If you drive or walk around town, you
’ll find that people make very different landscaping
choices.
If you drive or walk around town, you’ll find that people make very different landscaping choices.
Some choose to have a big lawn while others prefer a small lawn. Others people have well-established shrubs and perennials that are neatly manicured and others fill their flower beds with annuals. Still others prefer a lot of ornamentation and others have none. I’m glad that people make different landscaping choices because it makes things more interesting.
There is one landscaping choice, however, that I wish more people would make. That is choosing to have an organic landscape.
Why do I care you may ask. The reason is quite simple, if we all reduce the amount of pesticides and chemical fertilizers that are used, we’ll also reduce the amount of toxic runoff into our local waterways and the amount of chemicals that enter our air. Our collective community health is best served by organic gardening.
Here are five main points to consider:
n Grow your soil: Just about any organic gardening article you read is going to remind you that developing a healthy and vibrant soil is the key to growing healthy, pest-resistant plants. Be sure that you regularly add plenty of organic materials to your soil, avoid tilling when the soil is too wet, and treat your soil like it’s your living garden partner, not just a pile of dirt.
n Water carefully: One key to avoiding a lot of weed development in the garden is to limit your irrigation to the areas needing water. Adjust your irrigation system to avoid overspray and waste. You’ll save money on your water bill and reduce your weeding too.
n Look for bugs often: If you notice a bad bug infestation early, it is usually far easier to knock it down without pesticides before it grows out of hand. A shot of water, hand collecting, or using organic soaps can often stop an infestation in its tracks before it gets out of hand. Last summer, I took to using a battery-powered vacuum to protect our pumpkin and squash plants from a periodic wave of squash bugs. I looked mighty strange vacuuming my plants, but it worked quite well!
n Plant “extra plants,” protector plants and attractant plants: If you know that you have a bug problem in your garden, consider planting extra sacrificial plants that can absorb the bug damage and allow your primary plants to flourish. If you know that snails come in from your neighbors yard, plant extra plants in that direction and the snails will focus on them while the second row of plants gets big.
Also consider planting protector plants in the garden. For example, we usually plant a bunch of small marigolds around our tomatoes as protector plants. The earwigs, which can be both quite damaging to young plants and hard to eradicate organically, prefer the marigolds and leave the tomatoes alone. Lastly, planting lots of flowers in your vegetable garden tends to invite lots of good bugs, those are the ones that eat the bad bugs, into your garden. In addition, flowers tend to make a vegetable garden really look great.
n Lower your standards: When it comes to homegrown produce, isn’t it the taste that matters? If you are willing to overlook an occasional blemish and cut off damaged areas of produce, you’ll find that you need to use far fewer pesticides.
Eco-Fact of the Week: Homeowners use an estimated 85 million pounds of pesticides each year.
Eco-Web Pages of the Week: Here’s a site that addresses pesticide use in lawns. Check it out for ideas on why you should consider a change: www.beyondpesticides.org/lawn/factsheets/facts&figures.htm.
Anthony Eulo is a program administrator for the City of Morgan Hill who keeps his organic garden pesticide free. He welcomes your questions, comments, and thoughts and can be reached at en*****@************ca.gov or 779-7247.
