Organic Vegetables

Two men were talking one day.

"My wife asked me to buy ORGANIC vegetables from the market garden," said the first man.

"So were you able to find some?" the second man asked.

"Well when I got to the market, I asked the gardener, “These vegetables are for my wife. Have they been sprayed with any poisonous chemicals?"

"The gardener said “No, you'll have to do that yourself."

Things to Do in April

Do not aerate your lawn! Do not hire someone to aerate your lawn!

Do not let anyone talk you into aerating your lawn.

I know from experience that the clay soils collapse when wet. As the soil gets wet it expands and will close any holes created by an aerator.

If you wait until June when the spring rains are gone the holes will stay open longer and even work as small reservoirs to catch and hold water for longer periods of time and can be very helpful in periods of drought.

The Lawn: Remember that it is important to fertilize on a quarterly basis, especially if you are just getting started in an organic program. Because of the amount of rain we have had in the last 6 months I can bet you that most readers are going to see some form of fungal problems on plants and grasses. Even though brown patch scares many gardeners it is fairly easy to control. Use Potassium Bicarbonate at a rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon of water over 400 square feet. Corn Meal can also be used as a dry method of application. Apply Corn Meal at a rate of 20 lbs per thousand square feet for best results.

Remember once you start treating the lawn for fungal problems you must continue to do so until the symptoms disappear.

We have one customer who had brown patch last year and did an experiment with the Microbial Treatment. After doing some minor drainage corrections, he figured that if brown patch is caused by water standing over an area for a long period, maybe the microbes that were supposed to improve percolation would help cure the brown patch.

He applied the Microbial Treatment every other week and after 3 months came in to tell me that he no longer saw any signs of the disease.

Maybe try it on your yard and see what results you get.

I have used Actinovate for fungal problems for some time now, with great results. You may try Actinovate, which is a powder, and goes out dry at a rate of 1 lb per 1000 square feet. I have had customers tell me that they have mixed Actinovate with Corn Meal with great results. Howard Garrett recommends applying corn meal at a rate of 20 lbs. per thousand square feet. So put 1 lb Actinovate in with 20 lbs of corn meal.

Go ahead and sow Fescue Seed. I like Vega Fescue over all others. I have used Vega for as long as I can remember and have seen great results even in last year’s drought. Remember the best time to put out fescue is in the fall, but if you have a shady area that needs grass, do it NOW!

Your other alternative is to convert that grassy area into a perennial or groundcover beds.

Fertilize: If you listen to garden shows on the radio that do not talk about organic fertilizers or if you read gardening magazines they recommend applying fertilizers now.

For those of us who are really smart and have been practicing organics for years we are ready to apply our 2nd application. I do not mean that you should apply fertilizer now if you just applied some last month. This is the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the year and I like to apply fertilizer every three months. By now most of you know that Green Sense All Purpose Fertilizers 524 or 624 are my choice fertilizers. Not just because we own the company, the ingredients that are in Green Sense really help return the soil to a rich, fertile condition.

Unlike synthetic fertilizers that contain clay as filler, Green Sense contains mineral and nutrient rich manures. Molasses, which is used as a binder, helps encourage microbial activity. Theses microbes digest the Green Sense into smaller particles making it more accessible to the plants’ roots.

If this is your first year using organics I would like you to do the following:

• Do not guess the size of your lawn. Measure! Go ahead and draw a plat of your lawn.
• Starting at your boundary measure the length to the sidewalk or driveway. How many feet across? Now measure from the street to the house. Multiply the two figures (width and length). That gives you the square footage for that area. Continue from front right, front left, left side yard, back yard and finally right side yard. Now you are back to where you started. I hope that when you do this you remembered to measure the flowerbeds, ground cover areas and other gardens areas.
• Apply at a rate of 20 lbs per thousand square feet. If your lawn has a total of 2000 square feet you will apply 1 bag that contains 40 pounds of material. If your lawn is 3000 square feet you will use one and a half bags.
• If you have trees that are smaller then 2” caliper add another 5 pounds per tree. If the tree is larger than that, add half a pound for every caliper inch. A 4” caliper tree would require 6 pounds.

