Gifting the Gardener

Previously published in the Hoopa People News

Carefully chosen gifts can improve our loved one’s lives! You don’t need to spend a ton of money to show you care, brighten up a dreary room, and improve the air your gift recipient breathes. Houseplants provide all these benefits and more. If you have elderly or ill family members, research has proven that when they have plants to look at, they recover faster and feel less pain. House plants bring many of the benefits of gardening to those who can’t or won’t get out and dig in the dirt. Below you will find two easy to care for plants that make long lasting gifts.

If free is a sound you like to hear, check the end of this column for information on a couple of garden related downloads. The first is curriculum for teachers from the California Oak Foundation and the second is an e-book on herbs. (Check the paragraph right above the e-book and curriculum section, for another free curriculum download!) Whether you gift yourself with these offerings or print them out and tuck them into holiday stockings, they are sure to please.


House Plants Keep on Giving

Extensive research has been devoted to the effects of house plants on indoor air quality. While researchers don’t always agree on which plants are the best, Philodendrons and spider plants feature prominently on most lists. These tough guys don’t need any special care. They make good gifts for those who may be just starting out with houseplants and others who have limited time or abilities. They also make good gifts for busy people, for elders, disabled, or ill family members; in which case, part of the gift can be your regular plant care visits.


Philodendrons:

Philodendrons, while not traditionally thought of as holiday gifts, actually live much longer than most of the plants marketed for the season. Philodendrons are a very diverse group of plants. Native to the tropical zones of the Americas and the West Indies, there are over 900 different species found in the wild. They typically grow in the dim light found under the canopy of tropical rainforests. This adaptation to low light allows them to thrive indoors. They do need adequate light, however; and will do best in a bright room. They love cool morning sunlight, but they are likely to burn if exposed to direct afternoon sun during the warmer months.

Philodendrons would certainly prefer to be watered on a regular basis, as long as their soil is allowed to dry out in between watering. However, I have proof positive that they can stand a lot of neglect. (I am much better at caring for my outside plant menagerie than the poor souls stuck inside.) Of the three varieties of Philodendron that share my home, the largest, a split leaved Philodendron (now classified as a Monstera), is about to take over my front room. It came to me as a tiny one leaved start in a vase with some ivy. Each leaf is now over a foot across, and there are at least fifteen leaves on the sprawling ten year old plant. What poinsettia ever lived so long?

For small rooms, look for heart leaved or trailing Philodendron. There are varieties with solid leaves, with decorative holes through the leaves, and some with variegated foliage. They also do very well in our area and are easy to start from cuttings. Philodendrons are best for households without young children. They contain calcium oxalate and are considered toxic, so avoid them where youngsters feel they have to put everything in their mouths. (Spider plants are considered child and pet safe. More information on them is coming right up.)

Water your Philodendrons once a week or so, first checking to make sure the soil has dried out. Overwatering can lead to root rot and fungal infections. Occasionally adding a little dilute organic fertilizer or diluted left over coffee will help them stay happy and healthy. When the leaves are dusty, a damp cloth gently applied will return their shine. While polishing the leaves keep your eye out for scale and mealy bugs. They can be easily removed with the same cloth; or with a moistened swab, if they are hiding in hard to reach spot.

If you are on a budget, Philodendrons, and many other house plants can be grown from seed. Get a fancy card and include a packet of seeds for your hard to please gardening fanatics. For more information (and very reasonable prices) see: http://www.greendealer-exotic-seeds.com/seeds/Houseplants.html


Spider Plants:

These tough and prolific plants do a great job of removing toxins from the air, and they are considered safe for children and pets. (This certainly doesn’t mean you should encourage them to take a taste.) As resistant to neglect as they are, they still provide a delicate and lacy accent to any bright room. Spider plants have long gently curving grass like leaves in solid green or striped with white. They produce long flowering shoots that sport tiny lily like flowers, followed by young plantlets that hang in mid air. As the little “spiders” grow in size and number they hang down from the mother plant, forming a curtain or veil. When the plantlets begin growing roots they can be removed from the stems and rooted in water or moist potting soil and then put to work as air cleaners in other rooms. A spider plant makes a great gift that keeps on giving, whether for yourself or for others on your list.

