Gardening Indoors During Rains

Posted on December 19, 2015 by tomkarwin

We have entered into a fairly normal rainy season, apparently, and we are expecting extraordinary rainfalls, beginning in a few weeks. Avid gardeners will need ways to enjoy their horticultural pursuits without getting wet.

One form of indoor gardening involves surfing the Internet for interesting and informative websites about plants, landscaping and related topics.

There are many websites that meet this broad standard. A web search for “garden” yields 1,570,000,000 URLs to consider. In this universe, it would be tempting to list 50 or 100 websites for gardeners, I have just three to suggest as worth visiting.

DIRTIER….The Every-So-Often Garden Memoir

This individual effort reflects the Dianne Benson’s enthusiasm and hands-on knowledge of style in gardening, drawing on the principles of fashion: form, pattern, shape, color, textures and layers. The author’s commercial website includes this blog, which presents her observations and comments in a well-designed, one-window scroll, illustrated with personal snapshots. The result is a low-key wander through Dianne B.’s most recent gardening adventures in East Hampton, which is on the south shore of New York’s Long Island. Gardening practices must relate to the garden’s location, but the appreciation of gardens and gardening is universal. dianneb

Dianne B., from www.diannebbest.com

Peony’s Envy

I remember the peonies in my mother’s garden, and the ants that crawled over the flower buds in search of nectar. Peony blossoms are among the most appealing of all flowers, and this website presents them very nicely. The website is beautiful, very well designed and clear in its helpful advice on peony varieties and cultivation. Browse through the site’s major sections—Peony Care, Plan a Garden, and Bloom Sequence—and you’ll soon be well-informed and ready to add peonies to your landscape.

My garden includes a couple tree peonies and a couple intersectionals, which are created by crossing a herbaceous peony and a tree peony. Herbaceous peonies, which are also gorgeous, need more winter chill that the Monterey Bay area provides.

Tree Peonies, from www.peonysenvy.com

Pinterest

Pinterest is a photo-sharing website described as a “catalog of ideas,” rather than as a social network, that inspires users to “go out and do that thing.” The site is a vast trove of snapshots provided by a large number of participants with ideas to share.

The site includes photos on many, many topics, including images about gardening and landscaping. The casual user should enter this site with a strategy in mind to avoid getting entangled in its temptations, which could consume your otherwise productive time before you realize you’ve been caught. When you have a specific topic to explore, enter it in the search window at the top of the Pinterest home page and see what pops up. Try a particular category of plant, e.g., rose, dahlia, orchid, succulent, or a topic, e.g., pruning, garden irrigation, propagation.

We should still have cold and sunny days between spells of rain, but when the rains come, the Internet has much to offer to keep your gardening spirit in vigorous growth.

Dormant Season Projects

Posted on December 12, 2015 by tomkarwin

The dormant season does not have an official beginning to mark on a calendar, but depends on a combination of factors, beginning with the individual plant’s biological clock, with which the plant responds to day-lengths.

Another important environmental factor is temperature: lower temperatures trigger dormancy, and higher temperatures can stimulate growth. Climate change has modified the annual cycles and geographic distribution of many plants, and will continue such changes. Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events

Rather than delving into the science of dormancy, let’s consider seasonal projects for the gardener. There are many priorities to schedule over the next few months.

Pruning

As the leaves fall, and the “bones” of your trees and shrubs are exposed, look for ways to improve them through pruning. In general, use sharp tools, begin by removing branches that are broken or diseased, and don’t remove more than one-third of the canopy in one year. As is often true in gardening, there are exceptions: for some shrubs, severe or renewal pruning is appropriate. Extensive pruning of roses, for example, stimulates new growth and abundant blossoms. Several other multi-branched shrubs, e.g., salvias, can be cut to their primary structure or to near the ground before spring growth emerges.

Many gardeners are hesitant about pruning, concerned that they could hurt their plants. Pruning can be done badly so a little time with a pruning book would be instructive. The positive perspective is that pruning improves a plant’s form and stimulates new growth.

Pruning during the dormant season

The photo is from the University of California publication, Pruning Small Trees and Shrubs, which is available free online.

A good approach includes observing pruning’s effects during the early spring.

