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Over the years from various sources, we have compiled a lot of helpful
information. Here are the weekly tips first found in our newsletters,
along with plants and products that we have spotlighted. We include
practices developed here at The Natural Gardener and by other gardening
experts.
April
2005
Fertilize your perennials
This is the time to fertilize your perennials. Give them the nutritious boost they need to grow and flower and prepare them for the summer heat that's still ahead of them. Foliar feed your perennials with John's Recipe(tm) Liquid Fertilizer. The best time of day to foliar feed plants is early in the morning or late in the afternoon - never in direct sunlight. Apply it once every 3 to 4 weeks during the growing season and watch them do their thing.
Be Aware.
Go out and enjoy your garden. Take your morning tea and take a walk in the garden. Look at your plants. Do you see powdery mildew or black spots on your roses? Are your squashes showing signs of squash vine borers? Do your tomatoes have black rot spots on the end? These pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies are much easier to remedy in the early stages, and often can be done with simple, safe solutions. If you are not sure how to treat a problem, call or visit the store and talk with us to find the best solutions.
Protect your new vegetable transplants from trouble.
Have you ever had a wonderful day of gardening only to return the next morning to find half your transplants have been cut off at the base? Well, there are two possible culprits, the cutworm or pill bugs (aka rolly-pollies). A cutworm is a caterpillar that lives in the soil and will wrap itself around a new transplant at the base and cut it off. You can either protect the plant with a collar around the base or place a stick next to the stem so the cutworm will wrap around the stick along with the stem and not be able to cut through. Once the plant is established, the cutworm is not affective.
The Pill Bug will gnaw at the base of a seedling or a new transplant. Once the seedling or transplant is established, the pill bug will generally leave the plant alone, so you need to be diligent about protection for only a short period of time. First for pill bug control keep the area on the drier side. Water early in the morning. This allows the top part of the soil to dry before night, when the pill bugs are active. Also keep mulch away from plants during this period of time. In the evening dust with Diatect V, diatomaceous earth (D.E.) and pyrethrin, around base of plants. Set up boards, grapefruit halves or banana peels as traps for the pill bugs and scoop them up every morning and dump into soapy water to get the population down. Pill bugs, like many pests, have their place in life as decomposers of dead plants or weak plants, so control is only needed during the early stages of the plant's life. The rest of the time let the pill bugs do their work.
Plant summer seeds now.
It is time to get summer veggie and flower seeds in the ground. Plant beans, cucumbers, corn, okra, melons, gourds, squash and zucchini. All of these come up very easily from seed. Flower seeds to plant include cosmos, zinnias, morning glories, moonflower, cypress vine, marigolds, four o'clocks, cardinal climber, sunflowers and many more. Be sure to prepare the soil, making it nice and loose by adding compost and Minerals Plus. A good organic fertilizer such as Lady Bug 8-2-4, cottonseed meal or alfalfa meal can be worked into the soil at this time at half the recommended application. Or you can wait to apply fertilizers after the plant has developed its first real set of leaves. Too much nitrogen at the beginning of the plants life can cause tall, leggy growth at the expense of good root development. Read the seed packet information on depth and spacing of seeds. Be sure to thin to proper final spacing for fewer big, vigorous plants rather than a lot of so-so ones. Keep seeds evenly watered using a gentle spray.
2004
Worms in Oaks
Is it the Spring Cankerworm or the Oak Leaf Roller? Or both? We may
not know the exact species, but we know that all of a sudden, last weekend,
They 're baaaaack! The little "worms" (a.k.a. caterpillars
or larvae) that dangle in great numbers from the oak trees are here!
What do we do to save our oak trees (and sometimes the underlying plant
material) from defoliation? B.t. to the rescue! There is no need to
go to a toxic poison for such a simple problem. B.t. (Bacillus thuringensis)
is a disease-in-a-bottle for caterpillars only. (Don't spray it in your
butterfly garden!) Spray it on the leaves of your oak trees and the
underlying plants, and the caterpillars take a bite or two and start
to get sick. Spray a couple of times according to package directions,
and this should take care of the problem. This works on the Texas Mountain
Laurel "worm" and the Tomato Hornworm, as well. As usual,
our goal in organic pest control is to be as specific as possible, and
B.t. fits the bill. It does not hurt your ladybugs or other beneficial
insects.
If you want to avoid the spraying altogether next year, mark your calendar
to release Trichogramma wasps in January or February. These tiny, non-stinging,
non-invasive wasps parasitize the eggs of the oak tree pest BEFORE they
turn into "The Worm"!
April 9, 2004 – Remember to Fertilize
Remember, now that you have your gardens going you will need to fertilize.
Your plants now need more energy to keep growing, flowering, and producing.
Here at the Natural Gardener, we use John's Recipe as a foliar feed
every other week through out the year. John Dromgoole, our owner, has
been giving this recipe out on his radio program for the past 20 plus
years. This recipe consists of fish emulsion, seaweed, Medina Soil Activator,
molasses, and humate. Each product has it's own function.
- Fish emulsion is the source of nitrogen.
- Seaweed for potassium and hormones to stimulate root growth and
help with stress.
- Medina Soil Activator is a combination of trace elements and catalysts
designed to encourage microbial activity.
- Molasses to feed the microorganisms.
- Humate to increase nutrient and water uptake.
At the request of many radio listeners, John decided to bottle this
product. You should find this to be extremely economical and less time
consuming. A quart will make 32 gallons of liquid fertilizer. We have
excellent results applying John's Recipe to the foliage in the early
morning and evening. This is because the stomata (plant cells) are open
and ready to take in nutrients.
