A note from Barbara Pleasant in Southwest Virginia ...
Ever since Organic Gardening magazine paid me actual money for an article about spinach more than 20 years ago, I've been writing about gardening. These days Mother Earth News, The Herb Companion, Gardening How-To, and Carolina Gardener keep me busy writing magazine articles and website stories, and as always there’s a new gardening book simmering on the back burner. I keep busy.
My degrees from the University of Alabama are in psychology (B.S.) and social work (M.S.W.), but gardening itself has taught me my most useful lessons. I’ve kept big gardens and small ones, with compost heaps or bins to match. Right now I’m working a large, terraced veggie garden that’s generously laced with flowers and herbs. There are at least a half dozen composting projects going on out there, and let’s not forget the big jug of vermicompost in the laundry room!
I hope you can tell that I really love my job. You create it each time you read my stuff, so thank you-thank you-thank you. If you want more details about me and my work, please visit my personal website.
|
| A note from Deb Martin in Eastern Pennsylvania …
I’ve been gardening since I was a kid, helping my parents and grandparents pick everything from apples to zucchini. A degree in horticulture from Purdue University put some science behind my practical experiences and set me on the road to helping others find pleasure and success in their own gardens. In one way or another, I’ve been doing that for more than 20 years now.
I “discovered” composting as a garden book editor at Rodale Press where my very first project was to revise and update The Rodale Book of Composting. I learned so much about “gardener’s gold” from current soil scientists and by reading about the work of earlier compost aficionados such as M. Fukuoka, Sir Albert Howard and, of course, J.I. Rodale. Truly, compost turned my view of gardening upside down, and today I can’t imagine doing one without the other.
I have so much fun “playing” with my various compost projects that I probably spend almost as much time making compost as I do tending plants. Frankly, compost is more forgiving! And it can help your plants become more easy-growing, too. I’m thrilled to have the chance to share my decadent pastime with you, and I hope you’ll discover the compost method(s) that best suit you and your gardens.
|
