Gardening today: glorious grasses, topsy-turvy gardens and living curtains

Green gardening articles and features in the news

GardenBot brings geek power to green thumbs (Reuters): "The key modules for the system are soil moisture sensor, soil temperature sensor, light level and water value. Each of these modules can be built separately and integrated into GardenBot.  Once GardenBot is live, it can send data to a computer so that the information is plotted on a chart and updated every 15 minutes.  GardenBot has made his gardening experience better and easier, says Frueh.  “We ended up using much less water this year, which was nice,” he says. “It changed how I was thinking about watering the plants.”"

Green thumbs up: grace your gardens with glorious grasses (Wickedlocal): "There is an inexplicable attraction to these simple plants that is gradually winning over even the most reluctant dirt-diggers. In recent years, many landscapers have discovered the many positive attributes grasses afford including low maintenance, hardiness and multi-season interest and many commercial plantings now display attractive groupings of grasses."

Things are looking up for your urban garden (Urban Gardens): "The Baskke Sky Planter’s reservoir feeds water gradually to the plant’s roots maintaining even irrigation and avoiding over-watering. Because there is no excess water to drain away, they can be used indoors, without losing water to evaporation."

Living curtains help save energy (Greenbang): "The green curtains of viney plants are grown over trellises against a building’s windows and outer walls; as they grow, the plants help filter sunlight, keeping walls from absorbing heat and preventing too much solar heating inside buildings and reducing the need for air conditioning. Furthermore, through photosynthesis, the vines also absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."

Community gardens sprout as advocates look to eat healthier, save money and weed out urban blight (MetroPulse): "There is a lot of interest, and we’ve had a lot of community groups coming to the city to inquire about the availability of city-owned land for community gardens, orchards, and green spaces.  It may be because of the economy, or the increased interest in better nutrition, or the greater awareness of herbicides and pesticides."

(Photo credit: Baskke Sky Planter on Urban Gardens)

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