Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

I can’t rave enough about hairy vetch. I need to get going ASAP and order seeds to plant for fall!

It’s a legume (adds nitrogen to the soil) and a good cover crop. In spring, you can do a variety of things with it: til it into the soil for a green manure, mow it and use as a good mulch, or do what I do: leave it.

It brings the ladybugs in like crazy (plus bees and other good creatures), it’s pretty as all get out, and it really keeps the weeds down. I’m going to plant it in every bare spot this fall, including on top of lasagna starts, and I expect to have few weeds in spring. In every spot I planted, hardly a weed at all.

Then I simply plant “into” the vetch, making a little spot for plants (and making sure they have enough room and sun), and that’s it. In mid summer, it dies back into a good mulch and continues the weed suppression.

You can get hairy vetch seeds at some seed stores, but Johnny’s has it, and they have it in small quantities. I think I’ll probably just get a pound. The seed store kind of laughed when I bought one pound, but I don’t farm hundreds of acres. I must be the only one buying it, because they haven’t had it in stock the last year or so.

Johnny’s also has the inoculant, which I’ve never used. I’m thinking I’ll try that this year. You’re supposed to use it to get the nitrogen going. So I think I’ll add some nitrogen back into the soil.

My other rave is kaolin clay, marketed for the home gardener as Surround WP. I bought five pounds last year (I think from Gardens Alive?) and only used it mid season this year. Next year, I’ll be using it from day one. It’s fun to spray, kind of cool looking when it dries, and it really stopped the flea beetles immediately.

But everything I’ve read about it seems to suggest using it early in the season to confuse and repel bad guys. My problem bugs are cucumber beetles, leafhoppers and squash vine borers. So that’s going to be my main bug warrior (besides my beneficials) for next year.

I have lots of big changes planned for 2009, including new, raised beds. I’ll be obsessing about it all winter long and spending too much time on the seed company websites.

Tags: beneficial insects, kaolin clay
Posted in Organic Gardening | 1 Comment »

I’m starting to become a convert to kaolin clay. It’s been used on orchard fruits for awhile, with success. The great thing about it is that you don’t harm any insects, most importantly, the beneficials. (I don’t mind harming the bad guys, but so often, when you set out to kill some of them, you end up killing some good ones in the process.)

Here’s an interesting technique from Johnny Seeds (great blog!), where they actually dip seedlings in the liquid. In the video, she says it also helps with transplant shock. Interesting.

http://growingideas.johnnyseeds.com/2008/07/video-from-farm.html

I bought a bag of the Surround last year, but only started using it this year. I didn’t really have any bad bugs last year, so didn’t have much need. It’s hard to find in smaller-sized bags for the home gardener. I bought mine in a 5-pound bag from Gardens Alive, and next year, I’ll probably buy a 10-pound bag. Usually, you have to buy much larger amounts, costing over 100 bucks. Johnny Seeds also seems to have smaller bags, but I can’t tell how much “1 unit” is. Five pounds? Ten pounds?

Anyway, you mix the powder with water in a sprayer (you should invest in a good sprayer if you’re going to do this, but you should have one anyway, right, for that compost tea?). Then you spray everything and it dries to a white coating. The coating confuses bugs, plus repels them because it tastes bad and makes sticky feet. It also has some benefits regarding sun scald.

I can repel cucumber beetles (Satan), squash bugs, Japanese beetles, bean beetles, leaf hoppers, grasshoppers and so on. I’m really starting to believe in this stuff. Oh, and it just stops the flea beetles completely. I get a lot of those guys on my eggplants. (They do more ornamental damage than anything, but still, nice to stop them.)

For some reason, I find the act of going around the gardens with my sprayer to be a very satisfying task.

Tags: kaolin clay
Posted in Organic Gardening | 2 Comments »

Here’s a link to the instructions from Gardens Alive about Kaolin Clay.

This says it also can help with deer and rabbit damage. Good to know. I saw a cutie rabbit in the neighbor’s yard yesterday. I really miss my neighbors’ pet rabbits. I got free poo.

This clay will also repel (according to the info) Jap. beetles, cuke beetles (the reason I bought it), leafhoppers (I had a major infestation the first year I went organic), thrips, aphids and many, many more. I’m going to try and remember to take my camera outside when I go to spray and do before and after. I’ve seen pics of plants sprayed with it, and it’s not very attractive. But even though I do enjoy the beauty of my cucurbits climbing their teepees, I’m more about live plants than the look.

There really don’t seem to be many gardeners using this stuff. Maybe it’s too new? To me, it seems like the perfect stuff because it doesn’t actually kill anyone, which means your beneficials are safe. I dunno.

So I’m headed out now to start the spraying. Hopefully this is bye bye to the Japanese beetles, at least on the hibiscus (not blooming yet), and ciao to the cucumber beetle and his dirty mouth.

Tags: kaolin clay
Posted in Organic Gardening | No Comments »