Things to Do in May
Now is the time to work really, really hard. The temperatures are not as hot as they are going to be. The soil is moist making it easier to work in and the soil temperature is still low allowing plants roots to grow faster.
Compost
Add compost and other additives to your beds as you turn them. Lava sand, greensand, humate, zeolite, rock phosphate colloidal clay, etc. Place compost as a mulch so that the water going through it will make a tea and feed the plants roots from above. Like the forest floor.
Annuals
This is the time to start plating your annual flowers. The head start will allow the roots to establish permitting the plants to find moisture in the hot summer months. Salvia, geraniums, impatiens, begonias, Mexican heather, zinnias, purple fountain grass and all of your favorite seasonal colors. Wait until soil temperatures are warm enough for caladium bulbs and make sure you add rock phosphate colloidal clay indirect contact with the bulb at time of planting.
Perennials
We have a great selection of perennials at this time, but try to make sure that you buy plants that are going to bloom at different times of the year so that NATURALLY your garden will always be in bloom. If you don't have a lot of time to devote to gardening, perennials are a good choice and somewhat easy to maintain.
Lawns
Aerate now. If the rain has stopped in your area this is a good time to help get oxygen into the soil.
This can also be done with hydrogen peroxide, but this is only a temporary cure. If you are curious, put two tablespoons of Hydrogen peroxide in a gallon of water and apply over a 500 to 1000 square foot area. Within days you will see the color of the grass change to a darker green.
Fertilize, and overseed the lawn with your summer grasses now. Bermuda, is a perfect choice for full sun areas where you already have grasses growing in full sun. Buffalo seed can be applied but you should really clear the area of other vegetation to give it more of a chance. It takes about three years to establish a buffalo lawn from seed. Fertilize your spring blooming trees and shrubs now. Roses are heavy eaters and should be fed often. Use all purpose organic fertilizers or make a mixture of cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, sulp-o-mag and Epsom salts. When proportioning your mixture follow the above list from more cottonseed meal to less Epsom salts.
Vegetables
By now you should already have you vegetables planted if not come on in and buy transplants tomatoes, carrots squash, cucumber, pumpkins, and peppers. Most people forget to plant herbs in the garden and I want to know why? If you are going to pick your vegetables for dinner have your herbs planted in the same area for easy access.
Remember you do not want water to bounce off the soil and back on to the plant, specially true for tomatoes. Watering tomatoes with a Osaka hose or large milk containers with holes punched in the bottom can conserve water and may reduce the spread of fungal diseases.
Don’t wait to long to stake tomatoes and other plants that require support. Cages or long poles are easily used for supporting plants.
Slugs, Snails & Pillbugs
All the rains and warm temperatures we had are going to bring these pest out in force, reefer to past newsletters for help in controlling these plant eaters. Look for slime trails and catch these guys, bare handed if needed. Attract toads, lizards and birds to the garden Use traps and other deterrents to help save your plants.
Fire Ants & Insects
Fire ants and other insects should be controlled as soon as you see them. Look for fire ants in your a/c unit. Take the unit apart on the side that the electricity connects to it and make sure that there are no ants there. If you do see them turn off the electricity to the unit before attempting to remove the ants.
For other insects go out into the garden, but remember that many insects are nocturnal. After all your neighbors have gone to sleep, lets say 3:00 am, wake up your kids,(this will be a learning experience for them) get dressed in army fatigues or dark clothing, grab a flashlight, and start looking for bugs on plants. Look at the bottom side of the leaves and around stems of flowers like impatiens and begonias, pick off large insects or spray with Citrus Oil diluted in water. If your neighbors ask you what you were doing last night just tell them that your wife had been working in he lawn the day before and lost her diamond ring and you thought that it would be easier to find in the dark.
Weeds
Weeds are indicator plants. Something is not right in your yard. If you are just now converting over to an organic program step up the use of minerals. If you have been organic for over two tears and you still have a lot of weeds it may be wise to get a soil test. We recommend Texas Plant and Soil Lab in Edinburgh Texas. Contact them at 210-383-0739. Ask them for the Howard Garrett Special.
Did you know that you can hear Howard Garrett on the web. Go to his website for more details.
Most Asked Questions in the Last Week of April
- What are all those green balls on my oak trees?
They are bee stings or galls, nothing to worry about. - There are a lot of worms on the trunks of my trees?
Caterpillars. Spray a BT product and that will control them. - Powdery substance on my crape myrtles and roses?
Powdery mildew. Foliar spray baking soda or another natural fungicide. - I have little bugs on the bark of my Yaupon and Wax Myrtles?
Bark Aphids. Spay neem, pyrethrum or release lady bugs or greenlace wings.
