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After the Soil3 Garden Show

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The Soil3 Garden Show gave us all plenty of opportunities to learn more about gardening and to make new gardening friends. I had great conversations with fellow-gardeners, and the handouts in our “swag bags” contained helpful information.

Information from presenters

Woman with long hair standing next to taller man, both middle ages, both wearing glasses, standing in front of a banner that says Small Garden News.
Me (Amy) with Ken, longtime gardening friend and leader at my local Plant A Row for the Hungry garden, who also attended the Soil3 event. PHOTO/C. Sqrow, another gardening friend!

Night Song Native Plant Nursery in Canton, GA, provided a list of native edible plants. Many of these are lower-care fruits, like elderberry, paw paw, persimmon, and mulberry. Unlike most cultivated apples, peaches, and pears, these native plants need very little (or zero) pruning or spraying.

The handout provided by Brie Arthur contains a summary of the main points of her Foodscape Revolution. It also includes a short list of ideas for limiting mammal-damage in the garden – like from deer.

I am adding her favorite deer repellent, I Must Garden brand, which incorporates botanical oils, to my post about protecting plants from deer. Just so you know – I cannot find confirmation that the product is OMRI-approved; strictly-organic gardeners will want to try PlantSkydd deer repellent, instead, even though it will smell less pleasant.

On display at the Garden Show

Of course, Soil3 offered an attractive discount on its cubic-yard bags of OMRI-approved compost. The sales tent was a busy place during breaks between presentations, and the main vendor area was also busy with gardeners considering purchases of plants and other garden-related items, and asking questions of the expert gardeners on site.

  • White tent, table covered with green cloth, and bright yellow bags of Soil3 artfully displayed.
    Soil3 display and sales tent at the garden show
  • Vendor area at the Soil3 Garden Show

Participation of local college students

Lanier Technical College horticulture program sold plants grown by its students, with proceeds supporting the program. Lanier Tech students also entered the Raised Bed Garden contest. They put together an “adaptive” garden space, for people with physical limitations.

The tilted container-beds that improve access to the far-side of the bed, the one container that rotates like a “lazy susan” serving tray, and the drainage system that keeps wheelchair-bound laps dry, were all impressive. I was told that the students took turns using a wheelchair and a walker to gain an understanding of the modifications that would be most helpful.

  • Wheelchair and walker by garden at table height that holds three container garden "beds".
    Raised bed demonstration garden built by Lanier Tech students.
  • Accessible garden container with edible plants including peppers.
    Garden “bed” is higher in back than in front.

If you bought plants last weekend

I hope no one north of Atlanta planted the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, and other summer vegetables that they took home. North Georgia had a freeze warning Sunday night, and none of those warm-season crops takes well to temperatures in the low 30s.

Most of the other plants, though, should be planted soon, if they haven’t been yet. That includes the dill, borage, fennel, and bee balm (Monarda) that I saw at Lanier Tech’s booth, and the fruiting shrubs and trees offered at the Night Song Native Plant nursery booth.

The attendees

I visited with many wonderful people, some of whom agreed to take home a tiny chicory plant – that I had brought to give away – to try in their gardens. For many gardeners, new crops are an adventure!

I also met a family that has a homestead business in Georgia, the Rehr family of Big Bear Homestead. We talked about gardening in Georgia, and I learned about their work with pastured animals and about rebalancing the local animal populations through trapping.

Best wishes for great gardening! – Amy

Soil3 Garden Show in Cumming, GA

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On Saturday, March 30, Small Garden News (aka: Amy) will be at the Soil3 Garden Show in Cumming, GA. The event will be at Silver City Farm, an inspiring setting; the weather is forecast to be warm and sunny; and there will be fellow-gardeners everywhere you look. It will be a great day!

Fall Garden Planning book explains how to choose crops, create a schedule, and prepare the garden for fall planting.
My book will be available at this Soil3 event.

The lineup of presentations, about organic gardening, mixed garden landscapes, and edible native plants, will be perfect for beginning the new garden season. In addition, there will be raised bed garden examples, as part of a competition, that could provide planting ideas for new gardeners.

