I updated my page on local gardening media in the Washington DC metro area on my website, pegplant.com. This is traditional, not social, media. If you are new to the area or new to gardening check out the gardening columns in the Washington Post, the gardening shows on television and radio, two magazines, and my newsletter, Pegplant’s Post.
As mentioned in my January 14th article, last week I attended the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS), an annual horticulture trade show at the Baltimore Convention Center. MANTS is one of the largest shows with over 10,000 attendees and almost a thousand companies exhibiting at booths in the Convention Center. Almost all the companies are wholesale, they are not selling directly to customers or to press such as myself. However, I enjoy attending because it provides me a glimpse of new products and plants and trends in the gardening world.
There were a few products that caught my eye and although the companies attended MANTS for wholesale orders, these companies below said they sell directly to gardeners through their websites.
Through a fellow Garden Writers Association member Ruth Rogers Clausen, I met Dorian Winslow, president of Womanswork, a women-owned, family business in New York. Womanswork specializes in gloves that fit well for women (although they also sell gloves for men), gardening aprons, raffia and cotton hats, gardening tools, and related items such as hand cream and poison ivy soap. This company sells to garden centers and online directly to gardeners. For over 30 years, they have been specializing in gloves designed to fit women’s hands. Ruth attested to that, she has been using the products for so many years, she is even featured in their catalog. Not only was Dorian a delightful person to talk with but I also found out that she was interviewed recently by one of my favorite podcasters, Jennifer Jewell of Cultivating Place.
I also had the pleasure of seeing Mark Highland again, owner of Organic Mechanics Soil Company, a manufacturer and distributor of premier organic and peat-free potting soils and soil amendments in Pennsylvania. Gardeners can buy products from the site or search the retailer locator for stores. Mark gave a presentation at the Garden Bloggers Fling in June and generously gave us samples of Fuhgeddaboudit! Root Zone Feeder Packs. These small packages of fertilizer, mycorrhizae, biochar, azomite, and micronized oyster shell are placed under or next to a plant’s root ball when planting to help the plant get established. At MANTS, he gave a presentation on Biochar Blend, a bag of biochar, compost, worm castings, bone char, azomite, zeolite, alfalfa meal, and kelp meal. Biochar is highly porous carbon that improves nutrition absorption and provides a permanent home for beneficial soil biology. Biochar can help boost yields and increase the effectiveness of plants’ growth — the best part is that it only has be applied once and will last a lifetime. Mark also published Practical Organic Gardening: The No-Nonsense Guide to Growing Naturally (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
One company that was new to me was City Farmer USA, based in Nevada. Bruce Lebish, president, explained that his company sells raised, plastic planters that gardeners could order directly from their website. They have to be assembled (the instructions on their website look simple) and the models they had at MANTS were black with a strong oriental/bamboo texture because of their woven sides. 
Apparently this woven side is a patented ventilation design that promotes healthy root systems and the patented base retain water. The basket (where you put the soil and plants) is either 16 inches high from the ground or 30 inches, eliminating the need to bend down (may also be wheelchair friendly). There are different sizes and if you buy a few configurations and line them up they would create a very beautiful container appearance on a deck or patio.
More new products and plants in future articles!
Posted in Books, Events, products
Tagged biochar, books, fertilizer, gloves, hats, MANTS, new products, plastic planters, podcasts, raised beds, soil amendments
The more you garden, the more you are interested in hearing what people have to say, especially to learn how best to garden in this climate. Here are traditional, gardening-related media. These venues do not include social media, which will be best served in a separate post (more to come!).
Newspaper
Every Thursday, in the Washington Post’s Local Living section, Adrian Higgins writes a gardening article and Barbara Damrosch, who lives in Maine, writes an article on growing edibles. These are in the print edition and online. During the growing season, on some Thursdays, Adrian answers questions from the public from noon to 1:00 pm. You can e-mail the question in advance or e-mail during that time period. If you missed the session, you can read the questions and answers in transcript format, online. Adrian has written several local gardening books and is now venturing into Facebook Live.
