Visiting a garden center: What you should and should not do!

The first thing to remember is that the garden center is not a supermarket. Well it may be, but some of the worst mistakes are made, the sort that can really cause a great deal of damage to the garden in the future, when people walk around behind a trolley, as though they were in one.

While you may do your weekly, family stock-up armed with a shopping list, there's always room for some impulse buying. But when in a garden center, never buy a plant on impulse. The plant should only, be purchased if it has a part to play in the planting scheme. It is on a shopping list that has been carefully considered and researched. Of course nobody is suggesting that the planting plan is unalterable, holy writ. There's nothing wrong with some flexibility. However if you suddenly see a plant and say to yourself," that looks so nice. I must put that into my flower bed," do not be tempted into purchasing it – on principle. Instead, make a note of the name of the plant, botanical names are better than common names, because of their universality, and do some homework. This is what you should be looking for:

Is the particular species likely to enhance the garden composition, or could it detract from it? If judged by the six principles of design, how does it stand up? Is it in scale with the rest of the garden, does the plant maintain or disturb balance, and if it contrasts with the rest of the plants, does it have at least something in common with them?
Does it have undesirable characteristics such as aggressive, invasive roots, that could do damage to the house?
Is the plant liable to become a noxious weed? Could it spread uncontrollably throughout the garden.
Is it suitable in terms of its cultural requirements, such as full sun or shade, acidic or alkaline or neutral soil, and hardiness to frost or heat?
Is the plant notoriously vulnerable to pests and disease? The most effective way of keeping down plant pathogens, is to avoid plants that are susceptible in the first place.
Only when these questions are answered in a satisfactory manner is it desirable to consider personal taste. It's all somewhat counter intuitive, and that's why so many people make serious errors when it comes to planting.
Jonathan@dryclimategardening.com

Pests in lawns: The 7 points you should know

I want to share with you an interesting statistic I heard from an expert at the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture. He pointed out to me that his department offers emergency field visits to farmers complaining of some pest or disease which they are unable to identify, eating up their crops. 50% of the "pests" turn out to be non biotic in origin, such as fertilizer or pesticide build-up in the soil. Indeed I have a little story of my own. Once a former customer phoned me in a panic, telling me that his lawn was being eaten-up by "something" and that the neighbour's gardener had already told them what pesticide to use. When I examined the grass, which was indeed browning–off, I discovered that all that had happened was that the automatic irrigation system had been accidentally turned off! This during the summer in Israel where there's no rain between April and October

So before rushing in with the poisons, remember that the management of pests and diseases is basically an integral part of the overall horticultural practice adopted in any given garden. Good sound practice leads in most cases to pest and disease levels low enough to exclude the need for pesticides. The basics of pest control in lawns are as follows:

1. Longer intervals between each watering helps to encourage a grass hardy to pest and disease attack.
2. Time your sprinkling when the humidity is naturally high, such as at daybreak. As fungi thrive on a mixture of warm and moist conditions, the worst possible time to water is usually in the early evening.
3. Over feeding with chemical fertilizer, particularly in the middle of summer, encourages various grass pathogens. Manure which has not thoroughly broken down to a humic state, can encourage the growth of pests like dung beetles.
4. If a hired gardener tends your garden, ask him/her to wipe the mower blades with some household sterilizing agent, before mowing your lawn.
5. The clearest sign of pest attack, is when turf easily comes away when pulled at.
6. Most pest damage comes from caterpillars of insects such as moths and beetles.
7. Pesticides should only be used when absolutely necessary.
· Before applying pesticides, the pathogen should be clearly identified, and the necessary course of action decided upon, preferably after consulting with a local expert.

Jonathan@dryclimategardening.com

What is a weed? The most basic thing you ought to know

To my knowledge there is no botanical definition of a "weed". Instead, one may adopt a practical description of what constitutes one. First of all, let's establish what a weed is not. In gardening terms, two kinds of plants can be distinguished. One kind is the ornamental species used in parks and gardens, the other type is the wild plants that are generally not seen or planted in gardens.
A common habit is to group the latter together under the description "weeds", while conversely, the former are not weeds. This is synonymous with terming ornamental species as "good" and plants that grow in natural eco-systems, as "bad". Of course many people, especially ecologically minded ones, would object to such a description on principle. Putting principle aside however, a simple examination will show that this definition, it would be more appropriate perhaps to describe it as an attitude, is absurd in practical terms. How is that?

Let's take for example a private garden in a warm dry climate comprising of a lawn, hedging shrubs, a shade tree, a fruit tree or two, an area covered with creeping plants, and a small flower bed. All the species and varieties have been carefully chosen as part of an overall design. All the plants are therefore "good". But what happens if the lawn starts spreading into the flower bed, and becomes difficult to control? Is still "good"? On the other hand, one of the trees, a magnificent specimen in itself, disperses seeds that germinate in the lawn. As these start developing into trees themselves, are they now to be described as "good" or as "bad"? If developing the garden along the lines of the design is considered to be important, then they should be termed "bad".

Expanding on this line of argument, let's imagine that this family plot lies in the middle of a nature reserve. While according to the (imaginary) leasing agreement, the family has the right to plant as they wish in their own garden, the nature reserve authorities, are struggling to re-establish the natural flora of the area. It is no secret of course, that the state of the flora affects the condition of the natural fauna. In any eco-system, certain animal species are dependent on the presence of certain plant species, and vice versa. Now what's liable to happen if the "good" plants in the family garden, spread into the nature reserve surrounding the family property, and in the course of time start colonizing areas and thus cause the gradual elimination of some of the natural plants. The delicate balance is affected, resulting in the reduction and in worse cases, the elimination of animal species which had hitherto existed in association with the flora. Are our ornamentals still "good". In terms of the nature reserve they are arch criminals!

So ornamental versus wild, or beautiful versus ugly, can never serve as the basis for describing a certain plant as a weed or otherwise. The correct starting point is that any plant woody or herbaceous, cultivated or wild, pretty or miserable, a plant that enhances the design, or one that detracts from it, any plant can become a weed if it grows, or is liable to grow where it is unwanted and in such a way as to become difficult and in some cases, impossible to keep under control.

Jonathan@dryclimategardening.com