Gardening as a "Status Symbol"

I heard Laura Flanders saying this on GritTV about a week ago - and it still bugs me - the premise that she supports the idea that gardening is done as a "status symbol". The people that I know in the green movement (and that would include eco-feminists) are more about sustainability and such than status. Arrggg. Not only that - I know a lot of men who are equally into having gardens.

Maybe it's also the suggestion that work only counts when your getting paid - otherwise it has to demeaned? What's up with that?

Gardening - esp. organic type gardening - avoiding pesticides, avoiding shipping produce all over, getting your hands dirty is not about status in Indiana (the high status people pay others to garden for them).

It may be that intellectuals/environmentalists are more likely to take it up than people who watch sports or Nascar, etc. Personally - I think it would great if more people saw it as the cool thing to do.

Flander's piece:

The latest women's movement story from the New York Times Magazine has a farming theme. "The Femivore's Dilemma" by Peggy Orenstein describes how somewhere between the workforce and the housework some women are raising chickens, growing vegetables, and tending gardens. Sounds lovely? Maybe. but As Orenstein unpacks the story, it's clear that the only women who are actually happy in this picture have husbands who pay the bills...The backyard garden's nice, but it's mostly a status symbol. Those women who actually try to live off their farming find the whole enterprise frustrated by lack of credit and cash. In other hands that would have been the perfect segue to talk about most of the world's farmers - also women. You know, the ones who produce half the world's food with near to no access to credit...or power...Those women, in the Magazine's story, are inexplicably invisible. If the Times really wanted to talk dilemmas, there is no shortage. But the one we need to be talking about isn't what will it take to make status symbol farming satisfying, it's how do we empower the world's women farmers. Raising chickens isn't the key to feminist liberation. But women's security just might be key to ending hunger.

Plus - there are those around here who have turned their gardening into successful enterprises - like the Chile Woman. Though part of her success is shipping her plants all over the place - and not just selling them around the local area.

I just don't get how gardening is bad - any way you look at it - esp. low-impact, organic gardening.

"Climate change challenging gardeners to plant smarter"

NEW MARKET, Virginia (AP) -- Don't look now, but the early signs of climate change have already landed with a thud in our backyards.

In many backyards, conventional reel mowers are replacing gas-powered models that contribute to global warming.

Gardeners across the country have to adapt, the sooner the better, said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections with the New York Botanical Garden.

"That means planting smarter and planting for the future," he said. "The first thing gardeners can do is understand they'll have to live with elevated temperatures, including higher nighttime temperatures. In winter, they'll have less snowfall. Those two changes will have a significant impact on what we can grow."

Consider:

-- Plants are greening earlier and blooming sooner. They're also lasting longer because of extended growing and frost-free seasons. Heat waves are more intense and frequent, speeding evaporation and drying soils.

-- Birds and butterflies are breeding and migrating earlier.

-- Many wildlife and plant species are extending their ranges to higher elevations and more extreme latitudes.

"This is a visible and conscious thing in my lifetime," Spencer said. "We're growing apples in Anchorage now and we've never been able to do that before."

A gradual warming -- generally attributed to greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels -- has been charted for several decades. But the climate's unpredictability is increasing, too.

"The weather is bouncing back and forth at a wild rate," Spencer said. "That's leading to a lot of variability and uncertainty ... Changes in the salmon runs and berry seasons, for example."

For starters, gardeners across the country should "take a hard look at bending (hardiness) zones to bring new plants into their yards," said Forrest....

Keep an eye on plants that need cold and may suffer as winters get warmer, said David Wolfe, a professor of plant ecology at Cornell University and a climate change adviser to the New York Botanical Garden.

"Fruit crops all require some duration of cold winter temperatures to bloom and to produce fruit the following spring and summer," Wolfe said. As temperatures warm, he said, "apple and berry growers, among others, may have to change crops or at least some varieties."

Prepare to set aside larger chunks of leisure time for weeding. Warmer days and nights will speed the maturity of any foods we grow -- and also help along many aggressive weeds like kudzu, garlic mustard, poison ivy and purple loosestrife.