You may find local gardening clubs’ meetings in the Washington Post’s Local Living section. There are many small, local papers that list such clubs as well.
Magazines
The Washington Gardener is a a monthly digital magazine. For a subscription fee, one can receive the pdf file as an e-mail a couple of days before it is published and available online via other means such as Facebook, Issuu, and the Washington Gardeners’ website.
The Virginia Gardener is produced by State-by-State Gardening, a company based in Louisiana, but the articles are written by Virginia gardeners. At this point in time, there are no magazines for Maryland or Washington DC.
Television
Fairfax Public Access sponsors the Gardening News & Views show with Dr. John Buckreis on Monday, 9:00-9:30 pm; Saturdays 8:30 am; and Thursday 7:30 am on channel 10.
Although these next two are not local, your local television stations should have Home and Garden Television (HGTV) and there are landscaping and DIY shows. Check their web site for programming. PBS often has garden-related shows, specials, and documentaries. Check out your local station.
Radio
A Virginia nurseryman, Andre Viette has a live, call in radio program called In the Garden with Andre Viette on Saturdays 8:00-11:00 am aired at several local radio stations. You can listen live from your computer or podcast as well, 1-800-274-4273. In Washington DC, it is WMET, 1160 AM; in Leesburg, VA, it is WAGE, 1200 AM; in Annapolis, MD, it is WNAV 1430 AM; and in Frederick, MD, it is WFMD 930 AM.
Mike McGrath, garden editor for WTOP, 103.5 FM, an all news radio station in Washington, DC, has one-minute “Garden Plot” sessions on Saturday and “Yard Warrior” on Friday morning. He writes the Garden Plot gardening column every Friday on http://www.wtop.com and you can e-mail him your gardening issue/questions. Mike also hosts a Public Radio Show called You Bet Your Garden on Saturday mornings which you may not be able to hear since it is broadcast from Philadelphia but his website with the same name does have gardening advice applicable to this area.
Garden Sense Radio is hosted by Rick Fowler and Jos Roozen of Roozen Nursery, Inc., on Saturday, 8:00 to 9:00 am., WMAL AM 630 and 105.9 FM. Call 1-800-721-6003 or visit their website for more information.
If you know of any additional local gardening media, please contact me so I can keep this as current as possible.
Tagged gardening shows, magazines, media, newspaper, radio, television
Gardeners and garden writers can rejoice in a new library of gardening videos. Good Gardening Videos is a campaign to aggregate accurate, reliable videos so gardeners and writers do not rely on videos that have incorrect information, are misleading, and/or are confusing.
Good Gardening Videos was created to identify and promote evidence-based gardening videos and to help so that more accurate videos can be made. The site even has tips and videos on how to make videos. The library consist more than 500 videos organized by topic; all have been screened and found to be useful, watchable, and free of statements contrary to known evidence. They have been produced by a range of experts, including staff at 18 universities with cooperative extension offices. Good Gardening Videos can be viewed on the website and YouTube, which are ad-free; and there is a Facebook and a Pinterest presence. People can sign up to receive e-mails notifying them of updates to the library.
Susan Harris, Founder and Managing Editor, created this non-profit organization as a collaborative effort among horticulturists and garden communicators. She relies on an advisory team of well-known horticulturists and communicators from across the country. A local resident, Susan is a well-known garden writer and teacher who co-founded the team blog Garden Rant, where she continues to post regularly. Recently she teamed up with Charlie Nardozzi who will serve as the Edibles Editor for Good Gardening Videos. Charlie is a nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, and broadcast personality. He has written several books including Foodscaping and Vegetable Gardening for Dummies and is a spokesperson for the National Gardening Association.
