Pick Up Both Shovel and Fork!

!-- --> Heavy for a gardener, but not for a 52 year-old American Friend of Rant Christopher C of Outside Clydeis the rare exception that proves the rule: He grows beautiful vegetables, but feels inept cooking them. (Must send you some cookbooks, Christopher!) But most vegetable gardeners live for the kitchen. They grow the tomatoes because they want to make the homemade sauce. They have the basil the size of boxwoods because they want to produce...

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Horticultural Cowboys

!-- --> From left: Steve Castorani, Bill Barnes and Joel Hayward at Pawnee Grasslands Guest Post by Allen Bush Willie Nelson warns, in his song of the same name, Mamas, dont let your babies grow up to be cowboys Then he offers a way out: Make em lawyers and doctors and such. Willie, I have a better idea. Make em gardeners and such. The pay scale wont come close to that of doctors and lawyers, but the company will be a lot better. My mama would...

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Find The DataOn Plants

!-- --> So heres a new thing. FindtheData.com is a new site dedicated to gathering data in such a way that allows side-by-side comparisons to be made. And theres a lot of plant stuff here. Lets have a look, shall we? The Plants Database pulls data from USDA sources, but puts it in a format that makes it easier to search by particular characteristics or do side-by-side comparisons of plants. Searching for plants by various qualities yields some...

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Thank you, Rant commenter, for designing my garden

!-- --> When I posted photos of my new back yard and asked for suggestions I sure got em some so thoughtful I just have to share them. (Remember these?) A commenter in Vermont previously unknown to me had LOTS to say and shes already changed my garden. For example, she wrote this about my shed: You planted one too many vines, if you research the size of each and contemplate their competitive visual busy-ness when mature. = 1 vine to relocate....

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The High Line backlash

!-- --> For those of you who havent had a chance to visit the High Line yet: Im sorry to have to tell you that its over. Already. According to a New York Times op-ed by Jeremiah Ross, in which the writer condemns the West Side elevated park succinctly: The High Line has become a tourist-clogged catwalk and a catalyst for some of the most rapid gentrification in the citys history. Not yet four years old, the High Line has already become another...

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Im Dreaming of a Black Garden

!-- --> Marigold photo via Shutterstock I never thought Id have the patience or the fortitude to plant a themed garden, but all the sudden Im thinking about a very dark garden. Ironically, dark gardens need a lot of light: my Black Lace sambucus goes green in the shade but gets very dark in the sun. Hmmmm. Ive made a list of all the usual dark foliage plants, and I have Timbers lovely little Black Plants bookbut what are your favorites? ...

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Garden Writers Should See the World

!-- --> Elizabeth introduced our new web design a few months ago by asking an interesting question that was raised at the Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling: Is garden blogging still viable? After all, why blog if you can post on Facebook or tweet? I have to say that as a news consumer, I love Twitter. I follow many garden writers, but ALL the significant food writers. Though they tend mostly to operate in a politically correct echo chamber led by...

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J.C. Raulston and the Green Closet

!-- --> Please welcome Bobby Ward, author of Chlorophyll in His Veins: J. C. Raulston, Horticultural Ambassador. Recently Amy Stewart commented on Clyde Phillip Wachsbergers book Into the Garden With Charles, a gardening memoir of Wachsberger and his partner, Charles Dean. The late J. C. Raulston would have greatly appreciated Wachsbergers book and, in particular, Amys comment: The love story of gay gardeners must be told. Raulston, founder of...

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Speaking of TED Talks

!-- --> as we were the other daywhat do you people think about window farming? Worthwhile? Silly? Is this a lot of effort for a salad or a few strawberries? Or is it revolutionary? \ Via: Speaking of TED Talks ...

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Start your day with Garden Photos from Fine Gardening

!-- --> Townhouse garden in Albany. I usually start my day by for checking email and news of more gaffes by clueless candidates for office but Michelle Gervais, an editor of Fine Gardening Magazine, suggested I try subscribing to her morning emails of garden photos submitted by readers. I did and Im already hooked. Another view of that Albany garden. Michelle got the idea in early 2010 to post garden photos that had never made it into the magazine...

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Just add water

!-- --> Our official status in Western New York is moderate drought. I cant really remember the last soaking rain we gotmaybe a couple times in June and a couple more in Julyand the temps have ranged into the 90s with regularity. Thats unusual here. There are no watering restrictions that Im aware of, though articles and op-eds advising people to stop watering their lawns have appeared in the paper a few times. Thankfully, I have no lawn here,...

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Watch: A Teacher Growing Green in the South Bronx

!-- --> TED calls Stephen Ritz a whirlwind of energy and ideas and boy, IS he. My notes on his TED talk include: Poorest congressional district in the U.S. First indoor edible wall in New York City. Triple bottom line. Si, se puede moments. Growing organic kids. From 40 percent attendance to 95 percent attendance. New green graffiti. and Zero miles to plate. Click to Watch. Via: Watch: A Teacher Growing Green in the South Bronx...

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Martha Teichner gets Tangled in Weeds on CBS Sunday Morning

!-- --> From CBS, via press release: Martha Teichner with weed-eating goats. To some, weeds are the scourge of the earth, killing precious crops along the way. To others, however, weeds are a source of food. On this weekends broadcast, CBS SUNDAY MORNING correspondent Martha Teichner gets to the root of the love-hate relationship people have with weeds, and the various ways folks have learned to live with them or try to put them out of existence....

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No Babysitting Required

!-- --> A fine mess Ive been away on vacation for most of the last few weeks, and as is typically true in August, have returned to ridiculous explosions of food, weeds, and crabgrass. Youll notice that one of the explosions, at least, is positive: food. So many tomatoes that sauce-making is the only option. Endless eggplants and pattypan squashes. Tomatillos littering the walkway. Pole beans hanging by the hundreds from their vines like prisms...

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Keep Your Garden Out of My Face

!-- --> Guest Rant by Billy Goodnick It was a dark and foggy summer night. Biff the Wonder Spaniel and I set out for our last neighborhood stroll, green poopy bag at the ready. Its a good thing I didnt have my nose buried in my iPhone, catching up on the four games of Words With Friends that Lin and I usually have running. If I had been distracted, Id probably be sporting stitches, or worse yet, a ripped cornea. Through the mist, I realized I...

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Wildcraftedreally?

!-- --> Can you eat any of the plants in this picture? Really? How do you know? This post from the always excellent Rowleys Whiskey Forge got me thinking about this. He posts a really cool recipe for a liqueur called mistela de chimaj. I couldnt resistI had to go look up the plant. But more about that in a minute. First, some background: So the foraging/wildcrafting movement has met the craft distilling movement and the result is that people...

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Melons, Squash, and Cash

!-- --> Thats NPRs headline, not mine. My husband switched the radio on yesterday morning just in time for me to hear this story about Amy Goldman, who as Im sure you know is an author, artist, and heirloom seed advocate. Weve written about her incredible bronze casts of heirloom vegetables here, and a squabble over seeds here, and her recent nuptials to a person involved in said squabbles here. You may also know her beautiful books The Heirloom...

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Lawns in the News, and Flower-Arranging Comes to PBS

!-- --> TV Show about Lawns in Development Weve been ranting for years now about the dearth of gardening shows on TV, so imagine my surprise to hear theres a new show about lawns coming from Country Music Television! Yeah, Id never heard of them, either, but Im told theyre the producers of Cupcake Wars. So, Lawn Wars? Close! Heres the working title: Redneck Lawn Wars. Seriously. I couldnt possibly make that up. This news came to me via email...

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