Other Projects

Walk through the garden with a critical eye, to spot opportunities for improvement.
Transplant or give away plants that have grown too large, or not working in the landscape.
Install new plants now, to let the rains irrigate them as they establish roots.
Add mulch to cover any bare ground between plants.
Plant a cover crop in any fallow planting area.
Force a bulbous plant to bloom indoors. Paperwhites (Narcissus papyraceus) are popular, but are so strongly fragrant that restraint can be prudent, i.e., don’t grow a lot.
Sharpen your garden tools, or have them sharpened professionally.

Mark your Calendar for the New Year

January 8, 9 & 10 — The 42^nd Annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, at Loudon Nelson Community Center, Santa Cruz

January 10 — Annual Scion Exchange, Monterey Bay Chapter, California Rare Fruit Growers, at Cabrillo College, Aptos

Late News: Broom versus Leaf Blower Challenge!

The broom versus leaf blower challenge between Ken Foster (on the broom) and Brent Adams (on the leaf blower) will take place Friday December 11th at high noon next to the Westside New Leaf Community Market, at the corner of Fair Avenue and Ingalls Street in Santa Cruz.

Gasoline-powered leaf blowers pollute our environment, disturb our peace, and change our climate. They might be justified for their seeming efficiency, but that too has been questioned. The Broom versus Leaf Blower Challenge, designed as a fair completion, is worth witnessing (sorry about the late announcement). I’ll report the results in next week’s column.

Rethinking a Planting Bed

Posted on December 5, 2015 by tomkarwin

There are a few reasons for a gardener to re-think a planting bed: inspiration for a new approach, boredom with the old approach, overgrown plants (and an invasion of weeds), or a desire to improve the aesthetics.

For one of the beds in my garden, I have the urge to edit the existing plants to satisfy to a thematic concept: Mexican Succulents.

At least ten years ago, I established this bed, which is not large (almost forty square feet) but prominently located in the garden. An edge of larger stones supports a raised planting area, which is ideal for succulent plants. Over time, I installed a variety of succulent plants.

When I look at this bed now, the mix of plants leaves me uneasy. During the intervening years, I have become interested in thematic collections of plants, with an emphasis on county of origin. From that perspective, this bed was a horticultural hodge-podge.

For some gardeners, that reaction might suggest an unhealthy obsession with order, but that’s OK. It’s my garden and I can do what I want.

This concern, which has been lurking in the background for a while, was activated recently by two events. First, at a meeting of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society, I attended a presentation on Agaves, a southern California succulent. Then, a friend gave me an Agave parryi (Mescal Agave), which is also from southern California and northern Mexico.

I already knew most of the plants in this bed were Mexican or southern Californian, the featured plant being a Dasylirion wheeleri, also called a Desert Spoon.

Dasylirion wheeleri, a succulent plant from Mexico, with a large South African succulent, an Aloe arborescens, in the upper left background.

My concept of “Mexican Succulents” includes southern California, because plants don’t recognize political boundaries, and besides, historically, Mexico included what we now know as southern California.

My first step toward that objective was to inventory the existing plants, to determine which should be relocated. I identified plants from South Africa: Crassula tetragona (Miniature pine Tree), Crassula argentea (Jade Plant), and an enormous Aloe arborescens (Torch Aloe), which has been screening my compost bins.

I also found plants from the Europe and the Mediterranean basin: a self-seeding Euphorbia characias wulfenii (Mediterranean Spurge), a few unidentified plants: Sedums, Sempervivum, and Aeonium.

The task, then, is to move the South African succulents to another bed that already has that theme and to move the others to the bed for Mediterranean Basin plants. The biggest challenge will be to remove the South African Torch Aloe, which needs a larger space than is available elsewhere in the garden, and to find another screen for the compost bins. Aloes are hard to kill, so I could give away cuttings at the curb for other gardeners.

Then, I could assess the newly dedicated bed for Mexican Succulents and begin filling in the empty spaces with new plants, beginning with my one Agave parryi. I probably will avoid collecting agaves because they have sharp terminal spines, are monocarpic (they die after flowering), and produce lots of offsets (pups). There are many other Mexican succulents to explore.

A good practice is to tour your garden occasionally to consider if a bed could be improved by editing the plants, or starting over entirely. It’s best to focus on a limited area, rather than taking on the entire garden at one time. Renewing a planting bed should be a creative exercise and could lead you into a new area of gardening.

Adventuresome Gardening

Posted on November 13, 2015 by tomkarwin

Regular readers of this column know of my interest in plants from the world’s summer-dry climates, also called the Mediterranean Basin regions. Many plants from these exotic regions will thrive in the Monterey Bay area, and provide attractive and exciting alternatives to the garden center’s humdrum horticulture. Cultivating such plants is the enterprise of adventuresome gardeners and seekers of botanical thrills.