Gardeners also should bone up on pest control. New types of biting insects and plant pests, including locusts, gypsy moths, bagworms, and disease-carrying aphids and mites, may accompany any significant temperature rise...

Since erratic precipitation patterns are expected to bring droughts followed by deluges, consider planting succulents to survive dry periods. And add rain gardens -- shallow depressions containing water-tolerant plants -- to absorb the flow from heavy downpours....

Finally, prepare soil properly, minimizing tillage to avoid losing valuable organic matter and over-aerating healthy soil. Experts suggest planting trees and shrubs as windbreaks, shelter for wildlife and to help hold moisture. Recycle lawn clippings and select grasses with relatively low nitrogen and water needs (Fescues over Kentucky bluegrass, for example).

Mow higher to promote better root growth. Use compost to amend poor soils. Recycle. And buy native plants, which are better suited to survive.

Wildflower Project

(Updated again)


This top photo was taken June 1 - about a month after I planted the wildflower seeds. I planted a clover path to make it easier to walk around in the wildflowers. It took off pretty well.


This next photo was taken on June 23 - 3 weeks later. Quite a few of the wildflowers were blooming at that point.





These next 2 were taken on July 14 - 3 more weeks.

It's going pretty well. It helps to cut down on weeds to have many desirable plants growing fairly close together.

We've been getting a number of hummingbirds eating from the flowers, as well as goldfinches. And bees and butterflies, of course.
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These last 2 photos were taken around September 2 - about 7 weeks after the 2 previous photos. The hummingbirds at full swing these days. They love the little red flowers (that unfortunately don't show up in the larger view). And the few cosmos and such that are hanging on. I have sugar water out as well - but it's much more fun seeing them flit around from flower to flower - stopping to rest on various dried out plants.

It has really been drying out around here. There had been nearly no rain during August - with highs mostly in the 90 - 100 range. I was out east during the worst of it (enjoying highs in the 60s).

Since I've been back - I was trying to keep some of the trees that I had planted earlier this year from dying with some occasional watering. I think we've lost a lot of them.

Yesterday, it seemed that our well water must be getting low. After quite a bit of watering (between trees and wildflowers and vegetables) - the water from our faucets was coming in rather cloudy.

Here it is September 6th and we finally got a little rain today. I hope we get more soon - we need about 5 inches or more. Crops like corn around here are all dried up. Some may be able to be harvested - but it's surely not growing anymore.

"Front-yard veggie gardens taking root"

I planted an herb/veggie garden in my front yard this year. I'm growing tomatoes and basil, lettuce, and herbs. I also got one going with asparagus and lily of the vally. I like to have some flowering things mixed in.

It is very handy for being able to keep track of what is available and how it's doing. It's much easier to attend to than our garden way the heck in the back of the back yard.

I also tried mixing some vegees in with some of the plants around the pond - they have not been as fruitful, however.

I think lawn codes/neighborhood codes that "outlaw" any sort of garden are backwards and should all be abolished (or ignored if necessary).
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By ELLEN SIMON (AP)

Proponents hope it's an idea that will grow on you...

Dedicated vegetable gardeners are ripping out their front lawns and planting dinner.

Their front-yard kitchen gardens, with produce ranging from vegetables to herbs and salad greens, are a source of food, a topic of conversation with the neighbors and a political statement.

Leigh Anders, who tore up about half her front lawn four years ago and planted vegetables, said her garden sends a message that anyone can grow at least some of their food. That task should shift from agribusiness back to individuals and their communities, said Anders, of Viroqua, Wis.

"This movement can start with simply one tomato plant growing in one's yard," she said.

People have been growing food in their backyards forever, but front-yard vegetable gardens are a growing outlet for people whose backyards are too shady or too small, as well as those who want to spread their beliefs one tomato at a time. Many hope their gardens will revive the notion of victory gardens, which by some estimates provided 40 percent of America's vegetables during World War II.

The topic has gotten more buzz nationally as bloggers chronicle their experiences and environmentalists have scrutinized the effects of chemicals and water used to grow lawns. A book called "Food Not Lawns," published last year, inspired several offshoot groups.

Fritz Haeg, an artist and architect, has done yards in Kansas, California and New Jersey as part of a project called "Edible Estates."