Plants and garden-related items (including my book!) will be sold at the event’s Garden Market, and food trucks will be on site at lunchtime.

Soil3 is the product used the past few years at the local Plant-a-Row-for-the-Hungry (PAR) garden to fill raised beds and amend the soil of in-ground beds. If you want to see whether Soil3 really works in the garden, view pictures at my post about the Winter Harvest at that garden.

GGIA Trade Show Notes for Organic Gardeners

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The trade show at this year’s WinterGreen conference of the Georgia Green Industry Association (GGIA) provided a look at some new (and not so new) products and plants for organic gardeners. The event was held last week, in Duluth, GA.

Most vendors at the trade show specialized in ornamental (non-edible) plants, machinery for large operations, products for commercial nurseries, and chemical-companies, but I located some local/sustainable/organic-related vendors, to share with you.

Recycled plastic nursery pots

East Jordan Plastics, in Michigan, displayed planting trays, growing pots, and some larger containers made from recycled plastics. Many gardeners are concerned about the excessive use of plastics in gardening. It is good to know of a plant-product company that is working to cut back on plastic waste, by re-using containers and recycling other plastics to create new containers.

RootMaker pots

Image from the RootMaker catalog showing difference in root growth between sprout in regular pot versus sprout in RootMaker pot.
Image from RootMaker catalog.

RootMaker trays and pots for growing plants are the result of research in container design, with the goal of more robust root systems. The trays and containers that I examined seemed very sturdy — like they would last for years — and the informational literature was very compelling. The pots and trays have an unusual pattern of protrusions and holes inside, and those, according to the information, guide root growth into more-branched root systems.

I will be trying a RootMaker tray this year. The representative at the Trade Show did give me a couple of fabric liners, for use when growing plants in cinderblocks, so I cannot say that I am 100% unbiased. I will have to buy the tray, though.

Rice hulls for mulch

Until this trade show, I had not heard of using rice hulls as mulch in containers or as a substitute for perlite in planting mixes.

PBH brought samples of parboiled rice hulls, so people could see the actual product and understand how it can be used. The rice hulls are approved for use in organic systems. I did not bring home a little baggie of rice hulls, but I could have. There were plenty on the table. I did bring home the informational literature, to learn more.

Rice hulls pictured on the cover of an article titled "Rice Hulls 101".

PBH Nature’s Media Amendment is from Riceland Foods. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was. It makes sense that the rice industry would want to find a good use for this bi-product of rice production. Looks like they were successful.

Pope’s CBD oil

This isn’t organic and it isn’t about growing, but I did learn that Tennessee grows industrial hemp. The CBD oil was displayed in what was otherwise an all-succulent-plants booth, for Pope’s Plant Farm. CBD oil seems to be a popular product these days. If anyone was looking for a local (-ish) source of CBD oil, Pope’s Plant Farm is one place to try.

Display for Pope's Plant Farm at the 2019 GGIA Wintergreen Conference.

The little succulent plants in the Pope’s booth were very cute. If I were more of an indoor gardener, I would probably grow some. My oldest son in Colorado does grow little succulent plants, so I pay more attention to them than I used to.

Bottom’s Nursery for fruit trees and other plants

Its plants are not organically grown, but after they are planted, most of the varieties at Bottoms Nursery will not need intensive programs of chemical sprays. All the varieties I saw in the catalog are relatively easy-care fruits that would do well when switched to organic management after planting, even in the South. Some are varieties that would do well in small space gardens.

Front cover of the 2019 catalog for Bottoms Nursery, which is in Concord, GA.

The fruit trees at the back of the booth are what attracted my attention. The first tagged tree I noticed was a Kieffer pear, which I know to be both hardy and a producer of good-tasting fruit.

I wasn’t the only person drawn to the booth of Bottoms Nursery. Another vendor was there, discussing trees and other plants to order, to sell in his General Supply store.

General Supply, Inc, in Blairseville, GA

General Supply is the kind of “everything” store that makes some gardeners go into raptures. This is the store mentioned above that will be selling plants from Bottoms Nursery, but it is also a source of tools, pet supplies, small farm supplies, and a million more interesting things.