There are countless examples of such plants to be discovered among the selections of mail-order nurseries, either in published catalogs or online. To be fair, local garden centers also might have a few offbeat offerings; it’s worth asking the staff to mention any unusual plants.

One candidate for a featured position in the landscape is the Puya, which is one of about fifty-seven genera in the Bromeliad family. Just about all bromeliads are native to the tropical Americas. About half of the species are epiphytes (growing on air and rain), some are lithophytes (growing on rocks), and the rest are terrestrial (growing on earth). The most familiar of the terrestrial bromeliads is the pineapple (Ananas comosus).

Another terrestrial bromeliad is the Puya. This genus includes about 210 species, several of which are native to Chile, where they have the common name chagual.

One of the Chilean Puyas is the Blue (or Turquoise) Puya (P. berteroniana). This plant grows a flower spike about six-to-ten feet tall, and has exceptional landscape value because of its extraordinary 1.5” waxy, metallic blooms of an unearthly emerald-turquoise color, with contrasting bright orange stamens. The blooms hold blue, syrupy nectar that attracts hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators.

The Blue Puya can be found in some public gardens. I viewed several fine specimens, and took this photo, about one year ago, in the Australian National Botanic Gardens, in Canberra.

Locally, the Blue Puya is in bloom now at the UCSC Arboretum. The blooms do not last long, so to see one of nature’s most extraordinary flowers, visit the UCSC Arboretum soon. For information and pictures, visit arboretum.ucsc.edu/ and click on “What’s Blooming.”

The Chilean bed in my garden includes two quite young examples of this genus: a Blue Puya (P. berteroniana) and a Silver Puya (P. coerulea). These are slow-growing plants, now years away from blossoming in my garden. While they are not yet pleasing my eyes, they are already trying my patience (a little) and piquing my imagination.

Annie’s Annuals lists nine Puya species, but current availability includes just three. Similarly, the wholesale nursery San Marcos Growers lists eight Puya species, with just three currently in production. Your local garden center could special-order plants from these nurseries, or another preferred source. Search the Internet by botanical name for information to share with garden visitors.

You certainly can keep your garden’s tried and true selections, but consider adding exotic plants to enrich your landscape.

Landscaping with Succulents

Posted on October 30, 2015 by tomkarwin

As we await El Niño rains, the Monterey Bay area’s familiar rainy season is already late in starting, and we feel the pull of long-term perspectives on gardening.

Let’s consider landscaping with succulents plants, which are gaining appeal for their interesting foliage forms and colors, ease of cultivation and propagation and of course drought tolerance.

Many succulent plants can hold their own in the garden as specimens or aesthetic statements, but when we group several plants, they relate to one another in various ways and we have a landscape, either by design or by chance.

Tiered Display of Succulents in Sidney, Australia

Landscaping by chance is often popular, but with a little planning, gardeners can succeed with more deliberate methods.

Designing with plants involves individual preferences and styles, which we always respect. There are, however, a few broad guidelines to consider.

The first of these is “taller plants in back,” which is about visibility. Take the time to learn the mature height of each plant. Here is information sheet from succulent expert Debra Lee Baldwin, listing popular succulent plants by height: Instant Gardens.

Another organizing guideline is to group plants by their watering needs. This technique, called hydrozoning, works with nature (always a good idea!) and makes garden maintenance easier.

Using this technique requires knowing the watering needs of the succulent plants in your landscape. All succulent plants need some water, particularly during their growth periods. They need much less during dormancy.

The two broad categories of succulent plants are the “winter dormant,” i.e., plants that grow during the spring and summer, and the “summer dormant,” i.e., those that grow mostly during the fall through early spring. Here is a link to winter dormant and summer dormant succulent plants.

The landscape designer also could group plants by county of origin. Such grouping is a step toward creating plant communities, which are combinations of plants that are found in natural settings. Such combinations reflect the plants’ common needs for soil, exposure, climate and other factors. Gardening in this way involves detailed cultivation methods. Grouping plants by country of origin is relatively easy, while respecting nature and developing an interesting landscape. The avid gardener can discover a plant’s country of origin from some books and plant labels, or by entering the plant’s botanical name in wikipedia.org.

