MOTHER EARTH NEWS February/March 2023

The pandemic years have hit us hard everywhere. Including in our gardens. While 2020 started with a toilet paper shortage, it ended with a seed shortage. That dearth began in 2019, when seasoned gardeners saw the pandemic edge into the U.S. Remembering the recession in 2008 and 2009, when people lost jobs and started gardens to keep their families fed, experienced gardeners stocked up on seeds in late 2019, stored them responsibly, and ordered again the following fall. We knew what was coming. I even posted on Facebook, “Just a tip: order your seeds early! Spring is going to be nuts.” Then, the following year, the new gardeners grabbed their seeds. This resulted in a shortage, with many seed companies closing their websites until they could catch up or selling to “farmers…

I’d like to take this time to tell you a story. I’m a disabled veteran who was injured as a young airman in the U.S. Air Force, and while I laid in a hospital bed in 1978, one of the magazines in the rack was my first sighting of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. I studied that magazine cover to cover, and over the decades since, I’ve shaped my desired life to fit your magazine’s ideals, including an off-and-on-again subscription. Of course, my potential for professional rehabilitation delayed any large-scale plans. But I’m now retired from all but home and land improvement, and your magazine has become a significant source of ideas. I’m very grateful. I also plan to order a collection of earlier issues as I work my little property here.…

“I’m concerned about cyanide in my compost. Is this safe to use on a vegetable garden?” Cyanide in Leaf Litter Composting I recently read your article about leaf litter for composting (“Leaf Litter to the Rescue: Free Fertilizer from Your Backyard,” August/September 2022) and was excited by the prospect of using my fallen leaves. Then, I read an article to horse owners warning of cyanide in red maple leaves and to not let horses eat them. I wanted to use leaves from two large red maples in my yard for leaf litter compost, but I’m concerned about cyanide in my compost. Is this safe to use on a vegetable garden? Thank you for your time. Julie Via email Julie, you’re right to be concerned. With so many toxins in our gardens and landscapes, and so much to…

In addition to climate change, many other factors are contributing to the frequency and intensity of extreme water events. Wetlands, essential for natural flood control in coastal areas, have decreased by at least 35% globally between 1970 and 2015, according to an outlook from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Additionally, about 40% of the world’s population lives on or near the coast, increasing their vulnerability to flooding, storm surges, hurricanes, tropical storms, and tsunamis. Increased flooding has been followed by calls to create “sponge cities,” or cities that’ll allow rainwater to be safely drained from inhabited areas. Because cities are largely covered by impermeable surfaces, such as asphalt and pavement, excess water has no place to go, resulting in infrastructure damage, road closures, loss of homes, and more. To combat this…

My wife, Cristi, has always been a gardener. She’s spent much of her adult life working in greenhouses, landscaping, and fine gardening. Yet, even with all this experience, she’d never had a garden of her own. All that changed when we moved to Winona, Minnesota. Within a year of starting our new jobs, we purchased our first home—a 130-year-old Victorian farmhouse. It was old, but it was ours. Best of all, it had a yard. Winona is on an island on the banks of the Mississippi River. Most homes are built on tiny lots with limited room for gardening. Buildings on narrow, deep lots shade out significant portions of most yards. Add to this the sandy river bottom soil and Winona’s location in Zone 4b, and aspiring gardeners in this area face…

Thousands of named apples exist, but a high percentage of them are unsuitable for regions with severe winter temperatures. Some apples, although hardy, are difficult to grow or are unproductive. Having moved to an area where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, I quickly learned that many apples wouldn’t put up with the frigid winters. My passion became to learn about the cultivars and rootstocks that would. A Bite of Apple History The story of the cultivated apple begins where the vast steppes of Central Asia buckle against the rocky slopes of the Tian Shan mountains. Apples grew from low-lands, where summers are hot and dry and winters cool, to high mountain valleys, where summers are cool and winters bitterly cold. This diversity of habitats created a diversity of genetics. Apples came…