If your lawn is full of weeds, or you have several areas in the lawn where you can see the soil through the grass, I would like you to make your first application this month at a rate of 20 lbs per thousand square feet. Follow up every month thereafter with an application at a rate of 10 pounds per thousand square feet. For better results apply Green Sense lawn & garden Microbial Treatment.

Aeration: I like to wait until after the rains have passed to do aeration. In our heavy clay soils the rain tends to collapse the soil in the holes that were made during aeration. You will get better aeration results if you apply Green Sense lawn & garden Microbial Treatment now and let these microbes start to break down the soil.

When you do aerate, that is a good time to apply compost, lava sand, humate, and grass seed.

Weeds: Loose rich soils will help decrease your weed problem. Aeration will help a lot, by loosening the soil and improving percolation.

I have noticed more weeds in compacted and poorly drained lawns.

To kill weeds use 20% Vinegar on a warm day. Vinegar works as a contact killer. Add citrus oil or liquid soap to help the vinegar stick to the leaf of the plant that you are trying to kill.

A lot of the weeds that are visible now are your winter weeds like henbit and rye grass. If these weeds do offend your neighbor keep them mowed down to prevent weed seeds.

Because I have so many birds at my house that deposit rye grass seed on my lawn I simply put out rye grass each fall and do not have to worry about weeds all winter long.

Shrubs that go BLOOM: If your forsythias, lilacs, quince or other early spring blooming shrubs have finished blooming, you have my permission to prune them. I would also fertilize them now and write down in your diary the date that you did this application. Repeat applications every thirty days.

After the spring flowering ornamentals have bloomed you can prune the plant back to its natural shape, by selectively cutting individual branches. Start a regular fertilizing program so that the plant will be able to store enough nutrients for next spring’s flowers. Quit fertilizing when those plants form buds.

At Rohde’s we have a great selection of plants that will bloom at different times of the year.

When asking for a blooming plant, know where you are going to plant it. Will it be in full sun or partial, is it going on to the north side or south of the house? It is also important to know if that area has good drainage or not.

Know your plants’ water requirements. Know your soil’s moisture content. How fast does it dry out after a rain?

Perennials: Ha, ha. I always laugh about the fact that when we started selling perennials and recommending these to customers that were used to buying 20 or 30 flats of annual color, growers thought that we had gone crazy. “What about the repeat customer?” they would ask. Well, as soon as they said that I wondered if we were putting ourselves out of business. I now know that we made the right decision. We still sell flats and more flats of annuals, but our perennial sales still are on the rise. Customers who trusted us and tried something new are expanding their perennial beds.

Remember that some herbs are perennials and should be include in your landscape. We have one customer that has a hedgerow made from Rosemary “Hills Hardy.” Hills Hardy is a tough, cold and heat resistant perennial herb that does well on the south or east side of the house. It blooms in the early spring showing a light blue delicate flower.

All of the landscapes that we install have perennials, but not all of them have annual color.

Don’t get me wrong; there is a place in every landscape for:

Annual Flowers: You can now plant your seasonal color using plants like: ageratum, begonia, blue daze, coleus, gaillardia, gomphrena, pentas, impatiens, lobelia, Mexican heather, nicotiana, purslane, ornamental peppers, annual salvias, torenia, and zinnia.

For best results fertilize your perennials and annuals regularly with Green Sense Vegetable and Flower Food. Cut off spent blooms and toss these in the compost bin.

Roses: My Martha Gonzalez is blooming already. I just love to look at this antique rose every morning just so I can see the buds that seem to have formed overnight.

Because of all the rain we have had, I have been looking for aphids, but so far have not seen any. Maybe the Kelp that I have been spraying is keeping the aphids away. Plants that have been sprayed with kelp give the plants a taste that aphids do not like.

Remember that if you use an organic insecticide you will kill all insects, even the beneficials, so when possible try releasing Lady Bugs and Beneficial Nematodes or Green Lacewings.

The most common insect damaging rose flowers is thrips. Buds infested with thrips will not open properly, producing distorted blooms with discolored edges on the petals. You can use Neem Oils as a way of controlling these insects but only do so if you have an infestation. Otherwise squish the bugs that are visible or release Lady Bugs. Establish a regular feeding schedule for your roses.

Remember to apply a foliar spray that contains kelp to help discourage aphids and spider mites.