Like Philodendrons, spider plants are happiest if you let their soil dry out in between watering, once they have well established root systems. They are rarely bothered by pests, especially when they are kept inside. But if you see signs of mealy bugs or scale, a damp cloth or swab will make quick and easy work of these pesky guys.

If you can’t find spider plants locally, Butterfield Organic Growers offers small plants for $4.00 each. (Click on Plants and Herbs to see what else they have to offer.) You can also reach them by phone: (603) 435-7260. Here is a special bonus for teachers and home school moms, Teacher Vision offers free curriculum using spider plants:


More Free E-Books and Curriculum

Here are two items you can give yourself without spending much more than a dime. (Download at the public library if you don’t have a computer at home. Printing will cost about ten cents a page for black and white, more for color, so check the number of pages before printing. If the pages are in color and you want to print in black and white, ask the librarian for help.)

The California Oak Foundation offers curriculum designed for fourth through eighth grade students available as a free download. Click on “Kids” right below their mast head for more information.
Everyday Herbs, by Ann McCormick is a free 37 page e-book available by sending an e-mail to ann@ann-mccormic.com. Use “Everyday Herbs” as your subject line. She gives tips arranged in a number of sections, including: “In the Garden,” ‘The Recipe Box,” “Crafty Ideas,” and “Personal Care.”

Copyright 2008, Harvest McCampbell Please contact me before posting or publishing.
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Dastardly Deer

Deer have been identified as the most widespread form of wildlife damage to crops, nurseries, orchards, and hay production. States that compile yearly damage estimates from these vermin often report figures nearing $30,000,000.00. Yet the critters are protected year around in every state in the union, except during very controlled hunting seasons. What on earth is a gardener to do?

Venison for dinner? That is the tastiest cure I know for those hoofed locust. But this, of course, is not always practical. If you happen to be a vegetarian or if your neighbor works for fish and game; you may need other tactics.

Long ago I was a city slicker child who used to love spending summers with my Auntie who lived in the woods. She had a home on top of a hill surrounded by oak woodlands and lots of deer. Those deer were definitely a problem to her landscaping. She learned to live with a few plants that the deer didn’t eat. Not really being a flower lover, she was content.

However, if you are like author and gardener, Carolyn Singer, you have got to have flowers in your yard. Ms. Singer spent 27 years researching what exactly she could grow in her Sierra foothills landscape, so age could enjoy the company of deer and flowers too. The result of this research and conversations with other gardeners in deer country is a great new book, Deer in My Garden. Volume 1 features 53 perennials and sub-shrubs that will grow in our area. Singer also lives in zone 8. The main difference between the climate where she gardens and ours is average annual rainfall. The plants that she recommends as being drought tolerant will need a well drained spot in our gardens.

She gives full details on each plants care, what zones it will grow in, what it may need in snow country, and how to best use the plants in the landscape. She also goes on to share related plants that the deer will eat. Near the back of the book she lists plants that are commonly reputed to be deer resistant, that the deer have devoured in her gardens. Her main strategy is to plant yucky tasting plants. While that works for ornamentals, it is not going to work in the vegetable garden. But my Auntie found a solution for that.

Auntie had a vegetable garden down the hill from the house. It was in a spot where the oak trees opened up a bit and allowed some sun to hit the ground. The first year the dogs did a pretty good job of keeping the deer out of the garden, at least until the produce was ready to pick. The deer had been keeping a close eye on the vegetables and the dogs. They developed a tag team approach to raiding the garden. A small group of deer would lead the dogs on a merry chase, while the rest of them treated themselves to midnight snacks. Auntie decided a fence was in order.

