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Discover the joys of gardening
A home gardening blog and forum offering garden help for new and experienced gardeners
Welcome to Tom Oder's HOME gardening website
Gardening
Garden writing
Garden writing
This site is designed to offer garden help that inspires an interest in gardening and enhances the awareness of home gardening as a way to provide nectar and seeds for resident and migratory pollinators.
Garden writing
Garden writing
Garden writing
I am a global garden writer whose work on providing garden help for home gardening has been published internationally. The government of Taiwan invited me there twice to write about their orchid industry.
My audience
Garden writing
My audience
My audience ranges from casual to serious gardeners to Gen-X farmers. It includes academics, authors, publishers, directors of horticultural associations, and public sector leaders in the US, Europe, and Asia.
nature/environmental writing IN newspapers, periodicaLS
First-ever nature study "Too Important to Die" / The New York Times, the Federal Register
Did you know that a group of specialists was conducting a government-sponsored first-ever study to assess the state of America’s land, water, and wildlife? The study, officially the National Natural Assessment but in government-ese simply NNA1, "was intended to measure how the nation’s lands, water and wildlife are faring, how they are expected to change, and what that means for people," according to a story in The New York Times. I confess I did not know about the study until I read in the Times that President Trump killed it by executive action on his first day in office. A first full draft of the study, begun during the Biden administration, was nearing completion. Some authors were federal employees, but a vast majority are from outside government — academia, nonprofits, and the private sector. The project leader called the study “too important to die.” Look for updates in this space about how it might be resurrected. In the meantime, here are links to The New York Times story on Trump killing the study and a draft outline report of it in the Federal Register.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/climate/nature-assessment-trump.html
Hummingbird first: A congenial roosting and nesting colony! / The New York Times
Everyone who has hung a hummingbird feeder or (better yet!) planted flowers to attract hummingbirds has no doubt witnessed the combativeness with which they defend their mates, food sources, and territory. My favorite scene every year plays out in a view from the kitchen window where I watch a ruby-throat hummingbird hide among camellia branches and dive down on any hummingbird that would dare trespass on "his" feeder. Another delight is hanging three feeders far enough apart that he can't possibly defend all of them. No wonder ornithologist and birding guide Gustavo Cañas-Valle could hardly believe his eyes when he stumbled across a cave full of hummingbirds nesting and roosting together in Ecuador’s High Andes. He says they were living together like bees. This is something not even social bird species tend to do. You can read about Cañas-Valle’s discovery in The New York Times (link below). It's providing me inspiration for the arrival of the first ruby-throats in the Atlanta area about the middle of March.
It's soil, not dirt, and how the boll weevil did Georgia agriculture a favor / Georgia Grown
I have two stories in this year's issue of Georgia Grown magazine, the flagship publication of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. One is a story about understanding the importance of the soil in which we plant our gardens (it's not dirt!). The other is a history of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the first state Department of Agriculture in the nation. Among the things I learned in researching this story is that the boll weevil, despite its destruction, did Georgia farmers and the state economy a favor of sorts. It forced farmers to move away from King Cotton and diversify their crops. The result is that agriculture, which was and today remains the state's largest industry, contributes approximately $83.6 billion annually to Georgia's economy, according to the UGA Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development. The state leads the nation in the production of peanuts, eggs and broilers. Many companies – including Pilgrim's Pride, Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola and Tyson – source their products directly from Georgia farms and operations.
https://editions.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=46753&i=829044&p=1&ver=html5
Feeding food insecure Georgians / Georgia Grown
Every week more than 156,000 Georgians experience food insecurity and visit a food kitchen or a food pantry. Hunger hurts. State and USDA programs help relieve the pain. https://editions.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=46753&i=801539&p=26&ver=html5
A wildlife biologist invented a simple but ingenious method to help frogs and other creatures escape pools. First published by Mother Earth News, then Treehugger (2018) and still popular.