What Is Humate?
Menefee Mining Corporation, Humate is the highly compressed and biodegraded remains of ancient plants and animals. Composted, fermented and changed far below the earth's surface, the buried plants and animals were distilled down to complex organic molecules and minerals. When this material is mined and applied to soils, it augments the capacity of soils to promote plant growth and productivity. Being completely natural, humates have good compatibility with plants and soils without adverse environmental effects.
Humates have a wide range of applications in addition to their use as soil amendments. Used as an ingredient, they function as spray adjuvants, pigment and dye dispersants, drilling mud additives, and corrosion inhibitors.
Added as fillers, they chelate and improve the effects of fertilizers; as adsorbents and carriers, they enhance retention and activity of some pesticides; as nutritional components, they assist in the absorption of nutrients; as filters, they absorb pollutants and odors from wastewater. In medical and veterinary studies, they have shown anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, stimulating the activity of the human immune system and promoting healing after surgery.
The ability to do so many diverse things is explained by the molecular structure of humate. Humates and humic acids are very "surface active" complexes that hold elements (and fertilizer nutrients) strongly. They are excellent chelating agents which provide "time release" availability of the materials with which they are applied.
In soil, they enhance the capacity to hold and exchange mineral nutrients with plant roots. They also promote greater absorption and utilization of nutrients applied to foliage. As they are organic and high in carbon, humates and humic acids buffer and safen chemicals with which they are applied, preventing phytotoxicity and "burn."
Are all Humates Alike?
Humates from different sources have different chemical and physical properties depending on where they come from.
Plants respond differently to humic fertilizers according to their method of preparation. Therefore, consistency of source and the quality and consistency of the method of extraction and the preparation are especially important in soil fertility potential and the choice of humic acid source.
All humates are not alike. Some are more active and higher in quality than others. Humates mined from New Mexico's Menefee Formation are known to be among the world's highest quality natural humate deposits.
Green Sense GreenMate is a natural humic based water soluble powder derived from Menefee Humate® for use as an ingredient in balanced fertility programs as a foliar nutrient spray or soil drench for plant growth and development.
Benefits
- Chelates macro and micro nutrients and makes them more available for plant utilization.
- Improves seed germination.
- Stimulates root and shoot growth.
- Stimulates soil bacteria.
- Increases cation exchange capacity of soil.
- Formulated for maximum compatibility with chemical and organic fertilizers and pesticides.
Application Rates
Agriculture Soil Applications
Apply eight 16 ozs/A (560 gm to 1.1 kg/H) for drip irrigation.
Apply banded, in furrow, side-dressed, or through flood, furrow or drip irrigation.
Foliar Applications
Apply two to four ozs/A (140 gm to 280 gm/H) with fertilizer.
Turf Grass
Apply one ounce (28 gm) per 2500 square feet (230 square meters) every three to four weeks alone or with fertilizer.
Ornamentals Apply one ounce (28 gm) as a drench anone or with fertilizer every 30 to 60 days. Use 0.5 ounces (14 gm per one inch of pot diameter or three to four ounces (84 to 112 gm) per plant for landscape ornamentals.
On Every Lawn Some Do Must Fall
My wife, Sandra, took our fat dog Alfred to the vet for his annual checkup. When the Dr. put Alfred on the scale, it broke. The Dr. decided that Alfred should be put on a strict diet and should get more excise. I went to the Dr. (not the same one) and he told me that I should take brisk walks at least three times a week. These walks were intended to get my mind off the job and relieve some stress. Well, Sandra, my wife, decided that I should be the one to walk the dog which was fine as long as Alfred did not have to stop and do.
One day as I was walking Alfred we came upon a house in the “hood” that had just received a load of sand. Not sandy loam but construction sand. I wondered what they were going to do with it and I thought that it might used for a walkway or a circular drive.
A couple of days passed and I noticed that the sand was no longer there and had been replaced with about the same amount of our beautiful black gumbo. My curiosity took over and I walked onto the yard to get a better look at what was going on. Not to my surprise I noticed that a new bed had been created with the construction sand.
“What are you doing on my lawn?” I heard someone say out loud.
“I was just trying to see what you were doing with all this sand” I said meekly.
“Why did your dog do his mess on my yard?” she barked.
“Oh, I am sorry, I did not notice” I said as I tried kicking Alfred’s pile under some shrubs.
Wow this lady was not nice. She told me things about my parents that I did not know about. And insisted that I get of her property immediately. “And take that fat dog with you” she ordered.
Well that was it Alfred came unglued, you can yell at my master he barked, but don’t call me fat. I was doing my best to hold this beast back as I retreated from this neighbors lawn.
