The Organic Gardening Club of Garland and the Lakeside Communities

The monthly meeting of the Lakeside Organic Garden Club takes place on the first Sunday of each month at 2:00 pm in the little red schoolhouse at Rohde's Nursery in Garland, TX.

Topic: Growing Food Crops in Our Garden by Leon Harney of the First Men’s Garden Club of Dallas.

Location: Rohde's Nursery at 1651 Wall Street, Garland, TX 75041

Next meeting: Sunday, March 7, 2004 at 2:00 pm in Rohde's little red schoolhouse.

Free and open to the public.

Sue Brown, PR & Marketing
Lakeside Organic Garden Club
Phone: 972.203.9170
susan_c_brown@hotmail.com

Garland Native Plant Society

"Unusual Herbs for Texas" - March 21^st at 2:30 pm. Peter Schaar will speak on unusual herbs, some of which are natives or "near natives" and some of which are not. Many of them are in our gardens for non-culinary reasons anyway, so they will not be strange or unavailable.

Contact Brigette Vinton at 972-348-5295 or bvinton@alldata.net for details.

Things To Do In March:

One thing that I do not want you to do for now is trim OAKS!! Wait until August before trimming any more oaks and this will minimize your trees’ risk of contracting Oak Wilt.

Prune Roses now if you have not already done so, unless they are an early spring bloomer like Lady Banks, Seven Sisters, Fortuniana, Fortune’s Double Yellow, and Anemone, to name a few. Fertilize roses on a monthly basis with GreenSense Rose Food. About a cup per rose from now until September should keep your roses blooming and healthy. Remember healthy plants get fewer insect and disease problems. Control aphids by applying GreenSense Kelp directly to the foliage of the plant. If you see an aphid infestation apply Ultra Fine Dormant Oil two days before releasing Lady Bugs or Green Lace Wings. Beneficial nematodes will help control Thrips. Thrips are those worms like insects that burrow into the rose bud leaving ugly holes in the flower.

Crape Myrtles. Pruning Crape Myrtles is a personal decision. However in the last few years we have pruned Crape Myrtles only if the branches became a risk to pedestrians, vehicles or structures. In the last few years we have received more complaints from customers that their CM’s have bloomed less than normal. Last year we pruned about 50 percent of the CM’s on customers’properties. In some cases, where CM’s were not as important in a landscape, we left them alone. Upon inspection, the CM’s that had been trimmed had about twice as many blooms as those that had not been trimmed. In the homes where we had trimmed some of the CM’s and not trimmed others, those that were trimmed had more blooms, proving that it was not an environment thing. One other noticeable difference was that trimming CM’s improved air circulation reducing Powdery Mildew in all the trees.

Perennials. Finish transplanting perennials now; overcrowded or improper placement of plants can be corrected now. Cut back dead foliage and prune any plants that may have gotten too large for their location. Place a thin layer of compost on the soil around all plants and then place another layer of mulch to protect the soil around the plant. This will eventually breakdown creating more organic matter in the soil that will help plants flourish. As the plants flower pinch back spent blooms and stake plants that have weak stems. Weak stems may be a sign of phosphorus deficiencies. Fertilize plants on a regular basis with GreenSense Foliar Juice applications. It is now known that plants stems will also absorb nutrients. I still like using a pump sprayer over a hose end sprayer for economical reason as well as being able to avoid over spraying walls or outdoor furniture.

Grass. There is still time to apply CGM if you use it as a pre-emergent. Remember that if you use it in gardens or flowerbeds it may impede germination of desired perennial seeds or vegetables. Apply at a rate of 20 pounds per thousand square feet. If possible add Greensense Humate to your CGM. This will make a very good organic fertilizer. Humate in itself is an efficient weed control. It works by improving the soil and adding much needed trace minerals. I have seen better results with Humate then I have with CGM on grass burs.

Mow the lawn just an inch lower than last year’s final mowing. This will help spruce up the lawn and remove some of the old grass without exposing bare soils, which may allow weed seeds to contact the soil and germinate.

If you do not use CGM do fertilize the soil with a complete fertilizer such as GreenSense. It is not to early since you are working with the soils and want to increase microbial activity. GreenSense fertilizers contain molasses and will help encourage microbial activity. As a matter of fact, unlike chemical fertilizers that contain clay fillers that do nothing for the soil, every ingredient in Greensense Fertilizers contributes to soil fertility, promotes microbial activity and improves the texture of the soil.

