dburkart McCoy

A) Boring lawn

or...

B) "ducks, hosta, native grasses, horseradish, garlic, beets, carrots, ferns, epimedium, grapes, a couple of raised beds for annuals, a prairie plant bed, daylilies, herbs, raspberries, blueberries, sunroot, irises, and sweet woodruff"

I think anyone would choose B if they actually thought about it - that sounds beautiful.

Sending you a personal message, Amiga.

I've read a few articles claiming that replacing areas of your lawn with mulch, hardscaping, ground cover, etc, etc... can save time (no mowing), energy (no mower CO2) and the environment (no mower CO2, less fertilizer)

Has anyone intentionally reduced their lawn's size for these reasons? What's your experience with it?

Vertical gardening's the right idea, and I intend to implement it in the place where I'll be renting in Chicago.

"Vertical Gardening: Design or Function"
http://www.pushinggreen.com/news/vertical-gardening-design-or-function--73

The idea that we have to grow on horizontal planes is old - vertical gardening makes total sense for people living in the cities these days.

Muzhik wrote:
Although the article doesn't specify why the pokeberries (isn't that what's in Captain Crunch?)

Just LOLed a bit. Good stuff.

Hmmm, very interesting. Probably fairly effective for both citizens and the gov.

EDIT: Thanks!

"Cellulose" is organic by definition, right? And I believe it's widely available, big box store or not. That's what I've always heard is the best stuff.

So I'm moving to Chicago - never lived in a very densely populated city, so I'm excited. Living in Logan Square.

I think I'd like to do something like a rooftop garden, mostly to beautify.

But this DC landlord in this interview said one of her reasons was to combat a tax on impervious surfaces. Wha?! Ever heard of this?

I guess I'd be for it, but I've lived in rural Midwest all my life and have never heard of such a thing.

link to article: http://pushinggreen.com/news/video-go-green-with-rooftop-gardens-3

Thoughts?

Ludi wrote:
I avoid pesticide use in the garden.  The only time we use pesticides is once every few years for a wasp nest in an especially bad place, and sometimes ant bait for ants in the house.  I generally see "pests" in the garden as indicating I'm doing something wrong - plants are stressed somehow and so are more vulnerable to being eaten.

I'm not an experienced gardener, but this is what I've read as well. The best "organic" pesticide method is a strong spray from the water hose and a green thumb to pluck critters off...

Kelda O. wrote:
And the juice filled up just TWO ice cube trays. (but heck, that's what 'concentrate' means right?)

I'm thinking one ice cube of aronia for each batch of un-lemonade. I mean, that stuff is Tart. Well maybe two, we'll see. I think this method could also work for some other tart berries, sorbus/ mt. ash comes to mind first.

I also happened to be making an apple pie while this was going on, so I added aronia juice to the apples for the tart that prevents discoloration. It was a nice little addition to the pie and blended in very nicely

Aronia apple pie!! Mmmm....

Did you ever end up trying to package/sell this? Sounds like a great idea. New to the forums, but interested in aronia berries - specifically mixing them with natural ingredients to reduce tartness/astringency. So, are you still doing this?

Cheers