The first fence was five feet high. It only slowed the deer down for a few weeks. Then they gleefully leaped the fence to feast out of reach of the noisy dogs. Next, Auntie added pieces of pipe to the top of each metal fence pole. She strung some wire between the pipes and tied on strips of flash tape. That tape makes noise when it moves in the breeze and it is very reflective. It bought Auntie a few more weeks, then the deer just sailed right over it and began to munch. The fence was now high enough that they couldn’t leap it from inside, so they would still be there munching in the morning. She went down to the garden with a frying pan and a metal spoon. First she opened the gate. Then she headed to the far side of the garden, outside the fence, and used the pan and spoon to make a ruckus. Them there deer thought Auntie was rude and they took right off. But the garden was a shambles.

Next Auntie installed a second fence, six feet outside the first one, and six feet high. This did the trick. Every once in a while one of those deer would jump the first fence. It would still be trapped between the two fences in the morning. Auntie would make good use of her pan and spoon and the offending vermin would high tail it back into the woods. As far as I know, this double fence strategy is the only deer defense that works, every time.

We all know that fencing can be expensive. Double fencing, doubly so. Auntie used metal posts and wire mesh but there are other options. Polypropylene mesh deer fencing is available in rolls 7’x 100’. I have checked around for prices and have included a source at the end of the article that has the best prices I could find. To use these fences you will need to supply cable, posts, and tie downs of some kind. It is also a good idea to invest in anchoring pins or staples to keep those wily critters from shimmying under your fences. Flash tape is a good idea for new fences. It will make the fencing more visible and sinister to the raiding critters.

If you don’t fancy the idea of fencing, there are other things you can try. I found it interesting that while the companies that produce these stinky or zappy products claim they work, none of them comes with a guarantee. I was able to find user reviews for some of the products. And it seems they work for some people some of the time. I suspect these items are about as useful as the less expensive home remedies. Some people have success hanging mesh bags stocked with hair (human or animal), soap, crushed garlic, citrus peelings, used cat litter, and other stinky or scary stuff from fences or trees. Personally I am glad I don’t have a deer problem, but if I did, I would find a way to afford the double fence solution for the veggies, and I would avail myself of Carolyn Singer’s experience in the yard.

Here’s the catalog with the great deal on the deer fencing. (They also carry some extra large ‘staples’ to secure the bottom of the fencing. They don’t carry cable, poles, flash tape, or tie downs.): Gardener’s Supply Company, (800) 427-3363, http://www.gardners.com (But don’t just take my word on it, shop around, maybe you will find a better deal.) For more information on Carolyn Singer’s book, Deer in My Garden, ask at your favorite book store, library, or contact Garden Wisdom Press, (530) 272-4362, http://www.gardenwisdom.com

Diatomaceous Earth

Copyright Harvest McCampbell 5/23/07 Published in the Hoopa People News

Diatomaceous earth offers organic farms, gardens, and households a non-toxic way to control many pests. It is made up of the fossilized remains of microscopic diatoms that once floated through ancient tropical seas. This product is mined from naturally occurring deposits, then purified and prepared for a number of uses. Food and agriculture grade diatomaceous earth is non-toxic to humans, mammals, and other higher animals. It is so non-toxic that it is sometimes added to food. DE, as it is often called, provides pest control by microscopic razor like edges that lacerate pest’s exo-skeletons and tender tissues. Death, generally by dehydration, is the fate of the pests that are susceptible.

Many common house and garden pests are equipped with an exo-skeleton. Think about the hard shells on ants, fleas, and beetles and you will get the idea. Even those squishy aphids and flour moths have exo-skeletons; theirs are just thin – making death by DE a quick proposition. In addition to its use in the garden, it can be used around the house, and diatomaceous earth can be added to stored seeds to prevent insect infestation.

Some organic packaged food products made for people and pets actually contain tiny amounts of food grade DE to prevent insect infestation. Diatomaceous earth is not readily digestible. What we do metabolize provides minute amounts of calcium and trace minerals. The undigested DE actually has another benefit. As it moves through the digestive track it lacerates any intestinal parasites it comes in contact with! It may seem a strange role reversal, but parasites equipped with an exo-skeleton are soon digested by their host.

