Saturday, August 8, 2009

“Green lawns not so healthy - Post-Star” plus 4 more

“Green lawns not so healthy - Post-Star” plus 4 more

Green lawns not so healthy - Post-Star

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 10:26 PM PDT

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Less than three months after Karen Totino set out to transform the way people think about their homes, she's decided to take another crack at the front lawn.

Totino opened Green Conscience Home & Garden at 33 Church St. in early June after running an organic lawncare company by the same name for four years.

The Church Street business showcases sustainable building materials, from recycled glass tiles for use in the bathroom to organic beds and bedding. While there are some organic garden solutions available -- the store offers rain barrels, composting supplies and organic fertilizer, for instance -- much of what Totino offers is for the interior of the home.

But on Aug. 13, Totino is going back to the garden in a big way.

"I call them yard pioneers," Totino said, referring to homeowners who decide to give up their concept of "lawn" and return to a more organic landscaping method that works with the ecosystem.

"They try something new, and it almost gives their friends and neighbors permission to do it, too."

The "it," she's referring to is the trading of grassy open space for gardens full of plants that are native to the environment.

And to help people take that leap, Totino has scheduled a class at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 in her Church Street store.

The class will feature Drew Monthie, founder of Ecologic in Glens Falls. Monthie's firm offers native plant consultation, design and educational services in an effort to help people change their ideas of what a lawn is.

He explained that the concept of a grass lawn -- the grass most people grow is from Europe, by the way -- came from Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed some of the most famous urban parks in the country, including Central Park.

"His concept in the 19th century was we should have all these open, grassy spaces," Monthie said.

Before that idea caught on, most homes had gardens, not lawns, he said. The kitchen garden was essential to the average household, and yards themselves served a purpose.

"I can drive down any neighborhood road, and you see these big front lawns, but there's nobody out there using it," Monthie said. "It's like a desert."

Moving away from the concept of a grass lawn has other benefits, too, Monthie said. Because grass prefers cool, rainy weather, Americans typically use a lot of water to keep them green and growing through much of the summer, whereas gardens designed with an eye toward native plants tend to do well naturally.

But the class is just the start of things for Totino. She's planning to use Monthie's expertise to transform her own lawn into the ideal native garden -- a process she plans to document with videos that she hopes to be able to offer in the form of a podcast from her Web site, www.green-conscience.com.

In addition to Totino's Web site, more information is available on Monthie's Web site atwww.ecologicconsulting.net.



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Garden unites community - Springfield News Sun

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 01:58 PM PDT

By Pam Cottrel 5:15 PM Saturday, August 8, 2009

Driving home on Route 40 after battling the brambles for two buckets of blackberries, I was throughly enjoying the flowerbeds in Donnelsville, when a sign at the front of a grassy lot caught my eye.

"Community Garden," it said and below that there were some vegetables listed. When I turned around to get a better look, I found a garden with rows of vegetables at the back of the lot. No one was in the garden, but judging from the tracks, someone had been there recently.

Next door at First Lutheran Church, members were setting up a yard sale. Thankfully, no one seemed to care about my muddy and ripped berry-picking attire when I inquired about the garden.

"This is our second year for the Community Garden," said church member Margie Bartley. "We plant it and anybody can come take whatever they want. We put a sign out for what is ripe."

Bartley explained that it really was a community effort. She referred to Linda Thomas as their Gardening Angel because she did the initial tilling. Then the group planted a variety of seeds.

During the spring, neighbors working on their own gardens often walked across their street with their tillers to help keep weeds under control.

The result has been a bumper crop enjoyed by quite a few Donnelville residents. Any vegetables left over will go to a food pantry.

I guess that is why they call it a Community Garden.



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Life stories - Ethel Ludlum found joy working in her garden - Star News Online

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 04:36 PM PDT

We all had a big laugh about that, said daughter-in-law Demona Ludlum.

Ethel Beatrice Ludlum Beat to her friends died July 7 from non-small cell lung cancer with metastasis to the brain at the age of 68.

Diagnosed on March 19, Ludlum had her biopsy the same day her son Rev. Andy Ludlum was having a heart catheterization, followed by his double bypass the next day.

After taking care of her late husband Hurtis Alex Ludlum through his seven-year battle with lung cancer and her late mother Ethel Irene Cheers Caison, Beat now needed the same care.

Friends and family took turns spending days and nights with her, including her son Dexter Ludlum, who moved back in with his mother. The times were reminiscent of the October 2007 car accident involving her and son Andy, where she broke both her legs.

She was a real trooper, said Demona.

Beats childhood home in Supply, still stands on the lot adjacent to hers in Brunswick County where she lived her entire life.

Working in her yard; planting and watching her flowers and vegetables grow, brought Beat the most joy.

A constant customer at Lowes or Home Depots garden centers, she would see a new flower, comment on how beautiful it was, but swear she had nowhere to plant it.

But before I knew it, she would have it in the truck and she would find a corner of the yard to plant it anyway, said Demona.

A fan of all flora and fauna, Beat did find favorites in orchids, day lilies and roses. Even taking her familys castoff plants they were unable to make grow.

It was like she could make dead plants come back to life, said Demona.

Sometimes strangers would pass Beats home and ask for a piece of her plants to root and she gladly obliged.

Living directly behind her, son Andy and wife Demona could keep a close watch on Beat and especially knew when she was cleaning the yard, from the smell of smoke filling the neighborhood from her burnt leaves.

Her love of listening to canaries and cardinals sing led her to a multitude of cardinal figurines, or anything with a cardinal on it. And she was kept company by her pet birds cockatiels, parrots and finches, and her dogs, a Pomeranian and two dachshunds.