Hand tools display in General Supply booth at GGIA 2019 Wintergreen Conference.

Of course, hand-tools are pretty appealing for gardeners working in small space gardens. We don’t need a large assortment of full-sized equipment for our little plots, but good tools make the work easier.

I was especially interested in the Truper brand tools (long-reach 15″ length, ash wood handles, sturdy forged “business ends”), but a full line of Corona tools — which are long-lasting and easy to use — was also on display.

The guy at the booth (so sorry that I did not record his name!) and I discussed the ergonomic benefit of tools that have the “business end” at a right-angle to the handle, when he showed me another tool designed for easier use.

Two Corona brand pruners, showing a difference in angle of the cutting edges.

The pruner on the right, in the nearby image of two Corona-brand pruners, has a different angle for the cutting edges. Do you see the difference? According to the guy in the booth, the angled pruner on the right would be easier to use on some branches, because it allows your arm and wrist to stay aligned, rather than to bend.

I haven’t tried it, so I don’t whether that really works, but I would be interested to try. When late-winter pruning time comes around (soon!), it would be good to avoid aggravating old injuries.

Gardeners heading toward the Blairesville area might want to put this store on their list of places-to-visit.

What else happens at the GGIA WinterGreen conference?

In addition to the trade show, the event provides continuing education opportunities for commercial lawn and garden folks. I did attend a workshop about Beneficial Insects, but that story is for another post.

Good Garden Soil

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Small farm with red clay soil in north Georgia produces a lot of good food.

Several gardening books I’ve read include the note that good garden soil is a sandy loam, rich in organic matter. My yard’s soil is naturally a massive gob of red clay — like in the nearby photo — not at all what is recommended.

Red clay is actually not all bad. It holds nutrients much better than sandy soil, so it doesn’t need as much fertilizer. It also holds water — sometimes too well! — which means it is slow to dry out. When it does get dry, it becomes brick-hard and tough to dig.

Plants benefit from the nutrient-holding and water-holding capacity of clay soil. The problem is that the clay compacts and does not allow roots to move easily through the soil, and it doesn’t have good air spaces (which roots need).

Not every yard in this area has such dense red clay as mine. When we first moved here (in 1990), and for years afterward, an older gentleman in Kennesaw grew roses, lots and lots of roses, out near the road on Cherokee Street.

I stopped to talk with him once, when I saw him out tending his roses. He said that a friend brought him a truckload of oak leaves to use for mulch each year, but that his yard had naturally good soil. That comment stunned me into speechlessness for a moment — my experience was so different!

Most people I talk to around here have soil like mine. This may be why so many new gardeners use raised beds filled with soil mixes that don’t include clay.

My gardens, though, are not in raised beds. They are in the ground, in that red clay. I add amendments like compost (from my yard) and soil conditioner (from a garden center) to increase the organic matter and microbial activity. The amendments make the clay soil a more welcoming place for the roots of my crops.

How to create good garden soil from red clay

Tumbling type compost bin

A recommendation from Cooperative Extension’s “Ask an Expert” page for improving clay soil, is below. The picture of the compost bin nearby, though, is a clue about at least one important amendment.

Here is the Extension Expert’s recommendation:

  • Choose an organic soil amendment like composted yard waste, rotten leaves, or well-rotted manure (make sure any composted manure does not contain residual herbicides!). Material that is well-rotted will not smell unpleasant; it will smell like the earth.
  • Spread a 3 to 4 inch layer of your chosen amendment on top of the clay soil; work it down into the soil about 6 to 8 inches.
  • After the compost has been worked into the soil, you can spread an inch or two layer of sand on top and gently spade it in.
  • Before planting in spring, lay on another 2-3 inch layer of compost and work it into the soil, about 6 to 8 inches down (the depth of a shovel blade).

Walter Reeves, The Georgia Gardener, has an updated article on Soil – Bed Preparation that suggests bagged soil conditioner as an alternate for compost. His article also suggests adding Permatil to the mix, to keep the clay soil looser, as the composts and soil conditioner decompose and disappear.

Permatil is expanded shale, and it creates air spaces in the soil. I have added a similar product to part of my upper garden, an area I don’t re-amend as often as the veggie area because it has some perennials (permanent plants).