For more information, visit goodgardeningvideos.org or e-mail contact@goodgardeningvideos.org
Posted in products
Tagged Charlie Nardozzi, Edibles, Garden Rant, gardening videos, Good Gardening Videos, Susan Harris
DC and Maryland residents are in luck. Using state-of-the-art equipment, DC Water is now producing and selling Bloom, a soil conditioner made from Class A biosolids. According to DC Water, Bloom can increase organic content in the soil, increase drought resistance in plants, and provide essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Bloom can be used by gardeners for establishing flower and vegetable gardens, remediating poor soil, planting trees and shrubs, and improving and establishing lawns.
Biosolids are organic matter recycled from sewage, which have been treated and processed in order to be used as a soil conditioner. “Drinking and waste water — everything that goes down the drain – comes to DC Water to be cleaned up,” explained Bill Brower, program manager for Biosolids at DC Water. “Our equipment pulls out the solids, the organic matter, before the water goes to the Chesapeake Bay. The solids are heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit to kill pathogens.” Class B has a reduced number of pathogens and is not used for gardening while Class A has essentially no pathogens; thus safe for homeowners and gardeners. By purchasing new equipment, DC Water has been able to create a Class A product with the intent to further their recycling efforts.
Using biosolids as a soil conditioner is not new in our country. Other cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Austin, Houston, and Boston also use and sell their high quality biosolid soil amendment products. One of the more well-known brands among gardeners is Milwaukee’s Milorganite, which can be purchased in bags at garden centers.
“Adding Bloom to your garden is like adding compost,” said Bill. “Bloom breaks up clay, helps to build tilth, and helps to increase the community of microbes. Over time, Bloom increases drought-resistant properties in plants.”
Some people are concerned that using a biosolid product will have an offensive odor but Bill reassured me that Bloom does not. “Bloom has an earthy odor,” said Bill. “I was showing it to school children the other day and they said it smelled like burnt wood or like dirt.” Part of Bill’s job is to serve as community ambassador, introducing Bloom to gardening clubs and people who manage school and community gardens. About 30 school and community gardens in the Washington DC area use Bloom in their soil.
Currently, DC Water produces two “varieties”: Fresh and Cured. Fresh is cheaper than cured at $2.50 per cubic yard but more alkaline than cured (8.47 pH) and contains more moisture. Because it contains more moisture, it is heavier and more difficult for a person to lift with a shovel. Thus the Fresh is ideal for landscapers who can use spreading equipment. Cured is $5.00 per cubic yard with a more neutral pH (6.79 pH) and less moisture. Because it is dryer, it does not stick as much to a shovel and is lighter to lift.
DC and Maryland residents can order by calling or completing the online order form. They can have Bloom delivered for a delivery fee or drive to Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, 5000 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington DC, to have staff load their truck.
The Bloom website is very informative and lists the lab analysis of samples of both varieties with specific amounts of nutrients, metals, pathogens, etc. Both have nutrients that plants need such as nitrogen and phosphorus, essentially no pathogens, and low concentrations of heavy metals. The presence of heavy metals is similar to the amount found in typical soils and is far below the level found to pose a risk to human health. Bloom meets all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for use in homes and gardens.
For more information contact Bill Brower, (202) 787-4296, bloom@dcwater.com or visit http://www.bloomsoil.com. To order, visit the website or call (202) 765-3292 Ext. 102.
Just wrote a review of my favorite gardening gloves on Gardening Products Review. I love the original Foxgloves because they are like cotton surgical gloves. They fit well, are comfortable during the hot summer months, and they can be washed in the washing machine!
Posted in products
Tagged Foxgloves, gardening gloves, Gardening Products Review, gloves, review
As a garden communicator I am always collecting information for use with my own garden, for other gardeners, and even for future articles. A reliable source of local gardening information is the Virginia State Cooperative Extension office, located at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg. The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) website has scores of handouts on gardening–everything from annuals to vegetables to trees and shrubs. Most are short, black and white, pdf files that one can download quickly but some are small, full color publications such as “Fooling Mother Nature: Forcing Flower Bulbs for Indoor Bloom.” Written by George Graine, a local VCE Master Gardener, reviewed by Holly Scoggins, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech’s Department of Horticulture, and produced by Lindsey Nelson, Communication Project Coordinator at VT’s Department of Horticulture, this 10-page handout is very easy to read with several color photos of bulbs and charts that provide additional information. In fact, Publication HORT-76NP is so well written that it won a Silver Award of Achievement from the Garden Writers Association’s Media Awards Program this year.
