All the Dirt on Gardening

The American Society of Landscape Architecture reports that the trend in gardening is toward sustainable, low-maintenance gardens that are easier on the environment and the gardeners themselves.  All of these ideas favored by survey respondents make sense and many should be on the top of of our lists. Here are the top ten project types with the expected highest consumer demand: Native plants (85 percent) Native/adapted drought-tolerant plants (83 percent) Food/vegetable gardens (79 percent) Fire pits/fireplaces (78 percent) Low-maintenance landscapes (78 percent) Permeable paving (77 percent) Drip/water-efficient irrigation (74 percent) Rain gardens (74 percent) Lighting (72 percent) Rainwater/graywater harvesting (71 percent) “Consumers care about designed landscapes that are attractive, easy to take care of and eco-friendly,” says Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA, executive vice president and CEO of ASLA. “The survey shows that homeowners increa...

The July issue of Avant Gardener is loaded with interesting articles. Topics include: Healthy eating, keeping chickens near a vegetable garden, natural swimming pools, cottage gardening, England's historic gardens, apps to help you identify plants, and much more. Avant Gardener is available by subscription and I'm providing this month's copy for you so you can see if you'd like to subscribe. Here's the link - July 2016 Avant Gardener

Of all the tests we take in a lifetime, a soil sample test can prove to be one of the more important ones for gardeners. The samples are taken from a variety of places around the garden and combined before being taken to your local extension office. The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture just posted a useful video of exactly what to do to get it right so your results accurately advise you on what to add to your soil to get the garden growing well. Here's a link to the video - http://kerrcenter.com/video/take-soil-sample-yield-accurate-soil-test/ If you want to grow a garden, a soil test can help a lot so you don't waste fertilizers and even plants that can't grow.

In study after study, we are learning that the volume of insects is greatly diminishing worldwide. From Yale Environment 360: According to data on more than 400 species, there has been a 45 percent drop in global invertebrate numbers over the past 40 years. In one annual survey in Germany, the average biomass of insects caught between May and October has decreased from 3.5 pounds per trap in 1989 to just 10.6 ounces in 2014. Scientists say various factors — from monoculture farming to pesticide use to habitat loss — are to blame for the plight of insects, which are essential to agriculture and functioning ecosystems. Schwägerl writes that researchers are racing to improve monitoring of these disappearing species. In Germany, only 37 insect species are closely tracked — a mere 0.12 percent of all species. “There's a risk we will only really take notice once it is too late," one scientist warns. There is more. Berlin based journalist Christian Schwagerl reports in GEO that...

In a university study, an entomologist found that experienced bees prefer not to share with newly hatched bees. You can click over to http://news.uoguelph.ca/2016/03/experienced-bumblebees-wont-share-newbies-study/ and read the article. It's fascinating that anyone figured out how to study the phenomenon! Here are some excerpts: “Understanding how bees find and compete for flowers in the landscape is a critical first step to conserving these insects and the essential pollination services they provide to crops and wild plants,” said Raine, who holds the Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation. Like other pollinators, bees face complex routing challenges when collecting nectar and pollen. This includes learning how to link patches of flowers together in the most efficient way to minimize travel and distance, the study said. Figuring out an optimal route takes time and experience. The researchers wondered whether bees copy others’ flower visitation sequences in the...

When we think of gardening for butterflies we think of native plants in sunny meadows but part shade works for butterfly gardening, too. So, don't despair if you'd like to see more butterflies in your yard and garden but have little full sun for the typical butterfly feeding plants, take heart. The Natural Web posted an article a few years ago that addresses shade butterfly gardening. The first point they make is that most butterflies need woody plants on which to raise their young and those plants create shade though reach for the sun. It's a lovely little pieceof writing and worth clicking over to read. Click on this link https://the-natural-web.org/2013/03/25/a-butterfly-garden-that-embraces-the-shade/

Here we are in July with the heat index well over 100 degrees daily. Even if you get up at 6 am to go out to the garden like we do, it is already 80 degrees and too hot to do much in the way of digging. Imagine how your garden plants are doing in the heat and mostly dry conditions. This is not the time to dig plants, prune plants, or divide them. The best, simple rule of thumb is to do all of those things right after flowering, in the cooler temperatures of the fall or in late-winter/early spring just as the plants are breaking dormancy. If you dig up the roots of a plant now or even give it a hard pruning, you stand the chance of losing it because it is so hard for them to recover in summer's conditions. So, just remember (memorize) 'prune after bloom' and remember that that includes any other action that disrupts your plants at the roots. For now, just be compassionate: mulch the roots so they stay as cool as possible and deep water very early in the morning s...

Texas Invasives is a website that informs readers of what's happening in the world of invasive insects, plants and diseases. This month's newsletter covers a variety of topics including: Reed, Soapberry Borers, and a dozen other interesting topics. Click over to the link above and read what they are up to as well as signing up for their newsletter.