Greening the White House

Madison woman wins national grassroots vote to send 
a farmer to transform lawn into organic garden.

More Matters

On any given day, 45 percent of children eat no fruit, and 20 percent eat less than one serving of vegetables.

The Natural Gardener

Greetings, gardeners! Let the season begin! The landscape is budding, lawns are greening and nurseries and garden centers beckon. May is a month of promise, but it can also be daunting because now it’s time to turn winter gardening dreams, visions and plans into reality. Did you see winter slip by without making plans? Take some time now and your improved landscape will reward you. If your goal is continuous color, check the bloom times of various plants. If you want a specific color scheme, find plants appropriate for landscape areas, containers, or window boxes. If you plan to raise vegetables, consider varieties for sunny spaces and check how long they take to mature. Thinking of adding a tree or shrubs? Research which do well in our area, and definitely check their mature size! Now you can make your shopping list. This will keep you from buying ‘one of everything,’ as we all are tempted to do. Refer to your gardening journal, notes or photos from last year to remind you which plants to move, divide or replace and what voids need to be filled. If you haven’t kept records, start now and you’ll be glad for the information later. Gardening Tasks By now you have enjoyed spring flowering bulbs. Snip off faded flowers so energy goes to the bulb for next year’s growth. Don’t remove foliage until it dies back as it is needed for future plant energy. Tuck in early blooming annuals such as pansies to provide color and hide straggly leaves. You can also add perennials to help in the future, but be careful where you dig! Before adding new plants (or bulbs in the fall), mark the location of existing plants. This prevents you from digging them up accidentally or slicing bulbs with a sharp tool. You can buy markers at a garden center, or use transparent plastic silverware as an inexpensive and unobtrusive alternative. Plant type and color can be added with a permanent marker. I do this with lone tulips and later move them to related clumps. Spring-blooming shrubs can be pruned as soon as they complete flowering; finish by early June to provide enough time to set next year’s flower buds. Renewal pruning can benefit suckering shrubs including lilacs, forsythia and bridal wreath spirea. You need to remove one-third of older stems to ground level. For pruning information, check a basic how-to book or the University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) web site for publications to download or purchase. Planning to expand your planting space? Use a garden hose to outline proposed beds. This provides a good visual reference and you won’t be disappointed later to discover you chose the wrong site, size or shape. It’s helpful to prepare your beds before shopping and planting. Work compost or fertilizer into the top 6 – 12” of the soil, rake it smooth and then let the soil settle. A soil test can determine if it needs specific amendments. This can be done commercially or through UWEX. […]

Spring Cleaning

It’s a great time to unburden yourself and get rid of clutter.

Spring for Fun

Getting friends involved in chopping, tearing, and piping is a terrific way to interact. Let everyone grab a glass of local wine or craft beer and invite them to pick up a knife or pastry bag.

News You Need to Know

“It was once suggested, to illustrate the chaotic and unpredictable way in which natural systems behave, that the beat of a butterfly’s wing in China can eventually trigger a hurricane in the Atlantic.” -- -The Economist, 8 September 2007.

Love Endures

Though the pace of change is unrelenting, some things never change.

Puttin’ on the grits!

Coarse grain’s delicious versatility makes it a perfect fit for your pantry.

The Sky is Falling! at Danceworks

The concept of falling —whether in love, out of love, off bridges or off a bike–creates an intriguing performance through the Danceworks, Inc. production of The Wide Sky is Falling! , which closed out the 2008-09 season at their studio theater last weekend. The program collaborated the choreography of Artistic Director Dani Kuepper together with “countless contributions” from the Danceworks Performance Company while incorporating text from their Aurora Adult Day Care Project.  Even the audience participated on that Friday night with a contribution to the medley Falling Over & Over & 0ver, with a two-line rendition of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head that expanded on this theme. The falling theme resonated through each number with fresh inspiration in the hour plus performance. Steps of Caution reminisced about protecting the young from the worries of tricycles and skateboards set to the background music of Rock A Bye Baby. Another number, Landing is Hard, demonstrated soulfully through dance how one partner keeps another from falling apart emotionally during which Simon Eichinger and Kim Johnson-Rockafellow performed a poignant duet that imaginatively used a three-tiered step for a platform. The familiar song London Bridges also delivered an unsettling urgency later in the program through rhythmic movements in The Warning. But more humorous elements appeared throughout the program including Roller Coaster, offering a choreographic look at this frightening amusement ride as did the company finale, Fast Fall. Each DPC member dressed in tropical floral sundresses or bright polo shirts which added a note of spring’s color to these scenes, and skirts that flowed with each dance step. While perhaps slightly less compelling or cohesive than other Danceworks productions this year, the evening again appreciated the versatility of DPC and their ability to communicate ideas– including the complexities of falling–through the art of dance. It promotes excitement for their DanceLab events which begin through the summer months starting with “Screen Dance” on July 11. A summer season pass is 60 dollars for these four performances through August 8, promising to become an entertaining element to Milwaukee’s seasonal live arts scene. For more information regarding summer dance classes for children and adults, or the DanceLab season series call: 414.277.8480 or www.danceworksmke.org

Upcoming Events for the Week of April 6th, 2009

April 6, 2009 Community & Economic Development April 6, 2009 9:00 am The Community and Economic Development Committee hears matters relating to community development, block grants, job development, business improvement districts, city public relations, industrial land banks and revenue bonds, emerging business enterprises, recreation, cultural arts and the library system.The Community and Economic Development Committee meetings start at 9:00 pa.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, […] April 7, 2009 SARUP Lecture Series: Least-cost Paths to Energy Independence at a University Campus April 7, 2009 12:00 pm to 1:20 pm Speaker: Lee DeBaillie – Energy Center of WisconsinSARUP is the acronym for School of Architecture & Urban Planning lecture Series are Free and Open to the Public. All presentations will take place at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP) from 12:00 – 1:20 pm in Room 345. SARUP is located […] April 8, 2009 Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development April 8, 2009 9:00 am The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee reviews issues relating to city development, zoning, historic preservation, incremental tax financing, building codes and housing projects.The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee meetings start at 9:00 a.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, City Hall, unless otherwise noted. […]

Milwaukee Skywalk Map

We attempted to create a map of all the skywalk connections in Milwaukee, including the longest line that runs through The Shops of Grand Avenue.

While from an urbanist's perspective we still would prefer you choose the sidewalk, here's a map for those of you looking for other connections. Next up is mapping the empty retail spaces that are on roads paralleling a skywalk route.

Milwaukee Streetcar Map

We've unveiled a Google Maps implmentation of Mayor's Tom Barrett's proposed streetcar system for downtown Milwaukee. Take a look yourself, we think it's a little more exciting than a PDF. The route is likely to change as the planning process continues, and we'll track those changes on our map.