By When the First Family paced off their kitchen garden last spring, it was an intentionally political act: Michelle Obama was not only preparing to fill her family’s table with homegrown veggies year-round, but taking aim at childhood diabetes and obesity. As spades turned the soil, she said the garden’s primary purpose was to educate the country’s children about the benefits of a healthy diet. But even when the family was still battling for the Democratic Party’s nomination, a campaign to return such a garden to the White House was well under way. As political rivals vied for their respective party’s embrace in 2008, a national coalition of gardeners called “Eat the View” was gathering supporters to demand that whomever the next president was, they would replant the White House lawn with edibles. Others piled on. A call went out for the longed-for garden to be certified organic. Celebrated foodie Michael Pollan urged the imagined produce be sent to D.C. food banks.

In Bexar County, local writer and cultural voyeur Pamela Price was enjoying a front-row seat to the spectacle as a newbie garden blogger soured on the vitriol of campaign-year politics. As the nation became increasingly mired in Red-Blue polarities, Price, a trained historian and former editor, searched her memory for expressions of universal “American” values, a common ground to bridge the widening divide. “There’s got to be really practical solutions to what we’re facing,” she recalled thinking at the time. “And there’s gotta be solutions that can be pretty much palatable to anybody and we can move beyond the rancor.”

To read the full article, click HERE

People think that flower garden is a attractive and a beautiful one. But the vegetable garden on the other hand is not so beautiful than the former one. This assumption is ultimately wrong because vegetable garden is also a attractive one, when it is planted in well-planned manner. Usually flower garden is kept in front of the house but vegetable garden is kept near the kitchen or back end of the house. So usually people spend more time with the flower garden to enrich the look of the house. If people spend the same quantity of time for vegetable garden then it will also look beautiful.

Initial preparation:

A Garden Picture

Whether it is a flower garden or a vegetable garden first user need to prepare for end result. Clean planning is required for developing the garden in house. Initially prepare the list of flowers and vegetables, which is going to be planted in a garden. The place where it is actually placed is important because entrance of the house must always look brighter than other areas. So use the bright flowers in the entrance area. So these initial preparations may induce the activity of gardening. If the preparation is carried out well, then the ultimate result will also be good. Always have some contradiction in quantity of flowers and variety of flowers going to be planted in a garden. If variety of the plant is increased then quantity of the flower is decreased and vice versa.

Color:

Color plays a vital role in the beauty of the garden because attractive colored plants will yield more attraction than dark color plants. It is always preferable to use a bright color plant in garden. Another simple technique involved in selecting the color of the plant is choosing the plant, which produces the fruit. Fruit always are rich in color, so it enriches the quality of the garden. Dark green and creamy white are the two important colors, which is usually seen in most of the fruits.

Shape:

An alternative garden image

The shape of the leaves is also one of the important factors, which will affect the beauty of the plant. Even though color plays a crucial role, if the shape is not good then the plant may not expose his attractiveness fully. The long rounded leaves may look darker than small flat leaves. The shades of the rounded leaves makes the plant as a dull one but flat leaves not producing any shade effect on plant will look better. That’s why pepper leaves are more attractive than pumpkins. Pepper leaves looks very thin and soft but the pumpkins having feathery substances in the leaves looks awkward.

Satisfaction:

Some of the people think that gardening is a difficult process and time consuming process. Even though it consumes time but user get a satisfaction that he did something of his own. The same fruits or vegetable seen in market is not fresh because it is kept under cooling system for long days but garden vegetables and fruits are fresh because it directly comes from the plant. Market products are not a pure one because some additives are added to increase the growth rate of fruits but in garden you get a pure form of vegetables and fruits and most importantly a healthy one.

Tel Aviv highlights green buildings, spaces, construction techniques, and gardens during its annual “Houses from Within” weekend.

One spring weekend every year, for the past few years, Tel Aviv celebrates its architecture and invites the public to learn about the special structures that get to call the city their home.  These structures usually include architecturally significant public buildings, but also encompass architectural spaces that are generally closed to the public such as urban villas, interior designers’ lofts and open studios that open their doors and welcome the curious masses to view Houses from Within.  For the past couple of years the event has made a greater effort to highlight environmentally friendly and/or sustainable urban spaces, and this year there are more green events than ever before.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking for something to do this weekend?  Curious about green and the big city?  Here’s a list of some of the interesting green eco-urban and eco-architectural events happening this Friday and Saturday:

Sarah Racine Root Research Laboratory:  Professor Amram Eshel of Tel Aviv University will be offering open tours of the Botanical Gardens’ Root Research Laboratory, where roots are researched from below.  Friday 9am-3pm.

Maoz Aviv Community Garden: The garden, founded and tended to by local residents in the Maoz Aviv neighborhood, is an example of initiatives that promote community and eco-friendly living in the city.  Organic veggies and composting are part of the garden.  Friday 9am-12noon.

Making Items Out of Recycled Plastic Bags: This workshop, run by Liat Kadosh of Eccoukka, will teach kids how to make kites out of recycled plastic bags.  Suitable for children aged 3 and older.  Friday 2:30pm-6:30 pm.

Urban Sustainability in Tel Aviv: This tour, led by Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz, will highlight issues of urban sustainability in Tel Aviv’s city center.  The tour will begin in Dizengoff Square and end in London Garden.  Saturday 11am.

The “City Tree” Ecological Apartment: An interesting and beautiful historic architectural structure in its own right, the City Tree ecological apartment on Bialik Street was renovated with completely eco-friendly methods.  The apartment also features, urban compost, a raw kitchen, greywater system, and a vegetable garden.  Friday 10am-3pm, Saturday 11am-5pm.

Ecological Planning of Rothschild Boulevard: Valentina Nelin, a sustainable architecture consultant, will lead this tour of Rothschild Boulevard and how it serves as a model for problems of ventilation light and shade.  Friday 3:30 pm.

For full information about each of the above events please click the relevant link, and for a full list of events (both green and otherwise) check out the Houses from Within website.

Houses from Within is taking place May 7-8 throughout Tel Aviv.  For more information, visit the event website.

Read more about Tel Aviv’s urban sustainability::

Is Sustainability in Tel Aviv an “Urban Legend”? New Film Challenges City Planners to Think Outside the Box

The Best Way to Keep Buildings Green is Not to Build New Ones

City Tree: A Green Oasis in the Middle of Tel Aviv