March
2001
Aaaahh! THIS is why we live in Texas! While our more northern neighbors
are still shoveling snow, bless their hearts, we are sleeveless, outside,
perhaps getting our first sunburn, admiring daffodils and smelling the
blossoms of plums, peaches, winter honeysuckle and the like. By the time
you read this, we may be experiencing an ice storm ourselves, but to have
those days - even in February - where the temperatures reach the 70's
is enough to give us bragging rights. Never mind that those same friends
in Michigan or New York will be calling us in July and August to return
the favor...
This could turn out to be the most beautiful spring in recent memory,
for a couple of reasons. First, the fall and winter rains, which alleviated
the severe drought, shall bring us a spectacular wildflower show, and
have brought more life to a really stressed landscape. If you get a hankering
for a wildflower meadow of your own, just mark your calendar in September
or October for planting the seed; unfortunately now is not the best time.
You can, however, plant some perennial wildflower plants as soon as they
become available; just a few examples are Winecups, Purple Coneflowers,
Gayfeather or Liatris, Indian Blanket or Gaillardia, and Coreopsis.
Another factor pointing to a beautiful gardening season ahead is that
the decent freezing temperatures we experienced this winter may reduce
the pest population. What a lot to be grateful for! Now is the time to
be outside as often as we can, breathing deeply and becoming intoxicated
with the medley of scents from blooms, lush green growth, and the good
earth.
Last month's issue focused on the soils around Austin, and how to prepare
them for planting. March is really your last reasonable chance
to plant shrubs and trees, and an ideal time to. It is still
early enough and cool enough for their roots to get established before
our most challenging season: SUMMER! Just as spring weather begins here
in February, summer weather begins in May, if not sooner. Landscape plants
planted as late as May or June here may suffer so much, that the same
kind of plant planted in early spring or the next fall could overtake
those planted in late spring! Try to avoid planting in July & August altogether.
A good way to get any plant off to a good start is to add rock
phosphate or bone meal in the planting hole, so that the roots
touch it, and water in with a seaweed solution. Rock
phosphate, sometimes called colloidal clay, and bone meal are phosphorus
sources, providing the nutrient that the roots need right away. Don't
use a complete fertilizer, which would include nitrogen, when planting
trees and shrubs. It is best to get the roots established first before
pushing top growth, which is what nitrogen does. Seaweed, used since ancient
times for its wide range of benefits, contains trace minerals and hormones,
including rooting hormones.
Many folks begin to focus on the lawn this month. Central Texas lawns
- and landscapes in general - have been hit very hard lately, especially
with last summer's drought and record 112-degree temperatures. Chinch
bugs in the lawn were so common last summer that a local television news
station did a story on the nearly-invisible buggers. While the fall rains
were a blessing, they were also so persistent that an already stressed-out
lawn became prone to the Brown Patch fungus. Most of this troubling scenario
applies to St. Augustine lawns, which are poorly adapted to our alkaline
soils, low rainfall, and hot, hot summers. However, it is planted so commonly
in our area as one of the few grasses that will tolerate shade, the other
two being tall fescue and zoysia. (Note that there are other non-grass
options for the shade, including horseherb, which can be mowed, and frog
fruit, both natives.)
How do we help a St. Augustine lawn recover from such hardships? What
are some ways to bring out the best in other types of turfgrass? The first
step again is to look at the soil. A healthy soil is a complex, living
matrix that feeds and supports healthy plants, whether lawn, vegetables,
flowers, shrubs, or trees. A healthy spoonful of soil contains billions
of microbes such as beneficial bacteria and fungi, as well as earthworms,
mineral matter, organic matter, air, and water, in a balanced array. The
microbes digest and transform soil, constantly making nutrients available
to the plant roots. If anything harms the life in the soil, it affects
the life of plants, leading to stress. If a plant, including turfgrass,
gets stressed, it is more attractive to diseases and pests. Therefore,
the key to a healthy landscape is a healthy, living soil.
So then, how do we enhance the life of that soil? First, do no harm.
Then, if the soil is compacted, a good idea is to aerate the soil,
and March is a good time. This can be done by simply poking holes throughout
the lawn with a garden fork or aerating tool, or by using a gas-powered
aerator. A great step to take right after aerating, and one of the best
ways to enliven a soil is to add a thin layer of good manure compost.
