In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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May 08, 2008

Looking for an organic approach

Q: I’m interested in using natural and organic ways of controlling pests in my vegetable garden, but I’m not sure exactly what to do. I’d like to make homemade insecticidal soap. Can I use dish soap?
Julianna Haubeck, Carmichael

A: I applaud your commitment to the organic approach. I’ve used this method for years, and find it comforting to know the vegetables and fruits that come out of my garden are chemical free.

Steve Zien, president of Living Resources Company and an authority on organic gardening, offers these tips to get your organic garden started.

If you have pest damage, identify the culprit first, Zien says. Don’t just start spraying things.

Find the most benign approach. “For pests like aphids, a blast of water does the job,” Zien says. He also cautions: “Pests are the symptom, not the problem.”

The most important thing you can do to make your garden organic is to start by looking at your soil. Healthy soil begets healthy plants, and that means more beneficial insects and few harmful critters.

“Soil is alive,” Zien says, “and full of microscopic organisms that make nutrients available to roots and also fight off diseases. If you want a healthy environment, feed your soil.”

Know your soil. Do a soil test and find out what in there and what isn’t.
Start a compost pile. Zien highly recommends worm castings.

If you feel you must fertilize, purchase organic fertilizers, and look for the initials “OMRI” (Organic Materials Review Institute) on the bag.

In time, Zien says, these measures should bring the soil into balance. “The compost will act as a buffer against anything bad. If your soil Ph is out of balance, the compost will buffer the situation, make it less of a stress on plants.”
Finally, Zien says, give plants a foliar feeding with fish emulsion or seaweed, preferably both.

“Even if your soil is perfect, you may have environmental stresses. It’s too hot, too cold, you forget to water. Stress means the roots don’t function properly so foliar feeding on a regular basis guarantees they won’t go through nutrient stress.

“If people would use fish emulsion and seaweed,” Zien says, “they’d have everything covered: The fish emulsion provides nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, and the seaweed provides growth hormones, vitamins and 55 trace minerals.”

Educate yourself. Try “The Organic Gardener’s Complete Guide to Vegetables and Fruits,” (Rodale Press) and “Teeming with Microbes” by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. Subscribe to Organic Gardening magazine.

Finally, making your own insecticidal soap can be tricky. Using too much soap or the wrong kind of soap can damage plants. You’re better off buying insecticidal soap rather than risking injury to your plants.

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