I’ve been rather a broken record with clients this Spring, but I believe it’s the kind of information that deserves repeated attention. I’m talking about being green and going organic in your garden! If you’ve used chemically based products in the past and found them effective, you may balk at making the switch to green products. First, ask yourself a few questions: Do the conventional products you use now enrich and continue to feed the soil over the long term? Do these same products contain chemicals toxic to you, your family (including pets!), wild animals, and plant-friendly insects? Should you be concerned that the conventional products you use may leach into the groundwater, contaminating this scarce resource for generations to come? These basic concerns aside, the best reason to go green is that organic products are safer…to you and the environment. You may pick up your favorite brand of conventional fertilizer at the hardware store without even looking at the label…do you know what’s really in there? Most of the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides available have main ingredients derived from fossil fuels. It seems pretty counterintuitive to be using some of our most precious nonrenewable resources when a number of other techniques exist that do a fine job of keeping our gardens and soils healthy. Think about these facts: going organic uses half as much energy and fertilizer, and almost no pesticides compared to conventional methods. How can this be? By gardening organically, there is a richer diversity of microorganisms, which in turn lead to better soil structure, more efficient plant growth and superior water absorbency. Additionally, there are higher counts of beneficial insects, like earthworms, that contribute to soil fertility and reduce the need for fertilizer. All of this makes for healthier plants from the start…plants are better able to grow and resist disease on their own.

Now there’s the question of knowing what organic products you’ll need and where to find them. In the past, many raved-about organic products were only available through the mail. Well, we’re happy to introduce a young company that has a great range of products to get you started gardening organically. Organic Matters is a Skokie-based company that, in their words, is dedicated to supplying the landscaping industry with natural & organic products that work. Dan Staackmann, a veteran of the landscape industry, was determined that Midwesterners catch up to their east and west coast neighbors. In these regions, homeowners and landscape contractors alike have been gardening organically for quite some time. Dan felt that if only organics were more available on a larger scale, people would kick their garden chemical habits. We agree. We now use his granular Bradfield fertilizer in our clients’ gardens, and soon we’ll be trying a number of other products he carries including fertilizers, weed control products, grub control products, and insect and pest control products. If you count yourself a friend or client of J. Siegel Designs, Inc. we may be able to help you get your hands on some of the products Dan carries. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for organic solutions in your favorite nursery or garden center!

— Sarah

These days, in my landscape designer hat, I sometimes encounter clients who want the kind of garden that would better flourish in England or Seattle. Plenty of people have heard me comparing our climate to Siberia’s; a claim that can’t be dismissed as mere exaggeration. A former swamp on the Prairie , the Windy City is a place of extremes, ranging from hot, humid summers to a moody season of wintry Continental, Polar winds. (By the way, our moniker derives not from these latter, but from former, long-winded local politicians.)
 
Anyway, here’s the point. You can’t really blame the folks who wish for garden plants that don’t grow well in Chicago. Instead, I, who would that our press really was liberal, fault the media. For example, this past summer, with temperatures in the nineties and no rain for nearly two months, the TV meteorologists would announce perkily: “Another great day for the beach”! And now, a week before Christmas, they are thrilled because it is warm enough to feel raindrops on our heads instead of snowflakes on our tongues. All I can picture are those poor little plants whose roots heave precariously up and down out of the ground until spring finally arrives…and then happens while you blink. (Last year our late frost came nearly two full weeks after our average frost date of mid-May; consequently, it was a rotten year for the local apple orchards, though we were the national hotspot for West Nile Virus.)
 
I can only conclude that if the media provided more balanced weather reports, Illinois is an agricultural state after all, the rest of us might be more in touch with our environment. And treat it as a precious resource.
 
I recall traveling in Guatemala during torrential tropical downpours. These seasonal weather events caused tremendous trouble for a mainly impoverished and uneducated population (the sewer systems overran into drinking water, roads were washed out, homes slid off mountainsides)and yet, without exception, everybody praised the rains because they helped the plants grow. We Americans could learn from some of our  neighbors.