It adds good microbes, which are the first defense against "bad" microbes,
such as the Brown Patch fungus. This is called topdressing, and usually
involves a shovel and a rake, distributing no more than ‡" of compost
over the entire lawn area, and watering it in. In fact, now is a good
time to topdress the lawn and gardens, also. On established
flower and vegetable gardens, shrub beds, and around the root zone of
trees, one to two inches of compost can be added for the season. The benefits
of compost are many, including improving the texture and water-holding
capacity of the soil. According to one source, it can cut a lawn's watering
needs by half! That is a real boon when we're talking about the water
hog named St. Augustine. Finally, another step to enliven the soil is
to use Medina brand Soil Activator, which stimulates the microbes to do
more work for us.
Once we take care of the soil, how do we maximize the health and growth
of our lawn? Wait until the end of this month or the first of April, and
fertilize with a good organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers
do no harm, and they enhance the microbial life while greening up the
lawn. However, if you are accustomed to the superfast green up that you
get with most commercial fertilizers, understand that organic fertilizers
are slow release. They become part of the soil matrix and feed the microbes,
which in turn feed the turf. They don't get washed out of the soil and
into our lakes and groundwater or drinking water supply. If you begin
by fertilizing in April, June, and September, and follow the guidelines
for enhancing soil life, fertilizer use can actually be reduced eventually
to two, and then perhaps even only one, application per year. This is
especially true if you routinely leave your grass clippings on
the lawn. Clippings are simply more fertilizer and organic matter.
When there is life in the soil, there is not a problem with thatch buildup,
because the microorganisms simply consume and break down the clippings
into nutrients. One more step to take is to routinely spray the
lawn and landscape with seaweed. In addition to being a great
drench for new transplants, seaweed provides the same trace minerals and
hormones directly to the leaf, if sprayed early in the morning or in the
evening. During these times of the day, the leaves of grass, flowers,
shrubs, and trees can absorb nutrients most efficiently. Seaweed strengthens
the overall plant, enhancing heat tolerance and cold hardiness, as well
as disease and pest resistance.
Finally, what do we do if our lawn is suffering from Brown Patch or Chinch
Bugs? With any plant problem, it is VERY important to diagnose
properly. Spraying fungicides on insect pests, spraying insecticides
on fungus problems, or choosing a product too weak or too strong for the
problem at hand does nothing but kill off beneficial microbes and insects,
throw off the balance further, and of course waste money and time, and
possibly your health. If unsure, bring an ample plant sample to your favorite
nursery - or two - and get help diagnosing.
Brown Patch shows up in cool, moist weather only. It is characterized
by fairly well-defined circles of yellowing, then browning lawn. The circles
expand outward, and may even begin to green up in the center. Dead leaf
blades can be pulled easily from the aboveground stems, called runners
or stolons. The cultural conditions which encourage Brown Patch are poor
drainage, close mowing, high-nitrogen fertilizers, and alkaline (high
pH) soil. The first step for control is to minimize the contributing factors.
Therefore, aerate and topdress, mow higher, use organic fertilizers, and
add granular soil sulfur, to lower the pH. Water less frequently, but
deeper, and only in the morning. Watering early in the morning allows
the grass to dry out more quickly, making it less inviting for the fungus.
The second step is to attack the fungus directly. Adding a granular product
called Actinovate, which is a beneficial streptomyces bacteria, colonizes
the grass roots and protects them from the invading pathogen. Another
surprising solution is to use regular corn meal, at two pounds per 100
square feet, as a fungicide. Try these steps first before going to a stronger
fungicide. Only as a last resort, use the stronger organic fungicides
such as liquid copper or liquid sulfur. Although organic, these are NOT
non-toxic, but break down into non-toxic compounds rapidly. Do not spray
either of these if temperatures are above 85 degrees, as they may burn
foliage.
Chinch Bugs show up in hot, dry weather only, and in the areas of a St.
Augustine lawn receiving full sun. Let's wait until we HAVE to face that
hot, dry weather before we delve into the life and times of a Chinch Bug.