If you can’t find Permatil but are interested in trying something similar, look for Espoma’s Soil Perfecter, bits of kiln-fired “ceramic mineral” that works in a similar way to open up air spaces in the soil.

Nutrients and pH?

The Extension recommendation above does not address soil pH (acid level) or fertility/nutrients. The Expert who answered the question may have assumed that everyone will know to send a soil sample to their state’s soil lab (Georgia’s is at UGA, in Athens) through their local Cooperative Extension office.

If you are not sending a soil sample to your state’s soil lab, consider buying a pH test kit (see my article on Soil pH and Garden Success for more information). For fertility, if you don’t have a soil lab recommendation for fertilizer, choose an organic-approved garden fertilizer and follow the package directions. To learn more about nutrient sources for your garden, check out my articles on Potassium Sources for an Organic Garden and on Fish Emulsion Fertilizers.

Dig soil when ground is not soggy

You will know your clay soil is dry enough for digging when you can squeeze a handful of it and it breaks up into bits. You should not be able to roll it into the kind of snake-shapes that can be coiled to make pottery bowls.

Clay soil needs to be not-soggy at digging time, partly so you can get the clay to let go of your shovel and partly so it won’t reform into giant, brick-like clods when the lumps finally dry. Digging in wet clay soil also causes it to compact, making it lose the air spaces that are vital to healthy plant roots.

Winter is a great time to work on improving garden soil or to create new planting beds. Here in the South, we have some pleasantly cool afternoons mixed in with the cold ones, which means we have good opportunities for working outdoors.

Right now, though, the ground is squishy under my feet when I walk in the yard. I just need to wait for the rain to stop and the ground to get drier.

Snails in the Garden

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We are in December, with below freezing temperatures at night, but there are still a few snails in the garden. Their continued presence among the greens (chicory, kale, lettuce, rocket) tells about the long season of rain leading up to winter here in north Georgia.

Snail on a chicory leaf, early December in Georgia.

I haven’t seen any serious damage to my plants, so I am not concerned about the snails. To be honest, I am amazed by their persistence in the cold.

If there were very many snails, and a lot of damage to crops, I would set out some organic-approved iron-phosphate bait. The one I have used most recently is called Sluggo, but there are many similar baits, with the same active ingredient, that work.

When I have used the iron-phosphate bait, it was actually for roly-polies, many years ago. For some reason their population had boomed, and roly-polies roiled every square inch of ground in the garden. These critters usually eat decaying organic matter, but there were so many of them that they started eating seedlings in the garden. That was a problem, but the Sluggo iron-phosphate bait for slugs and snails works on roly-polies, too.

It took a couple of years of persistent use of the bait to beat back the roly-polies, but my garden hasn’t been invaded like that again.

The Royal Horticulture Society (RHS), in the UK, where slugs and snails commonly invade gardens and farms and cause a lot of damage, has been studying methods of slug and snail control. Earlier this fall, the BBC reported on an RHS study of home-methods, using things like crushed egg shells, sharp sand, and copper strips to keep the pests away from garden crops.

The study found that none of those things really work, which is sad news for those of us who like to “DIY” as much of our gardening as possible. They had not yet tested beer-traps (beer in shallow saucers, set around the garden, to lure and then drown slugs and snails), so there may be one method left for us to use, other than placing boards in the garden for the pests to hide under, then turning the boards over to pick off the critters by hand to drown or otherwise dispatch.

In another RHS study, effectiveness of iron-phosphate baits and another organic control, nematodes that target slugs and snails, was compared to conventional (chemical) control options. The organic methods did almost as well as the chemicals. Based on my roly-poly experience, I would have guessed this outcome, but it is nice to have that guess confirmed.

Gifts for Gardeners in Winter

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Gardeners will be spending less time in their gardens over the next couple of months. Colder weather means slower-growing weeds and slower-growing crops, so there is less work to do. For many of us, though, our thinking-about-gardens is still on full-speed.