Another product for your garden and lawn is Terra Tonic Super Soil
Activator. Keeping your soil in excellent health will result in healthy
plants and lawns. You may be familiar with Medina Soil Activator the
world famous source of nutrients for microorganisms. Well, John has
taken this product a step further. Terra Tonic Super Soil Activator
contains Medina Soil Activator, humate, seaweed, compost tea, and molasses.
Each of these products has their own function.
- Seaweed for potassium and hormones to stimulate root growth and
help with stress. Seaweed gives the soil the ability to take in more
nutrients.
- Medina Soil Activator is a combination of trace elements and catalysts
designed to encourage microbial activity.
- Molasses to feed the microorganisms.
- Humate to increase nutrient and water uptake
- Compost Tea is in an anaerobic state, however, you still get the
benefits of the leach ate.
By using this chemistry the soil is enhanced and improved. Life in
the soil becomes abundant. When the soil is healthy the roots of your
plants begin to grow vigorously. Terra Tonic Super Soil Activator is
also economical. One quart will cover 1,600 square feet. Using Terra
Tonic Super Soil Activator will increase the effectiveness of your fertilizer.
You can find both of these fine gardening products at The Natural Gardener
and many of the local nurseries throughout Texas.
Plant summer veggies
You still have time to plant tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants and
seeds or plants for cukes, squash (summer and winter), melons, beans,
corn and others. It is getting close to the end of the spring planting
time for some of these so make sure you get that garden in now. Just
think how great that fresh salsa, pasta with fresh veggies or slice
of juicy watermelon is going to taste this summer.
Continue to fertilize
Don't forget to continue to fertilize throughout the growing season.
If your veggies are starting to produce then they will probably need
some additional food such as Rabbit Hill Tomato & Pepper Food, cottonseed
meal, feather meal or some other slow, constant release fertilizer.
Weekly or biweekly applications of a fish based foliar feed such as
John's Recipe can also be extremely beneficial. Many people will alternate
a fish based formula with seaweed.
Trees and shrubs can also benefit from fertilization. This is especially
true if your oaks were hit hard by the worms this season. Lady Bug 8-2-4
is great to provide some of the extra nitrogen and other nutrients that
the trees use to produce a second set of leaves.
2003
Enjoy your Garden
Be Aware. Go out and enjoy your garden. Take your morning tea and take
a turn in the garden and look at your plants. Do you see powdery mildew
or black spots on your roses? Are your squashes showing signs of squash
vine borers? Do your tomatoes have black rot spots on the end? These
pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies are much easier to take care
of in early stages and often with simple safe solutions. If you are
not sure how to treat a problem call or visit the store and talk with
us to find the best solutions.
P.S. Milk is a great mild fungicide and used at the first signs of
distress may be all you need.
Time to Fertilize
It is time to fertilize your lawn and we recommend Ladybug 8-2-4 which
is a wonderful product. In the study done by Texas A&M for the City
of Austin’s Grow Green Program, Ladybug was one of the top three
fertilizers (all were organic, much to the surprise of Texas A&M)
recommended to grow healthy lawns and for low run off of product into
the environment. The organic fertilizers started off a little slower
than the chemical fertilizers and then caught up and surpassed them
in all of the tests. The test show that Ladybug 8-2-4 can be applied
at a rate of 35# for 5,000 square feet for a healthy lawn. We recommend
using the 35# bag for 3,500 square feet if you are just starting to
use organic lawn program, 5,000 square feet per bag is great for lawns
on an organic program for a couple of years. For those of you who have
been on an organic, soil building program for several years can use
the Ladybug 8-2-4 at a rate of 35# per 7,000 square feet. Organic programs
build healthy soil to build healthier plants. When you are in our store,
ask for our organic lawn care guide with information on what to do for
the entire year or find it on our web site under "gardening articles."
Apply Terra Tonic
Terra Tonic is a great thing to apply to your lawn if you have not had
the time (or money) to top dress your lawn with compost. One quart will
cover 1,600 square feet, one gallon coves 6,400 square feet. The Terra
Tonic will feed and stimulate the soil microbes in your soil. Happy
microbes will help break down thatch; allow the lawn to take in nutrients
that have been locked up in the soil and improve water movement and
uptake (very important here in Central Texas.) Spring/Summer blooming
plants can get a lift by regular feeding with John’s Recipe. One
quart of John’s Recipe will make 32 gallons of foliar feed.
Bugs are Back
They’re back - the bugs are starting to be a problem. Roger and
John have been doing tests here at the nursery and have been having
great success with the certified organic pesticide Diatect V. It is
a mixture of Diatomaceous Earth (D.E.) and pyrethrin. It does not have
piperonyl butoxide as many other D.E./ Pyrethrin mixes do. Some of the
harder to control bugs that we have success with include four-line bugs,
squash bugs, stink bugs, harlequin bugs and other hard-shell bugs. It
is best applied with an applicator to really get the dust where the
bugs are - on the underside of leaves and the ground where they jump
when they are disturbed. We have several different types. Roger’s
and John’s favorites include the pest pistol, which is
a simple accordion style pump bottle, and the dustin-mizer
which is a hand-crank applicator that electrically charges the dust
particle so it is attracted and sticks the plant - a must for large
gardens. When you apply this product, you must take care not to inhale
the very sharp silica particles of the D.E.
See our April To-Do List
See our April Articles:
Reflections on Life and Organic Gardening
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Old Bee Cave Road
