Berlin wants to cut solar power subsidies: lawmaker
AFP – The German government wants to slash its support to the solar energy industry to prevent the market from overheating, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party said Tuesday.
New Organic(!) Tulip Bulbs for Fall Planting
It had to happen sooner or later, and sure enough here they are, catchily called Ecotulips. As usual with newly introduced organic versions of things, there still isn’t much selection and prices are a bit higher than for the conventional kind, but if you’d like to buy certified organic tulip bulbs, lovingly grown in Holland by an experienced bulb farmer, at least you’ve got the option. So if the title is Organic Tulips, why is the first picture of a narcissus (poeticus narcissus, probably ‘Pheasant’s Eye’)? Partly because I’ve already gone into how to grow tulips, and partly because there’s more to environmental responsibility than simply buying organic and calling it a day. For one thing, there’s the mileage question; it’s much easier to find (sort-of) locally grown daffodils than locally grown tulips. For another, daffodils are much easier to save and reuse. Tulips can come back more frequently than they’re given credit for, but they don’t come back the way daffodils do and they certainly don’t multiply the way daffodils do. Also: deer. They eat tulips; they don’t eat daffodils. Choosing daffodils This particular bunch is ‘Obdam,’ which I got some years ago from Brent and Becky’s. It’s even harder than choosing tulips, but checking the description for “naturalize” eliminates a lot of otherwise tempting contenders. Naturalize is narcissusspeak for “likely to come back and multiply” and its omission is a warning that the beauty in question may not be an eager grower. The other thing to keep in mind is use in the landscape.
The Greenest Make-up in the Land
This is the coolest. I found this “green” make-up. Well, the packaging is green. The boxes are so cool. Not only are they made of recycled materials, but they are embedded with seeds. So when you are about ready to throw away the box…STOP! You can plant it and watch it grow. The first one is Pangea [...]
Cummins, Justice Department settle pollution case
AP – The Justice Department says diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. will pay a $2.1 million penalty and will recall 405 engines for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
Chevron to build solar plant at NM tailings site
AP – A subsidiary of oil giant Chevron Corp. plans to build what New Mexico officials say will be the largest solar power plant in the nation that uses lenses to focus sunlight onto solar cells.
How to Plant Healthy Trees
I know this is the age of instant gratification, but — this being the season — let’s hear it for planting young trees. The rewards (I speak from experience) are huge: a personal forest or great big hedge isn’t simply a visual treat, a haven for Our Friends The Birds and a way to help fight global warming. It’s also a shelter from road intrusions, wind and whatever lies next door. Even a single tree offers most of these benefits, and if it provides shade from summer sun it gets extra points, for making it easier to turn off the air conditioner. All this and money too. As long as you don’t overpay at the start, trees are a terrific investment. Deposit a 4- to 6-footer now, enjoy a major increase in property value when it hits the 14-foot mark — or, of course, soars beyond. My husband Bill trimming our hemlock hedge. That’s a 12-foot ladder. The hedge in the picture is about a hundred trees long, so it had to start out as young ones. We paid 5 or 10 bucks apiece — this being 12 years ago, more or less — for an assortment of rather spindly 4- to 5-footers. Two years later, when the tallest had barely hit 6 feet and all were still more promise than performance, I got antsy. Bought a bunch of 10-footers, at about 40 bucks a pop, to plant in front of the most grievous eyesore. Sure enough it did make an immediate difference, but the little guys only took two or three more years to catch up, and once they did that was it for the benefit. Annual pruning evened it all out. Now that every tree in the hedge is 14 to 16 or more feet tall, you can’t tell which is which. Other benefits of starting small: * Small trees suffer less damage when taken from the field, so they recover more quickly when planted (big trees usually stay the same height for at least a couple of years; they’re too busy repairing their roots to do much of anything else). * Small trees are DIY, which matters huge when you’re talking about a lot of them. You can pick up a 4-footer without serious consequences for your back. You can dig a hole for it without taking all day, and you can keep it watered…even a skinny 8-foot tree needs about 20 gallons of water each week, more if the weather is hot and windy.
How to Get Your Garden Ready for Winter
Clean up time, aka late fall, is a joyful time in the garden. The weather is pleasant, warm enough to be inviting, cool enough for work. There are no bugs. And there is major satisfaction in restoring order to what is usually pretty untidy by now. But before you get carried away, a few suggestions: * Before you remove all the evidence, make a rough map/post mortem report that can be used for planning next year. Include relevant outside factors like deer predation — which you’d THINK you’d remember but if you’re like me you tend to have denial problems about the smaller, less painful losses. It’s also helpful to note things like the amount of rain: lousy tomato taste, for example, may be blamed on too much water and the too little sun that implies. But that same rain is probably why the hollyhocks hit 10 feet. These are actually the smaller hollyhocks, only about 7 feet; all my pictures of the 12 footers came out rotten. Use your imagination. * When removing sick plants, don’t forget to rake up underneath, especially around roses and peonies; diseased leaves are a prime place for bugs and diseases to winter over. Put all possibly infected (or infested!) material deep in the woods or on the bonfire.
Wordless Wednesday
This is a picture of the California fires from space. > Social Bookmarking
