Dirt

3 Not So Ordinary Gardening Blogs

Something about spending time outdoors makes us creative.  The open space, the fresh air, the physical exertion of our work all leads to a healthier and quicker mind.  Some gardeners are exceptional out of the box thinkers and it shows up in unique approaches to blogging.  I've put together a little list of 3 of the most interesting gardening blogs i've come across.

You Grow Girl

You grow girl is a website that teaches the art of urban gardening in a zen-like way.  It's a place for not only gardeners but "walkers, lookers, wanderers, creators, tinkerers, and the sexually liberated".   It was created by Gayla Trail in 2000, and one of the earliest gardening blogs on the internet, let alone blogs.  The posts are usually writing by Trail, and include her experiences in one of her many gardens.  There are 5 in total that you can read about on her about page.  Some examples include roof gardens, her own yard garden, and a plot she maintains at the beer garden near her home.  She's also quite the author and has some good reads like "grow curious".  The book is a soothing and relaxing guide on new ways to enjoy time in your garden.  The style is enchanting and it really encourages re-exploring things you may have taken for granted.

The Survival Gardener

The Survival Gardener is a site that teaches the practical side to gardening and prepares you for off-the-grid living.  It's created by David the good who has a witty sense of humour and peppers his posts with cleverly edited images.  He has several books on amazon inclulding grow or die, compost everything, and Turned Earth, a sexy garden action novel with the tagline "Gardening is just a hobby for most – but for some, it’s a matter of life and death."  One of David's specialities is copiccing, the process of cutting back a tree periodically to stimulate its growth.  In one post, he discusses how copiccing can be used as a way to give you free firewood for life.

Sex Toys and Flowers

This last website is about as progressive and out of the box as it gets when it comes to both sexuality and flowers. www.sextoysandflowers.com is lesbian owned and operated and works with the goal of eliminating sex toy stigmas and the oppression of female sexuality.  The site reviews both sex toys in their guides, usually vibrators, and accompanies each review with a rare species of flower that has its own info column.  One review featured a lady slipper still in the wild (unpicked), accompanied by the pure wand, a type of stainless steel massager.  The about page has a mission statement that reads: ST&F was created to undo all the sexual oppression created by the unregulated and male dominated sex toy industry.  They cited major inspiring influences such as the company babeland, which began a movement of feminist sex positivity in the 1990s.

 

If you enjoyed this list of blogs, please leave a comment below and let me know your favorite. Also, feel free to pitch in a comment with your own favorite gardening blogs

 

 

Back From Obscurity - Meadowburn with Quill Teal-Sullivan

In the early 1900's, Helena Rutherfurd Ely (right) wrote three best-selling books encouraging a generation of gardeners to abandon the Victorian practice of planting garish colored annuals in patterns and geometric beds. Instead, she urged her followers toward a more informal and sensual style. What started as a matter of personal taste became a revolutionary movement, and made Mrs. Ely and her garden early stars of American horticulture. The first book, A Woman’s Hardy Garden (1903), was reprinted 16 times and sold over 40,000 copies.
     One hundred years later, Mrs. Ely was all but forgotten – even by the Garden Club of America of which she was a founding member.

     In 2004, I discovered that some of Mrs. Ely’s gardens at the property named “Meadowburn” still existed and were in the nearby northwest corner of New Jersey. The owners, then, had kept on the head gardener’s elderly son, Albert Furman, Jr., and his nephew Walter DeVries to maintain the gardens as best they could. I was able to interview these men, research the history of the place and write a popular article for The New York Times.
      Now, the family that owns Meadowburn is trying to rehabilitate the place and make a successful commercial venture with tourism, events, sales of heirloom plants like the famous Ely Dahlias (right) and the dairy across the road.
     My guest, today, is Quill Teal-Sullivan (below, photo Eric Hsu) who has served as the Garden Manager for the past three years. Quill received her B.A. in Biology focused in plant sciences from the Colorado College in 2007, and her M.S. in Public Horticulture from the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware in 2013. Her M.S. thesis, A Preservation Proposal for the Gardens of Helena Rutherfurd Ely at Meadowburn Farm (2013), presents two years of research on the history and significance of the gardens at Meadowburn, and possible options for their preservation.
     Quill takes us on a tour of the parts of the garden site that still exist and what she has discovered and is trying to bring back or maintain.

