Compost Confidential

Introducing Two Other Great Blogs...

I'm on the road through the weekend as I speak at the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta tomorrow. With so much going on in preparation for the show, I'm thankful for being the subject of guest posts on two different blogs.

The first is Washington Home & Garden. They've recently added blogging to their fine magazine and I'm proud to be included there with this post. Nikki Smith is the editor and chief blogger and I'd say she's doing a very fine job. Thanks Nikki for the opportunity.

Next, is my guest post on The Casual Gardener, hosted by my good friend Shawna Coronado. When it comes to greening your garden and creating a more sustainable world, Shawna and I are two peas in a pod and I'm honored to be featured on her blog today. I hope you take some time to check out both of these blogs today  and let them know you stopped by while you're there.

Thanks and I'll catch up with you in a couple days.

You Smell Like Dirt; I think I'm in Love

Alright, that may not be the best opening line, but I'll tell you one thing; if I would have met a lovely lady wearing the "tomato" perfume in this picture when I was look'n for a woman, it would have been love at first wiff. Correction, she didn't even have to be lovely. I don't know about you but the fragrance of a tomato seedling is just about as good as it gets. But wait; it gets even better.

Demeter is the company that makes this line of heavenly...urrr, earthly fragrances and now I learn that in addition to tomato, they have many other tempting choices. Some of the ones on my short list: cucumber, cypress, dandelion, giant sequoia, grass (a best seller), mildew, poison ivy, privet, pruning sheers, earthworm, greenhouse and another best seller--dirt.

Now for you females out there, this may be old news but for the guys in the house, we're a little clueless about some of the finer things in life. My next dilemma; will my wife see this as a thoughtful gift because you can bet I'm going online and buying some of these as soon as I finish this post. She may not see the value in smelling like dirt, but if it drives me crazy, maybe she'll start to apprcciate my gardening addiction just a little bit more.

JL

Special thanks to Naomi Sachs for responding to my twitter request for ways to know you're a gardening addict. Her favorite is Tomato too.

Are We REALLY Ready For Organic Gardening? Survey Says…

Although we talk a big game when it comes to gardening more organically, we’re not following through, according to the latest findings from the Garden Writers Association. I serve on the committee that formulates the questions and tracks consumer trends in lawn and garden. In our most recent survey conducted this past October and recently released, we focused on Consumer Attitudes on Organic Gardening. Here’s a brief summary from some of the findings:

Good intentions – poor execution
80% of consumers said they would use more organic products if they knew they could get as effective results for no additional cost. 60% said they would use more organic products if they could be convinced that organics are just as effective as non-organic products.

My conclusion: We still have a lot of explaining to do to enlighten consumers on how they think about organics. First hurdle: organics do work; they just don’t work exactly the same way as synthetic products. It’s a different mindset. Will that make a difference for the crowd that needs it to work like, yesterday? Definitely. We’re kidding ourselves to think otherwise.

More Costly but worth it (so they say)
Of all the consumers that say they’d make the switch, from the above findings we see that only 20% of them wouldn’t do it if the organic or natural products cost more. And according to the survey, 70% of those polled equate organics as being more costly to buy. The downside is, there’s still 20% of consumers that want to be more sustainable but only if it’s not going to cost them more. Food for thought: costs aren’t always measured in dollars and cents.

Supply and demand affected by consumer confusion
55% of consumers say that they would like to use organic products more if they could simply find them in a store. Now that’s a disappointment. I wonder if this next finding is related: 53% say that they would use more organic products if they understood what to buy and how to use it. I can’t help but wonder if some of those products are actually on the store shelves; they just don’t realize it.

My take: This is an area of frustration for me. It’s true. Green products in general just aren’t getting the shelf space they need to sell. I understand from a retailer’s perspective the need to move product. I get that. However, I haven’t seen a lot of great examples in my travels of stores that are making it any easier on the consumer to find and buy these green goods either. Clearly that’s exacerbated by the fact that home gardeners are still so confused on what to buy and how to use these products. It doesn’t help that a lot of the retail sales help (especially the big box boys) are clueless when it comes to making appropriate recommendations. So I can’t blame the consumer when they throw their hands up in frustration and resort to their old ways.

What do YOU say?
So here’s the bottom line to all of this. Most consumers have good intentions. But, they’re telling us they still don’t have enough information to know what to buy or if organic / natural products even work well enough to make the switch. And if they’re still on the fence, the perception of higher pricing for green products isn’t going to help lead to widespread acceptance of eco-friendly goods anytime soon…especially when consumers want them to work the same way as their current products. I’d like to hear what you think. Are you an organic gardener? If not, are you moving in that direction or not? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Joe Lamp’l

p.s. They survey was conducted through TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, a national consumer polling organization. The research statistically represents the attitudes of over 100 million households with an accuracy of 95% (+/- 3.1 percentage points)

Gardening Boost Men's Sex Lives - The New Miracle Grow

This just in…Gardening Boost Men’s Sex Lives, claims study. Now this is a story I can get excited about. In the midst of all the gloom and doom of the future of gardening, it’s about time we had something to celebrate. No doubt this story will get plenty of attention but as far as I’m concerned, this is a great thing to bring up right now. I’ll withhold the many one liners that play so well into this story but seriously, gardening is important and this is yet another reason.  Read all about it here .