https://www.treehugger.com/pool-owners-froglog-device-save-animals-4863821
The cooking sisters of South Georgia/ Georgia Magazine
A story that touched me most deeply is a cooking piece about two sisters who connected family, friends and even strangers through food. Sadly, one sister has passed unexpectedly. I now think of this piece as a tribute to a lovely person whose legacy leaves lessons for us all. https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gemc/georgia_202402/index.php#/p/30
Mossin' Annie: An Appalachian folk hero / Mother Earth News
The ancient Latin writer who authored the proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss” surely never met anyone like Annie Martin. Rescuing an obscure plant group (with permission! of course ... ) drives the spirit of this Appalachian folk hero.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/how-does-moss-grow-zm0z22onzawar/
Audio link available on the Mother Earth News site
additional GARDEN voices: Books, websites, academia
Five ways to support bees/United Kingdom
Bees are in trouble everywhere, or so it seems. A post from the Soil Association , a registered charity in England and Scotland that helps people build natural solutions to grow food, develop healthy connections with nature, and support a nature-friendly future, offers five tips for supporting bees. While the tips are directed at a UK audience, they have worldwide applications. One of the tips that I use in my garden is planting herbs. I grow herbs that will stay tidy, such as chives, in a kitchen herb garden. I plant herbs that like to ramble, such as thyme, oregano, marjoram, and sage, or those that can grow large, such as rosemary, in the sun garden. The ramblers spread as a ground cover and the larger ones can grow into small shrubs. I find this is a good approach for using herbs for cooking, for enjoying their fragrance as I brush by them on garden paths or after a gentle rain, and for the bees. Click here to contact the Soil Association. Click here for the five tips about bees.
Black History Month in the garden/Asheville, N.C.
I want to help spread the word about an item in the February Farm to School newsletter from Growing Minds, a program of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP). Based in Asheville, N.C., ASAP's mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food. The newsletter item pointed out that while only 2 percent of farms in North Carolina are owned by Black farmers, the state has a rich history surrounding Black farmer heritage and cultural impacts. One of North Carolina's favorite agricultural trailblazers, the article continued, is Dr. George Washington Carver. Known as the “Peanut Man,” Dr. Carver thrived in the fields of agriculture, agronomy, botany, and chemistry, with a focus on crops and soil depletion. You can learn more about his contributions by listening to the child-friendly In the Garden with Dr. Carver, by Susan Grigsby. Here is a link: read aloud on YouTube here. If you want o know more about Growing minds, call 828-236-1282 or email growingminds@asapconnections.org.
Islands in a Common Sea/Jenny Jefferies, United Kingdom
A look at a fascinating new book by a talented British author that features stories of farming, fishing, and food from around the world. Jenny Jefferies' gift for story telling brings together the remarkable lives of 25 next-generation farmers and fishermen/fisherwomen and their traditions and cultures all linked by a universal quest to feed a hungry world. One of those pioneering farmers is a friend from Paris who took an unlikely path to becoming an olive and almond farmer in rural Spain. Read her story in my blog above and in Chapter Two in the book. A portion of the sales of this beautifully illustrated book will be donated to the World Food Program (WFP) through Share the Meal.
FrogLog saves wildlife and keeps your pool clean at the same time/Treehugger
If you have an in-ground pool, there's a good chance you've found a dead animal floating on the surface of the water or in the skimmer basket. Frogs, toads, rodents, and insects such as bees, beetles, or spiders seem to be the most common victims. "But, literally anything that might happen to be in someone's backyard will possibly get trapped in a pool," says Rich Mason, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Annapolis, Maryland, field office where he restores wetlands, streams, and other wildlife habitats. Mason loves wildlife, and invented a solution to help keep creatures from drowning in an in-ground pool. Its genius is in its simpliocity. Check it out at:
https://www.treehugger.com/pool-owners-froglog-device-save-animals-4863821
You may not know: The orchid genus Oderara is named for me
Career highlights/Tom Oder
- Produced keepsake newspaper with It's Atlanta! headline when city won 1996 Olympics
- Phoenix award: Metro Atlanta Chamber export project
- Invited to Taiwan twice as a visiting journalist
- Edited international orchid journal
- Service awards: Atlanta, American orchid societies
- Three plant society boards, Atlanta Press Club member