Although Beat only completed her junior year at Shallotte High School and worked one job at her brother James Caisons former store, Caisons Superette, for 29 years, she was always wise beyond her years and aware of what it took to be a mother. When her granddaughter Crystal Ludlum was a newborn, Beat adopted the now nearly 30-year-old as her own daughter. Crystals father was sentenced to prison and her mother was unable to take care of her.

Even through her last days, Beat was trying to organize the family for an outing to Cracker Barrel.

She was even trying to figure out how the waitress could arrange the tables so we all could sit together, said Demona.

Newsroom: 343-2004



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Green thumbs up: Creating a garden for butterflies and hummingbirds - Abington Mariner

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 02:27 PM PDT

For a landscape to serve as an effective wildlife habitat, it must provide nature's basic needs of food, water, shelter, and reproductive areas. An ideal habitat for butterflies and hummers should include a multi-layered environment with a progression of nectar-rich flowers in sunny open spaces bordered by small trees and shrubs, hedgerows, or thickets that will offer shelter from bad weather and predators and provide nesting sites for the hummers. A water source is also essential and may be provided by water gardens, birdbaths, or practically any container that holds water. Add stones, small branches, or gravel to create landing platforms and provide shallow water for these tiny creatures. Hummingbirds will also gravitate to oscillating sprinklers or fountains to bathe or take an occasional sip of water.
Early-blooming plants that provide nectar for both butterflies and hummingbirds include lilacs, rhododendrons, azaleas, viburnums, and columbines. Candytuft, dandelions, and ox-eye daisies are early favorites for the butterflies while hummers enjoy quince, beauty bush (Kolkwitzia), Weigela, honeysuckle, lungworts (Pulmonaria), and coral bells. Hummingbird feeders with commercial mixtures or sugar water (1 part sugar combined with 4 parts water) can be used to supplement flower nectar. Hang feeders out of the wind, preferably in midday and afternoon shade, as the sugar solution is very susceptible to mold, bacteria, and fermentation during hot weather, which can be harmful and even deadly to these delightful creatures.
As the summer progresses and temperatures rise, activity increases with many more flowers to entice these special winged visitors. Numerous plants are equally effective for attracting both butterflies and hummingbirds including butterfly bushes, catmint, salvia, lilies, beebalm, phlox, verbena, zinnias, dahlias, lantana, and pentas. Purple coneflowers (Echinacea), Liatris and fall-blooming sedums and asters are irresistible magnets for butterflies; Shasta daisies, Stokesia, Heliopsis, butterfly weed (Asclepias), yarrow (Achillea), Scabiosa, daylilies, Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, Joe-Pye-weed, and cosmos tempt numerous species. Fuchsia, million bells, and Rose-of Sharon are potent lures for hummers in addition to trumpet vine, geraniums, impatiens, petunias, nasturtiums, cardinal flower (Lobelia), cannas, Penstemons, and hosta flowers.
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of creating a successful butterfly garden is the provision of larval food sources, for without caterpillars there are no butterflies and many species only travel a few hundred yards from where they hatch. Native plants, including pussy willow, spicebush, viburnum, poplar, cherry, birch, aster, milkweed, thistle, violets, clover, plantain, and Queen Anne's Lace, set apart from more formal beds may be the best solution for accommodating chewing larvae. In the perennial borders, cultivated plants that sustain caterpillars include members of the carrot family (fennel, dill, and parsley), in addition to artemisia, globe thistle, yarrow, licorice plant, and snapdragons. While these plants may be temporarily chewed, most recover once the caterpillars wander off to form the pupal stage. It should be noted that it is the caterpillars of moths that tend to be most destructive, often hatching in large numbers and completely defoliating our plants. The majority of butterflies lay their eggs singly or a few at a time causing considerably less damage.


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Care for plants during drought - Carroll County Online

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 08:46 PM PDT

In Carroll and surrounding counties, the land is parched. If you're a gardener you can probably tell by looking at your own garden which plants are suffering the most. Individual plants respond to drought in various ways. Plants may slow or restrict their growth, wilt or curl up in response to lack of water. Most newly established plants and trees need about an inch or so of water per week; however, those that are established can get by with somewhat less.

Some plants, such as grass, become dormant after prolonged periods without water. It's nature's way of protecting the grass. The good news is that grass does grow back, so there's no need to water your lawn during a drought.

Here are some recommendations that may help deal with the current conditions:

If you are allowed to water, do so in the morning before 8 a.m. or the early evening when your plants will have the ability to take up water more efficiently than during hotter parts of the day. This will also minimize the amount of water lost by evaporation, saving it for your plants. Water deeply to encourage roots to grow deep, which in turn protects them from drought.

Mulch your plants. Even though it's midsummer, plants still benefit from having the ground around them protected from heat and sunlight, reducing the evaporation of water from the soil. Mulching has the added benefit that by keeping additional moisture in the soil, the surrounding plants have to compete less for water.

Perform "triage" on your garden, and decide what you can live without. For instance, if you have annuals, you may decide to let them fend for themselves without water. This includes vegetables such as tomatoes and zucchini. If you're a plant lover or someone who takes pleasure in watching your garden mature and evolve throughout the summer, this can be a tough decision. Take heart, drought is a natural phenomena letting the plants go is part of this process.

As a last resort, you can reuse "gray" water from your kitchen and bath to water your plants. However, don't apply gray water to edible vegetables, since it does contain salts that could be harmful.

Planning ahead

When you're planning what to do with your garden next year, think about the following strategies.



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