Haeg, who is working on a book due out in 2008 called "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn," says he has been overwhelmed by the response. He gets hundreds of e-mails every month from people who want to be next.

"People are obsessed with their homes, creating these cocoons that isolate them," he said. "This project is about reaching out, getting them connected to their streets."

Some of the neighbors are less than thrilled. Some municipal codes limit the percentage of a yard that can be planted with anything other than trees and grass....

Homegrown: Scarborough man plants seeds for more backyard gardens

By Clarke Canfield at The Bangor Daily News

During World War II, the government urged Americans to plant "victory gardens," backyard plots of fruits and vegetables that were supposed to ease reliance on the war-strained public food supply.

Today, Roger Doiron of Scarborough is repeating that call, this time to ease the strain of industrial agriculture on the environment and help people take control of what they eat.

"In a way, I’d say I’m trying to reinvent the suburbs and put food back on the suburban landscape," says Doiron, a freelance writer and consultant who grows vegetables, blueberries, strawberries, apples, cranberries and herbs on his third-of-an-acre lot.

Around the country, people from Maine to California are spreading the word about the benefits of gardens in what some are calling a "grass-roots gardening movement."

Doiron’s Web site, Kitchen Gardeners International, extols the virtues of taking control of your food while reducing the distance it travels from the farm to the fork, which some estimates put at an average of 1,500 miles.

Once common to backyards, kitchen gardens have become a "why bother" sort of thing for most Americans.

But now some say the pendulum may be swinging back. Between E. coli scares, global warming, the "buy local" movement, aging baby boomers with more time to spare and a desire to enjoy the freshest of fresh, a new wave of grow-your-own has begun.

Heather Flores started a "Food Not Lawns" campaign in Oregon several years ago, and last year she wrote a book by the same name. There now are about 10 "Food Not Lawns" chapters in the United States and Canada.

Flores, who lives in Coburg, Ore., hears from people all over who have been inspired to plant their own gardens, with reasons ranging from environmental concerns to simply wanting to get their hands dirty.

"There’s something about self-healing and self-worth that people feel with getting out in the home garden," she says...

"Feeling Warmth, Subtropical Plants Move North"

ATLANTA — Like a true belle, this city flounces into bloom when the weather turns, its redbuds, azaleas and forsythia emerging like so much lace on a bodice.

But in recent years, plants that thrive in even warmer weather have begun crashing the ball. At the Habersham Gardens nursery, where well-heeled homeowners choose their spring seedlings, a spiky-leafed, sultry coastal oleander has been thriving in a giant urn.

“We never expected it to come back every year,” said Cheryl Aldrich, the assistant manager, guiding a visitor on a tour of plants that would once have needed coddling to survive here: eucalyptus, angel trumpets, the Froot Loop-hued Miss Huff lantana. “We’ve been able to overwinter plants you didn’t have a prayer with before.”

Forget the jokes about beachfront property. If global warming has any upside, it would seem to be for gardeners, who make up three-quarters of the population and spend $34 billion a year, according to the National Gardening Association. Many experts agree that climate change, which by some estimates has already nudged up large swaths of the country by one or more plant-hardiness zones, has meant a longer growing season and a more robust selection. There are palm trees in Knoxville and subtropical camellias in Pennsylvania.

But horticulturists warn that it is shortsighted to view this as good news. Warmer temperatures help pests as well as plants, and studies have shown that weeds and invasive species receive a greater boost from higher levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, than desirable plants do. Poison ivy becomes more toxic, ragweed dumps more pollen, and kudzu, the fast-growing vine that has swallowed whole woodlands in the South, is creeping northward.

Already, some states are facing the possibility that the cherished local flora that has helped define their identities — the Ohio buckeye, the Kansas sunflower or the Mississippi magnolia — may begin to disappear within their borders and move north.

By the end of the century, the climate will no longer be favorable for the official state tree or flower in 28 states, according to “The Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming,” a report released last month by the National Wildlife Federation.

