Last Chance Now: Boost Your Gardening Science Knowledge Now!

Check out this collection of gardening stories with facts and history right now! [GreenPrints]( January 31, 2023  [GET ‘IN THE KNOW’ ABOUT SCIENTIFIC FACTS, NATURE & GARDENING—BOOST YOUR GARDENING SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE NOW!]( When you read this special GreenPrints Collection Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener, you get facts about gardening, science, nature, and history to boost your gardening know-how. Start reading—and learning—right now! Dear Gardener, Thank you for reading content from GreenPrints—we appreciate your loyalty, and we share with you below a premium story that is certain to teach you something new about rain, dirt, and gardening. Knowledge is power, and gardening science knowledge makes you an expert to be reckoned with! When you read the special GreenPrints Collection [Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener]( today, you’ll learn some interesting and valuable facts: [Science Collection]( - What’s the science about talking to your plants? Get the answer about benefits to your plants—and benefits for yourself—when talking to your plants on a regular basis. Get the details now. - Trees are good for us—and the environment. Trees put water back in our atmosphere. Over 90% of the water sucked up by a tree’s roots is sprayed into the sky via stomata—tiny openings on the surface of the leaves—in a process known as transpiration. Turns out, that’s a good thing! Learn more about it now! - How photosynthesis helps the world and, especially, our gardens. Plants have it way up on us humans because they can make their own food—just by sitting there pointing themselves skyward and using nothing but water, sunshine, and carbon dioxide. Find out how they do it now! Here is a quick-and-easy way to get up to speed on gardening science—with the special GreenPrints Collection [Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener]( Everything is presented in easy-to-understand language, so you quickly grasp the concepts—and delivered in story-telling fashion, so that each story is entertaining and enjoyable. Please check out this story from the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener]( entitled “The Sweet Smell of Rain”—you’ll learn some new things about rain, dirt, and gardening now: [The Sweet Smell of Rain]( It’s all due to the “jumping dirt”—springtails—in your soil. By Becky Rupp [Smell of Rain] In the time of silver rain The earth puts forth new life again —Langston Hughes Scientists—who have a tendency to stomp the poetry out of any experience—now know what makes the garden smell so luscious after a rain. That aromatic earthy smell has been known since 1964 as petrichor, from the Greek petros (rock) and ichor (blood of the gods), a linguistic invention of Australian chemists Isabel Bear and Richard Thomas. This may not be the catchiest of names, but—I think we can all agree—it’s still a great improvement over Bear and Thomas’s first try, which was “argillaceous odor.” Petrichor, scientists tell us, has been around for at least 500 million years—so if you want a good guess as to what the earth smelled like to the dinosaurs, nip outside after a Spring rainfall and take a deep sniff. That’s petrichor: the wonderful smell of green stuff and good rich dirt. And, based on a lot of recent research, we now know just what causes it and why. The main component of petrichor is a compound called geosmin which, chemists helpfully tell us, is a bicyclic terpene. It’s produced by soil bacteria—notably Streptomyces bacteria, an enormous genus of 500 or more species, a few of which produce anticancer drugs, antifungal agents, and literally dozens of antibiotics which have cured us of everything from conjunctivitis to cholera, tuberculosis, and plague. All of the Streptomyces also make geosmin. And they make it, it turns out, because of springtails. Springtails are tiny pinhead-sized bugs that are ubiquitous in soil; you’re doubtless harboring millions of them at this very moment in your backyard compost heap. They’re named for a pogo-stick-like organ on their abdomens which, when released, shoots them into the air. This sounds quite fun and they apparently do this often enough that, collectively, springtails are nicknamed “jumping dirt.” They’ve also got a passion for the scrumptious scent of geosmin—and, incidentally, for the bacteria that produce it, which are a favorite springtail food. While a biochemical signal that broadcasts “Come eat me!” hardly seems a recipe for survival, the geosmin-generating Streptomyces are actually onto a good thing. Munching springtails are essential for disseminating Streptomyces spores. The spores either trek through the springtails’ digestive tracts, eventually emerging as tiny springtail plops, or stick to their backs—either way eventually moving to new territory and ensuring the continued propagation of Streptomyces colonies. It’s a tiny-sized version of fruit- and berry-gobbling birds spreading undigested seeds across the landscape to produce even more fruits and berries. Springtails aren’t the only creatures who are attracted by a whiff of geosmin. Camels, who can zero in on oases up to 50 miles away by tracking the scent of geosmin in distant damp earth. We’re no slouches when it comes to geosmin, either. People can sense geosmin at quantities as tiny as 100 parts per trillion. In other words, we’re about 10,000 times more sensitive to geosmin than sharks are to blood. This isn’t always a good thing. Take the case of beets. Beets never rate high on most favored vegetable lists. In fact, they’re generally at rock bottom, along with turnips and Brussels sprouts. (The most popular veggies, almost invariably, are tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and carrots.) People generally don’t like turnips and Brussels