Your ELi: Your Garden

Image: The front yard of the author and also of ELi's chief reporter for "ELi on Earth"

You probably noticed this week that it’s winter. When I founded ELi, it never occurred to me so much of our correspondence and investigation energy could be spent on snow and ice. This winter—our first—we’ve covered snow and ice management issues in ELi on Earth, in our news column, and in Ask ELi. Tomorrow we will have for you another Ask ELi on an important question from a reader about snow- and ice-removal responsibility.

But it won’t be winter forever. I’m not editorializing when I say that! It really is true! And so we’d like to let you know that we’re gearing up for spring and summer hyper-local reporting.

If you’re a regular reader of ELi on Earth (EoE), you know our regular EoE reporter Aron Sousa has been reporting on how to start seedlings indoors, and how to sow seeds in the snow. We are looking forward to following this up with lots of reporting from many East Lansing gardeners of actual outdoor gardens growing in East Lansing.

So would you please think about being one of our hyper-local garden reporters? We would appreciate stories on whatever you have going on in your garden. What’s going on with your fruit trees—and what do you do to get them to bear fruit? Which plants are you forcing to bloom—ornamental quince, forsythia, tulips? Which flowers and herbs work as perennials in your garden? How is climate change affecting your garden or your decisions as an East Lansing gardener? How do you utilize the East Lansing Farmers’ Market to expand your garden?

Be in touch. If you need help writing up your reports, we will help you. If you don’t have a way to do high quality photography, we’ll send out one of our photographers. Let’s share our dirty news with each other. Because winter is going to eventually be here again.

Coming up this week in YOUR East Lansing:

• Saturday: Special open Council meeting on City finances
• Saturday: Children’s Concert with Tim the Music Man
• Saturday: Wind in the Willows with All-of-us Express
• Saturday-Sunday: Theatre2Film Project
• Monday: Public Library Homework Help
• Monday: Community Sing
• Tuesday: East Lansing City Council
• Tuesday: Princess Dance
• Tuesday: Broad Museum Film & Talk “The Lost River”
• Wednesday: Planning Commission meeting
• Wednesday: Princess Dance
• Thursday: Harry Belafonte, Slavery to Freedom
• Thursday: English Country Dance
• Friday: Wind in the Willows with All-of-us Express
• Friday: Ten Pound Fiddle James Hill and Anne Janelle
• Saturday: Heart Throb 5k Run/Walk
• Saturday: Wind in the Willows with All-of-us Express