GardeningNude

Garlic Mustard – A Sustainability Disaster in Our Environment By Guest Writer Susan Harris

Today’s blog focuses on a serious disaster happening across the United States and Canada – the devastation of our forest floors by a plant known as “Garlic Mustard.” It is horribly invasive. Being green means stewardship – to the land – to the people. Finding a way to stop the invasion of this and other invasive plants will help us to save the eco-system.

Guest blogger Susan Harris is an awesome garden and sustainability writer, and participates as a editor and blogger for “Garden Rant.com.” Susan writes for  many publications and today's sustainable and relevant blog is written by Susan. Read on....

For as long as anyone can remember, the wooded valley that my back  yard is part of has been covered with English ivy.  Not just on the forest floor but even up into the trees where it matures and produces berries, berries that are then spread far and wide by the birds.  But then came another vine that - can it be? - managed to win the battle of primacy with the ivy - the five-leaf akebia.  It now has a lock on the lowest, wettest parts of the valley.

Then suddenly the fastest spreading invasive plant EVER landed in our valley -  the lovely garlic mustard.  Its beauty (of sorts) is important to mention because when I’ve shown it to neighbors I’ve discovered that it’s been picked, brought indoors and admired!   Oh well.  Even if they removed it by its roots it wouldn’t slow the steady march of garlic mustard across the woodland floor. 

It’s really no wonder this plant is so successful.  It likes the sun, it likes the shade, it seems to like every damn location in North America.

So thank to Barbara Lucas and her pals in the Midwest for this video that goes a long way to showing exactly what mustard garlic looks like and then how to get rid of it.  I think I’ll forward this to my neighborhood Yahoo group with the broad hint that we make ridding our valley of this one plant our New Year’s Resolution for the lovely woodland we share.

Garlic Mustard Identification and Control from Barbara Lucas on Vimeo.

Garlic Mustard Identification and Control from Barbara Lucas on Vimeo.

Susan Harris is a Master Gardener, garden coach, garden and sustainability writer and blogger located the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.  Visit her online at one of these wonderful websites - www.sustainablegardeningblog.com, www.sustainable-gardening.com, www.gardenrant.com or www.dc-urban-gardener-news.com

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! http://www.thecasualgardener.com/, The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com/, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/

Mesothelioma Cancer - How Alternative Energy Can Make A Difference To Save Lives

Guest blogger Josh Langdon contributes a great reason today why we should all be living a greener lifestyle. Josh brings green living advice from his informational website - www.mesothelioma.com.  Malignant Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibers - in other words, it is preventable. Read on - 

Everywhere we look – on TV, on billboards, on the Internet – we’re bombarded with tips and suggestions that are supposed to help us live a greener, healthier lifestyle. We understand the value of adopting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, but what we may be surprised to learn is that by doing so, we may be saving our health. Let us examine some destructive environmental behaviors that have led to human health complications.

Take the over 100 oil refineries operating right here in the United States for example. These refineries are releasing a plethora of carcinogenic gases into the air on a daily basis – radon, mercury, arsenic, and benzene, just to name a few. Additionally, the release of CFCs has been fairly conclusively linked to ozone depletion in our atmosphere. In the countries of South Africa and Australia, the ozone is so diminished that skin cancer rates are much higher than elsewhere in the world because of persistent ultraviolet sunlight.