DE is also inexpensive and easy to use in the home and garden. First, there are some careful considerations we each should make before adding it to our environments. One has to do with its possible irritant affects, and the other has to do with its permanence. Prolonged breathing or eye contact with the dust can be very irritating. While this is more of a problem for workers on organic farms than for those of us who are puttering around at home - it is still a good thing to keep in mind. Dust masks are advised as well as some care to avoid using on windy days and those with asthma or other respiratory ailments.

On the permanence factor, once diatomaceous earth has made its way into your soil, it’s there for good. Since it only works on contact and must be reapplied when it washes off, lots of DE can build up in the soil with repeated use. Think of it as teeny tiny grains of rock or sand. It is not a chemical that will degrade over time and it’s not likely to leach out by the actions of irrigation or winter storms. That longevity is both good and bad. The DE is there working for you - but it is not selective. It harms both the pests that attack our crops as well as the good bugs that attack the pests. While I have not heard of any pests adapting thicker exo-skeletons in response to exposure to DE, it is bound to happen. The pest species are always more adaptable than the predators, so when it does happen the DE will still be killing off the good guys while the bad guys reproduce out of control. Something like this is already going on with commercial farming. Farmers need more and more poison to control rapidly adapting pests, while the chemicals quickly wipe out the predators.

All that said I have used DE around my homes for the last 30 years. I am selective about where I use it because I want to encourage beneficial insects. Many beneficials spend their larval stage as grubs in the soil, so I try to keep the DE out of the garden. However, I find it very useful on my back porch, where my young seedlings are just getting started. It effectively discourages slugs, aphids, and most other pests. I also add DE to the seeds that I save from the garden. So far there have been no bugs in my DE treated seeds. Last but not least, I use DE on my pets for its flea controlling effects. I have a certain spot in the back yard that I use when I dust them with DE. It is a spot where they spend lots of time. The DE that hits the ground will control flea larva, which helps break the flea infestation cycle. (DE alone doesn’t seem able to solve the flea problem, but it definitely helps. If enough people are interested in natural flea control we can cover it in an upcoming article.)

When I use DE, I generally fill a small muslin bag with the powder, hold my breath or use a mask, and shake the bag to apply. It can also be dispensed from an old salt or pepper shaker that is labeled and kept with your garden supplies. You can sprinkle DE along base boards, behind furniture, into cracks and crevices in the kitchen, bathroom, and along windows and doors. This will help eliminate ants, fleas, cockroaches, and other pests at their points of entry and along any travel routes they may have established. They will also carry the dust back to their nests, helping to control the pests right at their sites of origin. If fleas are the main problem, besides dusting your animals, you can also dust their bedding and even your own mattresses (but not your bedding- you don’t want to breathe the dust all night).

Dusting your mattress is also recommended for control of bed bugs. You may come across recommendations to use the dust on furniture and carpet, having done it I don’t recommend it, unless there is no acceptable alternative. I find it quickly ages fabric and carpets, especially in high use areas. The friction of walking on the carpet and using the furniture causes those tiny razor edges to abrade the fibers. Your fabric will look dull and frayed before its time.

DE can be purchased in bulk and is sometimes available as prepackaged combination products. It is available from many organic nurseries and larger natural food outlets. If you can’t find it locally check out St. Gabriel Laboratories at http://www.milkyspore.com or call to request a brochure (800) 801-0061. They carry DE (both wholesale and retail) in bulk as well as a product made to use in the kitchen called the AntEater. The Anteater contains food grade DE and clove oil, but it is not meant to be consumed. This product smells great and it is safe to use around stored food. The packaging is equipped with a special dispenser that makes it easy to apply to the cracks and crevices where insects lurk and where simply shaking wouldn’t be effective. They also have a number of other products available for organic farms and gardens. Check them out--but always do your own research or ask experienced gardeners before using unfamiliar products.