Indoor projects can help use up some of that gardening-energy. If your gardener could use a wintertime project, here are some garden-related gift ideas to consider:

Stepping Stone Kit: I went to a big garden expo in August, and one booth showed kits for garden stepping stones. The projects were super-cute! This is a fun joint project for an adult plus child.

Flower Press and Idea Book: There aren’t many flowers in our gardens now to place in a plant press, but crafty gardeners who love flowers can get ready for flower-season (most of the year, here in the South) by reading an inspirational book (below). Information about the flower press — shown at left — on Amazon.com indicates that it is for kids, but my flower press, that I use as an adult, looks similar (different picture on the front).

My copy of Penny Black’s Book of Cards and Collages , along with my own flower press, has helped me make many beautiful cards over the years, mostly in the slower, wintertime season. This book, or a different one of your choosing, might inspire your favorite gardener, too.

Looking for a more practical gift? Try a very nice food dehydrator, to preserve your gardener’s harvest, paired with a book of recipes for the resulting dehydrated foods, so the preserved harvest is used to its fullest.

My Excaliber dehydrator, which I love, is the smaller, 5-tray version, but I should have bought the 9-tray version (shown to the right of this text).

The Ultimate Healthy Dehydrator Cookbook isn’t a primer on how to dehydrate your garden produce — a booklet with those instructions comes with the Excaliber dehydrator. Instead, this book explains how to use those dehydrated foods in every-day recipes.

Something that might be less practical, but that I thought was very funny and yet also useful when I saw it at that big garden expo, is a set of Outdoor Yard Drinkholder stakes. Setting your cup/thermos in one of these, near where you are working in the garden, would keep it high enough off the ground that dirt and debris is less likely to fly into your beverage.

The stakes would also reduce the risk of spills (how many times have I accidentally knocked over my water/tea/coffee while weeding?). I can imagine placing these strategically around the yard in the morning, so there will always be one near where I am working.

The linked set is multicolored, but the stakes also come in what may be considered a more tasteful color combo of white and black.

Fall Garden Planning book explains how to choose crops, create a schedule, and prepare the garden for fall planting.

Of course, there is also my very own book about planning the fall vegetable garden, Fall Garden Planning, which would be an Excellent gift for any gardener in the Southeastern U.S. (but my view is probably biased…).

If none of these ideas seems right for your gardener, you might check out the gift idea lists of some of my gardening friends:

New Page About Wildflowers in Tuscany

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I am working on a page for this website that is a little off-topic. It is about wildflowers in Tuscany. The new page is partly for the couple-of-hundred Cobb County Master Gardeners who love Italy, especially Tuscany, and most-especially Montepulciano, where we have stayed. The page is also partly to provide an easy way for me to help people who are curious about the flowers they see next summer, when we go back to Italy for Joe’s job one more time.

View from the roadside on one of my walks in Tuscany - wildflowers, vineyards, and olive groves.
View from one of my walks in Tuscany.

One of my favorite activities of the past couple of summers has been walking through the countryside around Montepulciano, passing vineyards and olive groves, to see the local plants/flowers and their associated insects. Plants growing within the hilltop towns, which are nearly completely paved and have very little exposed soil, have also been a source of amazement. 

While in Italy, I studied the ways container plants in front of buildings can tell about a building’s purpose. I paid attention to the mix of flowers along roadsides and in meadows, and considered how to recreate similar-looking mixes in the rainy, humid Southeastern U.S. I watched the pollinators, and saw a lack of diversity in the butterflies, but also an abundance of flower-flies and solitary bees. 

Flowers of clematis vine, with a solitary- bee.

The biggest surprise has been how many plants  I can identify on-sight, without even thinking hard, because I have seen them here in the U.S. Dandelion is an easy one, but elderberry grows all over Tuscany, too. It turns out that many common weeds here in the U.S. are not native here. They are classified as being “introduced,” and they came from the Mediterranean region of the world.

An abundantly fruiting elderberry, near Montepulciano, Tuscany.

This is not all bad news for the U.S., since many of these weeds either are edible or they have medicinal properties. They are useful plants.

I saw many dandelions in Tuscany.

You can see some of them now, on the new — but incomplete — Tuscany Wildflowers page of this website. I will continue to update the page over the next few months, so check back occasionally to see the new content.