All of the VCE gardening publications are designed for home gardeners but they are science-based and reviewed by horticulturists or experts in the field. All are available for public use and can be re-printed without further permission, providing the use includes credit to the author/photographer and to the VCE, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University. Simply put, these publications can be copied and distributed at garden clubs and nurseries, for seed/bulb fund raisers, for teachers and children who have school-based gardens, and for people who have community garden plots. They are great resources for writing articles and even stimulating ideas for future articles. Check out https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/ every season for timely information!
Last week, I visited IGC East in Baltimore and was impressed with several new gardening products as well as plants. IGC is a trade show where staff from Independent Garden Centers gather to learn and possibly order new plants and products from wholesale vendors to sell at their garden center. They also have the opportunity to attend lectures designed to help them in their nursery business. I attended as press and visited hundreds of vendor booths to see what new items might appear in the garden centers next year.
Medinilla on left and Dolce Vita on the right
I think the biggest “Wow!” plant was the Medinilla and the double bloom variety called Dolce Vita. Native to the Philippines, these large-leaved plants are grown as houseplants year round or outdoors in the summer here in our Mid-Atlantic area. They have incredibly large pink flowers that last for months. I originally thought “banana” when I first saw them because of their pendulous shape but the spokesperson from Northend Gardens said the two varieties are related to the tibouchina plant, another tropical plant that is commonly sold in the summer here for its purple flowers. A series of Medinilla plants on a rafter with the pink blossoms hanging down would be such an eye catching “Wow!” for customers in a nursery but also in any public area such as restaurant or store.
Lil’ Cuties
For me, the second “Wow!” plant was a red-stemmed, green-leaved succulent that I spotted in the Overdevest Nurseries’ booth. This particular plant stood out for me as unique but it was part of their line of “Lil’ Cuties,” arrangements of succulents in small containers. Drought-resistant, these succulent combinations offer a lot of color for minimal effort; perfect for decks and patios.
Overdevest’s new line of “Chick Charms” was cute and would make a nice gift. Chick Charms are hens and chicks in small containers, each with a novelty name. This particular collection of hens and chicks were selected from an evaluation of over 400 varieties of sempervivums; who knew there could be so many!
In the world of edibles, I thought 2 Plant International had an exciting idea: The “Seeds are Easy” line of cleverly designed burlap bags of seeds would entice anyone to start growing herbs or vegetables.
Seeds are Easy
These bags are easy to pick up by the handles, making them a clean, no mess gift–easy to drop into the shopping cart. All one has to do is water and watch the seeds germinate and grow. Perfect for windowsills. Distributed by Bloom Pad North America, there are bags of tea herbs, culinary herbs, and vegetables. They also sell a sprouts glass jar with sprout seeds such as radish, mustard, and alfalfa.
Lake Valley Seed packages of sprouts
Speaking of sprouts, Lake Valley Seed has increased their line of sprouts and I love the design of the seed packets. You should be able to find their rack of seed packets in your local garden center – look for alfalfa, broccoli, mung bean, radish, rainbow mix, salad mix, and sandwich mix. My family would be particularly interested in eating the sandwich mix and the salad mix, which I know are easy to grow indoors.
And for the upcoming holidays, gardeners may be interested in the new line of soaps by Garden Voyage Botanicals. These are all natural, shea butter enriched soaps made in the U.S.A. Of particular interest is the Gardener’s soap with cranberry seeds and walnut shell powder and a special Noel holiday line of peppermint, bayberry, and evergreen soaps. I am always looking for a good soap to use after gardening, I hope Santa puts some of these in my stocking this year.
