Weedkiller Use

 

A bank collapses after weedkiller was applied, killing off the roots that held the soil together.

We have seen amazing progress in the garden this month. The warm sunny weather mixed in with showers has produced a profusion of beautiful spring growth. Not everyone sees the free flowing swathes of greenery as beauty though as a lot of gardeners and farmers seem to wage war against nature as soon as things start to grow by popping down to the shops and buying chemical weedkillers.

I was reading a gardening forum the other day; someone asked how to get rid of dandelions, daisies, thistles and moss from their garden lawn. They were going to use Hytrol, which is a total herbicide (kills everything) so there will be no grass, weeds or moss left after applying it. The other products on the market don’t fare much better either. Selective weedkillers containing MCPA and 2 4-D, are used for their low cost, not safety. 2,4-D is toxic to the liver at small dosages and has been used in chemical warfare. My advice was to learn to love the weeds and cut the grass often.

Weedkillers are just a temporary solution to the weeds. Taking a bit of time (and effort) to change the environment where the weeds grow will be a far more long term way of dealing with the issue.
Mary, a keen organic farmer and gardener from Greenhill farm says: “If a weed doesn't like where it is, it won't grow! For example you will only see docks in a compacted field, or on paths. People feel they need to eradicate these more because of 'what the neighbours think' than anything else. If your soil is loose and fertile, the docks will find somewhere to grow more successfully. If you keep taking away their light supply (i.e. cut off the leaves) they will also die. It's the mindset that's important, not the method. If you have patience and wait for the weeds to decide they're not welcome, you have won!"

Moss on the Lawn

Another question asked at this time of year is about killing moss on the lawn. Should you spray? I don’t think that’s necessary.
Solutions that appear the easiest (such as chemical weedkillers) are not the answer. Five easy steps are:
• Improve the drainage
• Mow often
• Aerate-adding sand into the holes
• Apply Sulphate of iron, mixed with organic fertilizer.
• Let nature do the rest

I guess you can tell I don't like weedkillers or the way that they are advertised like sweeties for gardeners with their colourful and amusing packaging promising us a life of weed free living. Applying chemicals to the garden are not a quick fix. The garden will need treating every year (poisoning wildlife, us and the land), unless you take natural measures to alter the way the land is working. As one reader observed “When you’re in the garden centres it seems that there are more items to kill things than make them grow"

Question Time

I put the question about using weedkillers to my gardening chums and there are a few landscapers who would use chemicals as a last resort. They would always follow the instructions and NEVER spray on a windy day. Most would also clear the ground manually first before applying the chemicals. Most other gardeners I asked seem to go for a more natural approach. Some solutions were:
• Spending about 20mins EVERY day going over the garden with a knife and kneeler.
• Using a garden flame thrower.
• Using natural products such as vinegar.

Here are some more interesting comments from gardeners:

"Isn’t that the challenge and the thrill??" referring to finding alternatives to weedkillers.
"We just have to learn to accept that nature is never "tidy, square monoculture." The more effort we put in to achieving this, the quicker nature will react to create the opposite"

"Outwitting nature as much as one can, yes that is a real challenge and gives great satisfaction. It will never produce the "perfect" solution but does that really matter as long as it gives you food and supports our striving for sustainability......"

“The proliferation of chemicals has largely occurred over the past fifty or so years and prior to that much more reliance was put on good cultural practices. Look at old gardening books, not a mention of pesticides! We should embrace and work with nature rather than against it, feed the soil and not the plants, recycle all waste, encourage natural predators and avoid at all costs, the use of chemicals, whether as fertilisers or pesticides.
“I have tried to minimise the chemicals I use in every way...whether in the garden, or home. I am a post-war baby and my life span has seen an explosion of chemicals being used for the most trivial of reasons.”
" Take Roundup, the most used herbicide worldwide, making billions every year for Monsanto. It was for decades, heralded as having no negative effects. Now there are more and more coming out, thanks internet. Agencies all over the globe are looking seriously into this stuff and it is predicted that it will soon be banned in some countries. The conclusion: grow and eat only your own stuff, or buy real veggies, meat from an organic source, bake your bread with organic grain, enjoy cooking and baking and live happily ever after. You may not necessarily live longer, but you will certainly die healthier."

To conclude, here is one of my favourite quotes. "Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself." -Rachel Carson."

