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Nature’s Way Resources owner John Ferguson, “The Lazy Gardener” Brenda Beust Smith and Pablo Hernandez welcome your feedback and are so grateful to the many horticulturists who contribute their expertise

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RECOGNIZE THIS LAZY GARDENING ADVICE?

BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH 

ONE OF THE MOST PUBLICIZED TRENDS IN GARDENING — say those who know these things — is HANDS-OFF GARDENING. (May not have stolen
my name, but the general approach is the same!)

We’re all always looking for new labor-saving ideas, right? As near as I can research, this exact approach below comes from “The Autopilot Garden” by Luke Marion. My kind of gardening!

LUKE’S “Hands-Off Gardening” minimizes direct human intervention and maintenance, allowing plants to thrive with minimal input, where plants support each other and a garden essentially manages itself. (Personally, my guru is Mother Nature. I try to do what she does. But his ideas are interesting.)

Some of Luke’s general suggestions: Mulch well (if you don’t already) with local successful trees’ leaves (instead of setting them out with garbage), use rain barrels & drip irrigation. All these will help tremendously during what’s predicted to be a horrible summer.

One of the best ways to learn about gardening in your specific Greater Houston area? Volunteer at one of this area’s literally hundreds of Community Gardens. Looking for one in your area? Or, want to start one? Urban Harvest is the place to begin: urbanharvest.org/gardens/

Many successful community gardens start out very small — a vacant lot used with permission, neighbors whose gardening urges supersede their own available space, a school wanting children to learn where food comes from, a church with now-vacant “future expansion” space . . .

Community gardens can be found in all sizes and area locations. One of my favorites: Dominican Garden (www.domhou.org/) near the Texas Medical Center. This 30-year-old, small, five-raised-beds garden donates food to Star of Hope for Women and Children.

Happy to share this report from

Dominican Garden’s Debbie Leflar

At Dominican Sisters garden we donate everything to Star of Hope for Women and Children so we want to produce as much as we can in our 5 raised beds. These work well for us.

• Provider’ (green beans) – heavy producer, bulk seed planted 2-3 times a season. Can get 2-3 pickings if we get good rain.
• Banana and Bell peppers – plants from box store.
• LaSota new potatoes – we cut them so there’s an “eye” in each piece then dust with sulphur prior to planting.
• Beauregard sweet potatoes – order slips (sometimes grow our own). We put newspaper and alfalfa under plants to avoid vines rooting. We want all the energy to go to the main vine for good
  production.
• Sweet Success cucumbers – very hybrid seeds we get from Parks – heavy producer, can get large with very little seeds, hence we cannot save seeds for replanting.
• Z-best okra – very heavy producer, tall plants. Pods do not have ridges and even if they get long they’re still tender. We save seeds from year to year.
• Sweet 100s cherry tomatoes – have to find plants as soon as we can. Celebrity, Champion, Early Girl large tomatoes – when we can find the plants. Squirrels are our biggest problem then stink bugs. Occasionally we have blossom end rot but a tea made with good quality compost is
  often beneficial.
• Dancer, Ichiban, and Black Beauty eggplants -we find plants as soon
  as available.
• Snow Peas – we save seeds from year to year.
• Bright Lights swiss chard – we plant seeds.
• Asian Mustard – Heavy producer and not as spicy as other mustards. Seeds collected from year to year.
• Curly Mustard – plant from seeds.
• Collards – we plant seeds.
• Cabbage – we find plants at box store. Problem with loopers on occasion.
• Purple Top turnips – we plant seeds and thin as needed.
• Danverse Long carrots -we plant bulk seeds. (Do not plant near dill).
• Detroit Red beets – we plant seeds.
• Parsley, Dill, Sage, Mexican Marigold Mint (tarragon), Basil, Cilantro,
• Rosemary – we plant from seeds; rosemary is a plant and our tarragon
  grows wild. We get rosemary plants from nurseries/plant salesand rotate
  our plantings.

