Ornamental:
Plants grown mostly for their beautiful foliage or flowers, not consumption.
Native:
Plants that will grow in the same habitat from which they originated that can include a continent, state, or region.
Vegetable:
A plant that has edible leaves or stems.
If you look on the sidebar, you’ll see a new page titled Media. I’m proud as a new parent when a publication mentions inandaroundthegarden.net. Last year, there were two write-ups. Not bad for a first-year blogger. The Media page is my way of saying thanks to the writers and the business owners. I hope you’ll support them with a visit, and tell them inandaroundthegarden.net sent you.
What is Sustainable Gardening?
For centuries, we have been developing a deeper understanding of our world and with the help of environmental sciences and agricultural researchers, better methods that enrich our planet are being discovered. Today, many commercial growers and home gardeners are turning to organic practices or sustainable gardening.
Sustainable gardening is choosing a technique that heals and improves the environment. Applications do not necessarily have to be 100 percent organic but even partial changes are beneficial. Gentle-earth-loving methods like controlling weeds, amending the soil as simple as using recycled kitchen waste, creates a healthier earth, food, and beautiful landscapes for future generations.
Sustainable gardening works well in many topographical areas, including urban landscape development, farming, and agriculture. Whether you are a grower, landscaper or a backyard gardener, the goal is the same: To practice energy-saving methods and earth-friendly techniques that meet the ever-changing global climate. Sustainable gardening methods include:
Landscape architect Owen Dell, author of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies describes sustainable landscape as a way to:
To view some of Dell’s sustainable landscapes go to www.owendell.com/Projects/index.html.
Furthermore, when Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) established a pilot program for LEED* certification in June 2010, SITES defined sustainable as:
. . . design, construction, operations and maintenance practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by attempting to: protect, restore and enhance the ability of landscapes to provide ecosystem servicesthat benefit humans and other organisms.
In other words, sustainable gardening is a combined effort using organic methods and harmless-living practices for a healthier earth and cleaner heavens. Copyright © 2011 Dianne Marie Andre
*LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. For more information on LEED go to: www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19
Annual:
Plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season.
Biennial:
Plants that live for two years, producing flowers and/or fruit in their second year from seed.
Perennial:
Plants that live for more than one growing season, three years or more under normal conditions.
Note: If you received Part II first and you’re wondering where’s Part I, I just noticed that I forgot to post it yesterday. That’s what happens when I leave the house early.
If the elusive-growing season hasn’t steered your thoughts forward spring planting, browsing seed catalogs is sure to germinate enthusiasm. Cozy next to a warm fire, a hot beverage and a few catalogs and you’ll start counting the days for putting down seeds. Studying seed catalogs is a romantic occasion, when your mind fills with visions of mouth-watering produce and colorful flowers. Their scents seem to float from the photos and descriptive text as the tiny seeds considered become subject to ordering. If you haven’t experienced delirious moments while under the spell of seed catalogs, and you’re new to seed shopping, via catalog, order copies now for February planting.
Even if you don’t have space to jump-start your spring plantings with indoor sowing, or you simply prefer six-packs to seeds, there are several benefits (besides romance) for reading seed catalogs. Here are a few advantages:
Most seed catalogs are available on the web to browse, buy, and order a free catalog. However, some companies no longer mail printed catalogs. If you know beforehand what seeds you want to purchase online buying saves time and gas. But nothing beats the hand-held catalog. Copyright © 2011 Dianne Marie Andre
Tomorrow, look for Part II with tips on choosing the right catalogs and seed ordering hints.
Here are more tips to help make your seed selections successful.
When your seed order arrives, check the contents against the packing slip. After planting, staple each seed envelope to a blank sheet of paper for writing notations. Note things like:
Tuck your notes in the proper catalog for future reference. These steps may seem like overkill. However, they’ll save time. After a few seasons you’ll know which companies you favor, varieties the whole family loves, and how much to order.
Please add your own comments about seed catalogs. We’d love to hear your comments and experiences.
Every Friday for the past year, I have shared poetic verses and spiritual inspirations called “Budding Garden Thoughts.” This year, I’m excited to announce “Soulful Plotting” in its place. This too will be short and simple, but will address garden terminology as a useful glossary of garden related information.
Look for “Soulful Plotting” (and the photo of my garden shoes) beginning Friday, January 7.
Thank you for your support this past year.
Walking in and around my garden this morning, here’s what I noticed on the first day of 2011:
Splash . . . it’s raining again.
My hydrangea has buds.
Trick or treat . . . I still have a pumpkin on the front porch.
It’s no longer pitch-black at 5:00 p.m. . . . actually, I noticed this a few nights ago.
Hate it when this happens . . . every shallot planted in one section of the garden has disappeared.
Surprise-surprise . . . there’s a dozen Alpacas in the neighbor’s field, next to my chicken pasture.
Well, blow me down . . . the one-trillion leaves in the perennial garden don’t have a clue how to drift onto the neighbor’s property.
For the first time in a long while . . . I read these words on the my blackboard:
What have you noticed in the New Year?
Journal entry December 17, 2010: The leaves of five weeping willows, now bright yellow, still cling to stems in the sweep of long, hanging boughs. This is where Ralphie and I run too when gray days become too depressing and I need sunlight. The trees, in the last stage of dormancy, can’t infect me with a dose of vitamin B, but the golden park lifts my spirit, and Ralphie . . . well, he’s just happy to run around outdoors, nose to the ground. 
My husband and I have made it a practice to keep the Willow Grove natural. As a result, there’s a good twelve inches of leaf mulch on the ground. This is one place we don’t have to hoe or spray weeds. It doesn’t take long for the fallen leaves to change. By the end of December, before the New Year begins, they’ll turn into a brown mat.
It rained last night, so I stand beneath the stringy willow skirts on a leafy sponge. Ralphie’s shaggy legs are wet and no longer white as he runs after a phoebe on the fence post. Smells of decay, mud, and moss rush together. The air is damp; pasture green, the sky a dull statue gray.
Having lived here for years, I know this scene well, how nature binds together layer-upon-layer in 3-D. I study however many details my eyes will allow me to discover: fence boards spackled with rust and moss, old manure spreader rims partly buried in leaves, a tiny mushroom peering out from the thick soggy sponge-of-a-ground, and an old willow stump that Ralphie just leaped from, awkwardly dragging a twig alongside his short frame. Ralphie brings the twig to me, tail twitching. Then he runs away. I chase after him because that’s how we play before I grow breathless and call timeout.
The willows take their own timeout. Soon the golden park will be brown. Skinny, dead boughs will drop and land willy-nilly, many like hand-stitched Xs on a crazy quilt. Once this happens, on days when the sky is gray, Ralphie and I will run to the backyard. Here, Chinese maple leaves dot the lawn and patio with bright yellow leaves. The surface isn’t a spongy mat though. When the grass isn’t too wet, my husband trims the lawn sucking up sunny-colored leaves. Between maintenance, more will drop. Well into the New Year, there’ll be a bright spot to lift my spirit. It will be a good year. Copyright © 2010 Dianne Marie Andre
Thank you for letting me share my world with you in 2010. I hope your year, in 2011, is filled with all things grand and special.
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