RE: Re: gardenwriters Digest, Vol 8, Issue 33

**"Jeff Ball" j*@starband.net**

-Darn, I take two days off from GWL and I miss one of the best dust ups I
think we've had.  Yes Lon, when things get emotional, some restraint needs
to be encouraged and thanks for that.  Being a very old timer I can be a bit
more sanquine when Peter cavetches, or Jeff L. speaks from the hip, or Andy
sneaks in with a clever shot.  Peter happens to be one of most knowledgeable
garden writers in the world, Jeff is definitely a leader in many ways in our
business, and Andy is a major spokesman for good in Long Island.  I love it
when things get a bit testy.  It means we are talking about something that
is important to us; no matter which side of the discussion we wish to take.

In my days in politics I was always impressed when I could listen to a
staunch democrat and a confirmed republican have a very intense and
fascinating discussion for 30 minutes and never get angry once.

So I would suggest that the peat moss discussion definitely belongs in this
side and not on the organic gardening side.  The discussion is about how
professionals collect data, how we use that data with our own bias, and how
we influence our audience with that bias.  Bias is real and appropriate.  In
a group of ten competent and experienced professional garden writers you are
very unlikely to get total agreement on any topic.  That is good and as it
should be. The trick is to keep the professional discussion going without
getting angry.

I will be happy to end the peat moss thread though I think there is more to
discuss.  No one mentioned that the Canadians harvest only about .02 percent
of the available harvestable peat moss each year; not an amount that raises
my worries about losing the resource whether serious gardeners use it or
not.  What should be noted is that 15 years ago, when the first articles
began appearing bemoaning the loss of an unrenewable resource (sphagnum peat
moss) the peat moss industry in Canada cared not a bit about fixing or
repairing a peat bog after they had harvested out all the useable peat.
Because of the pressures of environmentalists in Canada and because of a
concern on the part of the industry that garden writers might turn against
them, they have gotten their act together. The industry and the Canadian
universities have been working hard to discover the techniques for
rejuvenating a harvested bog.  In the next ten years, every peat bog
harvested will have a complete renewal program established that will have
that bog back into production within 50 to 100 years.  When the industry is
using only .02% of what is naturally available each year, then it is fairly
easy to see that in 50 years, the industry will be fully sustainable.  I am
very sure that garden writers as a group has had something to do with that
major shift in focus by the Peat Moss Industry.

The compost tea issue is a lovely target for garden writers.  Andy's
question is perfect.  How do we know?  For those of you not familiar with
all the politics that are flying around the northwestern part of the U.S.
this is a very hot issue and there is considerable bad information floating
around out there. Elaine Inghram is making as many enemies as she is making
converts.  That is not bad, it just makes a very complex technical process
even more difficult to tie down so an accurate and cogent newspaper column
can be written.  Maybe garden writers as a group can have some influence in
clearing the fog and helping gardeners embrace a new tool that is indeed
almost miraculous in its impact on plants.

We will not all agree on any position taken on this list, but we can all
work hard to at least be using a fairly uniform base of accurate data from
which to come to our own biased conclusions.

And by the way, there are a bunch of lurkers out there that for sure have an
opinion on some of this stuff that have not been voiced.  Come on lurkers,
jump in.  Jeff Lowenfels is trainable; we are all just trying to get better
as professionals, and in my modest view, this list is one great way to do
that.

Regards,

Jeff Ball

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