Tag: soil
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Planetary boundaries and habitat gardening: soil and carbon
I said in my last post that I would write a series to tackle the links between gardening/landscaping practices and planetary boundaries, with recommendations on how to shift your practices. This is the first such post, with recommendations specifically related to gardening-related CO2 emissions and climate change. (CO2 is just one greenhouse gas, and others…
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Terra Foundation Grant: Getting Plants from Local Growers
Reminder: I’m doing a series of posts on the Terra Foundation Grant I received in April of 2024. “The Terra Foundation Residential Grant provides $1,000 for native plant material to install a new garden where turf has been removed in a home landscape. The Terra Foundation is committed to biodiversity and water conservation.” The grant had extra…
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Planetary Boundaries, or… why do I garden the way I do?
There are a lot of shall we say non-mainstream habits in my lifestyle, many of which I have been doing for years or decades. Most of these stem from a sincere desire to live in better accordance with the planet. Some also happen to be the way I was raised and/or happen to be thrifty.…
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Inspiration
I consider myself a lifelong learner, constantly expanding my skills and awareness. I’ve gravitated towards specific areas, including the environment (particularly climate change, biodiversity, soil, plants, ecology, and ecological living) and community change (democracy, community and political organizing, topics related to democratic socialism and an equitable society—anti-racism and anti-xenophobia), and reading often provides the vehicle…
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Dipping Back In
It’s been a hot minute since I last wrote a blog post. Why? Life. Introspection. I didn’t want to write and publish just for the sake of it. I think I’m ready to share what I’ve been thinking and doing in the 21 months since my last blog post. First and foremost, yes, I’ve been…
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Regrounding.
I’m still working on the next post in the Terra Foundation Grant series, don’t worry… it’s a lot of information to organize, and I’ve had an action-packed few weeks plus some time just thinking. I thought it might be more useful to take a moment to check in on where I’m at after a trip…
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Terra Foundation Grant: Removing Existing Turf, Part 1. Why and How.
Reminder: I’m doing a series of posts over probably the next two months or so on the Terra Foundation Grant I received in April of this year. “The Terra Foundation Residential Grant provides $1,000 for native plant material to install a new garden where turf has been removed in a home landscape. The Terra Foundation…
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Failures and Victories, Part 5: Irrigation
Welcome to another episode of good and bad choices I’ve made in my home landscape. Previous posts in this series cover hardscape; beds, berms, and swales; living mulch; and fencing. Today’s post again feels very personal, and I want to give a disclaimer that while some of the things I’m discussing today may or may not work…
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Failures and Victories, Part 4: Fences
I really hesitate to write some of these posts, because I don’t really like to advertise where my judgment has gone wrong. However, reflecting on what I’d do differently helps my future choices. Previous posts cover hardscape; beds, berms, and swales; and living mulch. Today’s pondering hits a little differently, however… fences are just challenging,…
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Failures and Victories, Part 2: Beds, Berms, Swales
Last week, I started a series on gardening failures and victories in our own yard, starting with hardscape. I hesitated a bit writing this week’s, because it goes against what seems to be conventional wisdom about how to garden. But here it goes. And be aware… this is very much written for my context: dry,…