One last word on lawns. Considering the amount of time and money and
resources spent on planting, watering, mowing, fertilizing, weeding and
protecting lawns, perhaps we can rethink the purpose of a lawn. I encourage
most Texas lawn owners to minimize the area of lawn as
much as possible, and turn as much of that area as possible into low-maintenance
perennial flower beds, shrub beds, or more trees! At the rate trees are
being cut around here, that's not such a bad idea. To get more information
on this train of thought, visit Ralph the talking lawnmower in the Visitor's
Gallery at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. In fact, March and
April are prime times to visit the Wildflower Center. Call 292-4200
for more information.
No one has to tell us that this month is THE time to be outdoors. Whether
you are planting, sprucing up the lawn, or simply marveling in the bounty
of life springing forth, here's wishing you health and plenty of time
to enjoy it!
March
2002
"And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of spring..."
-- Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) Irish writer
"Life is a selection, nothing more."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) American essayist and poet
"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with
forethought of grief."
-- Wendell Berry (1934 - ) American poet, conservationist, farmer, essayist
Now we are entering the marvelous season of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Last month I talked about the scent of the season and the unique smells
of our Central Texas region. Now we are ushering in the delicious scents
of fresh peaches, tomatoes, and cantaloupes. Oh, sure, thanks to industrial,
global agriculture, our grocery stores may have had these fruits available
all winter. However, a peach or a tomato that has spent days or weeks
of its semi-ripe adult life in transit from some distant sunny clime cannot
hold a candle to a Texas peach, at least not to a Texas eater. Better
yet, what about the fruit that we can pick, sun-warmed and fully ripened
from an even closer location -- our own backyard? That is heaven.
"The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of
the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables
have grown and know that the garden is healthy will remember the beauty
of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning, when
gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food
and is one of the pleasures of eating. The knowledge of the good health
of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater. The same goes
for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedly
grazing flavors the steak."
The preceding quote comes from Wendell Berry's essay entitled "The Pleasures
of Eating," which appears in his book, What Are People For? (1990, North
Point Press). This essay also appears in the January 2002 issue of the
magazine "The Sun." ("The Sun" is an incredible, delicious periodical
of writing and photography with no advertisements.) Wendell Berry is the
author of thirty-two books of essays, poetry and novels. He is still living,
farming and writing from his home in Kentucky, where he has farmed since
1965. Berry shares a lot of wisdom in his writings about rural life, nature,
fidelity -- even feminism -- and, of course, the pleasures (and politics)
of eating. From what I have read of Berry's, and I am by no means a scholar,
he is right up there with Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, and Helen
and Scott Nearing as a writer and a thinker.
This essay goes further to explain how most of us are passive consumers
-- or worse, victims -- of industrial agriculture. "Most eaters Ö think
of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of
themselves as participants in agriculture." Many of us know that much
of the "average American diet" is unrecognizable as food, but we have
such strong habits of eating that are hard to break. As I write this,
for example, I have just noticed that I am drinking my rare cup of coffee
(with turbinado sugar and organic milk) and eating my all-too-common chocolate.
As low as these two "foods" are on the health scale, I know that my general
diet is probably superior to the average American diet, and far improved
from my childhood. It has probably been at least a decade since I have
eaten a Twinkie or a Pop Tart, and my consumption of sodas is far less
now than it was a year ago. This is not because I have strong willpower.
It's just that the more I learn about food, and the more I allow this
information to sink in, the less the junk food entices me. It helps that
I had a grandmother who ate yogurt, granola and salad every day for lunch,
and admonished me regularly to eat right. However, even without a grandmother
like mine, we all have enough information to eat right. It only takes
a conscious choice and baby steps over time (and perhaps a lot of self-forgiveness).
From an article entitled "The Whole Way to Eat," featured in another
wise and fun periodical entitled "A Real Life," author Barbara McNally
says:
"We are hungry. Not for calories - there are more than enough of those
- it goes much deeper than that. The hunger is for nourishment - for
the aesthetic value of real food, the satisfaction of eating together,
the assurance that what we're putting in our mouths is life-sustaining
and safe. ...The truth is, we know how to eat to be nourished, vital,
and alive, just as sure as every living thing knows. ... And we've known
for thousands of years.
Eat Whole.
Let it sink in a minute. It answers all the questions: how to eat for
ideal weight, how to eat for your heart, how to eat to prevent cancer
of the colon, breast, prostate, and who knows what else. ... There is
something extraordinarily rare here - all the experts agree. The whole
foods we were given - the grains, vegetables, seeds and nuts - were
custom designed to keep our bodies in good working order."