Finally, consider combining succulent plants with grasses, which are another category of drought-tolerant plants. Grasses typically respond to severely dry conditions by going dormant, rather than by storing moisture, and grass-succulent combinations are seen in natural settings. The benefit of combining succulents and grasses is primarily in the aesthetic effect of contrasting the succulent’s fleshiness with the grass’s wispiness. To learn more about grasses, see the book, The American Meadow Garden (2009), by John Greenlee and Saxon Holt.

For more comprehensive guidance, Debra Lee Baldwin’s book, Designing with Succulents (2007), provides inspiring ideas for planning your own succulent garden area.

Preparing for long-term water shortages certainly includes defensive strategies, but your preparations can include landscaping with succulents as an absorbing and creative exercise.

Positive Actions, Large and Small

Posted on October 23, 2015 by tomkarwin

I’ve written recently about ways in which gardeners could work toward reducing the impacts of climate change. For example, they could avoid uses of synthetic chemicals, cover the surface of soil with garden plants, mulch or cover crops, minimize tilling, and, most recently, avoid uses of gas-powered leaf blowers and other garden tools.

These practices, which generally align with organic gardening methods, could have beneficial, if small, effects on sequestering atmospheric carbon, cleaning up the atmosphere, improving soil health, retaining moisture, and other factors.

Such initiatives are important in slowing and eventually reversing the current disruption of nature’s carbon cycle: industrial-age agricultural methods have been causing about 40% of the climate change phenomenon, according to some reports.

We need those in commercial agriculture to pursue the large-scale work in these areas.

It is gratifying to know that California is providing leadership in this connection. A recent example, is the legislation to direct the Environmental Farming Science Advisory Panel to “provide incentives, including loans, grants, research, technical assistance, or educational materials and outreach, to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat, and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon storage in agricultural soils and woody biomass, or both.”

The legislation (Senate Bill 357) also would fund these new incentives by drawing from a $2 billion fund already received from existing sources of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), as part of a “cap and-trade” strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This fund also supports other programs.

California Senate’s Agriculture and Environmental Quality Committees have approved this bill, and it seems poised for adoption by the full legislature, which returns in January from the current legislative recess.

Numerous agricultural and environmental organizations and land trusts are supporting this bill and similar actions. Supporting groups include the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and California Climate and Agriculture Network (CALCAN; http://calclimateag.org/.)

An important turning point for California’s leadership in this area was the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which the state has since updated and complemented with a legislative actions and executive orders.

California’s encouraging work in the climate change arena continues in the midst of other significant and urgent challenges: drought, wild fires, water supplies, transportation systems and others.

Returning to our primary focus on gardens and gardeners, we note that these statewide programs provide research, inspiration and practical demonstrations that we can as individual actors, draw upon in adopting ecologically sound practices. We enjoy our gardens more when we know we are managing them responsibly.

Evolution of the Community Garden

Posted on October 17, 2015 by tomkarwin

I never expected to be impressed by a housing development in the San Jose area, but late in September of 2015, the City of Santa Clara launched an extraordinary project that City Council member Lisa Gilmor said is“…the first of its kind for Santa Clara. I don’t think we’ve done anything like this in the past.”

The Council selected a developer, The Core Companies, to lead master planning and development of a six-acre site on Winchester Boulevard, near the Valley Fair and Santana Row shopping centers.

Core/CNGF Project – Conceptual

The project concept combines housing with several familiar elements: a small organic farm, community gardens, a children’s garden, California native plant edible landscaping, roof gardens, solar energy production, a farmer’s market, a rainwater garden, an outdoor kitchen, and much more.

Overall, the project qualifies as an “agrihood,” a newer idea that focuses residential housing on a working farm, rather than a pool, tennis court or golf course. An agrihood also engages the residents in creating a sustainable food system for the entire community.

This concept could be appealing to people of all ages, but the United States has only a short list of existing agrihoods (for examples: http://tinyurl.com/ox4to7h). The Santa Clara project appears to be the only agrihood in an intensely urban environment, and an exceptional showcase of several ideas in sustainable gardening.

The City of Santa Clara selected this project among eight competing proposals because of its creativity, vigorous community support and the history of the site, which had been part of an agricultural research station operated by the University of California, beginning in the last 1950s.

A visionary neighbor, Kirk Vartan, galvanized community support for this project. He found a creative and knowledgeable ally in Alrie Middlebrook, a landscape designer and leader of the California Native Garden Foundation, a non-profit group that demonstrates innovative gardening ideas and supports the development of school gardens. Middlebrook’s ideas are evident in the rich array of gardens in this agrihood, which has been called the Core/CNGF project.

