Re(2): email list suggestion - organic or not .....
otterpt@macn.bc.ca writes:
>Most manicured gardens are not conducive to this type of gardening (in
>nature, there is no bare ground) and many of the so-called weeds and
>native plants are essential to creating this balance. In the
>wilderness, you will not see a severe outbreak of anything - for
>everything there is a control. I stumbled into this type of gardening
>30 years ago through my love of nature and not wanting to destroy the
>natural look of our property. Through the years I have "inserted" my
>garden into the native growth and proved that rhododendrons, for
>example, don't need a fussy peat bed and bark mulch. Plants compete and
>coexist much as they do in their native Himalayas. They thrive on a
>sloping bank amongst a dense growth of salal, mahonia, and sword ferns.
>Every 2-3 years I tackle the bank to remove blackberry vines and thimble
>berries and am always amazed to discover a Towhee nest or Song Sparrow
>nest in every second sword fern.
>
>If you must have an immaculate, sterile garden, perhaps you could devote
>one corner to a small copse of native shrubs tangled together and let
>the native grasses etc. provide a ground cover there - and never weed or
>clear up leaves. You would be surprised how attractive this can be
>throughout the different seasons with a little planning.
My Garden rarely has major infestations of bugs. I have found one or two
plants get full of ants and aphids, but it's taken care of with a blast of
water. The other plants arent bothered at all (Then again the plants with
the aphids and ants are over an ant nest)..
Anyway, my flowering plum has never gotten an infestation of anything. I
occasionally see small holes in it's leaves but i never see anything
disfigured. I dont get a lot of weeds, probably because the plants are
grown close to eachother. It also attracts a lot of birds from ravens (who
probably eat the snails), to Juncoes who peck for seeds among the mulch.
Mulch has helped mostly to retain water, since the soil here is sandy. Any
plant I grow in my garden has to be able to grow in the conditions that
exist. I dont like to buy tons of fertilizer, or pesticides, and i still
get good comments on it (i grow plants that are attractive yet tolerant of
the conditions).
.
