Solutions for Landscaping

Plant Releases Toxic Chemicals Into Soil

A team led by Harsh Bais has determined that Phragmites employs a strategy known as allelopathy, in which plants release toxic chemicals into the soil to deter other plants from growing close to them.

Phragmites australis, ranks as one of the world's most invasive plants.

The invasive strain, which hails from Eurasia, overtakes its "native" cousin, which has lived in North America for the past 10,000 years, ironically by provoking the native plant to "take itself out," through a combination of microbial and enzymatic activity in the soil.

Phragmites Reeds in Wetlands

In soil studies at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, a center for life sciences research at UD, scientists discovered that invasive Phragmites produces elevated levels of a benign compound, a precursor of gallic acid known as gallotannin, relative to its native cousin.

However, when this gallotannin, a polymeric phenol, is attacked by tannase produced through enzymatic activity by native plants and rhizospheric microbes, toxic gallic acid is produced and released in the root zone, exacerbating the invasive Phragmites' noxiousness.

"The tannins are like partners in crime in the process," Bais said.

He noted that Hanson and Kumar collected microbes present on the root surface of the plants and revealed that the "bugs" cleave the polymer (gallotannin) to release the monomer (gallic acid) because the microbes are using the tannins as a carbon source.

"It's like a two-way highway," Bais said, "the plant is working with bacteria to secrete gallic acid into the soil."

Bais says that the microbial population is the same in the native versus the invasive Phragmites. The invasive variety simply secretes more gallotannins into the soil than its native cousin, putting the native plant at a disadvantage in turf battles between the two strains.

Phragmites has overtaken millions of acres of wetlands in the United States, thanks to the aggressive, invasive strain of the plant that came on the scene some 200 years ago from Eurasia.

The exotic species has displaced the non-aggressive native variety of the plant, relegating the native strain to isolated patches and wetland margins along the Atlantic coast.

"Now we have a way to remedy the sick soil," Bais said. "After years of research, we have identified a mechanism that may lead to a solution to the Phragmites invasion."

The research was supported by the University of Delaware Research Foundation (UDRF). Gurdeep Bains's involvement in the study was made possibly by a BOYSCAST Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology, India.

SOURCE: Newswise

"Killer spices" provide eco-friendly pesticides for organic fruits and veggies

Rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint are well-known spices that are emerging as organic agriculture's key weapons against insect pests.

Scientists in Canada are reporting new research on these so-called "essential oil pesticides" or "killer spices." These pesticides have added to the crop-preserving arsenal of organic growers and offer several advantages over their counterparts -- they're readily available and don't require lots of regulatory approval.

And they're safer for gardeners and farm workers, who are at high risk for pesticide exposure.

Murray Isman, Ph.D., of the University of British Columbia is developing these pesticides.

So, just what is it exactly about these spices that allow them to work their magic outside the kitchen? Here's Dr. Isman again:

"It turns out that some of these oils and some of the chemical constituents in the oils are neurotoxic to many types of insects. At least one of their actions, and we're not certain about all of their actions, one of their actions is they interfere with a neuromodulator in insects called octopamine. It's sort of an internal valium for insects, it sort of calms them down so their nervous systems
don't get overstimulated by external stimuli. If you remove that octopamine, which is what
some of these oils do, they get hyperexcited and eventually die."

These pesticides, usually a combination of spices diluted with water, have added to the crop-preserving arsenal of organic growers and offer several advantages over their counterparts. First, they are readily available and don't require lots of regulatory approval. Also, insects exposed to the spices are less likely to evolve resistance to the toxins. And, they're safer for farm workers, who are at high risk for pesticide exposure. 

"Some of these oils, as some other people have mentioned, are very good antimicrobials,
so they could be very useful against food spoilage organisms, for example. They are useful
against certain plant pathogenic fungi and bacteria, and they do have this phytotoxic effect
on plants, so at high concentrations they can be used as natural herbicides."

 

Don't you love this idea?  I can just see this as a rose garden :-)


In the heart of a residential neighborhood there is a wonderful community garden with some amazing surprises. Community gardens are very special for a multitude of reasons. They provide small growing plots to people who may not have access to any other planting area. They are popping up all over urban and suburban centers all over the United States . In place of debris, abandoned neglected vacant lots, greenery, flowers and vegetables are sprouting. People are taking pride in their new gardens and neighborhoods improve because of them. New friendships bloom. Going green, producing your own locally grown food and being politically correct: it's all great!

Read more about urban gardening at Robert's Tropical Paradise Garden

Toxins in coal-tar-based sealcoats in parking lots may be the culprit in contaminated house dust, according to a USGS study.

PAHs - or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

PAHs are large molecules found in oil, coal and tar deposits, and can have toxic effects. It's long been known that PAHs are often found in house dust; however, the specific sources of these PAHs are largely undetermined.

Researchers found that dust from indoor areas near parking lots with coal-tar-based sealcoat had substantially elevated concentrations of PAHs.

