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.  .                        How to de-bug your garden

Did you know it is estimated that there are over 100,000 different species of insects that live in North America? If you don’t think you have bugs in your garden – guess again. In a typical backyard there are probably 1,000 little critters setting up house.

Remember, not all insects are bad. Less than three percent of all insects are classified as pests. Different plants attract different insects. You will not find a corn worm on a tomato plant, because it’s digestive system simply cannot handle it.

It is helpful to know the insects that live in your area. This will enable you to avoid insect infestation by planting plants that these insects do not eat. This is the safest, most environmentally friendly way to de-bug your garden.

Unfortunately, this will probably not be enough to keep all destructive insects out of your garden. For many gardeners, it is necessary to use insecticides. When using insecticides, you will have maximum results if you know what kind of insects you have. Always read the label on the insecticide and follow all directions. Make sure that it is labeled for use on your plants and insects. Whenever possible, use organic insecticides that are nontoxic. This will allow you to effectively rid your garden of harmful insects, while minimizing harm to the environment.

Here are some indicators that you need to de-bug your garden:

Do your leaves have holes in them?

This is an indication of a chewing insect. To control chewing insects you have to find out what kind of insect it is. It could be a caterpillar, grasshopper, or beetle, or one of many others. Look under the leaves in the morning, or just after dark. That is when they like to eat. Most people do not realize that they have bugs, because they hide during the heat of the day.

Is your plant discolored, drooping, wilting or generally lacks vigor?

Often times, sucking insects cause this type of damage. These critters do not eat outer surfaces of the plants, so some insecticides will not affect them. It is necessary to use a contact insecticide to eliminate sucking insects. Contact insecticides come in direct contact with the insect’s body and kill by burning, asphyxiation, or paralysis. The insecticide must actually “contact” the pests to kill them.

Is your tree full of holes, dripping sap, or do you have a pile of sawdust-like matter around the base of the tree?

Boring insects, (and we do not mean ones without a social life either) can do quite a bit of damage to trees before they emerge into their adult form. Borers may be directly attacked. When their tunnels are open, they may be impaled on a piece of wire. If they cannot be reached that way, they can be smothered by Bon-Neem Insecticidal Soap Concentrate or killed by Bonide Rotenone-Pyrethrins Concentrate, made with naturally occurring pyrethrin. These concentrates are available through Spray-N-Grow.

These are just a few ways you can de-bug your garden. The bottom line is…if you have healthy plants to begin with, you will probably be doing a lot less de-bugging in your garden!

Using gravel in your garden can create an excellent, in-expensive but practical garden surface. It’s attractive, maintenance-free, simple to lay and fits in well with plants. It will work well with irregular outlines, and it can be effective in any area large or small. Whole gardens can be turned over to gravel with some judicious use of complimentary paving and attractive planting. Use of edging is an important addition, otherwise the gravel can be scattered into surrounding borders.
Many garden centres and builders merchants sell a huge range of gravels in many different sizes, colours and textures. The great thing about gravel is that the appearance changes according to the light and whether the stones are wet or dry.
Making a Gravel Bed
You can set a gravel bed in a lawn or within an area of paving. In a large lawn a winding ribbon of gravel, designed to imitate a dry riverbed, can look very effective. If the garden is smaller, a more compact shape, perhaps oval or kidney-shaped, may be more appropriate.
To cut out the shape try using a half moon edger (edging iron) and remove the turf about 10cm (4 inches) deep with a spade. If you would like to grow drought-loving plants, dig in plenty of course grit. For growing more water hungry plants, add well-rotted manure or compost. The gravel needs to be about 5cms (2 inches) deep. Keep the gravel well below the surface of the lawn, otherwise it will spill on to the surface of the lawn and will damage the mower when it’s time to cut the grass. Choose a size that will be noticeable if it does stray.
Larger Gravel Areas
For areas larger than a small island bed, consider laying a plastic membrane sheet over the area to stop weed growth coming through later on. If your gravel garden is low-lying or in a hollow you will need to provide a sump for excess water to drain into. Ensure that the surface is quite smooth before laying the sheet, and overlap the joints. Tip the gravel over the plastic sheet and rake it level to make a 5cm (2 inches) layer.
Plants and Gravel
Many plants will grow well in and around a gravel bed, but for a true low-maintenance garden choose drought-resistant plants that wont need watering, even in dry spells. Scoop back the gravel and plant normally, but avoid planting too deeply and keep the gravel away from the immediate area around the stem to stop it rubbing and damaging it in winds etc.
If planting through a plastic sheet, scoop back the gravel then make cross-slits through the plastic. Enrich the soil with garden compost or fertilizer and plant normally. Fold back the sheet and replace the gravel, taking care not to cover the crown of the plant.

