Keep it Green, by Michael Womack
Archives
| Arts & Entertainment
| Audio/Video
| Business
| Classifieds
| Columns
| Food
| Forums
| Health & Fitness
| News
| Obits
| Opinions
| People
| Politics
| Science/Technology
| Search
| Sports
| Subscribe
| Travel
| Weather
Saturday, May 26, 2001
Keep your garden tidy when it's not green
As your garden withers in the summer heat, it is important to keep it free of plant debris to reduce insect and disease problems in your fall garden.
Insects and fungal spores are often found in unkempt gardens. They harbor in the soil, under leaf litter, and on slowly dying plant material. When conditions are right, the insect eggs hatch and the fungal spores germinate. Boom! You get a bumper crop of pests or disease instead of vegetables.
Keeping weeds under control is the first line of defense. Even if you aren't getting vegetable production out of the area during the hot summer, it is important to keep those weeds under control. Allowing weeds to grow in the "off-season" will increase your weed problems next fall. Remember the adage, "One year's seed is seven years' weeds."
All you have to do to reduce your future problems is to remove the weeds along with the dead and dying vegetable plant materials. These plants can be added to your compost pile, but you have to remember that it must be properly maintained and turned to allow the pile to heat up to the critical temperature of 160 degrees, which kills most weed seeds, fungal spores and insects. If you are afraid that your pile isn't heating up enough, dispose of the dead and diseased plants through regular yard waste pick-up.
For empty plots
If your garden plot is vacant, you might consider solar sterilization, a simple process that uses the blistering summer sun to your advantage. Covering your garden or flowerbed with clear plastic will cause the soil to heat up and kill weed seeds and fungi in the soil. Plastic can obtained in large sheets from your local hardware store or discount store.
Till or turn the soil prior to sterilization. It may be necessary to moisten the soil to make it more workable. Turning the soil will incorporate organic matter, loosen the soil and allow good air penetration and heat distribution. Afterward, make sure you moisten the soil to help with the heat distribution. Once the soil is ready, spread the plastic and fasten the corners.
Plastic can be stapled if you have raised-beds constructed out of landscape timbers or railroad ties; however, many gardeners have had problems keeping the wind from getting under the edges and ripping the plastic around the staples. Using strips of wood with small nails or stapling through cardboard strips will prevent wind from getting under the edges.
If your garden bed is not raised, bricks or scrap lumber can be used to hold the sides down.
Or use wood chips
If all of this sounds like a lot of work, another option to help keep the area clean is simply to remove all the plant debris and mulch with about 4 inches or more of wood chips. Newspaper covered by a generous portion of clean grass clippings will also work. That will help to minimize new weeds from germinating during the summer. But beware that a few might just pop up, so be prepared to do some spot weeding. At the end of the summer, you can till in the grass clippings and the newspaper as organic matter before you plant your fall garden.
The main thing to remember is that a clean garden is important at all times, not just when you're growing your produce. A little work now will prevent disease, insect and weed problems this fall.
Michael Womack is a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Got a question? Michael Womack will answer landscape and gardening questions. Call 886-4648, category 3025 to record your question. Write Keep It Green, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469 or email wm-womack@tamu.edu
2000 Caller-Times Publishing
Company, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All
rights reserved.
|
 |
 |
|