Peat Free Gardening

 

Peat extracting machine Pic TLCowill

There is a growing movement of gardeners moving away from traditional peat products and finding more sustainable alternatives for young plants and seedlings.
Peat extraction began on an industrial scale after the war for use in horticulture to put nutrients back into the soil and since then intensive methods of extraction have been used to produce the big bags of moss peat and compost we see in the shops. This is exactly the same principle of open cast mining that is used to extract coal. Today less than 8% of the original area of Irish peat bogs has been left undamaged. Andrew King from Cork, who studied Horticultural Science, said recently, “peat bogs, our bogs, are just as precious as the rainforests. They (the processing plants) should have shut down many years ago; I've even seen Irish peat on sale in Morocco. “

Most of the peat used by English gardeners comes from Irish bogs which are important to wildlife habitats. Industry sources estimate the gardening peat market to be worth some €25m a year. 42% of the controversial compost used in gardens continues to be peat, this percentage could be dropping though with cheaper processing costs for recycled garden waste and celebrity endorsements.

What do the bogs give us?

• Peat bogs store huge amounts of carbon and allowing its excavation would release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• Plants such as such as the bog myrtle, bog asphodel, bog rosemary, cranberry, cotton grass and purple moor grass flourish in the peat bogs.
• Wildlife such as birds, voles and lizards live in the protection the bogs provide.

Do Irish gardeners like the peat free compost?
One issue with peat free compost is the price. It has in the past been more expensive than traditional compost. This is changing now with the inclusion of peat free compost being sold most main retail outlets. The uptake is slow though by the Irish gardener, although more vegetable gardeners opt for the peat free soil compared to the flower growers. Some gardeners think natural compost products on the market have short shelf lives, so if you get last year’s bags the nutrients will have all but gone, this would be the same for both peat and peat free composts.

Mixed Reports

Some Irish gardeners claim that the moisture content is harder to control in peat free compost and needs to be treated differently or seedlings will die. This need not be a problem though. Gardening techniques change all of the time so we need to be open to new eco friendly products even if it means re-training ourselves. It will be a high price to pay for your vegetables if it means depleting the peat bogs to grow them.
Peat free compost in hanging baskets is also proving to be a talking point. Customers claim that they dry out faster. The inclusion of water retaining gel helps to combat that. For this reason as well as cost, growers are very reluctant to use peat free compost on a large industrial scale, although some are changing over due to customer demand.

More widely available

Peat free compost from Irish recycling plants is now being more widely produced, which is helping to lower the price and save on fuel costs. Coir was popular a few years ago but the rising fuel prices have all but stopped its use.
Peat free compost can have greater benefits to the soil than peat based products.
• Retains moisture
• Improves soil structure
• Increases yield therefore reducing costs
• Irish celebrities such as Diarmuid Gavin, Mary Reynolds (bronze medal winner at Chelsea) have spoken out about the overuse of peat and are endorsing peat free products so there will be more products available

Read the labels

It’s not a good idea to grow your seeds or plants in the wrong type of products to save money. Check that the product has been made for the use you need it for.
• Growing seedling s in growbags of any kind isn’t a good idea as it’s too coarse and the wrong type or mix.
• Growing plants in just peat is also impossible as peat holds no nutrients and is purely an anchor for the roots.
• If you look on the bags of compost it will normally state “Enough added fertilizer to feed plants for 4 weeks.” After this the gardener will need to add their own feed.

What is peat free compost made from?

Shop bought organic compost can be made from shredded tree cuttings and garden waste and have additives such as seaweed. The organic matter in natural mixed compost will hold far more nutrients that peat compost for a longer period of time. Just like humans, plants grow far better with a mixed balanced diet.
Coir compost was one of the first on the market but it is out of favour now because of the transport costs, being brought in from across the world. Gardeners are looking for products made closer to home.

Make your own compost

If you have the facilities of a compost bin then you could make your own compost. It will need to be heated and turned well to kill off the weed seeds. This saves on price and also any concerns about fuel costs for transporting. Gardening in a recession is a lot about saving money so making your own compost is a good idea. Add small layers of wet and dry materials for a good mix.

John Innes Compost

The use of peat in compost could be reduced by making your own variation of John Innes Compost. The compost is a mix suitable for growing a wide range of plants. It includes sterilised loam, which in this case is good quality topsoil which is crumbly and not wet and sticky and a touch of lime. This is then sterilised by steam then a small amount of peat is added as well as sharp sand and fertilizer. To keep up to date with new thinking the fertilizer can be organic and the peat can be substituted with peat free mixes.

Worm Composting

Having your own worm composter can produce perfect base soil for your seedlings.

