Vegetable garden update

This is a quick update on the vegetable garden. The heavy rains have taken a toll on the garden. The potatoes have gotten tall and the rains caused them the fall over, so I am trying two methods to get back on track: cutting them back and staking them up. I'll report back with how the methods work out at the end of the season. The tomato cages have worked out great; the Contorted Willow stakes and Wild Grape vines created a sturdy platform and the plants are growing great. The beans have put on a lot of growth and have taken to the willow branches. The pumpkins, squash, watermelons, and cucumbers are enjoying the warm temperatures and steady rains. The carrots and taller greens have been knocked over though. Hopefully it will all balance out in the end...

Urban ecosystems

There is a really great interview with Os Schmitz the Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. The interview follows his research on the timescale needed to recover a damaged ecosystems. His research suggests that damaged ecosystems can recover in about a lifetime rather than a much longer period of time. He goes on comment in the interview about the role that urban people and places have in the larger scheme. "It’s really important to get [urban people] to think that they're part of an ecosystem -- be it an urban or other ecosystem-- rather than simply be drivers of ecosystems. When we restore parks, or when we think about creating green spaces, we have to be careful and get our values in order and identify collectively what it is that we mean by green space. For example, I can imagine that we could restore shrub lands in cityscapes. We could also have small forests throughout cityscapes."

Waiting for decomposition

Well based on the article I wrote in November on compostable take-home restaurant products, I should have seen some decomposition of the products by now. The ones either lined with PLA (Polylactic acid) thermoplastic or made from PLA thermoplastic are taking a bit longer. The burgasse (paper) products broke down pretty quickly. Once I see more decomposition, I'll repost some photos.