Pros and cons for a White House wildlife garden

 

"I have been astonished at the small epiphanies I see in the eyes of a child in truly close contact with nature, perhaps for the first time. This can happen to grown-ups too, reminding them of something they never knew they had forgotten."

Quote from Robert Michael Pyle, one of the world's leading experts on butterflies.

Okay. Maybe I was wrong.

In a previous post, I said that I thought that Mrs. Obama should start a wildlife garden on the White House property to help encourage kids to get outside to appreciate nature.

It's certainly no secret that I feel that getting kids outside, eye-to-eye with the critters in their own yards and gardens, is a great way to encourage future generations of environmental stewards. And I thought that a White House wildlife  garden would be a great way to combine the efforts of organizations such as The Children and Nature Network, The National Wildlife Federation, America's Great Outdoors initiative through the Council of Environmental Quality and Mrs. Obama's Let's Move campaign.

But this week in my garden, I quickly learned that I was wrong. I now believe that  a wildlife garden on the White House grounds might not really be the best way to get kids to exercise and move more.

Why did I change my tune? Because the birds and the butterflies and the hummingbirds are visiting my yard and I've had a really hard time trying to motivate myself to move. I'm mesmerized. I really want to just sit and enjoy them, and marvel at the fact that after YEARS of tending an eco-friendly landscape, the yard has gotten to the point where hummingbirds feel completely comfortable hanging out on a tomato cage in a potted plant that isn't more than 9 feet from our front door.

Oh, I definitely still feel that eco-friendly gardens are a great place to get kids involved with nature. But the goal of the Let's Move campaign is to get kids moving and my husband will be the first one to tell you that when there are butterflies and hummingbirds in the yard, it's going to be really hard getting me to move.

Still, a wildlife garden on the White House property might not be such a bad idea after all. There are many Health Benefits to tending an eco-friendly garden. The kids can burn all sorts of calories digging and weeding and planting veggies. And then they can run, run, run over to the wildlife garden and sit in awe as they  munch a fist full of fresh peas or beans. After all, there are lots of health benefits in joy, pride, inspiration and awe, too.

Let's Move: America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids

America's Great Outdoors Initiative: Council on Environmental Quality

Sign up for Washington Youth Garden's Family Program

Embark upon an exciting journey with your family and others in learning how to grow and prepare fruits and vegetables in creative and healthy ways with the Washington Youth Garden's family program, Growing Food...Growing Together. Participants learn and work collectively in communal gardening areas, share in the harvest of mutually grown organic produce, and experience healthy cooking demonstrations, nutrition instruction, farmers' market visits, and more!

Program occurs every Saturday morning beginning May 7; for the first time this year there will be rolling enrollment March through July where families can enroll in anywhere from 5 to 15 sessions. Each Saturday is capped at 25 families, so early registration is strongly encouraged! Each Saturday will feature a cooking demonstration with a local chef - check their website throughout the season to see which chef will be featured each Saturday.

Registration for any month's sessions must occur on or before the 15th of the preceding month. Registration for May Saturdays will be closed April 15th, so contact them now if you'd like to join them in May.

For more information about the program, visit the Washington Youth Garden website.
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Information supplied by Kacie Warner
Education Coordinator
Washington Youth Garden
Friends of the National Arboretum
office: 202-245-2709
www.washingtonyouthgarden.org

Anacostia Tree Planting - April 16th

On Saturday, April 16, 2011, COG DEP is hosting a tree planting with the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission – Prince George’s County, in Riverdale, MD from 9:00 A.M. to Noon.

We have 200 trees to plant and mulch and could use your assistance.  This is a great opportunity for students to gain community service credit hours while learning about the environment in their region.

Come and get some exercise to start your Saturday and learn about the Anacostia Watershed and Chesapeake Bay Restoration efforts.

• Come reforest the banks of the Northeast Branch to help clean the Anacostia River and fight climate change.

• We will be planting approximately 200 native trees and shrubs (holes will be pre-dug).

• No experience necessary.

Anacostia Tree Planting Event

Saturday, April 16th
9 a.m. to Noon
6600 Kenilworth Ave
Riverdale, MD 20737
(Behind the Elks Lodge)

 Location: The Anacostia River Park  isalong the Northeast Branch in Prince George's County. Traveling north on Kenilworth Avenue from River Road, the planting site is located behind the Elks Lodge. Parking is available in the M-NCPPC visitor parking lot located at 6600 Kenilworth Avenue (Riverdale, MD).

For more information, visit Anacostia Tree Planting Event

Takoma DC Library Grounds Workday - April 16th

The Takoma DC Library needs your help cleaning up the library grounds to
get the garden ready for Spring.

WHEN:  Saturday, April 16, 2011 from 2 to 4pm
WHERE: DC Takoma Park Neighborhood Library
        416 Cedar Street, NW
        Washington, DC 20012

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED!!!!!

