Early in December we reported on an EPA document unearthed by Pesticide Action Network North America and Beyond Pesticides that shows the EPA knows full well what is causing Colony Collapse Disorder of bees. The culprit is pesticides known as neonicotinoids including imidacloprid and clothianidin. PANNA is asking anyone concerned about this subject to sign a petition demanding that the EPA take clothianidin ...

My friend and colleague, Eliot Coleman, visited Yale University recently where his speech was featured by Atlantic Monthly magazine: http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/12/a-visit-from-maines-organic-gardening-guru/68586/ ...

The EPA is reportedly preparing a list of potentially dangerous chemicals: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/21/risky-business-epa-builds-list-of-potentially-dangerous-chemica/?icid=maing&a_dgi=aolshare_facebook. Several pesticides used in lawn and garden care will reportedly make the list. ...

Here is a breakdown of the Bayer response to the recent EPA memo concerning colony collapse disorder in bees: http://www.fastcompany.com/1710746/bayer-our-bee-toxic-pesticide-is-actually-safe-for-bees ...

My mother-in-law was just here in Maine for the weekend and the subject of lawns never came up . . . maybe because the ground is frozen solid here in Maine! Her recent visit made me laugh out loud at this column by George Weigel, one of the nation's fine garden writers — and also one of its great people: http://blog.pennlive.com/gardening/2010/12/lawns_and_mothers-in-law.html. The column focuses on the age- ...

Hallelujah! I'm thrilled to report that I hit the send button on my computer and the draft of my next book has been completed. Now this will come in the form of a terrible tease, because the actual book won't be out for at least 11 months. It takes that kind of gestational period for the book to be edited, designed, printed and packaged. But the time-consuming part from my perspective is complete. That will ...

Legislators in New Jersey made statewide headlines today with the news of yesterday's passage of a sweeping environmental bill that included lawn fertilizer regulations. We've seen this coming for months, but what was not certain until today was whether or not the exemption for fertilizers derived from composted plants and animal manures would stand. Nancy Sadlon, executive director of the New Jersey Green ...

Tom Philpott, the senior food and agriculture writer, for Grist.org, did an exceptional job of breaking down the timeline and story behind the chemical that is causing colony collapse disorder in bees: http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-12-10-leaked-documents-show-epa-allowed-bee-toxic-pesticide-/ ...

This article appeared Friday in the Scarborough Leader newspaper in Maine: http://blog.scarboroughleader.com/2010/12/10/pesticide-use-on-town-properties-in-question---dec-10-2010.aspx. One of the aspects of this that I find encouraging in this article is that the two landscape professionals quoted herein, Al Lappin Jr. and Jesse O'Brien, are two of my closest friends. We would go through the proverbial wall ...

People send all sorts of lawn news our way almost daily. From lawn mower accidents, to driving mowers while intoxicated, to pesticide poisonings, we see all the mostly bad stuff. This one, though, made me chuckle, even if it ought to shine a mirror on the absurd behavior of Americans when it comes to their grass. It seems that ever since Russia was awarded the right to host the 2018 World Cup soccer tournam ...