Hi Folks!
I'm a transplanted Texan living just north of Frankfurt, Germany. I'm probably headed back to Texas next February and am getting the itch to get back into my Texas garden.

I work in the environmental engineering field and have seen first hand the damage to the environment that chemicals can wreak, so I've been an advocate for organic methods for a long time!

I've been an organic gardener for about 15 years and find that I'm constantly having to convince friends and family that you DO NOT have to drown your garden in chemicals to have a beautiful landscape. I'm thrilled to have this forum available as I'm constantly looking for organic answers to gardening problems.

There are TONS of fruit trees and shrubs in Germany and as a result I've developed an interest in adding fruiting trees and shrubs (figs, pears, grapes, blackberried) to my back yard in Dallas when I return. Any advice about varieties would be appreciated!

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Tracy and Trusty the Wonder Dog

Welcome to THE SITE. Hope some of the other folks in Germany join in also...trade relations you know.

Feburary is not that far off so maybe they'll have developed 'Dallas Resistant' fruit trees etc. for you.

In was specific field of the enviormental sciences are you in?

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ZIP
[The Alamo City]

I have an engineering company that assesses the condition of existing water and waster conveyance systems. We're based in Dallas, but I'm living in Germany until around the end of the year due to my husband being transferred here for his company. We go out and inspect the water and sewer lines, find out where the problems are and provide recommendations and cost estimates for repair.

During wet weather it's not uncommon for us to find sewer manholes overflowing into creeks and streets (Yuk!). We have also found some fuel and oil dumps in storm sewers and see interesting results of bloom due to fertilizer run off.

I'm pleased to say that after YEARS of nagging one of my business partners to switch to organic methods - he's been guilty of dousing roses with Funginex a time or two (million) - he's finally gone organic. In fact, he recently invested in an organic farm and is singing the praises of organic methods! So it just goes to show you can make headway with some folks!

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Tracy and Trusty the Wonder Dog

Guten Morgen und Willkommen zu unserem website! We are glad you found us all the way from Deutschland! I myself am an Army brat and grew up in Germany. We moved around quite a bit but lived mostly in the Rheinland-Pfalz. I spent most of elementary school in Kaiserslautern and Jr. High and Highschool at Ramstein - south of the Frankfurt area. Loved it there. I'm jealous! Hope you are enjoying your time there and we are glad to have you.

Danke Leslie! Ich spreche nur ein bischen Deutsch jetzt! Aber, mein English ist besser!

I work out of my house and so don't get out and mix with Germans all day. As a result, even after a year of lessons, my German is not that great. Fortunately, I get (mostly) make myself understood.

The weather here is great for gardening, but frankly, I've not done too much as we know we'll be leaving soon and I can't stand to have a bunch a plants and then have to leave them. So I've been making do with several pots of mixed flowers and one GREAT passion flower vine on a topiary form. I also have 4 dogs (yep, count 'em - FOUR!) and they have a tendency to dig up anything I plant in the ground. In Dallas - where we still have a house in the Casa Linda area - I have better control over where the dogs can go in the yard, but here they have access to everything, so I have to limit where I put flower pots.

We've enjoyed our time here in Germany (18 months and counting) and have taken advantage of the opportunity to travel extensively through Europe. A chance of a lifetime to live here for awhile, but I'm still a Texas girl at heart and get homesick sometimes!

Looking forward to living a little vicariously through this list!

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Tracy and Trusty the Wonder Dog

Quote:
During wet weather it's not uncommon for us to find sewer manholes overflowing into creeks and streets (Yuk!). We have also found some fuel and oil dumps in storm sewers and see interesting results of bloom due to fertilizer run off. [Tracy]

Tracy,
Are you saying that the sewer and storm drains are the same?

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ZIP
[The Alamo City]

Actually, no...at least not in the DFW area. There are some sewer systems (particularly in the older NE US) that are combined storm/sanitary sewer. In the DFW area, sanitary sewers are SUPPOSED to be closed systems, but because of poor construction, erosion, tampering, leaking, etc., a sanitary sewer will let wet weather run off into the system. The term inflow/infiltration is what is used to describe rain water the gets into a sanitary sewer. Quick entry sources are designated as INFLOW. This might be where either a manhole cover is off in a low lying area or where someone has tied in their roof gutters into the sanitary sewer line (illegal). Slower leaking from the ground water table rising about the crown of the pipe is called INFILTRATION. That typically comes into the pipe through leaking joints in the sewer line.

I can say with assurance, that there is not a sanitary sewer system in the USA that does not have I/I problems (unless its the desert SW where they don't get much rain!) Sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's) are the number one cause of cities violating their NPDES permit (national pollutant discharge elimination system). Most of the time, SSO's are caused by I/I, but sometimes they are caused by poor system maintenance that allows grease and mud, etc to build up in the lines blocking the pipe...

I stop the lesson now sorry to get so long winded, but after working in this business for going on 17 years, hey... sewers are my life

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Tracy and Trusty the Wonder Dog

Tracy:
Thanks for the lesson. I knew that the separation is required in the States and made the assuption you were refering to Germany's systems.

I/I problems result in exceeding the capacity of the sewer treatment plants and that overflow has to go somewhere.

Tapping into the sewer lines from rain gutters also includes the goofy folks that tie their swimming pool discharge lines also.

"sewers are my life"....guess you get a lot of ribbing about keeping your mind out of the gutter.

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ZIP
[The Alamo City]

Yep, a time or two... I actually have been known by the nickname of "sewer goddess" in Arkansas (don't ask...)

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Tracy and Trusty the Wonder Dog