(A Real Life Inc. 245 Eighth Ave., PMB 400 New York, NY 10011 (802)
893-7040)
Carol Simontacchi, author of The Crazy Makers - How the Food Industry
is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, was interviewed
by Siri Khalsa in a "Nutrition News" newsletter. In the interview, Simontacchi
reveals what most of us suspect:
"We are eating nutrient-dead food and feeding it to our children.
This food is missing the structural materials we need to maintain brain
function and to nurture the developing brains of our babies and children.
Yet no one is making the association between what we are putting into
our mouths and the effects that our foods have on our thinking and behavior.
Further, the blame belongs on the food manufacturers. Rather than producing
products ... that nourish our brains and that provide the essential
building blocks we need (products that might actually deserve the name
food), food manucaturers are cranking out millions of pounds of toxic
food artifacts stripped bare of the nutrients that feed our brains."
("Nutrition News" P.O. Box 55279, Riverside, CA 92517 www.nutritionnews.com
The Crazy Makers, Tarcher/Putnam, 2000)
Why talk about eating in a gardening column? Because as Wendell Berry
says, "... Eating is an agricultural act." Because our every act, from
walking or driving, from buying a fruit or a car or neither, impacts our
environment with our dollars, and impacts our bodies with the consequences.
Because our dollar votes for this agricultural practice to continue, and
that one to cease. Because gardening at home can be one of several healthy
solutions to the agricultural maladies we encounter when we try to feed
ourselves. Because if we garden at home, even one little crop or two,
we are that much closer to understanding the enormous impact of agriculture
on our lives.
Gardeners are at least two steps ahead of the rest of the populace in
understanding the importance of what we put into our mouths. Perhaps we
have watched a lettuce, tomato, or broccoli plant struggle to reach maturity,
despite our forgetfulness, neglect, or - conversely - our smothering attentions.
Perhaps we have noticed the plant's responses to rainwater as compared
to tap water. Perhaps we used to use Miracle-Gro, or Schultz's or Peter's,
and now we are using compost, bat guano, and cottonseed meal, and perhaps
we can taste the difference in flavor, in life force, in nutrients. Perhaps
we nurtured a plant until it was almost mature, only to watch in sorrow
as it succumbed to a squash bug infestation or a freeze. Perhaps we remember
back to our first gardening experience when we planted that tomato in
too much shade, in soil that was too hard to get a shovel into, much less
a little rootlet, and we watered it every single day, hopeful of ripe,
red tomatoes and dreaming of our dinner guests who would be so amazed
that we grew these beefy tomatoes ourselves and we would bask in their
admiration. We might wonder now how we ever recovered from the sorrow
enough to try again. These experiences cannot be found in a book, nor
on a grocery store shelf or in the frozen food section.
Well, unless we are fortunate enough to have a plot of land big enough,
and enough of the above experiences to be successful at small-scale farming
for our entire household's grocery needs, we will probably have to go
grocery shopping. Keeping in mind that the closer a food resembles its
original state (broccoli plant, grazing cow, etcetera), the following
are steps we can take to maximize the safety, efficiency, and health of
what we put into our mouths and into our family's mouths.
First, we can look for locally grown and/or organic produce in our regular
grocery store. If what we want is not there, when we ask our grocer for
it we will be creating the demand that encourages supply.
Second, we can buy produce in season. There are certain schools of thought,
such as the macrobiotic philosophy, which indicate that eating local produce
in season is healthier for us. At the very least, buying produce in season
will help ensure that it is fresher and more local.
Third, until our regular grocery store supplies the local organic produce
we need, we can shop where we can readily find it. Wheatsville, Sun Harvest,
Central Market, and Whole Foods are the most consistent sources of local,
organic produce, as far as grocery stores go.
Fourth, we can shop at the local farmers' markets. This is a wonderful
way for us to enjoy the day, to get to know our neighbors, and to get
some delightful foods -- from asparagus to zucchini bread. Here is one
place where we can even get to know the people who grew the food that
goes into our mouths.