James Comiskey from About Your Garden Landscaping and bronze medallist at Bloom thinks we will use more peat free products in the future. “There is a move towards peat free compost. I don't think it has gathered momentum yet but it's only a matter of time. We will probably look back in the future and shake our heads at the madness of digging up our bogs.”

Making up Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets have their place in the summer garden. They can be a lot of work though if you don’t have a watering system, but don’t let that put you off, it can be a lovely meditative job on a summers evening caring for them.

Making up your own Hanging Baskets
To get started you will need the following: A basket, basket liner or moss, plants, slow release fertilizer granules and some water retaining granules (optional).

• First rest the basket onto a bucket or pot for a good base when working.
• Water the plants and soil.
• Insert the liner I used coco fibre liners last year; they have holes already in the sides, which saved me having to use my brain to get the plants evenly spaced. If you are using moss, then line the basket to halfway up the sides.
• There are no fixed rules on plants to use, but you won’t go far wrong putting three or six plants (or clumps if you use Lobelia) through the side of the basket. Trailing plants also look effective. Then line the moss to the top of the basket and fill with compost.
• Add slow release fertilizer granules and moisture retaining granules if needed.
• Put a tall plant in the centre, such as a begonia or a pelargonium (geranium) and lower growing plants around it. If using trailing plants on the top of the basket, put them 6cm (2in) from the edge. They will fill out nicely by the time they trail over the edge of the basket. If you do buy the plants from the garden centres it is still early days for annual plants. Harden them off for a few days in a sheltered spot before you plant them up
• Once planted, water thoroughly, allow to soak, and then water again. Protect from strong sunlight for a few days and take them in if there is a frost or a very cold wind like we had last week. Deadhead the flowers regularly and water them frequently (They will need watering even if the weather is cloudy and wet in summer) and an organic liquid feed when the plants look as though they need perking up.

Tip- If you use moss peat and the basket does dry out, no amount of watering will wet the inside of the soil. Take down the basket and place it in a large container full of water, leave it until it is just about to sink, then pull it out. This sounds drastic, but it will save the plants! Alternatively you could use a John Innes soil based compost or mix some weed free garden soil into your peat. This will soak up the water without resorting to drowning the baskets in a bucket.

Plants for the Baskets
Choose plants that have a long flowering season to get the best out of the basket. Whichever plants you choose remember that they have been grown indoors and they will need a bit of protection against the elements for the first few days, so put them in a sheltered spot for a day or two. Try filling the basket with just one type of plant for a dramatic effect. Busy Lizzies; fuchsias or geraniums give a brilliant display until the first frosts. Avoid plants such as nemesia unless you can grow new plants at regular intervals as they only flower for a short period. Here are a few on offer that I found to be reliable in baskets: Ajuga ,Bidens, Begonia,Brachycome.,Cineraria maritime, Fuchsias,Geranium, Golden Creeping Jenny,Helichrysum , Ivy leaf- geraniums, Ivy varieties,Nasturtium ,Pansies,Petunia,Purple heuchera and Verbena.

Care of the Basket
Hanging baskets are very demanding things. Unless you have a very reliable relation, friend or neighbour you will not get a holiday in summer. Even on the driest days they will need watering at least twice a day. If you have a lot of baskets then you might like to consider a self-watering system. This will drip feed your baskets at a set time throughout the day and night by means of a twenty-four hour timer. For a regular house you could fit one of these systems for as little as €200 euro or less. You will be free all summer and the plants would thrive. A small price to pay I think.

When you fit the basket to the wall or a post, remember that they are heavy when full of water. Check the brackets are in good condition and that the chains are strong. The baskets can come down with a mighty bump.

If you do let the basket dry out then they are impossible to water in the normal manner, as the water will just run off the surface. Take the basket down and put it into a large container full of water. Leave it long enough until the basket starts to sink and pull it out. The basket is now fully watered.

Even if the basket has slow release fertiliser in it you will be well advised to still feed the plants at regular intervals. There just isn’t the soil in the containers to meet the need of all the plants. I find organic tomato feed as good as anything as it promotes flowering.

A Day in the Life

 

A little music to help the seedlings grow.

It’s amazing how a simple a morning can end up being packed full of diversity. Here’s what happened last Saturday when I had nothing to do.

