All the Dirt on Gardening

J W Keeth sends out the newsletter for the Cactus and Succulent Society of Tulsa. The newsletter is called "Stuck Up News". Keeth has allowed me to use photos and an article from the December 2007 issue. Photos: Keeth's Chaos Cactus Nursery in Sand Springs, near Tulsa OK where the greenhouse is stuffed with succulents and cacti awaiting the first sale of the spring. The yellow flowering succulent is glottiphyllum pygmaeum. Read the informative article from "Stuck Up News" below. Fungus Gnats by Thomas Schwink Reprinted from the Newsletter of the Mid-Iowa Cactus & Succulent Society The insects which are known in this country as fungus gnats and in Europe as Sciara flies are common and can be very destructive to succulents, especially seedlings. They are small insects and many people are not very aware of their presence, sometimes mistaking them for other small insects such as fruit flies. As their name indicates, the food of these insects includes fungi and...

A sure cure for the winter blues is a look at this slide show from Florianabulbose . Florian Bulbose is an Italian flower bulb company with an online presence. If you go to the site, just click on the English link on the right side. I first saw the slide show when it was submitted to an online plant discussion by J. Shejbal and it is linked here with permission. Also to cheer your winter, this daffodil photo was made available by Jon Mogeura who took the photo at his home. Spring will come soon enough. In the meantime, it is time to begin pruning activities. We are supposed to have two-60-degree days this week, so that will give us a chance to get some sun while we clip away last year's growth to make way for new beauty in the new year.

Mexico's president Felipe Calderon announced the news that 250-million trees were planted in his country during 2007. The UN Environment Program set a goal of four-times that number to be planted around the world to combat climate change. The story was reported at Yahoo News (click link to read) and came to me through an Internet based Urban Forest newsletter. Calderon reported using local labor and investing $540 million in the project. Environmentalists Complain Greenpeace complained that the planting was done without enough thought. Trees were not planted in appropriate locations and no arrangements were made for their care after the initial shovel-in-the-ground effort was completed. The Greenpeace spokesperson also said that the rate of deforestation in Mexico is an astounding 1.48 million acres a year. The United Nations claimed success, however. A total of 1.4 billion trees were planted. The top ten countries were: Ethiopia, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, Cuba, Rwanda, South Korea, ...

As holiday favorites prove, sometimes the old family recipes are the best at satisfying a hunger. Gardening books are like that, too. Lately, I've been reading some out-of-print gardening books written by gardeners rather than plant people. (The online book swaps, such as Paperbackswap , are great sources for these treasures. Paper and hard backs are available.) The beautifully photographed, encyclopedic tomes are nourishing, too, but no one can grow or even have a passing first hand knowledge of the thousands of plants described in them. I thoroughly enjoy Perenyi and Mitchell's books, too, but they gardened in a different zone with a planting schedule that is unlike our zone 7 heat, humidity, short winter and ice storms to consider. "Come Garden With Me" is a compilation of garden columns written by Elizabeth Pickett Mills. You can tell by reading her columns that she actually is a gardener who messes with plants, dirt, houseplants, bugs, sprays and all the othe...

Seed starting requires sterile surroundings to prevent the range of problems collected together under the name "damping off" disease. But, soil itself has to be loaded with beneficial microbes in order to support plant life. A book I would like to get ahold of, "Teaming With Microbes; A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web", published by Timber Press tells the whole story. Joe Lamp'l reviewed the book in the Dallas Morning News . Here's one quote. "Only since the invention of the electron microscope have soil scientists been able to fully study and understand the symbiotic relationships within the soil. Since then, we've learned that a single teaspoon of garden soil can contain more than a billion bacteria. We discovered that plants attract bacteria and fungi to their roots so that protozoa and nematodes will eat these single-celled organisms and then excrete the excess nitrogen in a form that feeds plants." Click on the link to read his ...

Another Oklahoma garden blog, Red Dirt Ramblings , has graciously awarded All the Dirt on Gardening an award. Author, Dee Nash wrote about her three favorite blogs. Here is the entry (The Red Dirt author) received this award from Grace at Rose Cottage Lane . Thanks so much, Grace. The way this award works is that I must now nominate three blogs which are favorites of mine. Gee, I only get to pick three? Think, think, think . . . . Okay, here are three favorites, but it was very difficult to choose. First, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman because she writes one jammin’ blog. She’s becoming quite famous, having been on CNN and in The Daily Oklahoman. She takes wonderful pictures, and her self-deprecating wit is hilarious. Second, I love Tongue in Cheek . Corey is an ex-pat living in the south of France. Her writing is heart felt; she is living an authentic life; and she also takes great pictures, some of which are featured in Victoria’s January/February issue. Yes, Victoria is back!! I’ve...

Chelsea Green Publishing was a new name to me until I became interested in growing greens here at home. Food safety, convenience, freshness and the joy of growing were my motivations. "Four-Season Harvest" is one of the top resources for anyone considering growing their own food for home use or to sell at markets and restaurants. Today's column in the Muskogee Phoenix summarized the book and an upcoming horticulture show where the author, Eliot Coleman will be speaking. Enjoy! Published December 26, 2007 06:05 pm - Garden column: Gardeners and those who are interested in selling at farmers' markets will find a treasure trove of information at the Horticulture Industries Show in Tulsa on Jan. 4 and 5. The Kerr Center, Oklahoma State University, the Arkansas State Horticulture Society and other organizations sponsor the show so costs are kept well below a usual two-day conference. This year's show, "Celebrating Horticulture Four Seasons of Success," will...