We also plant onions early (red, yellow, white) what we can find . When the bulbs begin to form, we knock tops down which encourages growth in the bulb.

We follow Bob Randall’s Planting Guide, which is updated regularly. We also use MicroLife and compost from Nature’s Way Resources. Dr. Bob Randall’s book is the best resource for gardening in the Houston area, I highly recommend it!

— Debbie Leflar

EDITOR’S NOTES: Dr. Bob Randall, Urban Harvest co-founder, and the UH staff publish their annual, regularly updated, free, online Greater Houston area Planting guides, which can be downloaded at: urbanharvest.org/gardening-advice/gardening-basics-and-planting-guides/

Check the calendar below for Greater Houston’s

numerous vegetable gardening educational events!

Too much sun can trigger dehydration,heat exhaustion, sunstroke or other , especially for folks over 60. Go inside if you experience: painful muscle spasms, often in legs, abdomen, or arms, accompanied by heavy sweating; headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, and fatigue, altered mental state (confusion, delirium, seizures), change in sweating (dry), skin irritations, red bumps (neck, upper chest, skin folds); fainting, dizziness, Rapid breathing or pulse, throbbing headache, muscle twitching or seizures, reduced appetite. 

• ATTN. GARDEN/PLANT GROUPS —  Nature’s Way Resources offers free guided tours of NWR’s extensive nursery/soil/mulch facilities for garden clubs, plant societies and other plant-oriented, organized groups. As usual, NWR’s now-expanded meeting site is free to above groups. Reservations a must for both. Great time to visit!

• SUBMITTING CALENDAR EVENTS?: For next upcoming newsletter, submit in exact format (see top of calendar below. Reformatting = delay)

John’s Corner

NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD

OF SOIL AND PLANTS 

Subject: Fungi, nutrient recovery, pollinators, nitrogen and phosphorus

Fungi, Nutrient Recovery

We have known for some time that fungi form beneficial relationships with plants if we let them. Plants share many of the carbon-rich molecules they make from photosynthesis with fungi, anywhere from 4% to 40% of the total. In return, fungi collect and provide nitrogen and phosphorus along with other elements to the plant.

Research from several universities South Dakota Agricultural Station, University of Amsterdam, University of British Columbia, and several others have found that it is a supply and demand relationship.

A host plant is colonized by multiple fungi species at the same time, and the host plant knows exactly which fungi are providing the benefits. The plant can distinguish between good and bad fungi and allocate resources accordingly.

These fungi also form common mycorrhizal networks that give them access to multiple hosts and act as trading partners by collecting elements that are high in one area and delivering them to a plant without the elements in a different area. Messages about insect pests or disease issues can also be transmitted. This is sometimes referred to as the “Wood Wide Web”.

One of the studies examined 31 different isolates of 10 arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species, each providing different benefits. The high-performance isolates increased biomass and nutrient uptake by 170%.

Other fungal isolates protected the plant from drought, salinity, heavy metals, and diseases.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus

An old wife’s tale says if you urinate on your plants, they will grow better. Research has now found that each human on average excretes 1.32 pounds (0.6 kg) of phosphorus each year, and 58% is in a soluble form in our urine, which does help plants grow better.

As a result, some Waste Water Treatment Plants are now beginning to capture this phosphorus (and other elements) from the sewage sludge they process. They use new technology that allows them to capture and remove struvite, which is magnesium ammonium phosphate (MgNH4PO4 . 6H20). This can then be used in fertilizers.

Pollinators

A study from the University of Texas has found that increasing the diversity of pollinator species, including bees, flies, and butterflies, can dramatically increase cotton production by 18%. Journal of Agricultural Ecosystems and Environment 2016. This is another example of the benefits of having a lot of plant diversity in our landscapes.

Heirloom plant species often work better at attracting pollinators as they are richer in nutrients in their pollen and nectar. Planting flowering plants that flower at different times also helps create pollinator diversity.

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