sprouts because of their content of bitter-tasting chemicals. These don’t bother some of us, but others are genetically disposed to be abnormally sensitive to them—which means if you’re spurning the sprouts at a holiday dinner, go ahead and blame your genes. Dislike of beets, on the other hand, seems to stem from the fact that they taste like dirt. And they do taste like dirt. The lush earthy flavor of beets is due to geosmin—in part picked up from geosmin-producing soil bacteria and in part, at least some recent research indicates, made by beets on their own. Many beet-eaters find this delicious—me, for example; I save my vegetable spurning for lima beans—but a touch of mud flavor clearly isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Too much geosmin can make filets of bottom-feeding fish such as catfish taste lousy, and too much geosmin in wine is off-putting. No vintner wants to claim that the latest vintage has subtle hints of dirt, no matter how lovely geosmin may smell after an April shower. Of all the senses, smell is by far the most evocative. Though the human nose can’t hold a candle to that of the average dog—dogs have about 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, as opposed to a piddling six million for humans—we’re still capable of differentiating among some 10,000 different smells. Furthermore smell, more than any other sense, is capable of calling up vivid memories. From the nose’s olfactory receptors, smell—mediated by volatile molecules in the air—is channeled to the olfactory bulb in the brain, a pod-like structure tucked beneath the cerebral hemispheres, and closely associated with the amygdala—seat of the emotions—and the hippocampus, which functions in learning and memory. Emotion, memory, and smell are a powerful combo. The scents of buttered popcorn, Band-Aids, baby powder, peanut butter—even wet socks—all have the power to call up brilliantly illuminated pieces of our pasts. Seasons have their own scents, too. Summer smells of roses and hay; Fall of the rich brown organic compounds released by fallen leaves; Winter of woodsmoke and pine. And Spring smells of green earth after rain, bringing with it memories of little boys in rubber boots, walks under umbrellas, wind in new grass—and many, many gardens. ❖ Illustration by Christina Hess What an educational story! And the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener]( has many more stories for you—stories that deliver you science and facts about gardening and nature, story after story. Including this featured story—“The Sweet Smell of Rain”—you get all the stories in this special GreenPrints Collection on gardening science including: - “Don’t Bully Your Plants” - “World Naked Gardening Day” - “Dear Tree” - “Patricia Westerford” - “Clouds” - “The Secret Garden” - “Living With the Wind” - “Getting By With the Help of Our Friends” - “Good Chemistry” - “Confounding Columbines” - “Here Comes the Sun” - “Tommy Tucker and Company” - “Learning to Love Latin” - “Feet, Fathoms, and Flamingos” - “The Sweet Smell of Rain” [Science Collection]( And new stories are being added to this special Collection all the time—you get access to all of them! Please read what some subscribers say about how GreenPrints helps them: “I just love the stories. I've gotten my husband hooked on GreenPrints, too! We're looking forward to the next issue! Thanks again!” —Lynda Figurido, Rockport, MA “It's the only magazine I read cover to cover, and I keep every issue!” —Valerie Cranmer, Belen, NM “It's my ONE thing I can grab to read and escape, laugh, and learn! Thanks for all the smiles!” —Ashley Holland, Stephens, AR The only way to get full access to the GreenPrints Collection [Gardening Science: Stories for learning how to be a better gardener]( 11 other Collections filled with gardening stories about gardening humor, healing gardens, animals in the garden, mystical gardens, gardening mishaps, and more—is to get [GreenPrints All-Access Membership]( with a whole year’s worth of stories in a full subscription to GreenPrints Magazine, both print and digital editions … and benefits galore for only $20 for an entire year! [$20 SPECIAL! 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[Claim Your $20 Membership Now!]( Summary of All-Access Membership Benefits 01 A full year of GreenPrints All-Access Membership, an exclusive club for those who want to enjoy the greatest gardening stories ever—save $40 off the annual cover price, a 67% discount! $60/year Now Only: $20/year! 02 1-year subscription to the GreenPrints Magazine, quarterly issues filled with humorous and heartwarming stories—in print, delivered directly to your door, and sent to you digitally as soon as issues are published! INCLUDED 03 Full and immediate access to the GreenPrints Digital Library—your membership includes access to the current digital magazine issue and back issues, a digital version of The Weeder’s Reader—plus the library is constantly growing with new content regularly added! INCLUDED 04 Instant and unlimited access to all GreenPrints Collections—curated and comprehensive collections of stories from the heart, organized around specific topics such as humor, joy, romance, mystical and healing gardens, and gardening mishaps. INCLUDED 05 FREE BONUS: The Weeder’s Reader—a compilation of the sixteen greatest stories ever published by GreenPrints. You get a FREE copy mailed to you, plus instant and unlimited access to the digital version in the library! FREE [Claim Your $20 Membership Now!]( Become a [GreenPrints All-Access Member]( today—while this special $20 offer lasts! Sincerely, [Bill Dugan] Bill Dugan Editor & Publisher GreenPrints P.S. Claim your benefits with a spot in [GreenPrints All-Access Membership]( today—only $20 for an entire year with this Special Offer, a 67% discount off the cover price! P.P.S. 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