By the time of the annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival last month, the pale dogwood blooms had come and gone. Tara Dillard, a landscape designer and garden writer, said she now steers clients away from longtime favorites. “I’m writing a column about rhododendrons right now,” Ms. Dillard said. “And I think my conclusion is going to have to be not to plant rhododendrons. We have heated out of the rhododendron zone.”

...Some experts said global warming was affecting gardeners in another way, by raising awareness. In the Atlanta area, where in recent years watering has been restricted, nurseries and landscapers note a growing interest in drought-resistant plants and xeriscaping — landscaping that requires minimal water.

Nationally, the use of products like organic fertilizer, which requires less energy to produce than conventional fertilizer — and thus results in fewer emissions of heat-trapping gases — is ballooning, with some manufacturers reporting a doubling in demand each year.

Gardening and do-it-yourself magazines have begun to popularize rain gardens, which collect rainwater in barrels or shallow basins that are part of the landscaping. And mainstream publications like Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens have advocated cutting back on gasoline-powered lawnmowers and blowers in favor of greener machines like rechargeable or push mowers, which come in sleek new lightweight designs.

Environmentally gentle gardening choices go hand in hand with hybrid cars, compact fluorescent bulbs and “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Oscar-winning documentary with Al Gore, said Mary Pat Matheson, the executive director of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. “Only in the last year has it even been accepted that it’s really happening,” Ms. Matheson said. “Awareness is starting to turn into action.”

"Seeing Red: Eating Locally..."

By Barbara Kingsolver - excerpts from MotherJones

I've kept a journal for most of the years I've been gardening. I'm a habitual scribbler, jotting down the triumphs and flops of each season that I always feel pretty sure I'd remember anyway: that the Collective Farm Woman melons were surprisingly prissy; that the Dolly Partons produced such whopping tomatoes the plants fell over. Who could forget any of that? Me, as it turns out. Come winter when it's time to order seeds again, I always need to go back and check the record.

Over years, trends show up. One is that however jaded I may have become, winter knocks down the hollow stem of worldliness and I start each summer again with expectations as simple as a child's. The first tomato of the season brings me to my knees. Its vital stats are recorded in my journal with the care of a birth announcement: It's an Early Girl! Four ounces! June 16! Over the next few weeks I note the number, size, and quality of the different tomato varieties as they begin to come in: two Green Zebras, four gorgeous Jaune Flammés, one single half-pound Russian Black. I note that the latter wins our summer's first comparative taste test—a good balance of tart and sweet, with strong spicy notes... (big snip)

in high summer of 2005, about the time I was seeing red in my kitchen, the same thing was happening to some of our county's tomato farmers. They had learned organic methods, put away the chemicals, and done everything right to grow a product consumers claimed to want. They'd waited the three years and paid for certification. They'd watered, weeded, and picked, they'd sorted the round from the misshapen, producing the perfect organic tomatoes ordered by grocery chains. And then suddenly, when the farmers were finally bringing in these tomatoes by the truckload and hoping for a decent payout, some grocery buyers backtracked. "Not this week," one store offered without warning, and then another. Not the next week either, nor the next. A tomato is not a thing that can be put on hold. Mountains of ripe fruits piled up behind the packinghouse and turned to orange sludge, swarming with clouds of fruit flies.

These tomatoes were perfect, and buyers were hungry. Agreements had been made. But pallets of organic tomatoes from California had begun coming in just a few dollars cheaper. It's hard to believe, given the amount of truck fuel involved, but transportation is tax-deductible for the corporations, so we taxpayers paid for that shipping. The California growers needed only the economics of scale on their side, a cheap army of pickers, and customers who would reliably opt for the lower price.

As simply as that, a year of planning and family labor turned to red mush.

Our growers had been warned that this could happen—market buyers will almost never sign a binding contract. So the farmers took a risk, and took a loss. Some of them will try again, though they will likely hedge their bets with Delicata squash and peas as well. Courage, practicality, and making the best of a bad situation are much of what farming is about. Before the tomatoes all rotted away, Appalachian Harvest found a way to donate and distribute the enormous excess. The poor of our county were rich in tomatoes that summer.

"We were glad we could give it away," one of the farmers told me. "That's who we are. But a lot of us are barely making ends meet ourselves. It seems like it's always the people that have the least who end up giving the most. Why is that?"