Vegetables: We now have a large selection of hybrid and heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and a variety of other warm season vegetables.

Mulch: One good way to conserve moisture and to prevent weeds is by applying mulch. The only mulches that I do not like to use are pine bark and the large deco-bark products.

The pine bark mulch is lightweight and will float away. As it breaks down it leaches nitrogen form surrounding soils and plants and can cause more damage than good.

The deco-barks can also float away but the worst part about these products is that they are so large that they allow insects, such as roaches and roly-polies to hide under them. Several pest control operators have also told me that they see more termites around these two products than any of the others. They say that the mulch that attracts fewer insects is Cedar Mulch.

Can you say CEDAR CLOSETS?

A thick layer of mulch will help keep down weeds as well as help keeping the soil cooler and retain more moisture. If you are on a budget call around for free or cheap tree trimmings, try Mesquite or Plano Waste, or tree services like Holcomb, Condren or Arbological Services. If you can compost what ever free mulch you find first so that you can kill of any seeds from trees, like hackberries, do so for a couple of months before applying.

Rodent Control Recommendations

1. Inspection – Find active runways where rodents are entering a building. Be aware of local food sources such as bird feeders, dog food, grass seed etc. Common entrances for rats in pier & beam homes include open crawlspace vents, and digging under shallow footings. All houses must be inspected where utility lines enter a structure, such as electricity, gas, and A/C lines. Roof rats commonly use roof vents, stack pipes, gables, and protected roof overhangs. Grease stains are evidence of a heavily traveled path.
2. Patch to Exclude – Hardware wire, and expanding foam are effective tools for patching holes. If holes are not plugged baiting or trapping programs will not provide a long-term solution.
3. Removal – Once the rodents have been blocked from a building a well planned baiting or trapping program should be implemented. For most home owners snap traps offer an effective solution for rodent infestations, but as with baits the size of the infestation must be taken into consideration. Place the baits or traps in active locations such as in the attic and crawlspace. If bait is to be placed outside it must be contained in a protected bait station with the use of securing rods. For snap traps peanut butter is a good bait as well as nesting material such as pieces of cotton balls or tissue.
4. Follow-up – When using baits it is critical to re-inspect the bait stations regularly to add more bait as needed or move bait to more attractive feeding sites. Once the infestation has been eliminated removal of the bait is important to prevent roach and beetle infestations.

Bait Information: If it is determined bait will be used, the least toxic material with the lowest risk of secondary poisoning is the active ingredient Cholecalciferol. Secondary poisoning occurs when an animal eats a rodent that has consumed poison and suffers from the effects of the poison. Cholecalciferol is sold under the trade name of Quintox. Cholecalciferol is vitamin D3 which mobilizes calcium from the bones into the bloodstream, causing hypercalcemia, and death from heart failure. Quintox is a better option than an anticoagulant, because it minimizes the risk of harming family pets. But precaution must be taken to ensure that the bait is not assessable to children or pets. There is always a risk of poisoning if rodent bait is consumed.

Michael Bosco has provided pest control service for 10 years in Dallas and Collin counties. He has specialized in organic pest control as part of Rid-All Pest Control’s goal of finding better ways to solve pest problems. Understanding insect biology and their interaction with their surroundings provides Michael with the knowledge to reduce the use of insect control products. When treatment is required for control, natural products are used first before stepping up to stronger products. Rid-All’s office number is 214-340-6969 if additional help or service is needed.

Forward

Once again Don has written an article that caught my attention and made me mad because I did not think of it first. Even though Don wrote this article with children in mind, I think that it really satisfies the curiosity in all gardeners young and old. With more native plants, perennials and herbs being used in the garden we are learning that the past will work in the planning of our future personal environments, as well as that of the community.

Should We Teach Our Children about Nature?

Don Trotter

Hello fellow Earthlings and welcome to the garden. In our ongoing attempt to bring nature back into your gardens we have not really touched on one of the most important reasons why natural/ organic gardening is so smart. Our children and the children of our communities, regardless of their socioeconomic background really deserve to know as much as we can teach them about how nature works. The obvious classroom for this knowledge is the garden. Let's take a walk and discuss some of the ways we can increase awareness of the natural world for our kids.