Winter Harvests at Plant a Row for the Hungry

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The local Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) gardeners plan to cut back on their whole-group meetings through much of the winter. That doesn’t mean the gardeners won’t still be providing garden-fresh produce to a local food pantry, but it does mean that they are using the reduced workload of the winter garden to take a break.

Instead of meeting as a whole group every week (the usual schedule), PAR gardeners are signing up in pairs to harvest and deliver greens and root-crops. If the garden seems to need more attention, larger-group workdays can be scheduled, but those will be less frequent. There is no need for watering or continuous weeding, and no more heavy work like spreading mulch, until spring comes back around. 

Fall crops at Plant a Row for the Hungry Garden, well-grown and ready for harvest.
Fall crops at Plant a Row for the Hungry Garden, well-grown and ready for harvest.

Last week’s workday was the last major workday for the season. While some gardeners harvested, weighed, and bagged greens for delivery, others pulled the last of the peppers and eggplants. A freeze was tentatively forecast for the weekend, with a bigger chance of freezing early this week. An early-week freeze looks less likely as the target-dates get closer, but it was good to move those plants out of the garden while there was a small crowd of gardeners to complete the task.

Even better, there was a basket-load of peppers to deliver to the food pantry, in addition to the greens.

Kale and garlic share a bed at the Plant a Row for the Hungry garden. Kale can be harvested all winter. Garlic will be harvested in summer.
Kale and garlic share a bed at the Plant a Row for the Hungry garden. Kale can be harvested all winter. Garlic will be harvested in summer.

In the next week or so, the irrigation system will be turned off.  Turning the system off and draining it for the winter will protect the equipment from freeze damage. This is a more complicated task (than pulling up old crops, for example) to prepare the garden for cold weather, but it is important for the success of next spring’s garden.

Trio of gardeners harvesting lettuces and kale from the first planting bed.
Trio of gardeners harvesting lettuces and kale from the first planting bed.

Gardeners who are new to fall/winter gardening in the South may be unsure about how much to harvest each week from the garden. It may help to know the guidelines the PAR gardeners discussed, to guide their harvest of winter crops:

Closer view of one 'Red Russian' kale plant that has plenty of big leaves ready for harvest.
Closer view of one ‘Red Russian’ kale plant that has plenty of big leaves ready for harvest.
  1. For leafy greens, harvest lowest/outer/larger leaves.
  2. Harvest no more than 1/3 of the mass of any leafy greens plant each week.
  3. Wait for warm-enough temperatures (above 32 degrees F, with no frost on the leaves) to harvest any/all of the crops/
  4. For root crops (beets, daikon radishes, etc), pull the entire plant at harvest, including the leaves. Those are good food, too.
  5. For the broccoli, some leaves can be harvested before the actual head of broccoli is ready to harvest — leaves of broccoli plants taste pretty much like broccoli; harvest sparingly, though, so plants have enough energy to make a good-sized head of broccoli.

Hope that other gardens are doing as well as the PAR garden!

Is Gardening Really All About Bugs?

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Some weeks, it may seem like this blog is more about bugs than about plants. Isn’t gardening all about the plants? Well, it probably should be, but our gardens exist in the natural world, which is crowded with many kinds of life, including insects. Some of the insects are helper-insects, like pollinators and predators (“beneficials”). Other insects are destructive, eating our plants or spreading diseases across our landscapes (“pests”).

Some insects can be helpers as adults and pests in their larval stage. A lot of butterflies and moths are in this category. As adults, they pollinate flowers, helping plants to make fruits and seeds. As caterpillars (larval stage), they eat our plants. This dual life complicates a gardener’s decisions about how to manage caterpillars in the garden.

Which insects are “good” and which are “bad”? How can we know what to do when baby insects, like caterpillars, eat plants in our gardens? 

Skipper butterfly on a late-summer zinnia. PHOTO/Amygwh

For me, the decision often comes down to whether the insect specializes on one kind of plant, especially if I am not planning to eat that plant. A lot of the skipper butterfly larvae eat turfgrass. Bermudagrass is not my most favorite plant, so I am not troubled when  caterpillars are munching on the lawn.

