Thinking and Being Green in the Garden

Posted on Sunday, June 5, 2022 · Leave a Comment 

Do you want to be a better steward of the environment? If so, the first step is to be a gardener: grow some of your own vegetables, plant some native trees, shrubs and flowers while using no chemicals. But there is even more to think about than what kind of tomatoes to plant, and how many.

 

I will deliver these to a garden center that will reuse them.

First, what should you do with all those black plastic pots that come with the plants? Most recycling facilities do not accept black plastic pots, but some pots are numbered #2 or #5, and can be recycled. A few have no numbers. Plastic pots are made from oil in factories around the world. I imagine that these factories spew and spill a certain amount of chemicals, and create waste and by-products that are bad for the environment.

 

My mantra for plastic is this: Refuse, Re-use, Recycle. So how do you refuse to buy plants in plastic pots? Start your own plants. If you save plastic pots and rinse them out, you can re-use them. Some for years. You can also buy peat pots and coir (palm fiber) pots. Some companies like Gardeners Supply sell sturdy flats to use instead of those flimsy 6-packs, but strong enough to be used many times.

 

Trees and shrubs are most often sold in big black plastic pots. But they are also sold “balled and burlapped”. Those are usually bigger trees that are dug up and wrapped in burlap after years growing in the ground. Some local nurseries still dig their own plants, and I recommend supporting them. When you plant, be sure to take off any burlap and wires that may be holding the root ball together. And beware of any “fake” burlap made of plastic. Don’t buy it.

 

For years we have been offering sturdy plastic pots to our local, family-owned garden centers. Most just want them cleaned before you drop them off. I find it easiest to do that right after planting, before the soil bakes on. Re-using pots saves the garden centers money, assuming they have the time to sort and store them. Tell those that do how happy you are with them.

 

Recycling is really not the answer: Many loads of plastic at the re-cycling center are contaminated and end up in the landfill or incinerator. Too much dirt, food, or items of the wrong number can condemn a whole dumpster of plastic.

 

I was pleased to learn that most Home Depot stores now accept all kinds of plastic pots. I went to the one near me in West Lebanon, NH and there was a rack outside with the plants just for returned pots. The pots don’t even need to have come from them.

 

Electric mowers have improved greatly in the past few years. They are quiet and non-polluting.

We recently took a big step forward towards being “Green”. We bought an electric lawn mower. I’ve read that the EPA estimates that using a lawnmower is 11 times more polluting than driving a new car. One hour of mowing, apparently, is equal to driving 93 miles. Of course, these statistics are not perfect, as they do not indicate what kind of mower or car is being compared. Older, bigger mowers are worse.

 

We bought a 21-inch, self-propelled battery-powered lawn mower on sale for $500 at our local True Value Hardware store. It has a quick-charge battery charger that takes an hour or less to recharge the 54 volt battery, which is good for an hour of mowing. The mower has plenty of power and is so much quieter than our old gas mower. Our lawn takes more than an hour to mow, but so what? I have plenty of other garden chores to do while the battery re-charges. The technology in batteries electric mowers really has improved just in the last few years.

 

Being Green also means using no chemicals in the garden. That’s an easy one. I don’t use herbicides, insecticides or chemical fertilizers. I don’t want something to kill dandelions or moss, neither of which I consider a problem.  

 

There are perfectly wonderful organic fertilizers that offer so much more than the chemical ones. Instead of just offering three plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), they offer calcium, magnesium, and many more nutrients plant use. They do this because they are manufactured using natural ingredients like sea weed, cotton seed meal, ground oyster shells and ground peanut hulls.

 

Organic fertilizers are also slow-release fertilizers. Pro-Gro, made in Vermont, has about 25% soluble nitrogen that is ready right away. The rest is released slowly as microorganisms break it down and make it usable by plants. And it will not damage root hairs the way some of the chemical fertilizers can if too much is applied. 

 

Compost is one of the best things you can add to your soil. It helps sandy soils hold moisture and loosens up heavy clay-based soils. You can buy it by the bag or –better yet – by the truck load. Even though my soil is terrific, I add compost every year. It is not a fertilizer, but it feeds the microorganisms that work with our plants. And if you get a good grade of compost, it will improve the texture of your soil, not matter what it is.   

 

Re-use these 6 packs yourself or bring them to a vendor who accepts them

Lastly, speak up. If your suppliers are trying to reduce use of plastic, or are taking it back to re-use it, tell them that is why you are buying from them. If they’re not? Ask them to! Every voice counts. We gardeners should be on the cutting edge of reducing plastic and chemical use.