Gardener’s, Peppermint, and Lavender soaps
Flexzilla Garden Hose
But really Santa, try fitting a Flexzilla garden hose in the stocking this year. I had seen these kink-resistant garden hoses on the P. Allen Smith Facebook page but at IGC East I was able to see a demonstration of the swivel grip connections that make them easy to fit onto the spigot and garden attachment – really ingenious! Plus these hoses have extreme all weather flexibility making them easy to bend around trees and bushes and are drinking water safe. Flexzilla markets its products in its signature lime green color and its garden hoses come in various lengths. P. Allen Smith introduced the “water colors” collection of blue, green, coral, and brown in 50-feet lengths. I don’t care if Santa gets me a water colors shade or the lime green — a kink-free hose with swivel grip is a must for every gardener!
Two other new items for veggie gardeners like me: Neptune’s Harvest, a well-known line of organic fertilizers, will introduce a liquid tomato and vegetable fertilizer next year with a 2-4-2 formula. Made with hydrolyzed fish, molasses, seaweed, yucca extract and humic acid, this all natural fertilizer is supposed to repel deer. That’s what I need for those few times I accidentally left the garden gate open only to discover in the morning that my pepper plants have been decapitated.
EarthBox Root & Veg Garden Kit, photo courtesy of EarthBox by Novelty Mfg.
The second new item hails from my favorite self-watering system, EarthBox, which will introduce a root and veggie box in 2016 designed to be deeper for root vegetables. I have several of the original EarthBoxes on my deck that I use specifically for tomatoes and I never have a tomato disease problem so I am most interested in trying the new design for root crops. These boxes are taller than the original EarthBox and square instead of rectangle but with the same tube, screen, fertilizer, and black plastic wrap.
These are just a few highlights from spending a day at IGC East. If you don’t see these items at your independent garden center next year, contact the dealer directly (click on the hyperlink) to locate a local retailer in your area.
Posted in Edibles, Events, herbs, houseplants, plants, products, vegetables
Tagged 2Plant International, chick charms, Dolce Vita, EarthBox, Flexzilla, Garden Hoses, Garden Voyage Botanicals, Gardener's Soap, hens and chicks, IGC East, IGCEast, Independent Garden Centers, Lake Valley Seed, Lil' Cuties, Medinilla, Neptune's Harvest, Northend Gardens, Overdevest Nurseries, P. Allen Smith, seeds, Seeds are Easy, sempervivums, Sprouts, succulents
keeping eggshells for the compost bin
The trick to composting is to figure out how to make it work for you so it becomes easy. If it is easy, you will compost. This past fall, we set up a Geobin in the backyard. A Geobin is a rectangular heavy piece of plastic with holes that is folded into a cylinder and placed on the ground. Overlap part of the material, insert plastic bolts to keep its cylindrical shape, and voila! you have a compost bin. The nice thing about the Geobin is that it makes composting in the suburbs polite – the black plastic hides the ugly rotting fruit so the neighbors can’t complain.
After we set up the Geobin, we tore up empty cardboard egg cartons and paper towel rolls and threw them in the bin to create large pockets of air at the bottom for drainage. Because it was autumn, we added lots of dried leaves and as I worked in the garden, I added soil from my own garden, usually what was still attached to plants I pulled, plus any earthworms. This introduced the necessary bacteria and small organisms to the bin to start the decomposition process. Throughout the fall and winter, the bin received plenty of water from rain and snow and there were enough air pockets between the leaves and other materials for the organisms to work.
Geobin set up with stakes to keep open
From then on we added fruit and vegetable scraps as well as plant debris from the garden and even free coffee grounds from Starbucks! We have three separate areas in the kitchen to collect eggs, coffee grounds, and produce. The eggshells go into a plastic-lined small box behind the coffee maker (they don’t smell). Once a week, we pull the bag out, crush the shells, and dump into the compost bin (plastic bag goes in the trash can). We put our coffee grounds in a plastic shoe container under the kitchen sink and once a week we dump the grounds into the compost pile. Kitchen scraps–melon rinds, banana peels, strawberry leaves, vegetable peelings, and tea bags–go in an empty cereal or cracker cardboard boxes on the kitchen floor. After we dump the produce into the compost pile, we throw away the boxes in the trash (by now, soft and wet) and start again with a new box (the cereal box could go into the compost pile but it would require tearing it up into small pieces, which runs counter to my “keep it easy” theme here).