In a way I was hoping that the leash would break and Alfred would jump on this lady’s throat and rip it to pieces. “Cookie”, I commanded and Alfred immediately obeyed his order as he started to wag his tail and look cute again.
Feeling upset and a little stressed I went back home and laid down on the couch. I do not know how long it was before I had the door ring and Victor came running to me. “Daddy” he whispered thinking that I was asleep. “Daddy, there is a policemen at the door and he wants to talk to you. “Curses they finally caught up to me. I knew I could not hide forever. I told Victor my ten year old son.
Victor’s face turned white. I thought he was going to faint. “Tell him I am not here, that I went to buy milk”, I tried to act as I was scheming my escape.
“Daddy you can run but you can’t hide, they will find you again” he reasoned.
I walked to the door with Victor and as I approached the officer I raised my hands above my head and surrendered.
The bewildered policeman did not know what to say at first and then asked me if I was Mr. Rohde. “No” I said as I pointed to Victor, “he is”. Victor’s hair stood on end as he looked at me with fright in his eyes.
Mr. Rohde, the officer said. I am here about your dog defecating on Mrs. Sandra ... ’s lawn earlier today”
“Defa...what I asked”
“Dumping,” Victor said with relief in his eyes that his dad was not being arrested for murder.
“You have to be kidding?”
And then it dawned on me. Sandra, my wife’s name, when I was being yelled at by my neighbor she looked just like my wife when she yells at me. Steam comes out of the ears, the eyes send out bolts of light, and well the policeman asked if I saw Alfred “defecate” on Mrs. Sandra’s lawn.
“No”, I answered truthfully.
“Did you kick some under the shrubs?” he questioned politely.
“I can’t recall” I lied, honestly.
“Did you know that your dogs mess should be cleaned up, blah, blah, blah.” he went on.
Now all I could think of was what a neighbor this Sandra was. I was thinking about renting an elephant and taking it for a walk over to her house.
“How much is the fine?” I asked.
“I will not issue a citation this time but please clean up after your dog” he cautioned.
“How much is the fine?” I asked again.
“Around $50.00”, he said.
I called around to see if I could rent an elephant, but could not find one.
Victor and I decided to collect all the dog poop we could and put it in a bag. We were going to set the bag on fire, ring the doorbell and run. Well that was the plan until Victor told Sandra, my wife. Wow. Did I tell you about the lightning from the eyes. “What is the matter with you, they’re going to know who did it...blah, blah, blah. I was grounded. Sandra did not let me go on a walk for two weeks and when I did I happened by Mrs. Sandra’s house.
Did I feel good. There she was on her hands and knees pulling weeds out of her newly landscaped bed. I wanted to tell her that the weeds she was pulling was nut grass and that every time she pulled one she more then likely was breaking the nut and creating 100 more.
But, Alfred was with me and he would probably “defecate” on her yard and start a whole new incident, so I moseyed along.
It rained that night and the next day I walked by Mrs. Sandra’s lawn and noticed that the sidewalk was covered with pine bark mulch. Now I could see the bed was completely overgrown with nutgrass. Part of me was laughing, the other part, the hairs on my big toe, felt somewhat sorry for her. I decided that the neighborly thing to do was to leave a business card and see if I could help.
To my amazement I received a phone call the next morning from Mrs. Sandra and went out to see her that night. When she opened the door and saw me she seemed surprised at my presence. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I am Gregory Rohde and I am the one that left you a card and talked to you this morning.” I was noticing her face turning red and I was enjoying every second of it, but being a better person then her I suggested that we forget the past and see what could be done to correct her landscape.
We decided that we should remove 1/2 of the sand and rototill the remaining sand with the gumbo below it. Bring in enough compost to bring up the grade for proper drainage and till this into the existing mix. After this was done we replanted the shrubs that she had and carefully placed cardboard and newspaper to cover the entire beds leaving openings around the shrubs to allow moisture and air to the desirable plants. We covered the bed in hardwood mulch giving this a nice finished look. Mrs. Sandra was to spray the foliage of the plants on a weekly basis with a foliar application of fish & kelp.
Two months passed by and Alfred and I went out for a walk. We came to Mrs. Sandra’s house and she was working in her yard so I approached her and decided that we should look under a section of the cardboard and paper to see how things were going. The nutgrass was still their but had turned white and very small. We covered the bed up again and put down more newspaper. Another two months passed and Alfred and I went by her house again. This time we checked several areas and found that the nutgrass was dead.
Success! We decided that we would leave the cardboard and newspaper to rot by itself.
As we were leaving I noticed that Alfred was finishing up some bidness. I acted as if I did not see anything. Mrs. Sandra grabbed a shovel, scooped up the poop and threw it under the shrubs as if nothing ever happened.