Tasty Tomatoes

Steve Bogash, Regional Horticulture Educator for Penn State Extension, Franklin County, Chambersburg, PA joins us to share the results of the 2011 tomato tasting, and make some suggestions for the tomatoes to order now to grow this year in your garden.The trials focusing mostly on tomatoes (also peppers and other plants) have been running since 2000. Every year, up to 70 tomato varieties are grown and judged for taste, production, disease resistance, ease of training and appearance.
     Steve found that although the heirloom varieties are often delicious, the yields may be low. Some of the winning old-timers have drawbacks, for example incredibly delicious and beautiful yellow, orange and red ‘Pineapple’ is susceptible to cracking. Do we home gardeners care? Some of us do, some are happy to put up with blemishes for wonderful flavor. Steve again recommended Burpee’s ‘Brandy Boy’, which combines the flavor of the favorite heirloom ‘Brandywine’ with the high yield and disease resistance of a modern hybrid for those who want the best of both worlds. Other well-known heirloom winners included ‘Mortgage Lifter’, ‘Arkansas Traveler’ and ‘Marianna’s Peace’.

     If sweetness is what you are after, many of the cherry and grape types will be the varieties you’ll hope to grow. ‘Sakusa Honey’ is just about the best, but Steve pointed out that the price of the seeds (from Johnny’s Seeds) was steep – a whopping $9.95 per pack. Other cherry types noted were ‘Red Pearl’, ‘Five Star’, ‘Maglia Rosa’, and ‘Sun Gold’ -- a small orange, moderately disease-resistant variety with a flavor that was described as “candy.”
     Slicing tomatoes that were judged best for taste included ‘Scarlet Red’, ‘Big Beef’, ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Stupice’.
A few patio types to try in containers that did well in the judging were ‘Bush Early Girl’, Bush Steak’, and ‘Sweet ‘N Neat’. (Photos courtesy Steve Bogash and PA Extension.)
     Steve reminds listeners that they are invited to the free tastings the third week of August at the Chambersburg, PA Extension office.

Garden Visitors -- Expected and Unexpected

 

I survived the garden tour. It was great. Some of the best things were getting the garden back in shape; hearing wonderful questions from visitors; and meeting nice people. 
There were a few surprises the week of the tour – most of all, an uninvited garden visitor: A black bear (right). Listen to the show to find out more.

Some of the popular plants people asked about included Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’ (below), Hosta nigrescens, and Clematis ‘Betty Corning’, which blooms for months.  I was happy that the rose on the 70-foot-long fence in front of the house, ‘American Pillar’ was in bloom for the tour – two weeks earlier than usual.  

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LOVELY TO LOOK AT -- WITH EDIBLES, TOO

 

In this week’s edition of KDRD, guest Susan Harris and Ken talk about sustainable gardening, vegetable gardening and the new White House vegetable garden -- spearheaded by the First Lady (right). Susan and Ken wonder about the aesthetics of vegetable gardening – can a veg garden be beautiful? Of course, and that’s proven by a photo of the one at Chanticleer, below.

For the White House garden, http://www.greenthegrounds.org
Susan Harris’s sustainable gardening website and blog,
http://www.sustainable-gardening.com
Ms.Harris, activist and organizer, is one of the founders of the website Garden Rant, a great place to post your horticultural points of view.
http://www.gardenrant.com

 

 

Let's hope all of our vegetable gardens can be as natural and beautiful as possible, like this one at Chanticleer, a public garden in Wayne, PA.

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