FloridaGardener's Garden Blog

Ugly Fruit. Tasty Fruit.

info@floridagardener.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:48:00 GMT

Remember when all of Florida was in an uproar over citrus canker? Remember the eradication efforts and outraged citizens protesting their right to keep their prized citrus trees and the state chopping them down and taking them away, by law?

Despite what you may have read, grass is still green!

info@floridagardener.com — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:58:00 GMT

Beautiful green lawns provide numerous environmental benefits and their ability to store carbon is one of them; but when a recently published research study regarding the ability of grass to store carbon reached the opposite conclusion of previous studies, more than a few scientists were scratching their heads.

A study by Amy Townsend-Small, Earth system science post-doctoral researcher at University of California, Irvine received extensive media coverage because of the negative conclusions she presented regarding growing grass lawns. Her study suggested that the carbon-storing benefits of lawns were counteracted by fuel consumption.

Focusing on four parks and lawns in Southern California, the Townsend-Small study found that greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production, mowing, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices were four times greater than the amount of carbon stored by grass in parks and lawns. Now this is totally opposite of previous research findings regarding carbon sequestration in lawns and the amount of carbon resulting from the care and maintenance of lawns.

You might have seen assorted headlines that read:

·         "Urban Green Space May Aid Global Warming"

·         "Green Spaces (Lawns) Are Not So Green"

·         "Urban Lawns Contribute to Climate Change"

·         "The Grass Isn't Always Greener"

·         “Lawn Care = Bad for the Environment?”

·         “City Parks May Be Bad For The Environment”

·         “Study Fumes Over City Park Grass”

·         “New CO2 Threat to the Planet”

There is a problem with that conclusion: The authors of the Amy Townsend-Small research report acknowledge their study contained errors and miscalculations! OOPS!

So how did the errors in the study come to light? Dr. Thomas Rufty, Bayer Distinguished Professor, Environmental Plant Biology, North Carolina State University questioned the findings based on previous research models and proceeded to point out several discrepancies in the Townsend-Small research report:

Rufty commented, "Regarding carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions in urban turf' by Townsend-Small and Czimczik, we suspected an error in calculations because their numbers were so different from the models we are developing.” Rufty was challenged to find out why there was a discrepancy. He reported that two of his Ph.D. students took apart all of the assumptions and calculations in the Townsend-Small paper and found mistakes. When asked to provide a complete analysis of the situation … they immediately presented their findings. Rufty reviewed their findings and confirmed they were right and that errors had been made. DOH!

Rufty then emailed the authors and they confirmed there was a mistake in their spreadsheet that no one had caught during the writing or peer review. The authors said 'someone' had informed them of the mistake and a correction was posted. Their corrected calculations showed that CO2 generation was 122 g m-2 yr-1 rather than 1238 g m-2 yr-1 as stated in their research paper.

"This is important, because it makes the situation with 'ornamental lawns' carbon neutral to positive, depending on some of their other assumptions about fertilization. The students also are arguing that the authors made another mistake regarding lawn equipment that will result in decreasing the estimated CO2 even further!

So continue to enjoy your lawns since they still are good for the environment.

Happy Gardening!

Purple Martins Are Back!

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:22:00 GMT

What is a Purple Martin (Progne subis)? And why do you want to invite them to your garden? Purple Martins are the largest member (to 8 inches long) of the swallow family of birds. They are famous for a number of things: 1) their prodigious appetite for bugs, 2) their aerial acrobatics, 3) their close association with humans, and 3) their yearly migration over land from Canada in the summer to Brazil in the fall.

What to do for Freeze Damaged Florida Plants

info@floridagardener.com — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:20:00 GMT

Most of Florida is now experiencing mild weather after two weeks of record breaking cold. You have probably had a chance to survey the damage that was dealt to your plants by the freezing weather and depending upon where those plants were located in your garden and their cold tolerance some probably held up better than others to the Arctic front.

My New Year’s Beef and Black Eyed Peas

info@floridagardener.com — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:01:00 GMT

This is one on the few times of the year that my wife likes to abandon the kitchen to allow me to work on my cooking masterpiece – a Rib Roast.

This year she bought a bone-in roast which I like to work with more than the boneless ones. It seems to me that bone-in roasts tend to have more flavor. If we manage to pick up the roast a few days...

The Seed Catalogs Cometh!

info@floridagardener.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:51:00 GMT

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! The seed catalogs are beginning to arrive in my mailbox. OH, YEAH!

Flower and Vegetable Power

info@floridagardener.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:35:00 GMT

This is an awesome time of the year for gardening in South Florida. Check out my Butterfly, Bee and Hummingbird garden. I ordered the plants online from High Country Gardens in September. These plants do not require a lot of water and are recommended for areas in full to partial sun, Zones 5b to 10. The flowers are beautiful, do not have a noticeable scent, but because they are members of the mint family, the lea

My Flesh Eating Plants

info@floridagardener.com — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:38:00 GMT

Good old Lowes – I went over to buy a light bulb and I came out with a light bulb and 5 carnivorous plants. I had wanted to buy some of these plants last year, hesitated and...

Christmas Decorations Don't Have to Be a Pain to Put Up

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:17:00 GMT

Yes! Got our Christmas twinkle lights, icicle lights, doe, buck, fawn, moose, candy canes and wreaths up today! I have some strict rules on when the decorations go up:

Whiteflies, Aphids and Hibiscus Jam

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:05:00 GMT

I love to garden during autumn in Florida. Fewer bugs, lower temperatures and humidity make it much more comfortable to work in the Florida garden. The only thing that I do not like about fall and winter gardening in Florida is that darkness falls so much earlier with the time change and all that it is dark by the time I arrive home from work. I know some people garden by the moon, but I end-up resorting to gardening by flashlight and yard light. I wonder how a pair of night vision goggles would work. I did see a cool hat in Lowes for $19.99 that had 4 bright white LEDs built i