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Topic: for wineaux, and other gardeners out there
| Author | Message |
| westsidestory | Posted – 5/13/2008 6:05:15 PM | show profile I finally got around to reading Pollan's NYT article about gardening being the best thing one could do personally about global warming...and, as usual, came out not entirely satisfied. Is anybody out there giving this serious thought? Since we are all fairly spread about, comments would be welcome. To start, perhaps a short quiz? To warm us up (so to speak) for Janet's tomorrow? THE GLOBAL WARMING GARDENER?S POLL 1. How do you feel about global warming in general? A. Thrilled! Can?t wait to grow lemon trees in my Zone 3 backyard! B. Worried ? melting icecaps and warmer winters are not good things! C. Not sure, although I never liked Al Gore. 2. How has extreme weather affected your hobby gardening? A. Sudden late/early freezes are a bitch. B. I got flooded out at least once last year and had to start over. C. Droughts are my biggest challenge. 3. Climate change can alter the range of certain animals ? which do you most fear? A. Killer Bees B. Coyotes C. Dead hummingbirds 4. What carbon-offsetting strategy will you adopt this year? A. Use only stored rainwater and greywater to irrigate my garden. B. Stop using my outdoor charcoal grill. C. Plant a tree in my yard. Any other strategies come to mind? |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 5/13/2008 9:51:54 PM | show profile It's interesting that you post this! I have seriously been considering rain barrells for my garden watering and a composting system for my lawn/kitchen waste. Anyone else use them? I'd love to hear more .... But to answer your questions: 1. B - I loves me some Al Gore. 2. C 3. none - I'm in a big city - few varmints. 4. A |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 5/13/2008 11:00:35 PM | show profile I took a pretty serious organic gardening class last year, and they recommended NOT using rain barrel water for vegetable gardens (fine for anything else though). I was kind of surprised at that, especially since we had gotten two rain barrels just for that purpose. But we're composting kitchen scraps and got these cone food composters. Some day we may do the worm bin thing, but just not there yet. On the other questions: THE GLOBAL WARMING GARDENER?S POLL 1. How do you feel about global warming in general? D. None of the above. I think my family and region will be OK, but worry about most of the rest of the world. But I've accepted this reality. 2. How has extreme weather affected your hobby gardening? D. Crappy crappy weather. 3. Climate change can alter the range of certain animals ? which do you most fear? D. Hungry human beings with guns. 4. What carbon-offsetting strategy will you adopt this year? D. No air conditioning in the summer! Any other strategies come to mind? Where to begin? |
| sofisays | Posted – 5/14/2008 11:12:43 AM | show profile Compost I have been trying to do my global civic duty; taking plastic bags and paper to their seperate recycling centers... Now, I want to take the next step and compost my kitchen scraps. I have not looked into this. Is it disgusting in the beginning? My grandmother does it and it seems like a cess pool. Do you put raw meat scraps in there? |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/14/2008 11:29:50 AM | show profile THE GLOBAL WARMING GARDENER?S POLL 1. How do you feel about global warming in general? A. Thrilled! Can?t wait to grow lemon trees in my Zone 3 backyard! ****B. Worried ? melting icecaps and warmer winters are not good things! C. Not sure, although I never liked Al Gore. 2. How has extreme weather affected your hobby gardening? ******A. Sudden late/early freezes are a bitch. B. I got flooded out at least once last year and had to start over. C. Droughts are my biggest challenge. 3. Climate change can alter the range of certain animals ? which do you most fear? A. Killer Bees B. Coyotes ******C. Dead hummingbirds 4. What carbon-offsetting strategy will you adopt this year? A. Use only stored rainwater and greywater to irrigate my garden. B. Stop using my outdoor charcoal grill. ******C. Plant a tree in my yard. Plant several trees! And, we planted a ton of trees last year w/ the husband's company We only have one car now, and everyone thinks we are nuts, but it is really amazing how we've managed, considering we have two children. Granted, he can hitch rides w/ co-workers and take the train to work and I mostly write from home, so we are in a unique situation. But, it's gotten my butt onto my bikeseat more, and I'm lucky enough to live in a town where I can bikeride in the warmer months to do many things. |
| wineaux | Posted – 5/14/2008 11:36:56 AM | show profile Compost Question: Don't, DON'T put meat scarps in the compost! Fruits, veggies, eggshells, paper towels and other simple paper products (without inks and dyes) are what's best. Also, clippings from your yard, such as grass clippings and leaves are great. Keep in mind, when you trim things like climbing vines and other invasive plants, they can become a menace. It took me a good year to have a great compost heap in CA, but the rewards were numerous. My there was a marked difference. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 5/15/2008 2:39:07 PM | show profile a bit more on composting. thanks, gang, for the thoughts...I have been giving this some more thought, and I'd have to say getting rid of a car probably has a lot more impact than anything else. I've always had small gardens, so used a reel mower and hand tools instead of gas-powered equipment. But if you have a big yard, is it practical, say, to use an electric moweror batter powered hedge trimmer? Does it make any significant difference really? A few thoughts more on some of the nice replies. I've never had any problems using rainwater for irrigation. As for composting, the rules are easy: 1. No meat scraps or oily grease 2. Think three parts "brown" to one part "green." That means, for every bundle of grass clippings you throw in, you should toss in three times as much in the way of inert material - this can be wood chips or shredded paper if you don't have enough raked-up leaves or kitchen peelings etc. The best additive is some crumbly old compost maybe from last year's raked up leaf pile, or straw from a barn or animal cage. Getting enough "brown" is not easy in the summer or spring, when you've got a lot of weeds to pull. Using newspaper mulch really helps keeping the weeds down though. (when I was in california there was at least one paper that had soy-based inks!) Composting is miraculous. You really do get the crumbly gold. |