As our society continues to sprawl into the open spaces that once surrounded our communities, we are continuing to lose precious native areas that once allowed us to take our families on hiking trips or picnics. These spaces continue to shrink and our choices for immersing our children's inherent curiosity in a natural place are getting fewer by the week. This is where the home garden, parks, or community/ botanical gardens or public gardens specifically set up for children come in very handy. Consider the amazing questions your children will ask you while they ponder them while other bugs eat them. This is something that we gardeners can teach without having to resort to long trips that are excruciatingly boring to kids. There is a classroom right outside the front or back door. Just the opportunities to increase the vocabulary of our children to include such words as “environment,” or to give them an opportunity to make their own sense out of how things in nature work is definitely worth the minimal investment in time on our parts.

Last year I made my annual pilgrimage to the flower fields in Carlsbad (California) to admire the beauty of the colors and to see what new evolutions this wonderful place had made. I was enthralled by the myriad of questions being lobbed at a teacher who had taken her third or fourth grade class on a field trip. The children were more interested in how the plants grew than they were about the obvious eye candy the flowers provide. I grew up with these fields and the gladiolus fields that are now becoming homes closer to the coast highway. I never tired of considering all of the possible ways these plants grew. I used to come up with some very creative theories and often shared them with my grandfather who was a farmer of local tomatoes. I remember once asking him on a sunny day if the stuff they were spaying on the plants was suntan oil so the plants could receive more sun power. After busting out laughing (of course, I was hurt), he took the time to tell me about insects that ate the plants and that the stuff they were spraying was a poison for the insects. My next question, of course, was why the good bugs he had told me about weren't eating all of the bad ones. He thought for a moment and said that was a good question. I was lucky enough to have a farmer in my family and my grandfather was an oracle of wisdom. He used conventional methods of farming but helped me grow my gardens without chemicals. Constant exposure to agricultural chemicals (including DDT) took his life way too soon, but his wisdom remains with me today.

No one has to be an expert biologist or horticulturist to give their children insights on how nature works. In the end kids will make their own conclusions on how things "really" work. Nature excites their imaginations and feeds their tireless hunger for knowledge. It also gets them out from in front of the bloody Nintendo machine. They will get an opportunity to breathe in nature, just watch them grow. When my nephew Brandon was very young he used to be fascinated by snails. He could watch them for hours. It reminded me of my interest in ant behavior in the vacant lot by my house when I was much younger (before imported fire ants). Brandon showed all of the signs of a born scientist, his curiosity and attention to detail was astounding. He shared his theories about snails and his insights were both hilarious and astute. It was very entertaining. While more land may not be possible for many, there are an abundance of local places where a child's exposure to nature can take place. My favorite places are botanical gardens and regional parklands. By taking our children to these natural places they will get a better idea of their heritage and of their role in preserving the beauty of the natural world.

In closing this column I would like you to encourage your children to get involved in the home garden as well as giving them opportunities to experience nature away from the home. They will bloom like the flowers that you let them grow and pick. It only makes sense to familiarize them with what is likely the only planet they will get to live on.

Next time we will be discussing the purpose of feeding your lawns and some commentary on the hype being purveyed by some of the chemical fertilizer companies on this topic. Join me at Quail Botanical Gardens this spring for a series of natural/ organic gardening classes. Call QBG at 760-436-3036 for details. See you in the Garden!

Got Questions? Email the Doc at Curly@mill.net Don Trotter's natural gardening columns are printed nationally in environmentally sensitive publications. Check out Don's books Natural Gardening A-Z and The Complete Natural Gardener for lots of other helpful tips to tend your garden without chemicals. Both are available at all bookstores and on line booksellers from Hay House Publishing.

Instructions?

In February, my son Victor celebrated his thirteenth birthday. During the first week of March he received his adjustable Huffy Basketball Hoop a gift from my father in law, Checo. Unfortunately I had decided not to go into work that day and stayed at home. If I had known that the hoop was coming I would have gone to work and called Checo to come and help put it together. Victor asked me to help him put the Hoop together, something that I readily agreed to do hoping for some father-son bonding.

I asked my son to go inside and get our tool kit while I opened the box and poured its contents onto the driveway. WOW! How many nuts and bolts do you need to put up one of these suckers?