8 am
It’s a lovely sunny morning and a load of washing has just finished in the machine. I pop the clothes into a basket and stroll to the washing line.
8:01
Just before I get to the line, I brush past the dead heads of the hydrangea shrub “I’ll cut those back” I’m thinking. I put the washing basket down onto the grass and go to the shed to get the loppers. I find an old fire grate too so that goes under the arm as well. The grate is cast iron, iron makes pink hydrangeas turn blue. It’s worth a try and will give me a reason for throwing it into the garden.
8.10
That didn’t take long; all of the cut off stems have been thrown into a pile under the trees to rot down.
8:11
Julie wants to sow some seeds today so I pop into the shed to fill the seed trays with my special mix. Loads of light gets in through the big window so they should get a good start. I am distracted for a minute though as I have to squeeze past the drum set. I’ll just have a quick practice.
9.00
The drum solo took a bit longer than expected, but I’m ready to fill the trays with compost. Julie comes in with the seed packets. She starts to plant carrots, courgettes, peas, beans, tomatoes and lettuce. We usually get our seed packs from places like B+Q and get a good number of seeds. We tried the Lidl ones this year, OK they are cheaper, but couldn’t believe it when we opened up the tomato packet and found 7 seeds, yes 7 tomato seeds. We’ll have to get some more. Last year we had foamy tomatoes so this year they will all be the small varieties.
9:30
I leave Julie to sow dwarf sweet peas (larger ones on the list of things to get) purple sprouting broccoli, (not the calibrese ones as they flower in summer) and curly kale. I can play the drums again later; it might help the seedlings to grow.
9:40
I’m shovelling soil into the sieve to add to the raised beds. My lad has joined me to do a bit of French hoeing to kill off the young weed seedlings. He has to work his way around the hazel sticks I put in for the plants to grow up. Most of them are growing leaves so it looks as though they are still alive. The dogs are busy hiding in the gorse bushes waiting for me to throw them a stick.
10:45
Julie comes up and starts planting onion sets and more seeds in the cleared beds. Peas, beans, carrots, this packet (again from Lidl) give us spaced out carrot seeds in a strip, beetroot, perpetual spinach, rocket, radishes and white turnips when we can find the packet. It’s gone walkabout. There will be some successive sowing this year with crops such as peas, carrots and salad leaves. The longer we can keep out of the supermarket vegetable section the happier I’ll be.
10:57
The strawberries are put back in after being trimmed. Both alpine and regular ones go in together. It’s a bit of a shady spot, so the alpine ones will be happy at least.
11:00
We will put hazel branches over the beds after planting to keep the dogs off, or give them something to chew on as they carry on playing in the beds. Don’t worry if you haven’t got your seeds planted yet. Klaus Laitenberger , the Leitrim gardener tells us not to take any notice of the seed sowing dates up here in the North West. Leave everything at least a month later that it tells us. Our seed sowing is being done during a waxing moon - this is supposed to be a good time to plant biodynamically.
11:27
I have the strimmer going. It’s first time this year. I am finding loads of old footballs in the undergrowth and carefully going around the trees, hedges and lawn edges.
11:45
I move over to the herb garden to strim the grass paths. Julie has just planted some lettuce plants her father sent over this week in amongst the sage, parsley and chives. I cover the whole lot with grass cuttings as I strim. I’ll tidy it up later. We have a couple of replacements to grow this year in the herb garden as the rosemary and oregano died in the frost.
11:55
Julie cuts back the lemon balm; this grows so quickly it’s already too big. The mint is going to be planted into the ground too this year. It’s not happy confined to a pot. It’ll probably take over the garden, but at least we will have plenty for making tea.
12:14
To finish off strimming, I am now heading up the driveway to get all of the weeds from the edge of the asphalt, this saves on using weedkiller. The wind can blow the cut grass into piles and as long as it doesn’t rain
12:35
I go and see how the sowing is done. The rows are far enough apart to get the hoe into it, this will make weeding really simple later in the season. Spacing is so important in the vegetable patch; it can save you hours of boring weeding in summer.
12:36
I can’t wait any longer to do the sweeping, the mess is annoying me. First though the brush head needs screwing back on again. The dog ate the handle.
1:10
Julie has moved onto the tubs and containers near the shed. More successive sowing starting with the first sowing of rocket, parsley, cut and come again lettuce and radish. We’re still looking for coriander preferably the leafy cilantro. The only thing missing is night scented stock; the sweet heady smell is lovely in the evenings. More seeds to buy and sow.
1:55
I have the mower working now, leaving Julie to the sowing and cutting back. Cutting the grass will take no time at all because I don’t have to go into the corners
2:30
A good morning’s work. Time for a hot chocolate and a butter biscuit, they are the dog’s favourites. Maybe afterwards I’ll get around to hanging up that washing.