Alive and Thriving
A regular, well-thought-out landscape maintenance plan is the best way to protect your outdoor investment
A beautiful yard says something about the homeowners. Whether subtle or dramatic, a well-kept, well-loved yard sends a special message. Just as important-from the street, a lovely landscape can make a house stand out, which is important when it comes time to sell it.
After spending a lot of money on your residential landscape installation, it only makes sense to protect it and make sure it develops as designed. And that’s where a landscape maintenance program comes in.
Landscaping Maintenance begins with the Green, Green Grass of Home
Landscape maintenance begins with the lawn service. In Houston, lawns typically need trimming weekly through the summer and bi-weekly in the winter months. Additionally, most Houston lawns need aeration twice per year, but since you really can’t aerate enough, the more often the better.
Winter rye is a great addition to a landscaping maintenance plan by keeping your lawn beautiful throughout the winter. The local temperature range normally dictates that winter rye seed can be spread in early to late October. It is important to know, however, that rye grass has some real disadvantages. For example, the rye grass can compete with the St. Augustine grass (typically planted in Houston) for space and nutrition, which makes it very difficult on the St. Augustine in the spring. This struggle is particularly apparent in shaded area where grass already has a hard time growing.
Other Key Components of a Residential Landscape Maintenance Program
• Shrubs, Ground Cover and Vines. As part of a thorough landscape maintenance program, hedges as well as other shrubs and bushes should be trimmed regularly to maintain the desired contours. Ground cover and vines should be edged to maintain a neat appearance. This regularly-scheduled attention will ensure that all elements conform to the overall plan of the landscape design.
• Tree Maintenance. All small trees should be pruned as necessary. It is also a good practice in your landscape maintenance scheduling to do a deep root fertilization of these trees annually.
• Flower Bed Maintenance. Flower beds need to be weeded weekly. It is also a good idea to turn the mulch every two weeks so that you keep the exchange of air and water flowing into and out of the soil. To optimize the growth and bloom cycles of seasonal flowers, they need to be regularly pruned and fertilized.
Feeding and Protecting
Fertilization and chemical treatments are the next important step in a residential landscape maintenance program as they provide a boost to healthy plants and prevent diseases and infestations common to the Houston area.
Optimally, lawns need to be fertilized four times per year. All shrubs, ground covers and vines should be on a similar schedule. Azaleas and gardenias need to be fertilized in April and May, and acidified in February. Roses require fertilization in the spring, which needs to be continued every four to six weeks during the growing season.
One of the most common diseases for lawns in the Houston area is brown patch, or “Rhizoctonia solani,” which a basic landscape maintenance program needs to address. Routine fungicide treatment is the usual solution. Of particular note regarding rose maintenance; roses need to be sprayed for black spot disease, the major enemy of Houston roses. Finally, your plants need to be treated chemically to protect against various insect infestations.
Jack Frost Can Do Harm
Even in Houston, Texas, it can get cold enough to require covering your outdoor plants. Jeff Halper with Exterior World encourages his clients to be proactive when the thermometer starts dropping. “When the temperatures get below 32 degrees for an extended period of time, you need to cover your delicate plants and tropicals,” he says. “Remember not to use plastic. Instead use proper freeze cloth, which allows light, oxygen and water to pass through so that you can leave the plants covered for a few days without suffocating them.”
How Does Your Residential Landscape Maintenance Program Stack Up?
The services listed above are part of a good landscape maintenance service contract. But in addition to these basics, the really professional outfits provide extras, which include everything from identifying unexpected diseases and providing an estimate for treatment to treating all landscape elements, such as sculptures and statues, irrigation systems or landscape lighting, with particular respect.
They will also be mindful of surface maintenance: walkways, driveways, patios and outdoor kitchens should be blown or raked free of debris during the landscape maintenance service. Swimming pools, ponds or outdoor water fountains that accumulate debris during trimming of shrubs or lawn should be cleaned as well.

Over the years I have purchased my garden seeds from a number of different places. I have ordered seeds and I have purchased them over the counter. If you order seeds you need to do it well in advance to be ready when the ground is ready to work in the spring. Nothing worse than ordering seeds and not have them when things are ready in the spring.
When you order seeds you can get just exactly what you want. If you prefer a certain variety of bean or corn you can pretty much get it some where. You can also try varieties that you would never see in a store. One place I have ordered from a few times is Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine. When I first ordered there years ago they just had a little black and white catalog. Now they have a nice website to order from. They have a lot of varieties that are very interesting to try. We have also purchased stuff from Henry Fields Catalog. Not sure if they are still in business even.
If you buy over the counter you are pretty much limited to what the retailer has in stock. I used to buy seeds at the local hardware store. They sold Burpee seeds which I liked but they were not a big store and had a limited choice of varieties. It was about the same with any store in the area. The hardware store is now closed, the owner retired. There is a new lawn and garden store in town and they have a small selection of stuff but not much. They did order some of the Royalty Purple Pod green beans I like but they sold them all before I got in there to buy some.
The last couple of years I have purchased seeds at a natural foods grocery store where we shop. They are just small packets but it actually suits my garden philosophy of smaller individual plantings and more variety. They sell seeds by a company called Botanical Interests and they are all Organically grown seeds I think. I have had good results with them. I also purchase some Ferry-Morse Organic seeds at Lowe’s. I planted some of their Okra this year and I planted a few things last year and had good results.
I usually buy organic seeds when I can. But, the sweetcorn I plant is usually treated seeds. It is hard to find sweetcorn that is not treated around here. I do not buy the small packets of corn since it would take too many so I buy my corn in bulk at the local garden store. I might order some untreated seeds next year if I can get it done early. I like to plant the early varieties of corn. We had our first sweet corn this year during the last week of June. I was a little delayed by wet weather and cool temps in the spring planting but good rains made up for the late planting.
I usually purchase my green bean seeds at the garden store but this year I planted some of the small packets from Botanical Interests. Each packet had enough for about 10 to 12 feet of row and I split my rows between a couple of different varieties, half yellow was and half green beans.
I just planted a green manure crop of buckwheat on a small section of the garden which has germinated and is coming up pretty good. I purchased that seed at the natural food store. It was food grade buckwheat that was unhulled. I planted it right a day or so after we had about a half inch rain and then last week we had about two inches of rain over a 12 hour period so it came up pretty good. I will let it grow until it flowers and then till it under.