SOURCE:  USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Spiders that live near water may be an effective warning system for contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, according to a new USGS and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study.

Scientists examined PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) levels in shoreline-living spiders at Lake Hartwell, a Superfund site in South Carolina, and used this information to map contaminant concentrations in lake sediment.

Spiders are indicators of ecosystem recovery from PCB contamination

Future monitoring studies will use the spiders as indicators of ecosystem recovery from PCB contamination. Researchers also made risk maps for a spider-eating bird, the Carolina wren, which could be exposed to PCBs through eating spiders.

Food Chain Transfers Contaminants

These spiders rely heavily on adult aquatic insects for food and play a key ecological role in the transfer of contaminants between water and land ecosystems. In spite of this, they are underused as a sentinel species at contaminated sediment sites.

SOURCE:  USGS

Lowes makes a Landscape & Garden Planner available online to give avid gardeners and landscape enthusiasts a helping hand with ideas and information.

After a long registration process in which you can subscribe to Lowes newsletters, you finally get to the interactive Landscape and Garden Planner....Tutorial or Planner give you some choices to match your skill level and desire for adventure!

Size, zone map, design of your hardscapes are the basic choices, with objects such as patio, flower beds, furniture, as well as planters, ponds and pool round out your design. The Lowes Landscape & Garden Planner seems to work better on a PC than on a Mac... :-(

This online version of landscape planner software gives you a good introduction to landscape design.  You might want to move up to a personal computer software product to get more detailed...but some like to spend that amount of time wiggling their toes in the dirt :-) 

Search the Internet for an ever-growing world of gardening resources, including landscape design software. Internet providers offer everything you need, from expert advice to garden planning options, and of course, products to help you with general vegetable or flower gardening, or specialized urban farming.

It's easy to order plants and products for delivery to your doorstep, or find the information you need at the click of a button or a few squiggles of the mouse.  Landscape design software can help you design simple landscapes, container gardens, or robust gardens.  

Better Homes and Gardens Online offers a free internet-based design program that lets visitors design flower beds and landscape plans. Plan-a-Garden includes a library of trees, shrubs, and structures and can be arranged on a computer screen, then saved for future reference or printed out.

The Community Beautification Grant of the City of Los Angeles, Board of Public Works, Office of Community Beautification has been awarding grants since 1998. The staff has a special knowledge of the people, organizations and neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Grants for Urban Farming Gardens

Urban Farming has a well-known sponsor interested in paying the costs to develop five (5) 20' x 20' (400 square ft) produce-bearing gardens in Los Angeles that can be secured for at least two years, with a goal toward becoming sustainable through initial and ongoing community members and group involvement.

Find the general criteria at CBGrant.blogspot.com

Suggested Garden Locations: Community center grounds; Parks; City lots; University/College campus; Faith-based organization sites that accept other community member involvement and also those that are non-denominational. (this is for community sites, rather than elementary/middle/high school locations)

Please contact: Meg Glasser for further information.
meg.glasser@gmail.com; 646.726.1563; http://www.urbanfarming.org/

This video give new meaning to "sustainable landscaping." This is one of the better tent cities in America...there are more. This is an eye-opener. Sustainable community is about more than green...it's also about practical heart and survival during tough times. How can you help the homeless in your community?

Another year is "falling" into the slumber of winter. Mammals of all shapes and sizes are snuggling together to provide comfort and security for family and tribal members.

How are you snuggling...and huddling...and reconnecting? 

The holidays are a celebration of this harvest and huddling season. It starts a little earlier than we assume -- it really starts with Veterans Day in early November.  We gather our protectors of our tribe, our nation, together.  We then celebrate family and community at Thanksgiving.  And our spiritual communities at Christmas and Chanukah.  And the final snuggle is under the influence of the waning year and the rebirth of the new year. 

Blankets of crystal frost and snow snuggle the earth in a coverlet of precious moisture and skin care through the harsh temperatures of winter.  Snuggles. Repose.  Hybernation in dens and living rooms.  Ahhh, the solitude of close family and a mug of steaming brew on a crisp morning with streaming sunshine and sparkles that outclass any diamond.
 
Seasons are a sustainability system for our earth.  Rest and regeneration begins during these hugging times -- the days and nights of snuggles and cuddles that bond families together.
Observe carefully the birds and beasts of the field...they toil not.  They huddle together and forage together
.
Together they quietly bow to the king of seasons. The most powerful winds and snow drifts cannot bring the kingdom to its knees, and cannot dampen the hearts of life.
 
Tribal living is the extreme sport of extreme seasons -- winter in the heartland and summer in the lowlands.  Mountains and deserts are nature's extreme playgrounds that test the endurance and smarts of its citizens.  Together, plants, animals, minerals and the seasonal heavens throb in sync to sustain their cycle of life on a pulsating terra firma.

Happy cuddling!
Carolyn
Editor