The annual Mecklenburg County Tree Seedling and Rain Barrel Sale is just around the corner! If you haven’t already ordered your rain barrel, make sure you do it by Monday, January 14th. And when you are there picking up your Rain Barrel on the 26th, you can pick up a lot of great bushes and trees which are native to the Piedmont area of the Carolinas. This sale is an hugely popular event and even though the doors don’t open until 9am, lines start forming around 8am. There will be dogwoods, red maples, oaks, beauty berry, long leaf pine, button bushes and more on sale for $1-$5. For a complete list and more information, click here. Doors will remain open while supplies last, or noon, whichever comes first. If you miss out on the opportunity to get a rain barrel on the 26th, there will be other opportunities throughout 2008. For a list of the schedule, click here.
Over the last couple of days here in the drought ravaged Southeast, we have been experiencing a rare occurrence……RAIN! And fortunately, its the best kind of rain: a nice, gentle rain that is soaking into the ground versus a “gully washer” that runs off before the plants have a chance to take a drink. Its also a great reminder to install a rain barrel to keep some of the water for use later on when we are back in a dry spell. Mecklenburg County’s annual rain barrel sale will be January 26th, so I hope you will consider buying one for your garden. Deadline for ordering is January 14, 2008. And in case you haven’t seen our video and how to install a rain barrel, here it is again!
Jean Woods, North Carolina Native Plant Society, will be teaching the last composting class until the spring at Latta Plantation Nature Center this Saturday, 12/1, from 9am-1pm. The class, made possible by Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Authority, is $10 and will cover planting with native plants, soil stewardship and how to build a compost pile. You will receive a wire bin to take home for your own compost pile and a book with lots of information on composting and a great list of plants native to this area. You have to register, so call 704 875 1391 and sign up!
I am teaching a PLANT (Piedmont Landscaping and Naturescaping Training) on Saturday at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve from 9a-1p for Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Authority. The class is $10 (Reedy Creek receives the money for hosting the class) and we will make a hot batch compost pile, talk about soil stewardship, planting with native plants and creating backyard wildlife habitats. You will receive the wire for a compost bin (like the one shown in the video) and a PLANT book with lots of information about composting and a comprehensive listing of native plants for your landscape. If you want to attend, you must call Lenny at Reedy Creek by 5pm on Friday 11/9. 704 598 8857. Its a fun class! Dress for the weather and bring a lunch!
"In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." --Margaret Atwood.
I believe we are losing our relationship with nature and with it, the understanding that how we live impacts the world around us. This blog will explore ways to reconnect to nature: Gardening with native plants, creating a haven for wildlife in your backyard, tips on living green and fun ways to experience our abundant natural resources. Its time to get outside! I smell like dirt, do you?
The US government says that a huge earthquake risk lurks in the heart of the country, where a series of large shocks hit 200 years ago. Seth Stein says that kind of warning is dead wrong.
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese officials said on Saturday the unprecedented effort to remove spent fuel rods from one of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors was on track despite lingering concerns about the structure's vulnerability to another earthquake.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl gained strength as it closed in on the southeastern coast on Sunday, dumping rain and whipping up heavy surf from northeastern Florida to South Carolina.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.
MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - The remnants of the first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud, dumped heavy rain along Mexico's coast early on Saturday but caused little damage before it turned back into the Pacific.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff on Friday vetoed divisive elements of a new law that relaxes the forest cover farmers must preserve on their land, taking a stand against the agricultural lobby that pushed a more lenient version through Congress.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated by the gridlock that has stalled Congress leading into the 2012 presidential elections in November, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee is drafting what she hopes is a fresh look at the big-picture energy policy.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - The Republican-led Ohio legislature approved a bill setting rules for drilling and related activities in the state's shale gas industry, in a vote late on Thursday, responding to a series of small earthquakes in Ohio last year that experts linked to a practice called fracking.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Cleanup workers will soon attack a jumble of debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami that litters an Alaskan island, as residents in the state gear up to scour their shores for everything from buoys to building material that has floated across the Pacific.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is placing Europe's biggest bet on biomass as an alternative to polluting oil and coal and expensive gas, but reliance on imports could challenge the plan's low-carbon credentials and Britain's energy security.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The captain and the navigation officer of a container ship which smashed into a reef off a popular New Zealand holiday spot were jailed on Friday for causing the country's worst environmental disaster in decades.
