Garden Tour this weekend

In celebration of May as Wildlife Gardening Month, the National Wildlife Federation, in partnership with Landscape Designer John Magee, is sponsoring a 15 location Wildlife Garden Tour in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties on Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

The tour will feature 14 wildlife-friendly and native inspired gardens, at sites including 10 individual homes, a church, a school and a nature center.   You can also visit NWF’s own wildlife habitat and landscape. Each of these sites provides you with an opportunity to view the garden, see some unique landscape design ideas that you can use in your own garden and  learn more about some of the plants and wildlife that call these locations home.   NWF will have volunteers at each location to answer your questions as you view the gardens. 

Newton-Lee Elementary School (Ashburn, VA) will also have activities for families, so feel free to bring your whole family to the event.  Activities include:  Exploring the two gardens at the school - courtyard and outside wildlife habitat; and examples of how to use gardens to teach – science, math, English and much more.  Hands-on activities for planting, learning about birds and making a solar art print with items found in nature.  Meet Ranger Rick and have your picture taken with the Best Raccoon around.

National Wildlife Federation Headquarters (Reston, VA) will serve as the starting point for the tour, where you can pick up your tour book before heading out to view the gardens in any order that you select.  NWF will also offer tours of its habitat and a native plant sale.  Get a great native plant to add to your garden that can help a few wildlife friends have a great summer. (Special Pre-sale day - Thursday, May 10th from 4:00 - 7:30 pm – see list of plants here.)

Activities at NWF HQ:  19 varieties of Native Plants from American Beauties available for purchase including blueberry, coneflower, sea oats and more.  Invasive species walking tour and discussion on how to best manage your habitat for invasives;  Tours of NWF property in Reston and the sustainable features and wildlife garden.  Tours available on the hour and ½ hour during the day starting at 10:30 am.

Reserve your tickets now! www.nwf.org/VAgardentour
Cost: $15 per person or $30 for a family (until May 11th)
Day of Event Cost: $20 per person or $40 for a family
Limited to 500 participants

All proceeds from the tour will support the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Habitat programs and its mission to protect wildlife for our children's future.

Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Address: 11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190

Information provided by Eliza Russell, Director of Education Programs, NWF

Information about Soils & Landscapes from Green Builder Magazine

The March 2012 issue of Green Builder Magazine is dedicated to Soils & Landscaping and it has all sorts of interesting information in it that pertains to everyone who likes to garden and play in the dirt, not just those who build homes on it. The whole magazine is available online (see link below), but here are some of the highlights.

The first article of interest is called “The Secrets of Soil”, by Matthew Power. The teaser paragraph says “Abused, misunderstood, poisoned and taken for granted, soils deserve better. They’re essential to life, more complex than you can imagine, and in serious need of stewardship.”

Here are some  excerpts from that article: “$820 million has been spent trying to probe the surface of Mars with the last two rovers, ‘vastly exceeding what has been spent exploring the soil beneath our feet.’”

“A single spade of healthy garden soil …may harbor more species than the entire Amazon nurtures above ground. Two thirds of the Earth’s biological diversity lives in its terrestrial soils and underwater sediments.”

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Several places in the magazine, I saw it mentioned that “observing which weeds grow is a highly efficient way of identifying what soils are lacking.” They refer to a book entitled “Weeds and Why they Grow”, by Jay McCaman

Here’s another quote from the issue, in an article called “The Edible Landscape” by Teresa Watkins. “…the time is right to include edible landscaping in every new home master plan or landscape makeover.”

The issue also includes information about rainwater harvesting and smart irrigation.

Ron Jones, the President of Green Builder Media, shares these grim statistics in his “From the Tailgate” column:

• American lawns cover more than 40,000 square miles
• As a nation, we spend $28.9 billion yearly on lawns
• We use 3 times as much synthetic pesticide on our lawns as we do per acre of agricultural crops – about 67 million pounds annually
• 54 million Americans mow their lawns each weekend, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing tons of air pollutants
• 17 million gallons of fuel, mostly gasoline, are spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment
• roughly 10,000 gallons of water is used each summer for each 1,000 square feet of lawn

The issue also has a lot of great graphics and charts and is definitely worth reading. Here is the link to read the full issue: Green Builder Magazine March 2012

Tips for lawn mowing

Here’s another great EPA video I found that goes along great with our new page, Tips for “Green” Eco-Friendly lawn care.

May is American Wetlands Month - How to help Protect these Vital Eco-systems

In addition to being Garden for Wildlife Month, May is also American Wetlands Month, a time “to celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the Nation's ecological, economic, and social health”.
As gardeners, we play an important role in helping to protect local wetlands.

 What are wetlands? As defined on the EPA website: “Wetlands are the link between the land and the water. They are transition zones where the flow of water, the cycling of nutrients, and the energy of the sun meet to produce a unique ecosystem characterized by hydrology, soils, and vegetation—making these areas very important features of a watershed.” Benefits of wetlands:  

• Animal habitat – Wetlands provide habitat for plants and animals in the watershed.
• Water storage - When rivers overflow, wetlands help to absorb and slow floodwaters helping to prevent damage from floods.
• Water filtration - Wetlands also absorb excess nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants before they reach rivers, lakes, and other water bodies.
• Recreation - They are great spots for fishing, canoeing, hiking, and bird-watching, and they make wonderful outdoor classrooms for people of all ages.