The California Native Garden Foundation will be involved in managing the project’s urban agriculture open space. (Full disclosure: as a long-time member of the CNGF’s board of directors, I have had both opportunities to monitor this project’s development during the past several months, and a very limited role in its creation. The CNGF board’s primary role is to review schools’ applications for the planning and development of learning gardens.)

Agrihoods could become the evolutionary next step beyond community gardens and community-supported agriculture. Through this project in nearby Santa Clara, we can see the leading edge of innovative strategies for relating research-based gardening and community relationships.

Leaf Blowers

Posted on October 11, 2015 by tomkarwin

In recent columns, I have addressed soil health as an emerging issue in global climate change, and described ways in which residential gardeners could participate in solutions to this high-level priority. The most important strategies for home gardeners in this connection include using mulches and cover crops to protect the soil from the elements; avoiding uses of synthetic chemicals, which attack the soil microbiome, and favoring regionally appropriate plants, including (for the Monterey Bay area) plants that are native to California and other dry-summer climate regions.

Today’s column focuses on uses of gasoline-powered garden equipment: leaf blowers, lawnmowers, lawn edgers and chain saws.

This equipment contributes to climate change and air pollution. The typical device uses a two-stroke engine, which, by design, does not burn the fuel efficiently, and instead emits large quantities of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and hydrocarbons. These emissions contribute to smog formation, climate change and acid rain, and hydrocarbons in particular can be carcinogenic.

Small trucks and passenger cars also produce worrisome emissions, but gasoline-powered garden equipment emit them at much greater rates. For example, leaf blowers produce 100 to 300 times as many hydrocarbons as does a small truck or passenger vehicle. Garden equipment with four-stroke engines perform significantly better, but still far worse than car engines.

In terms of environmental pollution, these are very dirty devices.

The California Air Resources Board has stated, “Potential health effects from exhaust emissions, fugitive dust, and noise range from mild to serious.”

Fugitive dust includes organic debris and “particulate matter,” which can include a variety of potentially nasty organic and chemical stuff that people should not breathe.

Noise pollution effects include annoyance, hearing loss (particularly by equipment operators), and a range of psychological impacts.

For more information, visit the website of Zero Air Pollution (www.zapla.org). This southern California organization details the range of health hazards associated with this garden equipment, wherever it is used.

Leaf blowers sometimes are used to clear organic materials, and leave bare soil. Making nature “tidy” in this way exposes the soil to the damaging effects of the sun and wind. The regeneration of healthy soil requires maintaining cover of vegetation or mulch materials.

Here are recommendations for ecologically appropriate uses of garden equipment.

Minimize or eliminate the use of gasoline-powered devices in favor of manual equipment. Use rakes and brooms to clear leaves, a push lawnmower to cut grass, a long-handled edger to trim lawns, and a handsaw to prune limbs. These tools are consistent with a contemplative approach to gardening, and provide desirable exercise.
When the task requires too much time and effort for manual equipment, use electrical devices. Battery technology is advancing to enable longer operation of small garden equipment; corded devices, although cumbersome, work quite well. (My corded leaf blower moves leaves nicely.)
Negotiate with your “mow, blow & go” garden maintenance contractor to use manual equipment whenever possible. This might require a small rate increase, but everyone will be better for the effort.

Continue reading →

Right Time, Right Plants

Posted on October 2, 2015 by tomkarwin

Tom Karwin

Each spring, many gardeners seek new plants for their gardens. That’s understandable, since that is when gardens spring into new life (sorry about that!).

The spring can be a good time to plant seeds for annuals, but the fall is by far the better time to plant perennials because our rainy season, beginning historically around mid-October, hydrates the plants while they establish roots and prepare for the following spring.

For this reason, we have excellent plant sales during the fall, offered by non-profit garden groups that support your gardening success, and of course want to earn money for their activities.

These sales offer California natives and other plants that thrive in the Monterey Bay area’s summer-dry climate and that align very nicely with your plans to build soil health in your garden.

Two early sales happen Saturday, October 3^rd.

