A few (green roof) things

The green roof industry is just a few decades old, as such there is still a lot of research to be done. Vital questions are being investigated at Columbia University such as how do birds use green roofs and which insects can you find?

-In some great green roof news, Nashville, Tennessee's city council is debating a green roof incentive program which would give residents $10 a square foot credit on their water and sewage bills for up to 60 months. The city has allocated $500,000 for the program, which is pretty good considering Nashville's population is about 600,000.

-Sunday I was at the Canadian National Exhibit in Toronto. In its 10th decade, this year attendees can feast their eyes on a green roof exhibit (in the Heritage Court, near the south entrance to the Ricoh Centre). Designed by Janet Ennamorato of Creative Garden Designs, I was on hand to spread the word. If you want to check it out, there are a few days left. If you can't make it, here are a few pics:

-The final item for today is an update on the raccoon issue. This stuff below we have used for a couple of weeks now. The plants seem to be okay with these pepper based product and it seems the raccoons have a new lavatory!

Ridder indeed!!!

Book review - The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading

A few days ago I finished The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading - An Encyclopedia of Independent Living by Nicole Faires. Published in 2011 it does indeed include chapters on virtually everything, from "What is Homesteading" to "Building Shelter for Man and Animal" and "the Comforts of Life, Health and Family". Also featured are a dictionary and comprehensive bibliography.

It's Faires' intention to write the ultimate guide, note the quote in the beginning of the book "...if you had nothing and suddenly had to survive in the world by doing everything yourself, what would you need to know?" There's a danger when you claim to have written the "ultimate guide"; expectations are raised sky high and you must back it up. For one thing it has to be a pretty long book, I am guessing "everything you need to know" would fill quite a few pages. And that brings up another question...where do you stop? She mentions how to store an ax, don't you need to know how to make an ax as well if you are truly self-sufficient?
Back to my original point. My expectations were raised and the book did not exceed them. All in all, I think its a useful book, but one of a few you would want on your library shelf. And hopefully there is an updated edition; Nicole Faires from the looks of things is a true, albeit, young-ish, homesteader. I wonder what a 55 or 75 year old Faires' will have to contribute?

A green roof, 3 years later

For the past few years I have blogged about one of our earlier installations to record how things change over time. For those new to the blog:

Upon completion (2009), more pictures if you're feeling nostalgic

End of year one (2010):

End of year two (2011):

End of year three (2012):

A few notes from this year:

-I would pay a million dollars for an animal that ate only dandelions!

-The seeds on the tips of sedum floriferum kind of hurt! Also, it seems to do well in lots of sun (10+ hours), but does even better in about 6 hours of sun. The plant can also be a bit difficult to control. Some have readily headed into the no growth zone and need to be cut back in the spring and the fall, with special care taken to make sure no pieces land otherwise you have new plants in no time. 

-Hairy cap moss grows really well between stones even with intense sunlight.

-There is some data to support that green roofs raise the price of a home, but I would bet green roofs also raise the price of surrounding homes. One afternoon a real estate agent and prospective home buyers gawked for hours, perhaps a neighbor's green roof can increase the price of yours?  

-These carex festuca grasses are good, but just seem to look more vibrant at grade.
-A long drought this summer seems to have affected the coloring of the plants, for instance the yellow you see over the last two years (of the sedum angelina) was not evident this year.

-Sedum blue spruce is a plant that needs some shade and seems to be doing quite well in between the towering chives. By itself it suffered and barely held on, but now with the chives spreading it looks like a green roof champ. 

A few (urban agriculture) things

Every once in a while I like to do a roundup of the stories that might have fallen between the cracks.

-Lending further credence to the importance of greening the environment, especially through edible means, the Atlantic published an article about the power of greening vacant lots in Philadelphia and a recent report details the restorative effect of urban forests.

-Milwaukee's mayor wants to win the 2012 Mayor's Challenge and he's hoping urban agriculture is the key. Contact the mayor's office with any specific ideas.

-Check out the urban farming being done in Hong Kong (!) and the ongoing urban farming conversation in the Middle  East and North Africa.

-Baltimore's urban agriculture law project, designed to provide legal advice to urban farms and gardens, is off to a flying start and is now a part of a larger community law project expanding its reach.

Today is National Potato Day

For all those urban farmers out there, this spuds for you. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) For others who think I jest, check it out!

Green roof weeds - The Dirty Dozen

Year after year we battle with dandelions, and a few other volunteer species as well,  on green roofs. It seems that there are repeat offenders, which is admirable in a way and frustrating as well.

So here's a list of the top 12 worst weeds I have encountered in zone 5, 6 and 7 on extensive roofs. There are pictures too, so you can recognize them and take care of them when (not if) you cross paths. The list is just based upon how much I "think" I have seen some of the culprits, the difference may be slight between, say, numbers 6 and 7. But I would bet the ranch numbers 3, 2 and 1 are close to where they should be. One day I'll do a proper count or maybe collaborate with others to generate one.

If you have others to add to the list, think some are higher or lower than they should be, please let me know.

12) Crab grass

11) Blue grass

10) Lamb's quarters

9) Pigweed

8) Purslane

7) Thyme leaved Sandwort

6) Bird's eye pearlwort

5) Mouse eared chickweed

4) Lady's thumb

3) Quackgrass

2) Prostrate knotweed

1) Dandelion

For more on weeds in your area, including how to pronounce them, Penn State has one of the best collections of sources.

