IAM NOT SURE ALL MY PLANTS GOT THE ORDER in time, because some of the opposing forces seem to have found their targets and chewed, felled or otherwise savaged more than a few things around here. Oh, Andre Jordan, why did my plants blink? What were they thinking? How can I teach them all to stand extra-still and even get invisible when the enemy draws near? This gardening can be quite the uphill battle.
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
My enemy is weed seeds. With flat, open fields surrounding me, you could blow dandelion fluff from five miles away and it would float directly to my patch. And as every gardener knows, one day the plant looks innocuous and the next it’s spewing seed far and wide. Don’t blink!
Andre, as a Dr. Who fan, I loved this doodle. That was a great (and scary) episode. I’m not surprised the producers brought back the “weeping angels” for the new season. Good analogy for the garden.
at the moment i am trying to be best friends with the weeds because they will at least fill the ’embarrassing bald patch’ that has now appeared on our lawn.
weeds, caterpillars, check. i also have a new nemesis: a vole? a mole? i will ask the plants not to blink, and i think i won’t either.
andre, agreed about the temporary cease fire with weeds. they are filling an area that a previous resident covered with landscaping fabric and then rocks. lava rocks. the weeds are hiding those until i get to removing them.
A few years ago, I gave up on dreams of pale peonies and iris, stymied by the rose chafers and then Japanese beetles. I learned that beetles often don’t “see” the darker flowers, and so I’ve been working on a black/plum and later gold theme since then. Its not blinking, but wearing eye catching clothes that get the poor flowers in trouble. Not to blame the victims of course.
I went out yesterday morning to check that the beans were still surviving the rabbit infestation — sure enough, they were all there present and unrabbited — BUT … two of them had been felled by cutworms. Bah. So, I really relate to that worm in Andre’s doodle, and I am sure, totally and completely sure, that it is a cutworm.
Eeek, I don’t even dare speak of the dreaded cutworm, which has so far (knock on wood) spared my garden. My plants and I were, however, victims of a terrible slug infestation this spring, which damaged all but my heartiest of greens. What started out innocently enough (a nibble here, a hole there), became all out war overnight. I agree…don’t blink, even for a second! (Love the doodle, too)
Welcome, Kate. Glad you didn’t mention the you-know-whatworm. :) I seem to have lost some greens to slugs, too, so I feel your pain. See you soon again, I hope.
You don’t know slugs until you’ve seen slugs in the northwest. Iron based slug bait is the only pesticide I use.