Global gardening

an array of vegetables and fish, Vientiane, Laos

I bumbled onto a cool device called Feedjit visiting a fellow blogger's site (thanks, Beverly!) It tracks where people who are reading your blog are located.

Muang Sing market, northern Laos (near the Chinese border)

I enjoy making blog posts (for myself) because it helps me keep track of what I've noticed in my own garden (or the botanical garden where I work) and what I'm currently thinking about in terms of gardening and nature, worrying about our current drought, and what I'm needing to plant next in the vegetable garden or the meadow, etc.

Otavalo market, Ecuador

But as someone who loves to explore distant parts of the world (my gardening companion shares this enthusiasm and he takes the travel photos), I'm delighted to hear from someone in Japan, Malaysia, or the Philippines (in addition to anywhere in North or South America or Europe or Africa or Australia or elsewhere in Asia).

sugarcane and buyers, BacHa market, northern Vietnam

It's humbling to realize that someone in Egypt somehow stumbled onto to a post that I made -- it makes being part of the global community so much more real. We all depend on plants for sustenance -- and the connections and understanding and ease of obtaining those things differs.

My gardening companion and I have been fortunate enough to poke around markets, natural areas, and gardens in a number of places -- the markets and home gardens provide inspiration and encouragement about growing a diversity of other vegetables, but more importantly, help us get a better sense of the interplay between food, culture, and the resources and work that it takes to grow an abundance and diversity of food.

Bulati market, Tanzania, Crater Highlands

breakfast at the market, Otavalo, Ecuador

selling peas, Otavalo, Ecuador

squash and edible gourds, Mysore, India

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WaterColor Living

This beautiful coastal home designed by Georgia Carlee gracing the pages of Traditional Home is located in WaterColor, Florida. (That is one city I'm sure I'd love!) Simply Seleta featured this home back in June (lucky duck lives in the same neighborhood as this house!), so check out her blog or Traditional Home for lots more inspirational images.

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Summer

Coming home after dinner with friends, it was a perfect summer evening in the South. The air was humid and heavy from the afternoon thunderstorm, and the crickets and other insects well underway with their evening songs.

The crescent moon was high in the sky. My camera 'saw' the entire moon as well as stars that I couldn't see.

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Breathe

These images taken by photographer Sandra Lane are absolutely beautiful.

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Urban green space

A typical street in Hanoi, Vietnam

I empathize with people in cities or in places without much green space - it's not easy to connect with nature without having green space, parks, community gardens, container gardens, or balcony gardens, much less easy access to more 'wild' nature.

A peaceful place in central Hanoi

In the urban whirl that characterizes Hanoi today, the central lake and its surrounding park provides a bit of a connection to the natural world. It's a traditional park with walking paths and landscape plantings.

Closer to home, I remember seeing a woman in Washington, DC last summer waiting for the homeless shelter to open, 'planting' weeds that she'd collected, echoing perhaps a distant memory of planting a garden. I wish I had talked with her about what she remembered.

I read a piece a couple of years ago written by a woman who'd had a difficult struggle with illness, and she wrote poignantly of the meaning that being able to be out in her garden had for her. And I am always grateful for the green respite that our garden provides, and the sustenance that seeing growing things provides.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology recently rolled out a new program called Celebrate Urban Birds, promoting small-scale habitats with container gardens and rooftop gardens in cityscapes.

It's a great site and full of encouraging ideas about planting pockets of urban green.

But those of us in small cities and rural areas have even more opportunities to improve our community plantings. Why not focus on restoring natural diversity in our commercial landscapes and roadsides? We have the space; why not plant a diversity of (native) trees and shrubs in streetscapes, parks, and medians?

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Ready for the Beach House

Ahhh...blue and green. My favorite! I love how they just pop on this otherwise neutral background. -Coastal Living

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The benefits of shade

I'm rethinking a bit why the basil sown thickly in a flat near the potting bench is still relatively succulent compared to its brethren in adjoining pots and in the ground. I thought it was the benefits of fluffy potting mix, and richer fertilization, but now I'm thinking it's extremely useful that the flat is in filtered morning and afternoon shade.

I've always thought of basil as a warmth-loving plant (which it is), but maybe the blastingly hot afternoon sun here simply shuts down leaf growth, closing stomata and depressing photosynthesis, and therefore leaf expansion. The plants I transplanted to a container (from the flat) that receive more afternoon sun are looking more and more stressed as the heat wave continues, whereas a single plant in soil that's shaded by beans and in a spot that gets full afternoon sun looks quite nice. Perhaps I'll need to do an experiment! And more investigation about how basil flavors develop, etc., would also be interesting.

Certainly the combination of extreme heat and 10 hours of full sun isn't ideal for many vegetables - here in the South, both plants and the gardener are looking for a respite.

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