A thin layer of compost can be placed over the lawn. With time this may help correct most soil deficiencies and improve moisture retention. Again I must remind you that healthy soils will help eliminate most gardening problems.

Fire Ants. Now that we are getting rain, fire ant mounds will be popping up. The best time to kill thousands of fire ants is when the mound is above ground because the rain literally flooded their homes. By using even boiling hot water you will be able to kill many of the ants that are in the top surface of the mound. **Use extreme caution when using boiling water** Hot water on skin can peel it right off.

GreenSense Soil Drench contains d-limonene that will kill ants on contact. The trick is to make sure that you apply enough Soil Drench to the mound so that it overflows from that mound.

A Traveling Man

Most of my customers and friends know that one of my biggest pleasures in life is to travel to different parts of the world with my family. There is nothing that I enjoy more then seeing the expressions of awe and delight when we see some unusual painting or ancient building. As much as I love to travel, business trips just seem to wear me down so much that in the last few years I have tried my best not to go to the different trades shows where we exhibit GreenSense Products.

At the beginning of 2004 my resolution was to be debt free in business by the end of the year. If I were traveling and saving the expenses paid to other coworkers such as mileage, airfare hotels and meals I would be able to save quite a bit of money. For example last year one trip made by a coworker to a trade show in Alabama cost over $1200.00 by the time all expenses were added up. I figured that if I drove a company car and stayed at a La Quinta Inn instead of the convention’s recommended hotel and if I ate at Subway, my expenses should run about $300.00 for a four-day trip. With that in mind I decided that I would do the first four trade shows of the year. These trips would take me to Kansas City, MO. Oklahoma City, OK, and Mobile AL. and back up to Tulsa Ok.

Wow, how exciting could this be?

I did try to make these trips more interesting by scheduling some free time for sightseeing. Even though I would only spend a few hours doing some out of work activities I hoped to enjoy these business trips.

On January 2, 2004 I left on my first trip, to Kansas City. I arrived the day before the trade show and decided to visit Boulevard Brewery for a free tour of their facility and free samples of some of the different beers brewed there. Later on I went to a park that memorialized one of the most influential man in the establishment of Kansas City, a French man by the name of Francois Chouteau. From the vantage point upon this hill I could see the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. This was the point from where Lewis and Clark left on their exploration of the western United States. The various fountains in the park had been drained for the winter but my imagination let me know how pretty the park must be in the spring. The rest of the trip was time served at a trade show and for the most part business related. Boring.

On January 17th I drove to Oklahoma City for another trade show. The Oklahoma Landscape Association trade show is notoriously boring and makes one wonder why the heck they go there. On Saturday, I may have talked to 50 or 60 people who even though seemed interested in organic products were not able to keep me interested in what I was doing.

At 5:00 pm the show ended, thank God! That first day was a killer. As soon as the show ended I went directly to The Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. There was a light rain falling under dark gray skies creating a very somber mood for the very few people present.

As I walked through the East Gate I immediately saw the reflecting pond and the shadows cast on it from the nearby trees. The shallow waters trickled soothingly into a recycling system that quietly let you think of the destruction caused and lives taken. Here by the pond I knew that I was trapped in time at 9:02 with The East Gate 9:01 behind me, The West and gate 9:03 directly in front. As I walked around the memorial I passed the Field Of Empty Chairs and wondered about the people whom they represented. How many children died? Fathers and Mothers?

Growing up in Peru explosions and acts of cowardly terrorism were not uncommon, but here in the US? This was not supposed to occur. It started to rain harder now, with large raindrops rolling off my face I walked away making it to The Survivor Tree. There I felt some comfort in the knowledge that not everyone present in the Murrah Federal Building died. Just like this tree many survivors still comfort their loved ones and embrace them everyday with their strong graceful limbs they protect them from rain and give them comfort.

I highly recommend anyone that goes near Oklahoma City take some time to visit the Memorial. Beautifully designed as a way to remember and comfort us in the troubling times in which we live it is a must see for all.