However, the decision about how to manage pest insects in the garden could one-day disappear. You may remember the report last year of a study in Germany that showed a 75% loss of flying insects within the past few decades.

The authors of the study note:

The widespread insect biomass decline is alarming, ever more so as all traps were placed in protected areas that are meant to preserve ecosystem functions and biodiversity. While the gradual decline of rare insect species has been known for quite some time (e.g. specialized butterflies [9, 66]), our results illustrate an ongoing and rapid decline in total amount of airborne insects active in space and time.

Article appearing in PlosOne, 18 Oct. 2017

A recent article in the Washington Post, “‘Hyperalarming’ study shows massive insect loss,” tells about another long-term study in Puerto Rico that shows the same trend. We are losing insects of all kinds, and in great numbers. Why should we care? The article offers a reason:

Thirty-five percent of the world’s plant crops require pollination by bees, wasps and other animals. And arthropods are more than just pollinators. They’re the planet’s wee custodians, toiling away in unnoticed or avoided corners. They chew up rotting wood and eat carrion. 

Washington Post article by Ben Guarino, 15 Oct. 2018

To some gardeners, no longer having to worry about pest insects may sound like a dream come true. Sadly, the good and the bad go together. If we lose our pests, we also lose our helpers. This means we also lose a lot of good food and our “wee custodians”.

Like melons? They are pollinated by insects.

It may be possible for us to live on wind-pollinated crops, like wheat, corn, and beets, and on self-pollinated crops, like most of the beans. I don’t think we’d like that diet, though. In addition, being surrounded by rotting carcasses would make the situation extra-unpleasant.

While I don’t expect total losses of insects any time soon (or even in my lifetime), the thought of such a catastrophic loss of beauty and helpfulness is sobering. 

What can we do to change the situation? Well, any action that supports insect life could help slow the decline. Try this:

  • plant more wildflowers to support native pollinators,
  • allow more diverse plantings in our yards, to provide more places to live for more kinds of insects, and
  • refrain (as much as we can) from using pesticide products in ways that kill multiple kinds of insects instead of just the one pest that is “bugging” us.

One step that is both simple and difficult: plant clover in the lawn.

The Passing of a Gardener

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If you spend enough time in a garden, it will tell you about its gardener. The garden of my Mom and stepdad, Bill, mostly tended by Bill, is no exception. It is full of flowers, vegetables, and herbs,

The flowers are for beauty and for butterflies. Bill loved butterflies. Don’t tell my butterfly-conservation friends, but back when his eyesight was good (decades ago), Bill caught butterflies to use in art, posed with dried plants in box-frames.

Right now, the cosmos are providing nectar for migrating Monarchs, but Bill is not here to enjoy either the flowers or the butterflies, because my stepdad, Reverend Bill Shaw, passed away on Saturday, just a few days ago. When he and my Mom married, back in 1997, he and I became gardening buddies.

Bill, my Mom, and butterflies.

Bill’s Oklahoma garden always grew more vegetables than his household could eat. Tomatoes would take over the kitchen and peppers pile up in any bare spaces. The overabundance meant there was plenty to share.

The herbs are mostly for my Mom. They show that he loved her very much.

Bill’s garden reflects his preference for a well-ordered and tidy space. The plants are spaced far enough apart that there is room to work around them. His garden also shows that he could outsmart the groundhogs. 

When the groundhogs first invaded, he tried all kinds of traps and baits that didn’t work. The groundhogs ate the plants from below, while underground, which made catching them more difficult. Finally, Bill bought some plastic food-grade barrels, sawed them in half, then sunk the halves into the garden. He planted much of his garden in those half-barrels, which kept out the groundhogs.

Tomato plants, safe from groundhogs in the half-barrel in-ground planters.

This planting strategy shows the creativity of the gardener. No groundhogs were harmed, but the plants were protected.

Back when Bill’s hearing was better, we would talk on the phone about our gardens. He was my main source of information about old-time garden practices. I was his source for information about new varieties and crop diseases. 

I will miss Bill and our discussions about his latest plans for the garden. 

  • WWII veteran, U.S. Navy
  • At his 90th birthday party.