But the bad news is, despite all the benefits provided by wetlands, the United States loses about 60,000 acres of wetlands each year. The very runoff that wetlands help to clean can overload and contaminate these fragile ecosystems. As a homeowner, you can help protect wetlands by following other steps that help to prevent polluted stormwater runoff.

• Plant native vegetation in your yard
• Eliminate or limit your use of harmful fertilizers and pesticides which can pollute nearby waterways
• Plant native grasses or forested buffer strips along wetlands on your property to protect water quality
• Direct all downspouts to porous surfaces rather than solid surfaces such as driveways
• Create swales (small dips in the ground) and berms (raised earthen areas) to help divert runoff to porous surfaces.
• Install rain barrels
• Incorporate porous surfaces Whenever possible, use bricks, gravel, turf block, mulch, pervious concrete or other porous materials for walkways, driveways or patios.

For more information: Build a wetland in your backyard. Learn how by visiting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s web site page: Backyard Wetland Wetlands Walk: A Guide to Wetlands and Wildlife Sanctuaries in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area EPA Wetlands Page

Annual Bird and Tree Tour Saturday at Pig Tail and Greenbridge Recreation Areas

The songbirds are arriving from the south and mountain laurel is blooming to signal that spring is here.  To celebrate, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) is offering free bird and tree tours on Saturday, May 5.

Bird lovers are in for a rare treat when WSSC hosts its third annual Warbler tour at Pig Tail Recreation Area. Visitors will have a chance to see Black-Throated Green Warblers, Palm Warblers and Yellow Warblers showing off their bright colors while trying to attract a mate.

Warblers are attracted to open water, making Pig Tail a favorite.  When returning in the fall, warblers are less likely to be seen since their winter plumage is more subdued.

WSSC also will host its third annual Native Tree tour on Saturday. This year, the tour will highlight the blooming mountain laurel tree and other native plants of the low pH soils of the Greenbridge Recreation Area. The tour will be led by WSSC’s certified arborist, Doug Sievers.

What: Warbler Bird Tour

Where: Pig Tail Recreation Area, 5550 Green Bridge Road, Dayton.

When: 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 5

What: Tree Tour

Where: Greenbridge Recreation Area, 2800 Greenbridge Road, Brookeville.

When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 5. 

For more information, contact Kimberley Knox, WSSC Community Outreach Manager, at 301-206-8233.

Feathers, fur and flights of fancy – May is Garden for Wildlife Month

“Green” gardening and wildlife habitats go hand in hand. Some people learn the pleasures of sharing their gardens with wildlife after they have begun to create a more eco-friendly landscape and the birds, butterflies and other critters just start showing up in the native plants and chemical free, critter safe zone.
Other gardeners make a concerted effort to create habitat for wildlife, which by its nature and definition, results in a more environmentally friendly landscape.
Since May has been designated as Garden for Wildlife Month, now is the perfect time to learn how to make your own landscape more wildlife friendly.
To create a wildlife friendly landscape, a property should provide wildlife with food, water, shelter and places to raise their young. Other sustainable gardening practices which help to create a more environmentally friendly habitat are:

• the use of rain barrels
  
• water-wise landscaping
  
• mulch
  
• rain gardens
  
• integrated pest management
  
• removal of non-native plants
  
• use of native plants
  
• reduced lawn areas
  
• elimination of chemicals
  
• composting

You can learn more about creating wildlife friendly landscapes by visiting some of the links at the bottom of this post.
I would also like to thank Donna Williamson, a fellow wildlife lover who contacted me about the photo I used  of hornworms in a bowl of soapy water as a form of eco-friendly pest control. Donna, author of the book The Virginia Gardener’s Companion, pointed out that hornworms are the caterpillars of the sphinx moth, and instead of disposing of them, another option is just to grow enough plants to share with them! Donna said:

“I wanted to share some info about the sphinx moths/tobacco hornworms - it was disconcerting to see them drowning in a bowl on your blog which I usually enjoy so much and I applaud your effort to get folks to realize the danger of homemade pesticides! I grow lots of tomatoes so the hornworms and I can share, and I also support the wasp predators that lay their eggs in some of the caterpillars.”

Thanks Donna. I really appreciate it when our readers share what they have learned to do around their own eco-friendly gardens.
Now, for more information about creating eco friendly landscapes:
May is Garden for Wildlife Month (NWF website)
10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden
The Proof is in the Planting

Butterflies help remind us to be good environmental stewards

Eco-friendly gardeners say "Let me tell you about my garden critters"
Gardening for Hummingbirds

Brookside Gardens Native & Edible Plant Sale – May 5th

What: Native and Edible Plant Sale

When:  Saturday, May 5, from 9:00am-3:00pm

Where: Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD 20902

Native plant lovers, do you want to get your paws on some Paw Paws; are you wild about Wild Ginger or a sucker for native Honey Suckle? We can service your berry. Visit the Brookside Gardens´ inaugural Native & Edible Plant Sale. Brookside Gardens and the Montgomery Parks Community Gardens will offer a tantalizing selection of native and edible plants for sale, including unusual and hard-to-find vegetables and herbs; native perennials, shrubs, trees, vines, pollinator host plants; and, plants that provide wildlife habitat.

For more information, including a list of plants that will be offered for sale, visit them online at www.brooksidegardens.org or call 301-962-1400.

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