By
Anna Schmidt
Start
with soil:
Plants need well-drained soil with plenty of nutrients.
Follow these steps to make sure your soil drains well.
·
Limit use of
the rototiller because it destroys soil structure. Instead
use a garden fork to break up the ground.
·
Mushroom
compost from a garden center provides an affordable way to
put organic matter back into soil.
·
Rotate the
plants you grow in your garden every season so that the same
nutrients aren’t depleted year after year. Follow a
shallow-rooted plant, such as lettuce with a deep-rooted
plant, such as tomato, to help break up the soil.
·
Don’t walk
on the garden because it causes compaction, which breaks
down soil structure and reduces its ability to drain.
A
world of bugs:
When
healthy plants grow in healthy soil, a diversity of insects
follows. The key is to establish enough beneficial bugs to
control the bad ones. It’s actually very simple. To
provide a habitat for beneficial insects, such as ladybugs,
wasps and spiders, keep flowering plants in the garden as
long as possible. Don’t spray insecticides that kill all
bugs indiscriminately. Instead, monitor an outbreak of bad
bugs, and use a spray made specifically for those.
Even
more options:
Gardening naturally does not mean abandoning all chemicals
and simply letting all those predators have free range and
first taste of all your hard work. When necessary, use a
host of naturally derived, perfectly safe chemicals to
ensure the balance doesn’t get out of whack. Here are some
commonly available natural insecticides listed in order of
their strength. Start with the mildest treatment to limit
inadvertently damaging beneficial insects.
·
Neem oil – a
naturally derived oil from the neem tree that controls a
wide range of insects, including beetles, caterpillars and
thrips
·
Insecticidal
soap – soapy water that suffocates insects
·
Diatomaceous
soap – a natural powder that kills soft-skinned insects such
as caterpillars
·
Pyrethrums –
strong, naturally derived pesticides that kill pests such as
beetles, aphids and caterpillars on contact
What
about weeds?
If a
“natural” garden breeds images of shoulder-high grass and
spending your weekends battling the Bermuda, breathe deeply
– there is hope. The best way to minimize how much effort
you spend weeding is to prevent the weeds from having a
chance to grow. Here are some easy tips to do just that.
·
Don’t let
weeds go to seed
·
Cover
exposed soil with straw mulch or purchase some landscape
fabric
·
Water only
the plants you are trying to grow. Water deeply and
infrequently
·
Plant hour
vegetables close enough together so they will create a
“living mulch,” with the mature plants’ leaves touching on e
another. This keeps the soil cool and prevents moisture
evaporation
Keys
to a successful natural garden
·
Use lots of
compost to build up soil health
·
Encourage a
diversity of insects by having flowering plants in the
garden all the time
·
Select
disease-resistant plants from reliable sources and buy only
healthy seedlings
·
Don’t leave
soil exposed to eroding winds, rain and passing weed seeds.
Healthy benefits
·
Increase
your intake of vitamin C and trace minerals by eating fresh
vegetables grown organically
·
Reduce your
exposure to harmful insecticides by using natural-based
garden supplements
·
Save money
by growing your own produce
Tree and Shrub Planting
Guidelines
Be patient
with your daffodil and crocus foliage. Even though
many of the blooms have finished for the season allow the
old leaves to stand until they start to yellow on their own.
The next few
weeks are critical to successful blooms for next year.
Once the blooms have faded the foliage is storing food to
produce the flower buds for next year's color.
After the
leaves have turned yellow, cut them off even with the
ground. Many gardeners plant daylilies with their
daffodils so the new daylily foliage will help hide the
yellowing daffodil leaves. Richard Nunnally
Dogwoods
should do well in a wooded area as long as it is
well-drained. While our native dogwood, Cornus
florida,is a natural understory plant, it doesn't do
well in wet places. The native plant, with its white
blooms is available through many garden centers across
Virginia. There are a number of good hybrid varieties
including the 'Cherokee' series: 'Cherokee Brave', 'Cherokee
Chief' and 'Cherokee Princess.' 'Cloud 9 is another
good hybrid sporting profuse white flowers. Richard
Nunnally
Gardenias:
These fragrant white blossoms, offer associated with
adorning hair a la Billie Holliday, can delight the
senses, especially if planted under windows. 'Chuck Hayes'
and 'Klein's Hardy' do well in this area because of their
hardiness. 'Kein's Hardy' is the more fragrant of the
two. These wonderful plants will bloom from early
spring until frost.