This past weekend, about six months later, I tried to unscrew the plastic knobs to undo the Geobin so we could shovel the compost out for the garden. I realized that it was so full I couldn’t get my hand in to unscrew the knobs from the inside. It was easier to lift the plastic up which resulted in a cylindrical shape of leaves and refuse. Because I did not stir often, most of the leaves and debris stayed in place (note to self, stir more often and bolt with screw on outside). With the garden fork, we broke up the condensed mass and discovered moist, dark soil (similar in texture to bagged potting soil) in the core, complete with earthworms! As we broke the mass down to about a foot, it became easier to stir with the fork. We put the core or composted part in the garden beds and left the rest in the corner of the backyard to continue to decompose; making sure it was only a few inches high so it was not an eyesore.
compost in the inner core after removing Geobin
The compost added micronutrients and microorganisms including earthworms to the garden beds. Just adding an inch of compost to garden beds in the spring is beneficial for the plants. Compost also is great for breaking up clay and improving soil texture and drainage.
I can now see the need to have two or three Geobins going at the same time. When one is ready, pull it apart and put the compost on the garden beds while at the same time dumping produce into the second or third bin. My method is simple but slow; it takes months for the large pieces to break up into small pieces. To speed up the decomposition, I could make the ingredients smaller (like cutting up the leaves), turn it often to increase the aeration, or strive for the recommended carbon-nitrogen ratio of 3 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen by volume. Although the decomposition process is a natural process, when you do it at home, you are in charge of putting the ingredients together so you have to be aware of the amount of carbon (also called “browns”) in relation to the amount of nitrogen (also called “greens”). Brown is the dead dried plant parts that are high in carbon (in my case the autumn leaves) and green is the fresh living parts like the kitchen vegetable scraps that are high in nitrogen. There should be more carbon or brown than nitrogen or green which I am always aware of but never measure. Water and air (as in air pockets among the plant materials in the bin) are essential too. We never add meat, dairy products, diseased plants, oils/grease, bones, or pet wastes.
Some counties give away composting bins free or sell them at a minimal cost. Contact the local county extension agent or the county division responsible for solid waste services, waste management, recycling, or trash management. I received my Geobins through a county effort to increase composting, but they can be bought online at http://www.geosystemsonline.com.
Posted in products
Tagged autumn leaves, coffee grounds, compost, compost bin, compost pile, composting, eggshells, geobin
I won! A few weeks ago, Fran Sorin celebrated the 10th anniversary of the publication of Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots through Gardening by having a weeklong #cyberbook party. A #cyberbook party is where Fran invited eight friends who have gardening blogs. Like a party, together they described Digging Deep and that week’s special price of ninety-nine cents for the Kindle edition on their own blogs. They also hosted drawings for free gifts. By writing a comment on their sites, you entered for a chance to win one of the following: nineteen varieties of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Moo Poo Tea Variety Pack (Authentic Haven Brand Soil Conditioner), four Nature Innovations Planters, and DeWit Garden Tools Variety Pack. According to Fran, Digging Deep was considered groundbreaking when it was originally published in 2004. It was one of the first books to use gardening as a conduit for experiencing creativity as a rich and dynamic lifetime journey. I was fortunate to win the DeWit Garden Tools — the package arrived directly from the Netherlands! Can’t wait for summer so I can use them in the garden. Thank you Fran!
Dee Nash Red Dirt Ramblings
Helen Yoest Gardening with Confidence
Jenny Peterson J Peterson Garden Design
Rebecca Sweet Harmony in the Garden
Debra Prinzing Debra Prinzing web site
Brenda Haas BG Garden
Jan Johnsen Serenity in the Garden
Fran Sorin Gardening Gone Wild and the Fran Sorin web site
