Landscaping, gardening and the environment
Those of us watching the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court hearing yesterday were surprised when we were excluded from 4 minutes and 48 seconds of that virtual public hearing. It turns out that Panel 2 of the Commonwealth Court yesterday morning, included a judge who was… Continue Reading “The 4 Minute Gap”
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court will hear arguments on an important case on fracking, as it relates to residential zoning, this Monday. Those who have followed fracking closely in Pennsylvania, over the past decade, recall alarming legislation that was passed by our state legislature, known as… Continue Reading “Fracked By Zoning”
Artificial Turf and P.F.A.S. Years ago, when our Peters Township high school switched its football field from natural grass to artificial turf, I was asking one of the right questions: Where will the artificial turf get disposed of when it’s replaced after 10 years?… Continue Reading “Artificial Turf”
Sometimes the best is close to home! If I’ve driven past McMurray Nursery once, I’ve driven past there 10,000 times. It’s completely evolved over those 40 years, most recently under the loving care of its third owner, Paul Hauber. Due to extensive work on… Continue Reading “World Class”
Some plants suffer from being ‘pushed’ with too much Nitrogen fertilizer. Fire blight is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora and affects over 100 different plants. It’s generally more serious in Apple and Pear trees in orchards due to loss of production (technical information). First… Continue Reading “Fire Blight”
How much rain did we get? Weather can be very localized, so it’s hard to know how much rain you actually got without a rain gauge. Checking our rain gauge this morning, I see we got just over one-inch of rain over the past… Continue Reading “Rain Gauge”
Bought a 2x4x8 stud lately? Pennsylvania is known for its hardwood trees, but it’s the softwoods attracting all the attention right now. Spruce, Pine and Fir aka ‘SPF‘ in timber talk. Do-it-yourselfers and home builders are getting stung by a huge rise in lumber… Continue Reading “Deadwood”
The nickname my Penn State professor gave Perennial Ryegrass has stuck with me all these years. Tom Watschke was one of those teachers you were fortunate to have, one of the truly memorable ones through all your years of schooling, due to his knowledge,… Continue Reading “Throw and Grow”
Think twice before planting Zoysia grass on a northern lawn, unless you really like that ‘straw brown’ color. It’s that time of year when newspaper and magazine ads promote the idea of adding Zoysia grass to your lawn. The sales pitch can be quite… Continue Reading “Zoysia Brown”
This story from New Jersey caught my attention this morning… imagine actually eating those weird looking Cicadas! Billions of 17-year periodical cicadas are predicted to emerge this spring across the U.S. (Shutterstock) Some people call them Locusts, but they are actually Cicadas. You may soon… Continue Reading “Shrimp of the Land”
A couple weeks ago, the weatherman was talking optimistically about this week being our average last annual Spring frost (April 23rd), but now he’s forecast up to an inch of snow this morning, with a hard freeze tonight. The snow has already begun to… Continue Reading “Frozen Fragrances”
A more appropriate title would be “Not much time left to seed” if you have a lawn in Pennsylvania, New England, the Midwestern U.S. or Canada. There are basically two times a year that are best for lawn seeding: Spring and Fall. For multiple… Continue Reading “Time to Seed”
After two terrible months for rooftop solar energy production, it was great to see a $7.29 electric bill for March. On top of frequent and persistent snowfalls keeping our front 18 solar panels covered with snow for the first two months of 2021, solar… Continue Reading “March Gladness”
Cut down all the trees, which helps to promote climate change, eliminate wildlife habitat, increase runoff making flooding worse, toxify millions of gallons of water while making some radioactive, pollute the air with methane and diesel truck fumes to haul-in strip mined frac sand… Continue Reading “Environmental Destruction 101 = FRACKING”
Backward thinking state senators in Pennsylvania are NOT thinking about a cleaner future for Pennsylvanians… you, your kids, your grandkids. State senators like Gene Yaw(n) are working hard, to keep those of us who live in the Commonwealth, stuck in a ‘fossil-fool past.’ Yaw… Continue Reading “Backwards Pennsylvania”
