11. April 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

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11. April 2010 by Carol Whitaker.

Spring is upon us and it’s time to do the work that will help your garden thrive throughout the coming growing seasons.Take a walk through the garden and have a look at your plants.

Notice if any have discolored or unnaturally curled or eaten looking leaves, or branches crawling with ants or dark colored branches. You are looking for the signs of pest insects.

In my garden I spied white fly already, and some scale on a couple of plants. Treat those problems first. Stay away from chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.

For a quick, easy, safe and cost effective remedy for pests and fungi, fill a water soluble fertilizer hose applicator with 1 part cheap cooking oil, 1/2 part liquid dish soap and 1/2 part alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Fill the balance with water and mix.  My applicator holds about 8 ounces. So I put an ounce of cooking oil, 1/2 ounce of dish soap, and a 1/2 ounce of hydrogen peroxide.

Don’t use the mixture on new seedlings.

I used it on everything that showed the signs of pests. And on plants showing signs of fungus. Due to our unusually cold and wet winter here in south Florida, I had several potted Cocoplums in duress due to a fungus. Be sure to soak the plant as well as the soil around and under the plants to be sure you have smothered your little garden pests and fungi.

This is a simple topical mix so it does not have any residual effect in your garden.

You might also try Neem oil, from the Neem Tree, as a pesticide or fungicide.

Copper fungicide is also considered safe and is used on organic crops.

After you have any pest problems addressed, it’s time to prune off any winter burn or any plants that are looking leggy and need to be filled out, as well as any plants that are getting too large and need to be thinned.

To thin a plant, cut the branches out at the base of growth, at the Y joint where it connects to another branch, or to thin it even more, cut the branch back all the way to the base at the soil.

To encourage a plant to grow fatter and fuller, cut it back at the tops of branches. Cut back 4 to 6 inches if you are trying to maintain it’s height and let it get taller. Cut back harder, as much as half the plant, if you are trying to keep it short or if it is really leggy and needs a lot of help.

Next it’s time to weed. If you aren’t the type who likes kneeling in the garden, plucking the weeds from the soil by hand, or digging them with a hoe, then use vinegar to kill the weeds.

Unlike many of the chemical pesticides on the market, vinegar will not buildup in the soil and cause herbicide toxicity which will weaken your plants over time.

Keep in mind the vinegar will kill whatever you spray and is not selective. So take careful aim.  I put my vinegar in a small gallon sprayer and use it on weeds that are not too close to my plant’s roots.

When the weeding is done, it’s time to top dress plants with a good compost or composted animal manure. Remember healthy soil is not just dirt. It’s alive and teeming with microorganisms important to the health of your soil and your plants.

Spread the compost around the area of the root of all your plants, or if you have enough, top all of the soil bed with the compost.

This will help put important beneficial fungi and bacteria in the soil, creating a healthy living soil and a symbiotic relationship between roots and soil. Doing this regularly, at least each spring, if not several times a year, will make your plants healthier and more disease and pest resistant.

I add horse manure compost from a local horse ranch to my compost. And top dress with the horse manure compost in spring. This way I’m certain that I’m not using a product filled with estrogens and antibiotics, and God knows what else, used in the feeding of food animals. Remember mad cow disease was discovered to be a result of forcing cows to be cannibals, feeding them their own dead.

Mushroom compost has also been found to be a fine soil additive with nutrient value.

Next it’s time mulch. Be sure to use a natural mulch and not a dyed recycled construction debris wood mulch. The construction debris mulch has been found to have formaldehyde and arsenic in it by University of Miami and University of Florida researchers.

So, though it sounds like a good thing in theory to buy a recycled product, in this case it is not!  When children and pets walk on it and when you are applying it, these carcinogens can be absorbed into your skin. The theory is that the plants will take the poisons up into them. Well often this is true. If  you are growing food crops or herbs you are likely to be eating these poisons if you are growing in recycled wood mulch.These products, like the other chemical products put more dangerous pollutants into the soil, water supply and the air.

Also, stay away from unnatural, manufactured mulches, like rubber or plastic. These products do not break down in the soil and provide no nutrient value to your soil or plants the way natural mulches do. Their manufacture also puts pollutants into the atmosphere.

Choose a natural product. Use bark chips, dried leaves, hay, pine needles and the like. You get the picture. In my area, we can buy maleluca bark, eucalyptus bark, pine bark,  and even cypress.

Though cypress comes from a native plant and may be best to forgo.

Spread your mulch about 3 inches thick. Thick enough to help keep weeds at bay and help hold moisture in the soil, and protect plants’ roots from the heat, without depriving the soil of oxygen.

Be sure to leave a little breathing room close to the trunks of plants and trees.

Water well and let nature take it’s course.

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