The Truth About Organic Gardening - Say it Ain't so Jeff!

Across the board, is organic gardening better for the environment? Not according to Jeff Gillman, author of The Truth About Organic Gardening; Benefits, Drawbacks and The Bottom Line. Are you still in your chair? The truth is, it’s just not an absolute, as Jeff pointed out in my recorded interview with him on Friday. As much as it pained him to say that, he quickly went on to explain that without making at least some qualifications, you just can’t make a blanket claim like that.

Jeff’s book was the subject of my latest episode for my weekly podcast series, Growing a Greener World. Little did I know, his answers to some of my questions would likely have at least a few people scratching their head about their organic gardening practices. Case in point: some organic pesticides are bad news for the environment. One of the worst offenders is rotenone. It’s highly toxic to fish and other water dwelling creatures. Although it is being removed from the market as an organic pesticide, you can still buy it today. “Sure it’s organic and natural, but so is a snake bite. And is that a good thing?” he adds.

Throughout our conversation Jeff cited other examples of not so green things that we eco-conscience gardeners are doing that aren’t as eco-friendly as we think. Have a tiller? Get rid of it. It’s destroying your soil. Another example; greensand and rock phosphate are two natural products used as fertilizers yet taken from nonrenewable sources. Although they’re good for our gardens, they’re not good for the planet.

Here’s another surprise for many green gardeners; did you know that it’s good to fertilize your lawn (at least a little)? Healthy lawns with deeper roots do more to prevent runoff than lawns that aren’t fed at least occasionally. The good news is, there’s an organic nitrogen source that will keep our lawns healthy and also reduce weed growth. Corn gluten is a favorite product of Jeff’s for this (and mine). But he adds; “The problem is it takes two years to work and when it does, it’s not as effective as synthetic pre-emergent controls”. I must say I found myself thinking, “damn Jeff, do you have to be so academic about this?” Then I reminded myself that he is a Ph.D and assistant professor of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota.

So, is the bottom line to all of this bad news to the organic gardening community? Absolutely not. In fact, I hope it helps clear up some of the misunderstandings that gardeners have in regards to their expectations of what, when and how to use organic and natural products. Certainly there is plenty of confusion out there. In my opinion, it’s the biggest obstacle on why we still haven’t embraced more sustainable choices. But if we can gain a clearer perspective on realistic expectations going in, well that’s half the battle in my opinion. Thanks Jeff!
JL

p.s. Don't miss the actual audio interview. Jeff had a lot more to say! You can listen here.

The 10…Make that Nine Best New Gardening Products for 2009

And then there were nine. Each January, the joe gardener Company selects the 10 best new “must have” gardening products for the New Year. Yesterday was supposed to be the date we revealed the top products selected for 2009.

Little did we know…
It had been a hectic day. Although the posted announcement was planned for online distribution sometime in the morning, various obstacles in obtaining last minute information throughout the day had continued to delay our official public notice.  Around 5:00 yesterday afternoon, and literally minutes before we were finally ready to post the much anticipated official announcement, we received a shocking email.

At the last second before posting, the representative for one of the 10 winning products notified us that he had just that moment received word from the manufacturer that this product would not be available for sale; not now and not anytime in the future. Although details were sketchy, he alluded to patent issues and didn’t have any more specifics to offer. Such a shame. We’ve always prided ourselves on finding the latest, newest, cutting-edge products, but I guess this time we arrived at the dance a little too early. This one bit the dust before we could even flaunt its virtues.

So here’s what you won’t be hearing anymore about from us. The Cepia 1-touch Multi-purpose Power Sprayer was going to be the answer to a lot of people’s prayers. It is (or was) a one-gallon, battery operated tank sprayer that eliminates the need for manual pumping to maintain a constant, high-pressure flow rate. The small motor built into the pump sprayer and powered by two AA batteries provided enough juice to operate for about six continuous hours on a fresh set of batteries. Trust me, during the testing process, I became well acquainted with the staying power of this little workhorse. As part of our evaluation process, we duct taped the squeeze trigger in the on position to see how long it would run. Oh my gosh, I thought my sample would never die. Outdoors, this is not a problem as the relatively quiet hum of that little motor would hardly be noticed. But in my office while I’m trying to conduct business is another story. If I had a nickel for each time my family made a comment…

Although we’re very disappointed to lose one of our most highly rated selections for 2009, we chose not to fill this void with another product, simply to round out the lineup. Unfortunately, for this year at least, we didn’t find many new products that excited us enough to extol their virtues by selecting them as a “Best of the Must-haves”. Instead, we did something we’ve never done before. We reconvened our team of testers to review the wining products from previous years.  By popular vote, we brought back a few of our most popular alumni for an encore appearance in 2009. Consider them the “best-of the Best-ofs”.

By the way, truth be told, considering how strongly we stand on sustainability and eco-friendliness, I was a little apprehensive to feature a chemical spraying device as a joegardener “must-have” selection. However, since this is a “multi-purpose” sprayer, our approach in favor of this device was to promote its ease of use when applying liquid, repellents to deter deer and rabbits. And that’s an application I’m sure we can all take advantage of!
JL

Oh yeah, here's the list of the joe gardener Best of the Must-haves  for 2009