Memorable trees for generations of wildlife and people WHITE OAK – Quercus alba Easy to identify due to its finger-like lobed leaves and stately growth. Of particular note is the 400-year-old Wye Oak in Maryland which boasts a trunk diameter of 8 feet and a branch… Continue Reading “The Mighty Oak”
The man who wrote those words into Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment 50 years ago, has authored a new book, to be released on Earth Day. We just learned of this new book in the PA Environment Digest Blog which included this: It’s a crying… Continue Reading “Clean Air and Pure Water”
You say, “WHAT???” Maples don’t flower! Some trees are known for their blossoms, like one of my favorites shown above, the Star Magnolia that was blooming yesterday. Other trees have blossoms that are far less pronounced, even though you’ve probably noticed these “insignificant” blossoms,… Continue Reading “Maple Flowers”
Citizens and environmental groups call on Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf to revoke this permit Injection wells are used by the drilling and fracking industry to dispose of toxic flowback and produced water from oil and gas wells. Huge volumes of this toxic liquid waste return… Continue Reading “‘Plum Crazy’ Injection Well Permit”
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is selling bundles of trees and shrubs for a very reasonable price! 2021 Tree Seedlings Index“The Tree Seedlings Index for 2021 has the most variety of tree and shrub species offered by the Game Commission’s Howard Nursery: 9 evergreens, 8… Continue Reading “Trees & Shrubs for Pennsylvania Wildlife”
EarthWorks just released a new report summarizing the massive volumes of waste generated by fracking in Pennsylvania. (Republished blog from September 12, 2019) The report focuses on 8 years – 2011 through 2018. Unconventional Marcellus shale gas drilling (using high volume, slick water, hydraulic… Continue Reading “Unsustainable Energy Waste”
Beautiful fall weather in western Pennsylvania has been tainted by four ‘Code Orange’ air alert days in a row. 11-9-20 UPDATE: Four Five air quality alerts in a row! For the fourth day in a row, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection forecasts a… Continue Reading “Code Orange Again in Pennsylvania”
The Pennsylvania oil and gas (O&G) industry is at it again, with help from their friends in Harrisburg. (Updated blog from January 16, 2020) Image: The label on these trucks says “RESIDUAL WASTE” but what does that mean? Pennsylvania GOP Predominately Pa. GOP legislators… Continue Reading “Drilling Waste Dumped On Pennsylvania Roads”
Pennsylvania has become a dump for radioactive waste in landfills never designed to hold any toxic waste. Fossil Fuel Polluters and Friends Ramp Up New Attack on Solar Energy in Pa. In 2019, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency issued its recommendation to exempt oil and gas waste… Continue Reading “Radioactive Dumps in Pennsylvania From Fracking”
Dr. McCawley knows compressor stations, Ultra Fine Particles (UFP’s) and their adverse health effects. He’s a health expert and you probably won’t like what he had to say if you live in our tri-state area. (Updated post from November 2019) November 20, 2019 –… Continue Reading “Compressor Station Regrets for Washington County”
How close is 500 feet to drilling and fracking in Pennsylvania? This close! Hard to imagine having a nicely forested area close to your home suddenly destroyed for a huge gravel well pad for industrial activities. So what’s the rub? After all, Pennsylvania requires… Continue Reading “Woods to Well Pad”
“If these health effects are not due to fracking, what has changed, we couldn’t think of anything else.” Dr. Brian Schwartz (Republished blog from November 24, 2019) Over the course of several years, I’ve heard Dr. Schwartz speak at the Shale and Public Health… Continue Reading “Health Jury: Ban Fracking”
A series of train wrecks has citizens concerned about public safety when it comes to increased rail shipments of LPG and LNG.
Earthquake strikes Washington County, Pa. near shale gas drilling for the second time in three years (Republished blog from October 30, 2019) In a county where earthquakes are non-existent to extremely rare, a minor earthquake shook residents 6-1/2 miles south of Washington, Pennsylvania in… Continue Reading “Pennsylvania’s Grand Fracking Experiment”
