All the Dirt on Gardening

From: U.S. EPA University of Central Oklahoma takes top green power honors School is among 18 nationwide to be recognized by EPA for buying renewable energy For the second year in a row, the University of Central Oklahoma has purchased more green energy than any other school in the Lone Star Conference. The school bought 26 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable power and earned top honors in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2007-2008 College & University Green Power Challenge. The University of Central Oklahoma purchases 100 percent of its power from wind sources. It also has onsite biodiesel production, works with a performance contractor to increase its energy performance, and uses Energy Star-labeled products. The university’s green power buy is one of the largest by a college or university in the nation and has the equivalent environmental impact of avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 3,700 vehicles. Green power is produced from eligible resources suc...

Today's Boston Globe, at Boston.com has a fascinating opinion article about a rapidly depleting resource: soil. Take the time to click on the link below to read the entire article. It is well written, referenced and thought provoking. "The Future of Dirt" by Drake Bennett Highlights - -oil reserves and dwindling freshwater supply may get all the attention, but modern society is also overtaxing the ground itself. An increasing number of scientists are starting to emphasize the extent to which soil - even more than petroleum or water or air - is a limited and fragile resource. Scientists in Australia and the United States have started making rich new earth from industrial waste, and research into the astonishing fertility of a mysterious Amazonian soil may lead to an additive that can boost the power of soil for thousands of years. Dirt remains, in certain ways, a puzzle: Despite its seeming simplicity, it is a complex system whose fertility arises from the interaction of m...

This may be the next must have book for anyone who enjoys growing vegetables. "Perennial Vegetables" by Eric Toensmeier, published by Chelsea Green Publishing . The subtitle is From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles. Tempted yet? Toensmeier says that these 100 edibles are as easy to grow as any flowers you currently have in your perennial beds and borders and that they produce veggies all season. Toensmeier's biography includes: Board member, Nuestras Raices; librarian for New England Small Farm Institute ; author, "Edible Forest Gardens: A Delicious and Practical Ecology"; teaches ISE course on “sustainable design”. Toensmeier also founded and operated Perennial Vegetable Seed Company . Toensmeier explains how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that yield great crops and satisfaction. OK so that's great. So, what's new? Here are some of the foodstuffs he recommends we grow to eat - ...

If you fell in love with lush plants during a tropical vacation or just want a new look, you will appreciate knowing that tropical plants love northeast Oklahoma summers . Popular tropical plants include: Coleus, poinsettia, pentas, geranium, elephant ears, banana palm, tapioca, caladium, calla lily, African daisy and sweet potato vine. Gardeners love them for their rich leaf and flower colors. Tropical plants thrive in the heat and humidity we have in July, August and September when many of the plants we enjoy in the spring and early summer are exhausted. Every spring, flats of the more common tropicals fly off the shelves at home improvement stores and garden centers but few gardeners take home some of the more unusual tropical plants. This week, a truck pulled into Blossom's Garden Center on Hancock Road to deliver 750 tropical plants from a Florida grower. Lora and Matthew Weatherbee are betting that local gardeners are ready grow a wider variety of plants with flowers...

Sorry - no photos tonight - Blogger won't take any uploads - probably the lightening, rain, etc. If you are in Tulsa June 7 and 8, don't miss an opportunity to go to the Audubon Habitat Garden Tour. Six gardens, $5.00 - Information: 918-521-8894. So, here's a question for you: What will you do about your garden when you go on vacation this summer? Do you hire someone to come water? What about deadheading, harvesting vegetables, watching for insect infestations, etc.? J. L. Hudson Seeds issued a catalog update with new offerings. So far, I've had good luck with their seeds this spring. Let me know what your experience has been. The American Society of Landscape Architects publishes an interesting newsletter online. This week they talked about Earth Day and linked to a great green blog called Two Steps Forward written by Joel Makower . Makower writes about sustainable business, clean technology and green marketplace. What's going on in your garden?

In today's garden the daffodil and the iris looked like they came from the same color palette. The weather has given the go-ahead signal for planting. Oklahoma State University Fact Sheet HLA6004 is a planning guide that has all the information you need to get it straight. Vegetables to plant now from seed include: Cucumber, green beans, peppers, eggplant and okra. Tulsa Master Gardeners is the place to go for tips and timing on planting herbs. Most herbs need the heat we are just now getting. If you haven't started the seeds indoors yet, they can be planted outside. Then, for flowers, Renee's Garden Seeds has a chart that's handy. Direct sow in the garden when night time temperatures are 50 and above (like now): Alyssum, cornflowers, nigella, stock, calendula, etc. Start indoors: Asclepias, calendula, columbine, grasses, heliotrope, hollyhock, pansies, phlox, zinnias, etc. I've started so many seeds you can't walk in the shed tonight. We had to bri...

The Junior Master Gardeners and their sponsor were the big workers at the worm giveaway. We gave away 115 vermicompost kits and ran out by 10:30 in the morning. Channel 22 was there to interview the master gardeners about the project. They explained how to take care of the worms when adoptive parents took them home. The Junior Ma ster Gardeners made kits, putting in food and worms. Everyone had a great time and more than a hundred new vermicomposters got started with saving the earth. If you came later than 10:30 after we ran out of worms, live locally and want a kit, email me at mollyday1@gmail.com . Maybe we can arrange a way for you to get one.