Victor came back with a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, a needle nose and a monkey wrench. “NO, no, no, I said. I need the tool box with the sockets and open end wrench set,” I said, “the red plastic box, it is about a foot long.”

“Oh, I lent that to a friend of mine and he took it with him when he moved away. I told him that we never use tools” Victor responded.

Well I tried using the tools we had and became very frustrated. Have you ever tried tightening a 3/8’s bolt through a 6” wide plastic water reservoir with a pair of pliers while holding a lock nut with a of needle noise pliers?

After two hours of struggling to get the base and main pole together, I went to the hardware store to buy a ratchet and wrench set and started to curse my father-in-law for not coming to help his grandson put together his gift.

When I got home Victor was looking at the instructions and pointed out to me that I had placed part #1 where part #2 was supposed to be and part #5 was in the correct place but upside down. “Oh, that’s ok,” I said. “It looks like it is going to work anyway.” I hope.

Well, after we used our new tools to tighten all the loose nuts and bolts we started to put together part #6. OOOOPs! That wasn’t going to work. Part one and two attached to part #6 after part #6 went through #%, I mean #5. Thank God that the ratchet set has reverse. That was the easiest thing we did so far, loosen the bolts from the nuts so that we could start over again. Where is my father in law when I need him?

Once we got the parts in the correct position and direction, Victor decided that he was going to be the director and I was to do what he told me. Fine!

Three hours passed, I was hungry, and tired of taking orders form this Hitler-like kid. “Put this here, that goes there. Do not tighten bolt 25 until part 26 is in place. Dad, I told you not to tighten that up all the way; now you have to loosen it up,” Victor barked order after order.

At three o’clock Victor and I got into our first shouting match. I was more tired, more hungry and sore. Oh yeah, I forgot frustrated. Sandra drove in from I do not know where, but I would guess shopping, and offered to make us lunch. While we were relaxing we talked about what we had done so far and questioned why it had taken us so long to get to where we were. Victor pointed out the lack of proper tools, my inability to take orders, and the fact that I did not want to read the directions did not help much.

Finally at almost 6:00 pm the basketball hoop was finished and Victor had time to play for about 30 minutes. As he was ready to throw the first ball he stopped and said: “Dad thanks for helping. I sure would like it if you threw the first ball.” Boy was I happy! I spent time with my son, we completed our first major task together, I had a new set of tools and I was going to get to make the first basket. I bet you think you know the results of my Free Shot. I took aim and lightly pushed the ball away from my body. My sore body! But, after putting this hoop together all day long, it did not bother me to hear Victor laugh and scream out loud, “LOOSER!” as the ball did not even make it to the rim of the hoop. Before the ball hit the ground Victor took possession of it, dribbled around me, and without even looking made the shot - nothing but net.

Many times we get customers who call and tell us about a specific lawn and garden problem. They want to know what organic product can be used to solve their crisis. Sometime we will tell the caller that they can use a specific product, lets say Neem Oil. “Oh, I have some of that on my shelf, how do I use it?” We are not allowed to tell the caller how to use an insecticide; we have to refer them to the INSTRUCTIONS that came with the specific product. Read the label we say.

If I would have only followed my own advice I might have finished putting the Basketball Hoop up earlier.

Because of the thick consistency of a lot of the organic products, most sprayers do not properly distribute the material and in many cases actually become clogged by them. There are specialized applicators that are well suited for even distribution of heavy products, but many people do not want to buy them because of the cost. If more customers bought trombone sprayers or a filter to strain the organic products before they went into the applicators, they would have fewer problems with clogging and uneven applications.

If I had had the proper tools to tighten the nuts and bolts on that hoop, I would have finished a lot earlier.

Most people do not have the time or patience to do work around the house.

Me, I hate doing plumbing or carpentry work and would much prefer spending an hour on the phone to try and find someone that can perform these tasks for me. On that fateful day when the hoop arrived my macho instinct took over. Maybe it was just because Victor asked me to help, but for once I decided to take on a task that I would normally not do. It is true that at the end of that long day I got some satisfaction in putting the hoop together and spending time with Victor, but I would have preferred to call my father-in-law and ask him to come over and help his grandson put his gift together.

There are more and more services that do organic treatments, companies that have the proper tools and equipment that will save you time and aggravation.

Call around and see who can help you out.