Content related to Plants, Animal Visitors, Stormwater Management, and Sustainable Horticulture
Winter has arrived in Pittsburgh, in temperature if not officially. We have a family of kitties in our neighborhood that were just kittens last year, but are now adults. I intend to start a Trap Neuter Release program before we get any more kittens showing up, but first things first: I want to get them a safe place to stay during the cold months.
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold…” when the sun goes away and I lose motivation for everything except hibernation. Fortunately, cleaning up your garden for the fall does not need to be high on your fall priority list. In fact, the less you do, the better for your resident insects and birds. Stay inside and leave cleaning up for late spring.
I spend a good bit of time in my garden, weeding more than anything else. A year or so ago, Christian suggested that I use a weed barrier so I wouldn’t have to work as hard. I never knew of any weed barrier options other than plastic sheeting, so I didn’t consider weed barrier a viable option until a coworker mentioned her grandmother’s method.
We’ve examined both sides of the issue, and it’s still less than clear. Are juries deciding cases based on fear instead of facts? Are scientists being muzzled? What happens if we get rid of glyphosate for good – is it a win-win, or will there be some losers? Here are some final thoughts, organic alternatives, and ways to get involved, if you so choose.
It would be hard for anyone to parse all the information available on Roundup – there is just so much of it. One count claims over 3,300 peer-reviewed studies on connections between glyphosate and cancer. But what do these studies tell us, and is cancer the only risk? Glyphosate is winding up in our stomachs and may be having an impact on our gut bacteria.
Give anybody a controversial topic and the internet, and sparks are sure to fly. In this post we will go through the history of glyphosate studies and the contradictory results that have left two intensely opposed camps in their wake. We will also take a look at some questionable actions on Monsanto’s part that are not helping parent company Bayer through its current legal battles.
About a year ago, I was out in my garden doing battle with weeds when my neighbor casually suggested that I use Roundup so I didn’t have to work as hard. Once I figured out that he wasn’t joking, I was shocked and horrified. Since then I’ve followed the ups and downs of Roundup, Monsanto, Bayer, scientific studies, and court cases.
Everything is connected on this blog, and this week’s topics are no exception. In order to maintain my pollinator garden cheaply and sustainably, I wanted to set up a greywater reclamation system to use wastewater from my laundry, and in order to ensure that only plant-safe compounds were winding up in my garden, I had to do some research on biodegradable laundry detergents.
A few weeks ago I came face-to-face with some termites in our garden wall. We were not thrilled about the prospect, but I researched some alternatives that are more environmentally friendly than calling an exterminator. We did some things that will hopefully prevent the situation from getting worse and introduced a beneficial parasite that will hopefully eliminate some if not all of the colony.
About three years ago I could no longer stand the thought of sending a full grocery bag of used kitty litter to the landfill every week or so. At that point, I started researching how to compost pet waste in order to offset our kitties’ carbon footprint. It is possible to do it as long as you do your research and follow some very specific guidelines.