Thanks to all of you who responded to last week’s Tip of the Week with comments and questions. It’s nice to know you’re reading! Some of you asked about the bulk compost deliveries, and others asked when my book will come out. So, yes, Winterwood Farms will deliver bulk compost to your home, too. And, I don’t know exactly when the lawn book will be out on the street, but right now the goal is October or November of 2006. That’s if I get the book written by Feb. 1 . . . and that’s not all that far away.
It was also interesting to me that some of you questioned why I’d be traveling to South Carolina to research gardening information. How could our Northeast readers possibly benefit, you asked?
I always think of a classic George Harrison line from a Beatles song when someone asks a question like that. In the “Inner Light,” he wrote, “The farther one travels, the less one knows.” Every time I travel, or Dr. Rick travels for that matter, we inevitably learn things that we can bring back home for the benefit of our readers.
I was in South Carolina to learn about Southern or “warm-season” turfgrass varieties, since that’s not my area of expertise in the book. Granted, most of what I learned isn’t applicable up here — since Bermudagrass, centipedegrass and bahiagrass won’t make it north of North Carolina — but I found it amazing how soil dynamics are fairly universal. For at least 50 years or so, most of us really have had it somewhat wrong in the way we have gardened and cared for our lawns. We look at things like NPK — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — when we really should be examining soil bacteria, protozoa, fungi, mycorrhize, enzymes and endophytes.
It’s too bad, really, that the microscopic components of healthy soil have such seemingly complicated names that remind us of a high school biology test gone wrong. The chemical industry has fed us simplicity and we have devoured the meal, to the tune of more than 80 million pounds of pesticides on home lawns each year.
So what’s the tip of this week after all this? Begin this fall by learning about your soil and what will make it healthy. Go on-line to find information. Go on your email and ask questions. Visit organicare.com, sustainablegrowth.com or soilfoodweb.com, three sites that celebrate the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham, who has proven beyond doubt that natural gardening provides a better solution for the planet.
In my travels, recently, I was able to look at soil under a microscope, just as Dr. Ingham has done for the past several years at Oregon State University. In lay terms, organic soil is alive! Microscopic organisms are crawling everywhere. Under that same microscope, chemically treated soil often appears as if it’s on life support, with little activity.
I came away thinking about soil the same way I think about my own body, as if it’s a balance between red blood cells and white blood cells. Too many white blood cells and we’re in trouble. Too much bad stuff in the soil and it can’t sustain other life.
This fall, look around your garage and assess your chemical usage as it relates to gardening. Either use up what you have left or take it to a dumping station for toxic chemicals and be done with it. Order yourself a load of compost — the more local the better — or bring in some manure from a local farmer.
Vow to make some changes in your own yard and you’ll be doing your part to help the world. Get educated and you can make a difference.
Here’s how Dr. Ingham recently made a difference. You probably never read about this anywhere, and yet this story has the most profound of implications.
Presenting at the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification in New Zealand, Dr. Ingham told the story of a genetically modified bacterium called Klebsiella planticola, which had passed many governmental assessment processes and was nearing final approval for introduction into the marketplace. Proponents of this genetically modified organism said it had the potential to replace fossil fuel as an energy source because it could aid in the production of a cheaper alcohol alternative. As the bacterium processes dead plants, it causes the alcohol to be released.
No one talked about any side effects, however. Byproducts from the residue of the dead plants, which still contained the genetically modified bacterium, would be used as organic fertilizer on crops.
That all seemed great . . . except that no one tested this fertilizer on LIVING plants.
That’s where Dr. Ingham came in. Her research team found that the bacterium, in the presence of live plants, produced a lethal dose of alcohol — five times more than any plant could handle. Within seven days, the plants exposed to the bacterium died and turned to rotten, slimy residue. If this bacterium had been released in a wide geographic area, it would have wiped out life as we know it.
Imagine if this product had been released to the world at large. Know that it almost was.
As a backyard gardener, it is difficult for us to understand all of this and most of us won’t even try. It is easy, however, to garden safely and organically. If we all do, then companies may eventually stop trying to find us better chemicals and genetically modified super products that have untold consequences.
As the soil food web tells us, everything is connected. The smallest of bacteria to the largest of animals. The burning of fossil fuels and the changing of weather patterns. A negative action causes another negative action we might not even consider.
Paul Tukey - November 1, 2005.
