(Via The Blogging Nurseryman - The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery)

Posted by admin to backyards on 2008-03-15, 07:39:37

The San Francisco Garden Show is being held and two traditions continue. The garden show is one, the other is my non-appearance. I remember the garden show when it was held at Fort Mason, before the Cow Palace. I never made it since it’s held in spring and thats when we are the busiest. Some [...]

(Via The Blogging Nurseryman - The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery)

Posted by admin to Controversy, backyards on 2008-03-05, 13:34:14

Over at Edenmakers’ Shirley has a post about a couple of neighbors who each feel they are environmentalist, yet felt it necessary to head to the courts over their dispute. This is a suburban neighborhood and as such one neighbor wanted to plant a row of Sequoia sempervirens, (Coast Redwood) as a privacy screen. [...]

(Via The Blogging Nurseryman - The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery)

Posted by admin to backyards, lifestyle on 2008-01-28, 07:47:03

What with the concern over the younger generations seeming lack of interest in gardening this prediction would seem out of the blue, but I think vegetable and fruit gardening is going to become quite fashionable over the upcoming years. Vegetable gardening would seem the obvious area of interest in gardening for most people, including the younger generations. It’s will just take the right series of circumstances for it to go viral.

The interest in organic food would seem to indicate that organic is likely to go mainstream, if it hasn’t already. The next step from buying organic would be growing organic. In the not so distant future it will be a source of pride to have a dinner party with organically grown food from the garden. What with the interest in eating local food, you can’t get any more local than that. “Those delicious squash we’re organically grown, BY ME!”

So you have two big trends that will work toward the resurgence of vegetable gardening, the organic movement and the “buy and eat local” movement. There is another movement, the “slow food movement”, which advocates eating our meals slower and savoring the flavors of the food and enjoying the company of friends. Its more about the process than the end result, food in our stomachs. In addition to the slow food movement there is the whole eating healthier movement which means eating more fruit and vegetables. As people realize that home grown tastes better they will have more reason to grow their own since you can extract he greatest flavor from home grown.

There is also the self-sufficiency idea of vegetable gardening which is quite empowering once experienced. “I can grow my own food” is a big draw for many people who feel they have lost the ability to fend for themselves. It empowers. I am not talking survivalist thinking but more like someone that installs solar panels so they don’t feel be-holden to the utilities. Its liberating.

From the interest in growing vegetables will flow an interest in gardening in general. Once people realize that they can change the world by growing their own food they will gain an interest in landscaping the yard. They will find that by planting this or growing that they can impact peoples emotions. It will become fashionable to have areas in the garden that are designed to affect how we feel and react. Meditation areas, inspiration areas, energy areas, calming areas, play areas, romantic areas, etc.

I feel we are on the verge of a whole new renaissance in growing our own food. Not just for survival, but for the aesthetic, social and physiological benefits that growing our own food organically brings. When it’s all said and done, it will be the outstanding flavor and pride that comes with growing your own that will really get people on the bandwagon. Until you have tasted the difference between a home grown tomato and store bought one you wont understand.

(Via The Blogging Nurseryman - The Art of Running a Small Garden Center or Nursery)

Posted by admin to backyards, lifestyle on 2008-01-16, 09:32:34

So consumer spending on pesticide is going to grow by 4.8% to 1.7 billion by 2011. At first blush this sounds like we are going backward when it comes to sustainability. What the study doesn’t seem to reflect, or I couldn’t find is what type of pesticides we are talking about. I would assume this includes all pesticides including organic and synthetic. I would like to know if organics are a big portion of this increase or are we talking about more Scotts synthetic products for the lawn? My guess it is probably a combination of the two types.

Billy Goodnick over at Garden Wise Guy has figured out the secret! If you want to increase your web site traffic nothing like a little sex to help. He says his post “Have they no shame?Erotica on the streets of Santa Barbara.” increased traffic five times! As soon as I read the headline I made a beeline over to his site since Monica and I had just returned from that fair city. I thought maybe Billy had been snooping around the motel or something. No, it was a case or “hort-erotica” concerning a fig and a Canary Island date palm that have “embraced” right on the streets for everyone to see.

Billy as well as the rest of us that have blogging for a little while know that if you put a sexy title on a post its bound to get more traffic. I like it! Gardening is all about being sexy. Just about everything we do in the garden is about helping our plants in their reproductive urges. We wouldn’t be eating if it wasn’t for the birds and the bees and the plants frolicking in the garden. Somewhere along the line, I would guess Victorian times, gardening became something of a prudish pursuit in the eyes of many. We may not feel sexy while digging in the ground, or pulling weeds but thats our own fault. It’s perception. I say bring back the sexy allure of gardening and watch interest grow.

You might think I am being tongue and check about this subject but I believe the secret to getting more people involved in gardening is through sex appeal. We are already hearing about how good gardening is for weight control and overall health but what about its mental benefits, which would naturally include ours and the gardens sex lives. Nothing like the sound of buzzing bees and tomato plants with big, plump, juicy fruit to set the scene. We’re talking about more than just the visual cues that some plants might give, but the more subtle sexuality of the garden. The fragrance of a freshly cut musk melon enjoyed in the garden, while the sound of buzzing bees and bird calls fill the air. The feel of the warm sun on our bodies (naked or not), and the knowledge that growing our own delicious healthful fruit will only make us feel better about our selves, but the world too. Now that’s sexy!

P.S. I think the sexier gardening is the less likely you are to use synthetic pesticides. Synthetic pesticides are about the end result, while organic and natural products are more about the “process”, and the end result. I use all natural products in the garden. The garden and I wouldn’t have it any other way.