The Monterey Chapter of the California Native Plant Society will have its annual plant sale from 10:00 to 1:00 at the Hilton Bialek Habitat at Carmel Middle School. Info: http://montereybay.cnps.org/
Watsonville Wetlands Watch will host its 3^rd annual Pajaro Valley Backyard Habitat Festival and Native Plant Sale from 9:00 to 4:00 at the Fitz Wetlands Educational Recourse Center, at Pajaro Valley High School. Info: http://watsonvillewetlandswatch.org .

Two more sales have been announced for the following Saturday, October 10^th.

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and the UCSC Arboretum will hold their sales together at the UCSC Arboretum’s Eucalyptus Grove. The entrance to the sale is on High Street, is across from Western Drive, on the edge of the UC Santa Cruz campus.

Both sales are open for members from 10:00 – 12:00, and for the public from 12:00 – 4:00. Memberships for both organizations will be available at the gate on the day of the sale.

Info for the CNPS sale: http://www.cruzcnps.org/

Info for the Arboretum sale: http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/ (click on “Events/Recurring Events”)

The Arboretum’s sale includes selections from dry-summer climate regions in California, South Africa and Australia, offering opportunities for venturesome gardeners to add exotic plants to their landscapes. As one example, Melinda Kranj, Curator of the Australian Collections, has shared her knowledge of an iconic Australian plant in “Banksias Breath New Life for a Fall Garden” (click on “News” on the Arboretum website). She wrote, “The UC Santa Cruz Arboretum is currently growing about 50 species, and many different varieties and cultivars” and will have several Banksias available at the sale.

Banksia victoriae

Incidentally, the generic name of this plant honors English botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who collected the first Banksia specimens in 1770, while on Captain James Cook’s first expedition into the south Pacific.

These plant sales are scheduled at the right time, and they offer plants that are right for our regional climate. As always, the gardener should install new plants in the right place in the landscape. Consider mature size and sun exposure, as well as garden aesthetics.

Historic Issues in the Garden

Posted on September 16, 2015 by tomkarwin

The growing community of organic gardeners—which hopefully includes you—represents the “good guys” in several current struggles between public and private interests in gardening and commercial agriculture. Gardeners and farmers are quite different in many respects, but both are engaged in growing plants.

Mother Nature also grows plants, and has been doing so successfully since the dawn of time.

For about 10,000 years, gardeners and farmers have cooperated with Mother Nature to grow and harvest plants to eat, treat illnesses, dye fabrics, and enjoy their beauty and fragrance. They gradually developed ways to increase yields, reduce the work of growing and improve the qualities of their plants. For the most part, these changes have been compatible with natural processes.

Eventually, people adopted various technologies to improve gardening and especially farming. Beginning 4,500 years ago, various inorganic materials and organic substances derived from natural sources were used as pesticides. Major agricultural technologies include the mechanical reaper (1831) by Cyrus McCormick, and the tractor (1868), both of which brought new efficiencies.

In the 1940s, agribusiness began using synthetic chemical pesticides and great quantities of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. In both cases, there was little or no knowledge of the impacts of these chemicals on human health or the environment.

Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring (1962) raised awareness of the conflict between public and private interests related to agrichemicals.

In the 1970’s, research began to development Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, which rely upon natural processes and do not use synthetic chemicals. IPM became widely used beginning in the late 1970s.

During more recent decades, continuing research and development produced more selective products, including glyphosate, which soon became most widely used herbicide, worldwide.

The ancient methods of organic gardening continued throughout this history, but the seeming cost-effectiveness of uses of agrichemicals dominated commercial agriculture.

Today, we are discovering the consequences of attempts to fool Mother Nature. Insects are developing resistance to synthetic insecticides, weeds are developing resistance to synthetic herbicides, and we are discovering that at least some of these materials threaten our health.

The State of California already has listed 800 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm, and early this month issued a notice of intent to classify glyphosate as a carcinogen.This classification is based on the findings of the World Health Organization. See: CSG Prop 65 Heirloom EXPO FLYER Glyphosate 9-7-15.

In addition, speakers at recent conferences have called for uses of regenerative agriculture, which is a form of organic farming designed to build soil health or regenerate unhealthy soils. This practice could counteract “conventional” agriculture’s destructive practices, which include uses of synthetic chemicals. Many of those chemicals weaken or kill the soil microbiota, and thereby disrupt the natural carbon cycle and contribute substantially to global warming.

By any measure, we are now in a historic period of change, to reject shortsighted agricultural technology and return to more natural processes. Our health and the health of the environment depend on the success of this transition.

ongardening.com

Category Archives: Fall Quarter