QUESTIONS?:  Contact Rachel Meit  at rachel.meit@dc.gov or (202) 576-7252

INFO ABOUT THE LIBRARY:
Website: http://dclibrary.org
Facebook www.facebook.com/dclibrary

Celebrate Earth Month at H20 Fest - Thinking Green to Protect Blue

Help celebrate Earth Month 2011 by joining WSSC and friends on Saturday, April 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for H₂O Fest - Thinking Green to Protect Blue

This free event will be held at 12900 Great Seneca Hwy, Germantown, MD 20874 (just past NW H.S.)

Local students, staff from local government agencies and representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Izaak Walton League will be on hand to help the public celebrate how thinking green can protect blue.

People of all ages can learn how to preserve and protect our water source through a variety of activities and resources, including: composting and recycling information, waste reduction ideas, rain barrel/pest control demonstrations, children’s activities and recycled materials crafts, tours of the Seneca Wastewater Treatment Plant, environmental car displays and demonstrations, and master gardener tips.

For information about more great events planned for Earth Month, visit the WSSC website Earth Month Page or download the PDF flyer here.

Call 811 ~ Can you dig it?

Have you ever been out digging in your yard and realized that you have just unearthed some sort of underground utility line? If you haven't, then consider yourself lucky.

To make sure that this never does happen to you, remember the number "811".

8-1-1 is a new federally mandated, easy to remember number that anyone can use to have utility lines marked before they begin a digging project.

Homeowners often make risky assumptions about whether or not they should get their utility lines marked, but every digging job requires a call - even "small" projects like planting trees and shrubs.

When you call before you dig, you'll prevent unintended consequences such as injury to you or your family, damage to your property, utility service outages to the entire neighborhood and potential fines and repair costs.

After all, do you really want to be the person who knocks out the neighborhood's cable service during the big game? Want to avoid spending a day in the dark? It's as simple as 8-1-1.

Call 811 from anywhere in the country a few days prior to digging, and your call will be routed to your local One Call Center. Tell the operator where you're planning to dig, what type of work you will be doing and your affected local utilities companies will be notified about your intent to dig. In a few days, they'll send a locator to mark the approximate location of your underground lines, pipes and cables, so you'll know what's below - and be able to dig safely.

Remember, always call 811 before you start any digging project! You'll avoid injury, expense, embarrassment - and a very inconvenient day in the dark.

Urban Nature Gardening With Kids - April 2nd

I'm a big fan of Alison Gillespie, both for her writing and for her dedication to helping to preserve the beauty of the landscape around us.

This Saturday, April 2, 2011, Alison will be presenting a talk on how to turn even tiny spaces into places where children can experience the wonders of nature.


The program, presented by the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), will be from 10:00am - 12:00pm at the AWS Office, 4302 Baltimore Avenue, Bladensburg, MD 20710

About the program:

When you dreamt of being a parent, you imagined chasing butterflies through meadows and counting acorns in the woods with your kids. Now, in present day reality, you find yourself living on a city lot the size of a postage stamp and worry that your child with grow up with "nature deficit disorder." Local gardener, writer and parent Alison Gillespie will share ideas for meeting these challenges, as well as a practical list of ideas and plants that can turn even a tiny space into an arena for experiencing the wonder of nature. Inexperienced gardeners are welcome and encouraged to attend! 

RSVP: Please e-mail info@anacostiaws.org or click here to RSVP so we can plan accordingly!

To get a sample of some of the "wonder" that Alison has to impart, read this post that she shared with us back in February, or visit her blog:

Where You Are Planted

For more information about the Anacostia Watershed Society, click their logo below.

And be sure to visit our Calendar page for more upcoming events sponsored by the Anacostia Watershed Society and other great local groups.

More dog safety in the garden

I've written a couple of posts about pets in our gardens, primarilly about how the chemicals we use in our landscapes can harm our pets. In fact, according to WebMD, poisoning is one of the Top Ten Dog and Cat Injuries.

But my friend and fellow blogger Susan McCullough, author of the popular Northern Virginia Dog Blog, pointed something out to me that many gardeners don't think about: there are many other things in our gardens that can hurt our pets, including poisonous plants, mulch and what we put in our compost piles.

Many dog owners know that certain foods are unhealthy for dogs and keep them out of Fido's reach in the kitchen. But these same foods may end up in the compost pile where curious canines are sure to sniff them out.

Here are some excerpts from the great article Susan sent me entitled: ASPCA Guide to Pet-Safe Gardening.

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) experts field tens of thousands of calls each year involving animal companions who’ve had potentially hazardous contact with insecticides, weed killers and pet-toxic plants. 

"Keeping animals safe from accidental poisonings should not end once you've stepped outside," says Dana Farbman, APCC pet poison prevention expert. "Protecting your pet from potential hazards in your yard is just as critical." 

While gardens and yards are lovely for relaxing, they can also prove dangerous for our animal companions.

Poisonous Plants 

When designing and planting your green space, it's a good idea to keep in mind that many popular outdoor plants—including rhododendron and azalea—are toxic to cats and dogs. Please visit our full list—and pics!—of toxic and non-toxic plants for your garden. 

Fertilizer 

Pet parents, take care—the fertilizer that keeps our plants healthy and green can wreak havoc on the digestive tracts of our furry friends. 