 

Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and the author of 4 gardening books. Reach him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Filed under Article · Tagged with compost, organic fertilizer, reusable pot plants

Attention Lazy Gardeners: Asparagus is a (Nearly) Free Ride

As I am sure you know, once upon a time there were three little pigs. One built his house of bricks, one of sticks, and the lazy one built a house of straw. I forget the details, but I think the lazy one got eaten by the wolf – a moral for all kids and gardeners. Work hard, survive. But one exception to that rule is the asparagus patch. Each year you can have delicious food relatively work-free.
 
Okay, I exaggerate. There is considerable work in starting an asparagus patch, and a certain amount of work in keeping it weed-free. But it should come back reliably, year after year. So plant it well and keep it mulched to hold down weeds, and you can garner rewards year after year.
 
Twenty-five plants is a reasonable number of plants for a family of four, or for two people with my appetite for those sumptuous green spears. Asparagus needs rich soil with lots of nutrients, so have a good supply of compost or aged manure and some slow release organic fertilizer at planting time.
 
Get a soil test done before you plant, or get at least get a kit that will tell you the pH. Asparagus does best with a near neutral pH, in the range of 6.5 to 7.5. If your pH is less than 6.5 you will need to add limestone to “sweeten” the soil. The test kit will tell you how much limestone you need.
 
Before planting, dig out all weeds and especially grasses. Rototilling does not kill weeds and grasses, it just hides them. And they will come back to plague you for years. So weed well.
 
Because asparagus lasts for many years, it is important to enrich the soil more than you would for annual veggies like tomatoes or lettuce. In the old days –back when I was a kid – asparagus beds were dug deep, and manure was worked into the soil down to a depth of 18 inches. Asparagus roots were planted in a trench with the crown (where the roots originate) planted a foot deep and 18 inches apart.
 

Preparing Asparagus bed

Current thinking is that asparagus still needs good loose soil, but that the crown only need be planted 6 inches below the soil line. Using a hoe or shovel, create a trench 9 to 12 inches deep and 12 to 18 inches wide. Then loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench with a spading fork. Space rows 2 feet or more apart.
Plan on working in 4-6 inches of aged compost into the soil down at the depth where the roots will be, and in the soil you will use for backfilling the trench. Don’t skimp, even if you have good soil. Work the compost in with a spading fork or shovel. A rototiller would also do the job, but can adversely affect soil tilth or texture if done when the soil is too moist. And rototilling disturbs microorganisms and earthworms in the soil.
 
I also like to broadcast a generous dose of Pro-Gro or other slow-release organic fertilizer everywhere in the planting trench and mix it in. A quart yogurt container of organic fertilizer is fine for a dozen plants. Azomite, a mineral mix that provides micronutrients is a good additive, too. Green sand is an organic source of potassium and micronutrients from the sea. All of the above should be available at your local feed-and-grain store or garden center.
 
Asparagus roots are now sold that are all male – generally anything that has the word ‘Jersey’ in the name is all male (Is New Jersey a macho state?).  ‘Martha Washington’ is the classic asparagus variety, but it has male and female plants, so they produce seeds – and little seedlings. This is not good. You don’t want extra seedlings growing in your patch, as they will compete with your plants for water and nutrients, just like weeds. Of course, you can pull the seedlings growing under Martha, and re-plant them elsewhere, but that sounds like work to me.
 

Asparagus planting

In the bottom of your trench build mounds of soil/compost mix. Drape the roots over the mounds with the crown sitting on top the mound. If the roots are longer than your trench is wide, swirl the roots around the mound a little. Then gently backfill your trench (or hole, if you did individual holes instead of a trench). Just an inch or two of soil is all that is required at the start. As the season progresses and the sprouts grow, add more soil/compost mix. By the end of the summer your plants should have 6 inches of soil over the crown.
 
A few recommendations: Have patience. Don’t pick any spears this year. Next year, just take one or two stalks per plant. Each year, take more – but never pick for more than 4 weeks. Taking too many spears will draw down their reserves and weaken the plants.
 
Keeping your asparagus patch well-weeded is important. Wood sides to an asparagus bed can help keep out creeping grasses, or you can dig a little moat around the bed to keep grasses from creeping in. Mulching with 6 pages of newspaper and 4 inches of straw will help keep down weeds and will hold in moisture.  
 
Even if you are the quintessential third pig when it comes to gardening, don’t be lazy when planting asparagus. A little extra work now getting out weeds and working in healthy soil additives will pay you back many times over. Bon Appétit!
 
Henry Homeyer is a gardening consultant and author living in Cornish Flat, NH. His Web site is www.Gardening-guy.com.

Copyright © 2014 Henry Homeyer

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