In Charlottesville, Asheville, Roanoke, and Knoxville, supermarket shoppers had no way of knowing how much heartache and betrayal was wrapped up in those cellophane two-packs of California tomatoes. Maybe they noticed the other tomatoes were missing that week, the ones with the "Healthy Farms, Close to Home" label. Or maybe they just saw "organic tomatoes," and dropped them into their carts on top of the cereal boxes and paper towels. Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used. They either will or they won't. And the happy grocery store music plays on.

May Day

I put out the hummingbird feeder last week and I saw a hummer at the feeder on Thursday, April 26.

We had a pair of Baltimore Orioles last Wednesday, April 25th. I've only seen Baltimore Orioles 3 or 4 times in Indiana.

Yesterday and today we've had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak around. They seem to migrate though this time of year.

We have also had some indigo buntings hanging around - they have been more shy in my experience. I was surprised to have a chance to see them so clearly.

I got a new hanging bird feeder the other day - which was needed because the Blue Jays have been esp. aggressive lately at driving off other birds from the stationary rail where I normally put out seed.

Last night, April 30th, there were quite a few lightning bugs out. It seemed early for them - but I don't know what their usual debut date is.

We have a high of 85 forecast for today. Yesterday it got up to 87 - I think that was too hot for some of the earlier Spring plants and they have started to droop. Meanwhile - some of the deciduous trees have finally fully leafed out - fairly rapidly.

The last day it was below freezing was April 13th. I have a couple tomato plants out and a few annuals and I don't expect it to get too cold for them.

We've been having fun with our new ponds - watching the tadpoles and all. I think that the toad tadpoles died and now I'm watching the frog tadpoles.

It's funny the various things that have found our pond - I don't know where they all come from. Swimming beetle types of things, etc. Maybe they fly and swim? Some of them might be an early stage of dragonfly.

Earth Day

I spent most of today creating my herb garden. It's in the front yard - near the front door.

I had tilled the area a couple weeks ago - today I broke up the soil - got rid of most of the dirt clods - refined the shape (it ended up a nice crescent shape) - added peat moss and such - and planted the herbs I bought yesterday at the farmer's market (and a few from the Owen County garden club) along with some lettuce seeds, various herb seeds, and a couple of tomato plants. Plus I moved 3 lavendar plants from the nearby garden across the sidewalk. I have 3 varieties of thyme and 3 of sage, and two kinds of basil, among other things.

I had taken a mini-class from an herbalist recently - so that inspired me to buy a calendula plant.

I had been reluctant to dig into the front yard - but since I was returning a large part of the front yard to woods - it seemed like less of an issue. And the less grass the better. It's a good sunny spot for herbs.

Plus when it comes to getting ones food locally - it doesn't get any more local than your own yard.

I still need to look into getting a sod cutter to cut away the sod from around the orchard trees.

After working - I sat down and read some of the New York Times headlines. One article - How the Worm Turns - seemed esp. appropriate. I met a lot of worms today. I tried to save them for the garden as I was breaking up the sod. There would often be 2 or three in a small clump. The usual variety was pinkish - but there were some brown ones and one little black one. Maybe the black on is rare?

I'll have to remember to look for bats in the shagbark hickory trees - I heard there was a federally endangered variety that likes to live in them.

Other nature news revolves around our ponds. My husband and I installed a couple of small ponds last summer (I did the planning and moved the rocks into place). Since I had discovered what toad eggs are like at the pond of a friend last month - when I saw the curly strips of black dots - I knew what they were. (We may have some frog eggs, as well. I'm not sure about that.) And yesterday we saw the very young toads swimming around. At least that's what I I think they are. They look like giant sperm.

In other Earth Day news, Sheryl Crow and Laurie David went on a "Stop Global Warming College Tour" that ended up today at George Washington University where they were joined by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Carole King, Bobby Kennedy Jr. and David's husband, Larry David.

Last night Sheryl Crow and Laurie David were at the White House Correspondents Dinner. They reported on Huffingtonpost:

"The "highlight" of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove.... We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.

We reminded the senior White House advisor that the US leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.

We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in (www.IPCC.ch). Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China's lead?)"