Sunday morning I arrived at the convention center for yet another thrilling day at the Trade Show. By 11:00 am I had talked to 5 people and was falling asleep from boredom. The exhibitor next to me was as bored as I was so we decided to escape and head across the street to the Oklahoma Botanical Gardens.

The day was not pretty, there was still a light drizzle from the day before. We went in to the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory and I immediately wished that my wife Sandra were with me. The thousands of orchids just called out her name. As we walked inside this turned over beer can like structure I was amazed at the beauty and abundance of plants found in this location. Not only were there orchids, but also bromeliads, palm trees, cactus and an occasional butterfly. I climbed up a walkway that took you near the ceiling of this large glass structure to be amazed by “The Wall of Orchids”. Only 6 foot wide and 8 foot high this wall held about 100 orchids in different stages of blooms. Why I did not bring my camera I do not know but the beautiful image that I have easily come back with a blink of the eye. I have to bring Sandra here one day so that she too can enjoy the beauty of it all.

As we left the warmth of the conservatory we strolled through the gardens enjoying the number of ponds and trees that were part of this beautiful garden. You could spend hours walking around enjoying the beauty of the gardens if it were not for the cold rain. The rain that forced us back into the convention center and to a few more boring hours staring at the blank wall in front of my booth.

I had a week to relax at work before I had to get ready for my big trip to Mobile AL. Here is where I had budgeted all my expenses and wanted to see how much money I could save. I left Dallas two days before the show was to start so that I would have time to set up my booth and do some sight seeing. I thought that it might be fun to see the Mobile Arboretum while I was there. I hoped that it would be at least as nice as the one in Oklahoma City.

I arrived in Mobile around noon and after setting up my booth I went to the tourist desk to get directions to the Arboretum. The lady working at the desk thought that I might enjoy Bellingrath Gardens more then the arboretum even though I would have to drive an extra thirty minutes.

I decided to take her advice and was happy that I did.

For a minimal entrance fee I was able to meander through walkways that led you to and from numerous seating areas, natural spring fed fountains and several statues and iron works. I was amazed by what the city had done with some land that at one time was just tree covered swamp area by the Fowl River.

After walking past beds filled with permanent plantings of parsley as groundcover I came into the rose garden, designed as a labyrinth that led you past hundreds of roses. And into a greenhouse filled wall to wall with many tropical plants including Sandra’s favorite orchids.

As I left the greenhouse I found myself at the main garden surrounding the grand house built around 1930. Just a few feet from the house was a second building that housed a collection of porcelain collected by the Bellingrath’s and now on display. This was free so I went in and started to look at some beautiful pieces of porcelain. They were so beautiful that I actually was interested in looking at each piece and was captivated by their beauty and uniqueness. All of a sudden I heard a voice that happened to be the narrator for the film that was starting giving an explanation of Bellingrath Garden. To my surprise it was not the city that designed and created these beautiful gardens but it was the first Coca Cola franchisee in the City of Mobile Walter Bellingrath, who was recommended by his doctor to find a hobby other than work. His hobby turned out to be the beautification of this wild riverside property. With his wife Bessie and the help of an architect they created Bellingrath Gardens for which they later created a permanent foundation to ensure its longevity and beauty.

After I left the Porcelain Gallery I headed towards Mirror Lake. As I walked around the lake I noticed that on every side of its shores I could see the reflection on the waters as the lakes name a mirror.

I could go on and on about the beauty of Bellingrath Gardens, but I will just take you to one more place, one that I almost missed, The Japanese Garden. Getting ready to leave I noticed to my right a red circular bridge that stuck out like a sore thumb.

I decided to backtrack and find the path that would lead me to this bridge. Not only did I find the path, but so much more. I found pagodas, waterfalls and bridges all set in quiet seclusion perfect for mediation. I ended up spending two hours in this area enjoying the winter pleasure of the south. Camellias were in bloom so much that they looked like beautifully decorated Christmas trees. Birds were quietly singing while some rooted under bushes nearby.

As darkness started to cover the gardens I left feeling relaxed and excited about all the beauty I had seen that day only wishing that my family had been there with me to enjoy this experience. Maybe next year.

In Tulsa I had planed to visit some nurseries especially Binding Stevens but a mild winter storm blew in so I left as soon as I could in hoping to beat any accumulations of snow and ice. Glad to be through with my travels for a while.