WELL HAS everyone managed to stick to their resolutions
and stay on the wagon? If you have, congratulations. If you
haven't, don't start singing songs of next year; climb back

on now.

Last week, { gave you a glimpse
of some of the benefits of organic
gardening. Not the least of which
was the adoption of a healthier at-
titude, a ‘*keep-fit’’ lifestyle, better
quality garden produce and a less
toxic home environment.

I want to be careful not to make
it sound too much like some high
blown exercise in raising the level
of your cosmic consciousness; that
disservice has been done before.

{1 would rather you simply
understand it for what it is: a rela-
tively simple way for you to im-
prove your. health, the health of
your garden and the health of your
pocketbook.

1 should also resist making it...

sound too easy because you will
need to get off of the couch occa-
‘sionally. Even so, I still say the
hardest part of the whole exercise
is the. development of a good
schedule and a sense of timing.
When. the work gets done is more
important’ than” how. hard you
work, 9 ay

A good: example is weeding.
Yyyyeeccckkk! For me, there is no
bigger or less rewarding job in the
garden; but it could be worse.
"Af L didn't remove the weeds in
early spring, before they flower, |
would have 10 times the problem.

Just as 1 would if I didn’t do regu-
lar, light weeding every other week
in order to keep that seed count
down.

Remembering to do small
amounts of work on a regular
basis is by far the better alte; native
to letting the work pilc unfit you
do, it-will be too tempting (6 spend
your money on some chemical
quick fix.

Here’s another one. {t’s no fun
spending $50 on five bags of ma-
nure, two bales of peat and a cou-
ple of bags of garden fertilizer.
Nor is it casy loading the stuff up,
dragging it home and blending it in
to the garden.

You'll have better, less expensive
results if you start a compost.
Believe it or not, it requires less
overall work if you can remember
to do the right things at the right
time, ;

These are two very obvious il-
lustrations of the benefits of this
type of gardening; there are many,
many more. Rather than attempt
to catalogue them all here, I will
do my best to define those arcas

that J believe to be of deepest con-

cern.

The first thing that jumps to
mind is the use (or should I say
non-use) of pesticides. It fits right

in there with discussions of nuclear
power, strip mining and acid rain.
These aie big topics, requiring
complex solutions too many of us
feel are beyond our control and
ous ability to deal with on a per-
sonal level.

Poisoning our gardens, however,
is something that we can take an
active interest in. A little Weed and
Feed for the lawn, just in case the
neighbor's dandelions decide to

17 ~ Friday, January 15, 1988 - North Shore News

“Triple Strength Kosmic Kill" that
you put on the garden.

Every time you spray pesticides
to kill 10 or 20 aphids you are like-
ly to kill a few ladybugs which
could feast on thousands. For
free!! Use jets of water, use soap
solutions, use bacillus thuringensis,
use your fingers, or use a
dandelion weed puller, but do not
use poisons.

If a particular problem is getting

over the

garden gate
by Geoff Tobiasson

invade. A little indulgence in the
art.of chemical warfare at the first
sighting of the lowly aphid. Or
maybe barricading the property
with Slug Killer because the guy on
the radio said slugs are the terror
of the Pacific Northwest.

’ And. herein lies the problem;
over-eager troops, champing at the
bit to use the newest high-tech
weapon on an imagined or rela-
tively innocuous cnemy. One or
two, or cven 10,000 pests in the
garden will do less harm than the

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out of control and it comes down
to 4 them-or-your-garden decision,
the intelligent use of the safest
possible pesticide can be tolerated.
The problem here is in determining
what is intelligent use and safest
possible?

Your friendly provincial gov-
ernment puts out a marvellous
book titled A Gardener's Guide To
Pest Prevention And Controf In
The Home And Garden.

At $8 it is one of the best buys
on the market. Send a cheque with
your title request to: Queen's
Printers Publication, Parliament
Buildings, Victoria, BC, V8W
46,

In most cases, they will suggest a
non-chemical solution to your
problems before they list chemical
solutions: please try these first.

The next area of concern is not
as clear cul as the use of poisons in
the garden: the use of chemical

” fertilizers versus organic.

You'll never kill yourself with a
simple lawn, tree and shrub or
flower and vegetable fertilizer, nor
will you cause noticeable damage
to the environment. They do,
however, have an impact.

A healthy soil is teeming with
micro organisms, as many as five
billion per teaspoon full. These
busy little creatures break down
the organic material in our soils
and convert the insoluble organic
chemicals into plant food,

So why not take the short cut
and supply the plants with the end
product; clean, easy, no muss, no
fuss. Two reasons: too many of
your little buddies in the soil would
eventually starve to death, leaving
you with a comparatively lifeless
sai; and so chernical fertilizer
could supply the amazing mix of
micro nutrients (stuff like iron,
zinc, cobalt, selenium) that comes
to our gardens from organic
source,

There is a feilow living on the
Gulf Islands who has developed an
amazing insight into this business
of organic: gardening. Peter Weis
was kind enough to compile his
thoughts on this and other subjects
into a book. called Weeds And
Seeds — a Gardener’s Companion.

It is a delight. to read as well as
being extremely informative. I
highly recommend it.

Ww,

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