Autumn in the Garden and more! - October 6, 2007

by Douglas E. Welch, agn@welchwrite.com
Reader/Listener Line - 818-804-5049



In this show, I talk about our long, dry summer, an early rain, Autumn beginning and a rat in the compost (Oh, my!)

What's happening in your garden? Let me know by calling the listener line at 818-804-5049 and leaving a message. I just might use it in the podcast.

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Listen to the Podcast



Theme Music: The One by The Woodshedders, aka the Hot Club of West Virginia, courtesy of the PodSafe Music Network

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Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, build, make, DIY, howto, how-to, outdoors, losangeles, 91411

Introduction to Cottage Gardens - VideoJug.com

I have often contemplated a cottage garden retrofit to my garden and this video offers some great insight.



VideoJug: An Introduction To Cottage Gardens

Technorati Tags: garden, gardener, gardening, outdoors, video

Audio: Interview on "Chrysalis" by Kim Todd (Audio)

I came across this interesting edition of Tech Nation while listening to podcasts today. When we are gardening, it always pays to learn more about the other creatures that inhabit our gardens.

I love both science and biography, so I immediately requested this book from my local library. The podcast, though, gives an excellent introduction to the book and definitely worth a listen.

Tech Nation with Moira Gunn - Click to listen

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Kim Todd, who in her book "Chrysalis" recounts the tale of Maria Sibylla Merian and her documentation of the secrets of metamorphosis.

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, outdoors, insects, science, audio, itconversations, butterfly, book, books

Don't let your garden water go down the drain....

LA Frog makes note of one of my pet peeves, wasted water in our desert environment and provides a bit of the history of Los Angeles and its water.

I, too, hate when I see sprinklers watering sidewalks and driveways, and watching all that liquid gold run down the street into the nearest storm drain. This is one reason why, when we bought our house 10 years ago, I converted 95% of the irrigation systems to soaker hoses and drip systems. Both if these put the water right where it is needed. This also helps to reduce weed growth, since paths and such receive no water, expect from our infrequent rains.

I only have one traditional sprinkler system -- an old set of retrofitted lawn sprinklers in the front garden. We run it as infrequently as possible and most of the plants there mainly azaleas -- have naturalized enough to not need much supplemental watering.

If only I could convince others to get rid of their lawns and the water they require, we would all be better off.

California Water Wars When I drive through residential neighborhoods, and I see water flushing the streets from the garden hosing systems, I sometimes wonder if people even remember that the true nature of Los Angeles is to be a dry, desert land. And that bringing water to the city came at stupendous costs.

It's impossible to summarize the history of the Los Angeles aqueduct -- and the subsequent water wars -- in a

(Via LA Frog.)

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, california, grow, outdoors, losangeles, urban, learning, education, water

Repairing a damaged drip irrigation line

While the rest of the family was out on an excursion with Nonna to see the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, I finally get a garden project completed to prepare for the quickly approaching Southern California Summer.

In this video, I show the repair of the drip irrigation line in one of my rose beds. This line has been in place for over 10 years, so it isn't surprising that it needed a little refreshing.

Link: Repairing a damaged drip irrigation line video




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How to be a gardener video from the BBC

Kottke.org points out this video series on Google Video -- How to be a Gardener with Alan Titchmarsh. This is a 4 hour series on gardening.

While I wish the poster had broken this series up into episodes before posting to Google Video, it is still nice to be able to see the program at all. Too much great BBC content never makes it to the US, even with BBC America on some cable systems.

The audio sync is a little wonky and the video quality is not the greatest, but again, in the case of an excellent program like this, something is better than nothing. The companion web site will give you even more information.

I look forward to seeing the benefits of this new partnership between YouTube and the BBC, BBC and YouTube partner to bring short-form BBC content to online audiences

Tags: : bbc google video garden gardening gardener uk british england television education

What I'm Reading...

Readymade is from the folks over at Readymade magazine, a great monthly available via subscription or on the newstand.



Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, grow, build, make, DIY, howto, how-to, creativity, outdoors, hints, tips, books, learning, education, read, reading, business