The Center for Sustainable Landscape building on the Phipps campus is an amazing place and one of the greenest in the world.

Here's an exclusive look at the the CSl with Phipps' executive director Richard Piacentini.

I talked with Richard for KDKA's Pittsburgh Today Live.

My brunnera plant sits right at the entrance to the vegetable garden. It grows in consort with a Japanese painted fern. It's make lots of babies which I plan to move around the garden. Photo by Doug Oster

Gardening truly is a life long learning experience. While appearing with my radio partner Jessica Walliser last month at one of the Giant Eagle Market District stores I learned something I'd never heard before.

We were talking about spring blooming perennials and she brought up one of my favorites; brunerra. It's a perennial which has pretty blue flowers similar to forget me nots.

Anyway, Jess said the entire plant can be hacked to the ground after flowering. When given a little liquid organic fertilizer, brunnera will sprout back up and actually bloom!

I'm looking forward to giving the technique a try.

Another bonus for the plant, it happily self sows, making babies the next spring. I'm not cutting mine back until it drops seeds.

I'll be with Jess on Saturday 5/10/13 at all four Giant Eagle Market District stores for our free monthly gardening/cooking demonstration. This week we're talking about creating stunning hanging baskets and amazing containers for flowers. Then we'll cook three recipes for your pleasure. Everyone gets a taste.

We're making Creamy Fresh Asparagus and Mushroom Soup, Leek and Salmon Pasta with Spring Peas and Lime Tea Cookies. 

We'll be at the Bethel Park Giant Eagle Market District at 9:30am, Robinson and 12 noon, Shadyside at 2:30pm and Pine at 5pm.

Hope to see you there.

'Red Sails' lettuce is a great variety for containers. It's beautiful and tasty. Photo by Doug OsterI'll be at Janoski's Farm and Greenhouse tonight at 6pm to present "Vegetable Container Gardening."

The event is only $10 and includes a special gardener's gift, snacks, refreshments and of course...me!

You can grow just about any vegetable in containers. The key is picking the right pot for the right plant.

I'll talk about what soil medium to use, cover self-watering containers and more. We'll also go over what varieties to plant in pots.

Call 724-899-3438 Ext. 1 for more information and to register.

This bittercress plant is getting ready to send its seed everywhere. Pull these plants before they procreate or you'll be destined to battle the weed for years. Photos by Doug Oster

I enjoy putting the weed bittercress into salads and pick it all winter. It's till edible when the white flowers appear, but then becomes very bitter as it goes to seed, hence the name.

This is what bittercress looks like as it flowers. After the white blooms are finished the plant is filled with seeds.Once the seeds mature they will spring from the plant when disturbed, landing a foot or two away and covering the garden.

There's an old saying about weeds and their seeds. Letting them go to seed ensures seven more years of the weed.

In my garden I know I'll aways have bittercress, but this time of the year I'm pulling it out. I don't want to be overrun with the annual plants.

Bittercress forms a carpet across the garden and is pretty easy to pull out. It forms rootlets all along the ground, but they are shallow.

My chickens love it when I throw a pile of bittercress into the run.

Don't put the plants into the compost pile if they have gone to seed. I have a separate pile for weeds which I never harvest. Weed seeds in the compost could mean you'd add the weed back into the garden with every application.

It's a good rule of thumb to get any weed before it goes to seed.

"But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit.   Weeds are people's idea, not nature's."
-  Anonymous

A close look at bittercress flowers reveal their beauty.