One such place is the Westlake Farmers' Market. This is a year-round
market located in the Westlake High School's parking lot annex at 4100
Westbank Drive in west Austin. This is located between Bee Caves Road
and Highway 360. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., food lovers may
be able to gather not only the freshest produce around, but baked goods,
pecans, salsas, goat cheese, and fresh cut flowers. According to Pamela
Boyar, the Market Director, this market only allows vendors who are the
actual growers of the food they sell - no middlemen. On any Saturday,
you may meet farmers from Pure Luck Organics, Pecan Springs, Sandy Creek,
Millberg, Terra Verde, Tecolote, and Hairston Creek Farms. Stop by some
Saturday and become inspired about food!
Another year-round market is the South Austin Farmers' Market. You will
find it every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of El
Gallo Restaraunt on South Congress Avenue, across the street from St.
Edwards University. There are many other farmers' markets all around the
Austin area, every day of the week except for Sunday. There will be many
more markets opening up as the days warm up. For more information or a
complete listing of markets outside of Austin, go to the Texas Department
of Agriculture's marketing website at www.gotexan.org,
or call Jim Jones at 512-463-7563. The following are the listings of markets
in Austin. Be sure to call first; many, if not all, of these markets won't
be open until May 1st.
6701 Burnet Road
Day(s): Daily
Hours: 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
512-454-1002
2910 South Congress
Day(s): Saturday
Hours: Sat 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.
512-285-4758
http://austinfarm.org/safm/
405 West Stassney (WIC Clinic)
Day(s): Tuesday
Hours: 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
512-391-8200
2800 Webberville Road
Day(s) Wednesday
Hours: 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
512-404-1550
1200 Montopolis Drive
Day(s): Wednesday
Hours: 8 a.m. until 12 noon
512-385-8743
5405 Pleasant Valley Road
Day(s): Thursday
Hours: 1 p.m. until 6 p.m.
512-326-2323
2508 Durwood
Day(s): Tuesday
Hours: 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.
512-440-9410
11713 Jollyville Road
Day(s): Wednesday
Hours: 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
512-336-5069
10804 Ridgeway Drive
Jonestown, TX
Day(s): Saturday
Hours: 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
512-267-4327
Finally, we can join a Community Supported Agriculture farm, or CSA.
When we subscribe to a CSA, we are the investors in a farm -- usually an
organic or chemical-free grower -- and our dividends are the fresh-picked
produce we receive weekly. Judy Barrett has an excellent article in her
January/February 2002 issue of homegrown magazine about the many virtues
of getting involved with a CSA. It is a mutually beneficial relationship.
I subscribed to a farm that was not only organic, but biodynamic in nature
several years back, and it was like Christmas every week during the growing
season! Perhaps we can delve more deeply into the subject of Community
Supported Agriculture in another issue. For now, here are four CSA farms
to nibble on, and a national CSA website:
Hairston Creek Farm
512-756-8380
hcf@moment.net www.moment.net\~hcf
(a beautiful website!)
Millberg Farms
512-268-1433
Oasis Gardens Community Farm
512-386-7636
www.greenbuilder.com/oasisgardenscsa
(another beautiful website!)
Tecolote Farm
512-276-7008
tecolotefarm@juno.com
Fulton Center for Sustainable Living Wilson College
1015 Philadelphia Ave.
Chambersburg, PA 17201
www.csacenter.org
(This is an incredible website, full of information and links to more!)
Check out homegrown magazine - available by subscription or free
from garden centers and other retail outlets. You may also see the January/February
article on CSA's on their website at www.homegrowntexas.com.
If you prefer a hard copy, you may still find the January/February issue
at The Natural Gardener, or call 512-930-5576 for a single copy or a subscription.
Write to them at P.O. Box 913, Georgetown, TX 78627.
One thing all of us human beans have in common is our need for food,
and the better our food, the better women, men, children, citizens, and
all-around human beings we can be. Why not take this month of March, the
month when we feel the rebirth of the earth and we get that urge to dig
in the dirt, to reexamine our relationship to food, to vegetable gardening,
and eating? Enjoy!
|
8648
Old Bee Cave Road
Stacey
(Rosina) Newton is a graduate of the Texas A&M University (Aggieland)
Horticulture Department, class of 1984, and has been in the environmental/horticulture
field ever since. She learned everything she knows about organic gardening
while working at The Natural Gardener, starting in 1997.