By Julie Bonnin
There are many reasons to grow your own food, and recent unresolved food safety concerns about summer favorites like tomatoes and cilantro, the official herb of Tex-Mex cooking – are likely to have more folks cultivating an interest in growing edible plants.
Herbs are the perfect entry-level plant for first-time food growers. Given [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
and Barbara Kessler
There’s no doubt that community gardens, a tradition that first surfaced in the United States in the early 1900’s, are at the grassroots of today’s urban “buy local/grow local” movement. But today, in places as diverse as New York City and Madison, Wisc., community gardens are also a socio-cultural [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
After nine years, Mary Bakatsa’s garden is bearing fruit…and vegetables…and flowers…and herbs. It is a chorus of life, and supports more activity than even Mary imagined when she started gardening nearly 20 years ago with a few potted herbs.
Along with her flowers and veggies, which grow side by side, she has [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
Mary Bakatsa is “organic all the way” in her sprawling Austin garden. But that doesn’t mean she simply avoids pesticides and blithely sits back to watch. Organic gardening is more proactive and veteran gardener Bakatsa runs dozens of schemes to nudge nature in the right direction. She places certain plants near others [...]

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By Harriet Blake
Your first reaction might be YUCK. Composting is not for the squeamish among us.
The definition alone is enough to turn you off: the aeorobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter, performed by aerobic bacteria, yeasts and fungi and in the later stages, assisted by ants, nematodes and worms.
Organic gardening expert Howard Garrett describes compost [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
Manufacturers have pounced on the composting trend, giving you, the consumer, many choices for how you want to recycle your kitchen and garden waste. Here are a few:

This Tumbleweed Compost Bin was Member Tested and Recommended by the National Home Gardening Club, according to Clean Air Gardening, an online store that sells [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
Ah, the smell of freshly mown grass. It’s the smell of childhood, of school vacations and picnics and lying in the backyard, finding faces in clouds. No one will deny that plush turf is a big part of modern Americana. But the imported, “exotic” grasses of our childhoods, nostalgic and fragrant as they [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
To sort out which grasses to use and where, we consulted native grass expert Bill Neiman, head of operations and farming for Native American Seed in Junction, Texas. For much of the United States, he recommends “Native Sun Turfgrass,” a blend of 34 percent Blue Grama and 66 percent Buffalo grass created [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
So you want to plant a vegetable patch, and you’ve already found the sweet spot in your yard. But, exactly how will your garden grow? What should it grow? And when should it grow?

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By Bill Marvel
We welcome birds and butterflies into our backyards. But what about the little brown snake that slithers out from under the flowerpot? And those weird gummy lizards hanging around the porch light? And — ugh! — toads? Do we really want to share our environment with . . . creeping things?

Photo: Jeff Ettling [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
Frustrated trying to find natural products at boutique nurseries and big-box retailers that have a patchy (kinda like your July lawn) selection of organic products and whose sales staff don’t know much about them?
Try finding a local feed and seed store. Many stock just what you’re looking for. Why? Because organic [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
There’s been a lot of talk lately about energy independence. Important, no doubt. But we need to think about preserving water too, and nothing works harder toward this goal - or offers as much creative satisfaction - as Xeriscaping.

Planting drought-resistant and native plants that survive on natural rainfall is a familiar concept in [...]

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