Can Gardening Help Troubled Minds Heal?News from WBUR:

Women’s Correctional Community Center inmate Lilian Hussein checks on ti leaves she planted as part of the prison’s farming and gardening program in Kailua, Hawaii. The green ti leaves are often used to wrap food or weave into leis. (Jennifer Sinco Kelleher / AP)

If you haven’t noticed, gardens are popping up in some unconventional places – from prison yards to retirement and veteran homes to programs for troubled youth.
Most are handy sources of fresh and local food, but increasingly they’re also an extension of therapy for people with mental health issues, such [...] Continue Reading…

Master Gardeners award $ 1000 grants to 2 community gardensNews from Mail Tribune:

February 22, 2012
The Jackson County Master Gardeners Association has given $ 1,000 grants to two community gardens in Jackson County.
The Medford Gospel Mission received $ 1,000 to help convert sections of its parking lot into raised-bed gardens. The gardens will provide vegetables for its restaurant, “The Main Ingredient,” which serves more than 90,000 meals a year to those in need. Additionally, some of the garden beds will be used by families to raise vegetables for their own use.
The Alliance for Forest Workers & [...] Continue Reading…

Master Gardener program sows seeds of learningNews from The Oshkosh Northwestern:
HERNANDO, Miss. (WTW) — “This sapsucker is mean,” said retired agricultural extension agent Art Smith, getting rather personal about Pennant, a herbicide with metolachlor. “This stuff hangs around awhile,” he added as he discussed “herbaceous perennials and ground cover.”
After Smith’s discourse on weeds, retired extension entomologist Dr. Mike Williams stepped up to talk about what bugs gardens — and gardeners.
“Only 1 percent of insects are pests, kind of like people,” Williams said. “But because we concentrate plants in a small area for a garden, and particular pest likes that [...] Continue Reading…

Mild weather has gardens, gardeners springing to lifeNews from Boston Globe:
Blossoms already enliven forsythia and hellebores in Boston gardens, and buds even hint at spring in higher elevations. But isn’t it only February?
“I have some grape hyacinths and some daffodils,’’ said Trudi Fondren, president of the Beacon Hill Garden Club. “You would expect them sometime in late March or early April.’’
By the calendar, the sky should be metal gray, not winsome blue. Rivers should be coated with ice, rather than beckoning boats during the winter that wasn’t.

Consistently mild weather is winding the internal clocks of gardens and gardeners ahead [...] Continue Reading…

Gardening Can Lead To A Whole New Level Of Health, Says Green Wheeling InitiativeNews from WTRF:
A garden on every corner, and fresh locally-grown fruits and vegetables on every plate–that’s the goal of the Green Wheeling Initiative.
This is the subject of the Feb. 27 Public Garden Lecture to be presented by the Ohio County Master Gardeners at Oglebay Park.
The Green Wheeling Initiative’s mission is to make healthy food available and affordable by redirecting the flight of Wheeling’s food dollar toward locally-grown foods.
People from all walks of life are getting involved in GWI, building a network of community gardens that has [...] Continue Reading…

Downsizing makes container gardening easierNews from Foster’s Daily Democrat:
Container gardening is growing smaller.Suppliers are downsizing this season with easier-to-use trough planters, raised beds, pots or bags. It’s an effective way to produce edibles or blooms in tight spaces.One of the leaders in this less-is-better concept is EarthBox, a Scranton, Pa., manufacturer of self-watering plant containers. A half-size version designed for growing herbs and salad greens outdoors on deck railings, patios, rooftops and fire escapes, or indoors from kitchen windowsills, was introduced in January.”It was a consumer-driven product,” said Frank DiPaolo, EarthBox’s general manager. “People told us they were interested [...] Continue Reading…

Proctor’s Tips: Growing heirloom vegetables hottest trend in gardeningNews from 9NEWS.com:

Facebook

Google buzz
Del.icio.us

… Read the full article
.

Related News:

Md. Farmers Offer Bay-Friendly Gardening TipsNews from WBOC TV 16:
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Maryland farmers are offering homeowners tips on bay-friendly backyard gardening practices.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture says the educational campaign highlights the importance of garden planning during the winter for stronger, healthier gardens and lawns and a cleaner Chesapeake Bay. Topics include proper use of fertilizers, pesticide alternatives, erosion and runoff control and water conservation.
Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance says many routine farm-based conservation measures can easily be adapted to lawn [...] Continue Reading…

Downsizing makes container gardening easierNews from Chicago Daily Herald:
Article posted: 2/19/2012 6:00 AM

Two EarthBox self-watering gardening containers are shown. EarthBox began shipping a half-sized “Junior” model in mid-January that was designed to produce greens and herbs outside on fire escapes, patios and deck railings or inside from kitchen windowsills.
 
Associated Press

In this image released by Gardener’s Supply, a Colorful Pepper Grow Bag is shown.
 
AP Photo/Gardener’s Supply

View other photograph collections

By Dean Fosdick

Container gardening is growing smaller.
Suppliers are downsizing this season with easier-to-use trough planters, raised beds, pots or bags. It’s an…………… continues on Chicago Daily Herald
… [...] Continue Reading…

Master Gardener program sows seeds of learningNews from DeSoto Appeal:

Photo by Stan CarrollBuy this photo »
Hope Cook (left), Ray Mazola and Cheryl Eubank inspect a type of nettle during the Master Gardener class sponsored by the Mississippi State Extension office in Hernando.

“This sapsucker is mean,” said retired agricultural extension agent Art Smith, getting rather personal about Pennant, a herbicide with metolachlor. “This stuff hangs around awhile,” he added as he discussed “herbaceous perennials and ground cover.”
After Smith’s discourse on weeds, retired extension entomologist Dr. Mike Williams stepped up to talk about what bugs gardens — and gardeners.
“Only 1 percent [...] Continue Reading…

Gardening turns out to be very eco un-friendlyNews from The Independent:Gardening: surely few things could be more eco-friendly? Not so, it seems. Scientists have produced new research which suggests that, far from doing their bit to save the planet, Britain’s green-fingered army may be damaging it.
Click HERE to view graphic
The very staples of modern gardening, from mowing and watering the lawn to the use of peat and pesticides, have a harmful effect on the environment, claim experts from the University of Reading, the University of Sheffield, and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Their paper, The Domestic Garden: Its Contribution [...] Continue Reading…