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 ello fellow Earthlings
and welcome to the rainy season yeah right. Although it is raining
as I am writing this column, it has been a very dry year so far.
This week's column is for all of you gardeners that are champing
at the bit to get out into the garden and do something during
what appears to be a brief wet season this year.
 The La Niña weather
pattern that has been so widely publicized this year, could very
well make it very expensive to garden during our warm season.
That is, of course, if the water departments get to raise our
rates because of a shortage, either real or manufactured. So
while you are contemplating that new rose garden or spring vegetable
plot, remember this word: MULCH!
A layer of just about any
type of organic matter over the top of your garden soil will
do wonders for your water conservation in the yard. Organic mulch
or compost insulates the soil from heat, drought, cold, and helps
to prevent runoff from our gardens onto the street and out into
the ocean or our local lakes. This reduces pollution of these
bodies of water, and thus improves water quality at the beaches
or from the tap. Those of you that have seen the polluted water
signs at Cardiff Reef or other local areas know how distressing
this can be, especially if the waves are good. Those of us that
like to recreate or fish in the local lakes know that the funky
green color and murkiness mean that swimming or water skiing
is a risk to our health. A lot of valuable work is being done
by environmental groups like the Surfrider Foundation and the
Clean Oceans Campaign. These groups are attempting to raise our
awareness of the fragile nature of the oceanic ecosystem. I have
a helpful solution to a small part of this problem: MULCH!
By mulching our garden soils,
we reduce and sometime actually eliminate runoff water from carrying
nutrients from fertilizers and chemicals from pesticides down
to these bodies of water. Mulch also acts as a sponge for excess
moisture, holding it in reserve for the plants in your garden.
These organic materials also provide a food source for a myriad
of beneficial soil organisms that will slowly but surely improve
the overall quality of your garden soil.
The trillions of microbes
that inhabit soils use organic matter for fuel in order to form
humus. Humus is a material that stabilizes soil pH, makes soils
more loose and friable, allows for better transmission of nutrients
to plants, and helps plants to resist disease more effectively
by the formation of salicylic acid. Mulch helps to feed microbial
activities in soil that also compete with disease organisms by
a process known as "competitive exclusion." This means
that beneficial bacterial and fungal activity is increased, and
pathogenic or pest varieties of bacteria and fungi are reduced
because of the presence of a continuous source of organic matter
to feed upon. So when you apply mulch to your garden, you're
fighting diseases and making your entire garden more pest resistant
as well.
Pest insect and disease pathogens
happily attack and devour stressed plant material. When plants
are healthy from the availability of natural sources of nutrition,
they can resist attacks by these organisms more effectively.
This will allow you an opportunity to spend less money on insecticides
and fungicides, while attracting pesticide sensitive beneficial
insects into the garden to clean up the small pest populations.
Nature did not intend for your cabbage to be entirely ravaged
by imported cabbage worms. She created the Trichogramma
wasp (don't be afraid, they don't sting) to parasitize these
worms so that you can eat.
The problem is that beneficial
insects are normally very sensitive to pesticides, and their
populations do not recover as quickly as pest species. So be
aware that when you apply pesticides to kill a single insect
pest, your not just wiping out the problem. Chemical runoff is
also a big problem for our local waters. So be kind to the garden
while your making our waters cleaner.
Organic mulches can be found
almost everywhere. Most reliable garden centers handle a variety
of good choices. My favorite is "Greenwaste mulch."
Greenwaste is the recycled yard waste that you put into that
special bin every week. There are several good sources for greenwaste
mulch around the county. Greenway compost is the one I most highly
recommend. Give Carolyn Chase a call at (760) 723.6648, and see
what they can do to help you save money in your garden while
helping to improved all of our environment. See you in the Garden!
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mill.net. Don Trotter's columns on environmentally responsible gardening appear nationally. Look for Don's new book Natural Gardening
A to Z coming this July from Hay House Publishing