Cocoa Mulch 

Popular for its attractive odor and color, cocoa mulch also attracts dogs with its sweet smell, and like chocolate, it can pose problems for our canine companions. 

Insecticides 

The most dangerous forms of pesticides include snail bait with metaldehyde, fly bait with methomyl, systemic insecticides with the ingredients disyston or disulfoton, mole or gopher bait with zinc phosphide and most forms of rat poisons. Always store pesticides in inaccessible areas—and read the manufacturer's label carefully for proper usage and storage. 

Compost 

You're doing the right thing for your garden and Mother Earth—you're composting! Food and garden waste make excellent additions to garden soil, but depending on what you're tossing in the compost bin, they can also pose problems for our pets. Coffee, moldy food and certain types of fruit and vegetables are toxic to dogs and cats, so read up on people foods to avoid feeding your pet. 

Garden Tools 

Unattended garden tools may seem like no big deal, but rakes, tillers, hoes and trowels can be hazardous to pets and cause trauma to paws, noses or other parts of a curious pet's body. Rusty, sharp tools caked in dirt may also pose a risk for tetanus if they puncture skin. 

Allergy-Causing Flora 

Like their sneezy human counterparts, pets have allergies to foods, dust and even plants. Allergic reactions in dogs and cats can even cause life-threatening anaphylactic shock if the reaction is severe. If you do suspect your pet has an allergy, please don't give him any medication that isn't prescribed by a veterinarian. It's also smart to keep your pet out of other people's yards, especially if you're unsure of what kinds of plants or flowers lurk there. Keeping your pet off the lawn of others will make for healthy pets and happy neighbors.

Be sure and read the whole article from the ASPCA, as it contains much more great information for pets. And now that you know about the Northern Virginia Dog Blog, head on over there when you are out there sniffing around for something new to dig into.

Do we really need more rules to make us do the right thing?

An article in yesterday's Washington Post reports that a new study by the Environment Maryland  Research and Policy Center "calls on Maryland to consider following other states, such as New York and New Jersey, which recently banned the use of fertilizers with phosphorous…" Basically, the article is saying that home landscapes contribute a lot of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and that "the state" should impose restrictions on what products homeowners can use in their landscapes to help control the problem.

The article contains some great information:

Grassy turf, not farmland, is the most dominant crop in the bay watershed. There were almost 1.3 million acres of planted turf in Maryland in 2009, compared with 1.5 million acres of all other crops, says the study by the Environment Maryland Research and Policy Center. 

Yet it is the least regulated of the state's major crops.  

Pollution in the bay increases when nutrients wash into its waters from snow and rainfall. And many lawn fertilizers have an excess of two problematic nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorous.

And the 33 page report that the article references does have some great information about how our actions, as property owners, affect the water quality of the Bay. It then goes on to  list  recommendations for what changes could be made to regulate fertilizer use in home landscapes. Words such as dictate, ban, require, enforce, and prohibit are used.

 The question that came  to my mind is, do we really want and/or need more laws to get us to do the right thing in our landscapes? Or are we, as property owners, responsible and smart enough to make our own decisions?

My attitude has long been that we each need to take responsibility for our own share of the planet, but I admit that I'm a bit of an idealist.

The article goes on to quote Senator Cardin of Maryland as saying:

“All 17 million of us who live in the watershed need to be part of the restoration effort,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin(D-Md.). Not just wastewater facilities, municipalities and farmers, he said, but “homeowners and businesses also need to be part of the solution by reducing the chemicals we put on our lawns and other green spaces.”

The question is, are we responsible enough to make the right decisions on our own? Or do we need to wait for someone to make the decisions for us?

You can download the full 33 page report, Urban Fertilizers and the Chesapeake Bay here. And then you can let me know what you decide to do with your share of the planet.

Other posts about "shoulds" in the garden:

Should anyone else be able to tell you how you "should" garden?

"Shoulding" all over the place

Related article: Scott's to remove phosphorous in fertilizer

Patuxent River Clean-up Day – April 2

"To clean up a river, somebody has to get dirty!" ~ Patuxent Riverkeeper

As part of Earth Month, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission and the Patuxent Riverkeeper are  encouraging residents to join with their watershed neighbors, scout troops and school groups to help pick up trash along Maryland’s longest river, the Patuxent River on Saturday, April 2 from 9 a.m. to Noon.

The Patuxent River is home to more than 100 species of fish, including bass, catfish, chain pickerel, and bluefish. The Patuxent sustains nesting and over wintering bald eagles and a large extended habitat for indigenous wildlife. Among overall Bay tributaries, the Patuxent ranks seventh in fresh water flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

There are many spots to choose from for this cleanup, including Supplee Lane Recreation Area. To participate,  meet at the parking lot at 16904 Supplee Lane Road, Laurel or Brown’s Bridge Recreation Area, 2220 Ednor Road, Silver Spring. 

Wear old clothes and sturdy shoes.  WSSC will provide plastic bags and gloves.

For a complete list of all cleanup sites, download this pdf file: Annual Patuxent River Spring Cleanup