2012 Urban Agriculture Summit starts tomorrow + Green Roof Research Summit Aug 16 -17

One day left to sign up for the Urban Agriculture Summit in Toronto. I guess, technically, you could sign in the day of, but I would advise you to beat the rush...word is this is going to be packed!

If you would prefer some more technical green roof talk, hosted by the University of Maryland is the first (annual) mid-Atlantic green roof science and technology symposium. A number of respected green roof researchers will be there from North America, Europe and Australasia.

Green roof garage done!

We finished up a green roof in late June and keep forgetting to post the pretty pictures:

Featured on the roof are about 5 inches of saturated medium, a few edible plants (chives and oregano), incredibly reliable sedums john creech, sedum red carpet (the reddish one in the middle), sedum kamtschaticum variegatum and regular ole sedum kamtschaticum. It's difficult to see, but there are a few sedum species plants which we had not tried before, sedum pachcylados (seen below)

and sedum ternatum (native to eastern North America). The sedum pachcylados I think will do well, sedum ternatum is allegedly one of the few sedums that likes very wet medium. A few years ago I tried to get some for an installation in northern Ontario but it was not on the market (according to a few sources) because of some "problems". Don't recall what they meant, but I steered clear as directed. Decided to try 4 plants this go around and they look pretty scrawny, so I don't have high hopes. I'll keep you updated.

1 day until the women's Pentathlon, be there or be square

A gentle reminder to watch Donna conquer the world tomorrow. If you're just joining the blog, here's the backstory and why you must watch the telly tomorrow!

GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) word of the week: dry farming

Normally around this time of year things slow down but we’re deep in summer and the news keeps on coming. 

-First the GILA word of the week, thanks to Grist and the unfortunate drought now being experienced across 1/2 of the USA: dry farming.

-Add Matanuska-Susitna to the list of municipalities offering green roof incentives. North of Anchorage, Alaska the Borough of Matanuska-Susitna offers up to $500 reimbursement for the installation of a green roof. Obviously this is helps mitigate the cost when applying a green roof to smaller shelters, like a garage or shed roof. Hopefully this does well and the program expands. 

-I love this idea, what's not to love about an edible garden at every bus stop?!

-And in another first, here’s the first article I can recall referencing permaculture in Pakistan. 

A quick aquaponics round up

With the amount of aquaponics information coming out these days, I could probably have a blog just devoted to aquaponics.

-For those looking to start their own large scale aquaponics system, a Cape Cod operation has some tips. Much I have read about aquaponics stresses starting small and scaling up, these owners have different advice.
-A 2 hour drive north a Lynn (Greater Boston) elementary school is getting their own system. I think this may be the first school system in Massachusetts, need to double check that.
-From Minnesota we learn of two new aquaponics ventures, the 55,000 square foot one featured and another 38,000 square foot, a few years old.

If plants can talk, what does that mean for green roofs and the Colbert Report?

Last week I saw the Colbert Report reference the summary of a research study which begins with the headline “Plants can talk”. Naturally, I had to find out more. If true, what would this mean for anyone working in the horticulture field (like me)? Or anyone or anything that eats vegetables for that matter!

The first line of the article proclaims “plants feel pain”, but as you see, the rest of the summary doesn't exactly say that. Time to head to the source. According to Colbert that's the journal “Trends in Plant Science”. Didn’t find anything there, so I cruised around the net. It took a while but I found more information about this researcher and his work. It seems this particular “study” pops up every few years as new news. Weird!

Finally I hit the jackpot, it looks like the contents of this research study can be found under the title “A Breath test for plants: Photoacoustic trace gas detection and its application in plant biology.” It was presented at the International Conference Breath Gas Analysis for Medical Diagnostics in Dornbirn, Austria on September 2004. That is if this website is to be believed. 

Haven’t put my hands on the article yet and I can’t wait to get to the bottom of this research; if plants respond to stimuli with higher pitched noises, what does that really mean? Can you really equate that with pain or talking?

And wait till I tell Stephen Colbert that he’s been duped by this “new” study!

The great bee caper

-What do you get when bee hives worth about $100,000 are stolen? Tons of bad bee puns. I wonder if the hives were collectively owned if the crime would be viewed in a different light?

-On a few sites I have seen this Oregon man receiving a jail sentence framed as a permaculture issue, personally it seems a clear cut water-rights issue. When you are constructing dams 10 feet high on your property, your municipality will probably step in. 

-Forgot to mention that the European Permaculture Convergence is now underway. If you are in Germany you still have two days to attend the biggest permaculture conference in Europe. Hopefully there are some urban farming go getters there ready to collaborate, Germany has been waaaaay ahead of the green roof curve, but is definitely behind the urban agriculture one.

-Lastly, a US based researcher pursuing a Ph.D. in permaculture wants to compile a list of all the permaculture inspired farming operations in the continental US.  Add yours to the list!

Summer songs

At the beginning of the month I would usually do a list of songs for that month and hopefully about plants as well. But, I have never done a list of songs just about the seasons. Let's break that streak today.

Summer Nights - Marianna Faithfull 

That Sunday, That Summer - Nat King Cole  

Summertime Rolls - Jane’s Addiction

Summer's Cauldron/Grass - XTC

Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong