Punxsutawney Phil says... More Ice?

Not that I think anyone is surprised, but Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Happy Groundhog Day?

As a gardener, I appreciate the snow cover acting as a blanket for many of my plants, especially some of those funky new perennials in my trial garden. But the ice is a nightmare this year. From the ice dams on the roof to the low point where my driveway meets the street, the battle against ice has raged for several weeks now and I have clearly been losing.

So this brings me to Eco-friendly/Green ice melt options. Do they exist? Do they work? Are they truly eco-friendly? I did a little on-line reading over the weekend, and gleaned a bit of information if not knowledge.
I found 3 products which seem to be the most promising (I am not endorsing anything here, just blogging!) but I would love to hear back from others on this as well.

1) Safe Paw by Gaia Enterprises – This seems to be the easiest to find, sold in some grocery and pet stores. There is no salt used, although I am still unclear as to the active ingredients (crystalline amide core infused with special glycols is the most detail I could get). And it claims to work in temps a couple degrees below 0.
2) Environmelt by Kissner – The active ingredient on this product is the chemical compound CMA (calcium magnesium acetate), which is purported to be non-corrosive, safe to use and biodegradable, but it also seems to be the most expensive.
3) IceClear – A liquid preventative, so it is best applied before the storm, with any spray equipment (Hort oil or fertilizer pumps seems to fit the bill). It’s compound is “potassium carboxaylates, carbo-hydrates and a corrosive inhibitor” effective to -50’F.

As always buyer beware, but seems to me that steering away from salt or salt-based products is the important first step. The next step is determining your need for your situation and then using only what you need. Remember too much fertilizer can burn or even kill plants, and fertilizer is a common substitute for salt in ice melt. And after all is said and done, I am still not sure of the cumulative effects of any of these products have on ground water or fish populations. But I’d love to hear!

A garden is a place, not an object.

Years ago when I used to teach classes at the Dedham Community House this was one of the hardest ideas to teach because we were all sitting in a class room either looking at slides, books or playing with little pieces of tracing paper. But every now and then a student would bring in a picture (or series of pictures) which showed space, usually back yard space and I would doodle a little something on the trace over those pictures and their eyes would light up and they would understand and see the potential of how their space could become the outdoor room of their dreams.

Historically the word garden referred to a place outside, like your yard or a portion of your yard. But unfortunately we have all become so micro-focused that we have reduced ‘garden’ to a thing – like a perennial bed or a planting of annuals. It reminds me of a cell phone ad campaign ‘Micro Man’ (a few years ago) where the people are so focused on details they missed all the funny things happening around them. Until this miraculous phone shows them the big picture. It is the same in the garden, you need to step away from the things and take a wider view and see the space. Don’t focus on that one azalea that keeps dying or that one patch of grass under your Maple tree which is always brown, step back further and look at your whole garden – do you have a garden or has your yard been reduced to a thing?

You need to walk into a garden to experience it, like your living room, or wherever you go to enjoy a cup of coffee or read a book or play with your kids or whatever activity brings you joy. Then you have a garden. A three-dimensional space, which draws you out of your home and helps to reconnect you with the world outside your kitchen door.