I Am So Behind

The last couple months have been so busy with work that in spite of my best intentions (and a long list of topics to write about), I hardly posted here at all. When I wasn't working I was feeling either the pressure or the temptation (depending on my mood) to spend my time actually gardening rather than blogging about gardening. But I seem to have a break in the action over the next few days before more work comes in and I hope to use that time to get some posts done that have been simmering quietly in the dark recess of my mind (you know, like compost). So here are some highlights of a few of the posts that should appear here in the coming week:

• A couple book reviews, plus a round-up of some garden books that I've either recently come across or that have really proved their worth--just in case you have any gardeners on your Christmas list.
• A DVD review.
• A report on the International Plant Propagators conference I attended last month in Salem, Oregon.
• Some notes on how the vegetable harvest has been going in my garden.
• A long overdue post on the almost year-long effort I've been making to re-landscape my front yard.
• Some other miscellaneous ramblings about what's going on in the back yard.

The real posting begins tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Michael Pollan on the Farm Bill

Don't miss Michael Pollan's great op-ed piece in the New York Times on the Farm Bill coming before the Senate. Pollan is better at anyone else at sorting out how American agriculture has gotten so screwed up and how it might, just possibly, be fixed.

Reconsidering Mums

I've never been a big fan of chrysanthemums. They've always seemed to me to be drab and shrubby in the dullest possible way. But the L.A. Times has an article on mums this week including lots of great photos of some Japanese mums featured at an exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden. Check it out, particularly the spider mums and the ozukuri, which are almost dizzying in their beauty. I doubt I'll ever think of mums quite the same way again.

The Difference Between Watering and Raining

Last night we had the first really good soaking rain that we've had in a long time--a few months at least. Walking around the back yard this morning, I couldn't help but notice how perky everything looked. Even the end-of-season, on-its-last-gasp stuff like the tomatoes and the pumpkin vine seemed to have a bit of renewed vigor and it brought me to a sudden and what should have been obvious conclusion: I haven't been watering deeply enough.

My routine this summer has been to hand-water with the hose twice a week, with occasional extra spot watering with a watering can when the weather got really hot or something looked particularly parched. I think that schedule is OK, but I realize now that it probably would have been better if I'd used a sprinkler on the hose and let it run in each bed for about five minutes. While the sprinkler ran, I could have been doing odds and ends of other tasks (pruning and weeding, for example) instead of just standing there like a moron holding the hose. I thought that by hand watering I was able to give more customized care to each plant or bed. But I think I was kidding myself. And I'm even wondering if the less than spectacular results that I've had this year with blooming and fruiting, which I've been blaming on soil problems or pest problems, may actually have been at least partially due to inadequate watering.

It's too late to test this theory this year. We've got another storm coming in at the end of the week and possibly a third due early next week. And the rainy season typically kicks in around November here (although is weather ever "typical" anymore?). But I'm noting this for next year. And one of these summers maybe I'll actually get my act together and install some kind of drip irrigation system in the back yard. I can dream, can't I?

Greening Up an Alameda Public School

I got an e-mail recently from Shirley Watts, an Alameda landscape designer I posted about a couple months ago. She wanted to tell me about a pro bono project she's working on to put in new landscaping at the recently revamped Haight School and asked me to spread the word. Installation begins at the end of this month and they are in need of volunteers and, of course, some green stuff--that's right, money. Here's what Shirley wrote me:

We are doing an all volunteer landscape installation at the Henry Haight Elementary school in Alameda. The school is located on Santa Clara Ave in Alameda. It is a Title 1 school and was closed for a year last year for retrofitting. I was contacted by some parents to help landscape the large area in the front of the school. The school district was planning on throwing down sod which is considered low maintenance landscaping.

We have designed a simple project which we will be installing with volunteers working 4 Saturdays starting on October 27th. We are looking for people to help with all phases of the installation. Apart from being a good thing to do, this will be a good opportunity to experience a serious landscape installation and work with some of the skilled professionals we have on board.

If enough people are interested we may set up some kind of orientation meeting the week before we start.

The installation will be as follows:

Day1 Oct 27th:
Installation of large circular forms for concrete planters which will be prebuilt and ready to set up. Setting posts for steel trellis. Building concrete forms for new front path with rebar. Installing irrigation valves.

Following weekend:
Concrete pour and finishing. We will have a one or more trucks, pumping, finishing etc. More irrigation work and installing steel trellis.

Following weekend:
Remove forms, fill planters with soil, set up irrigation

Following weekend:
Planting and emitters

We are looking for serious people to help with all aspects of this project, particularly the first two weeks, which should be a great experience for anyone who hasn't been in on a concrete pour.

We are also soliciting donations of money and materials. We have some funding available, but need to raise at least $15,000.00 to get this done. Checks should be written to the Haight School PTA 2025 Santa Clara Ave Alameda CA 94501 With a note that it is for the Beautification project.

Anyone who's interested in donating or volunteering should contact me at .

This seems like a really worthy cause. The elementary school I went to had landscaping that consisted of wooden benches and asphalt--the most depressing environment you can imagine. I think that surrounding a school with beautiful, well-designed landscaping goes a long way to keeping students inspired and give them some pride in their school. I hope to be able to post some pictures of how the landscaping turns out.

Santa Cruz Gets Sprayed

There's an interesting article in the L.A. Times today about aerial spraying being done a little bit south of here in Santa Cruz County in an attempt to eradicate the light brown apple moth that has the entire state's agricultural industry chewing their nails. This moth has proved to be hugely destructive when it's taken hold in other countries, so their fears are understandable. The spraying, however, is controversial to say the least. I haven't heard any talk of spraying here in Alameda County, but it could come to that. The disturbing thing is that the opinions of the public and local governments appear to have no influence in the debate over the spraying. The Department of Agriculture supports the spraying plan and apparently doesn't recognize the fact that government agencies have lied about and endorsed the use of dangerous pesticides so many times in the past that they have absolutely no credibility now when they say that this spray is perfectly safe. Here's hoping that this time, they actually know what they're talking about.

The Worms of Alameda

Alameda Magazine has an article written by Wanda Hennig about a cool little vermiculture operation here in town called Bay Worms. The article introduces Miki Jurcan, who runs Bay Worms and has big plans for its growth. Herbert Hoover may have promised a chicken in every pot, but Jurcan dreams of a worm bin in every household, which seems to me a much more practical aspiration.

While Hennig was researching her article a few months ago, she came across my blog posting on my own worm bin and contacted me with a few questions about vericomposting at home. I'm happy to report that the worms are still happily digesting away. I haven't harvested any castings yet, but I don't mind being patient. They are the most well-behaved pets I've ever had.