this group of panelists that my rainwater brother and i listened
to last weekend in san antonio at the festival of flowers
are some of the gurus of organic gardening in the state of texas
texas by the way is the leader in organic gardening in the united states
thats better than being the leader in poverty the under insured
poor womens health teenage pregnancy rate etc etc etc
that day in the back of the room
was malcolm beck the true god of organic gardening in texas
he was the inspiration for much that has been done in organic gardening
here in texas over the years
the panel consisted of
bob webster organic nurseryman and radio ktsa550am
organic garden show sat and sunday am
andy chidester the ladybug lady from the lady bug company
an avid organic gardener
mr john dromgoole the god of organic gardening around here
the owner of the natural gardener the nursery to visit in austin
radio host of the longest organic show on radio on lbj590 am on saturday
and sunday am
stuart franke president of the median agriculture products mentioned below
bruce deuley organic rancher and farmer and host of organic matters
on ktsa550am
noel garcia from the texas soil and plant lab
if you want a good accurate soil test send it to him
i always think i know a lot about organic gardening until
i go to this forum each year
then i realize how much i dont know
and
how much these people know
and are till learning
each panelist was asked
and mr webster asks this question each year
usually each panelist gives a different answer
this year they all said that the most important thing happening
in organic gardening was
water conservation
theres a shortage
a drought
we are using too much in our landscape
we are wasting a lot of water
a common solution was improving the soil in the yard
with compost
heavy use of mulch
use of rainwater and rainwater collection
a fear that if we continue to be dry we will start around here at
least to start looking like west texas
dry and almost plantless
an organic garden my use 50% less water as a non organic one
use of xeric and native plants were recommended as much as
possible
these plants are just programmed internally to use less water
and survive here
sometimes i look at my garden
which is of course 100% organic
and
see how well it holds water
and
see all the mulch i use
then
i think about those gardens and farmers
those non organic ones
who just dump stuff on their fields to improve the soil
chemicals that is
how can they replenish so much in the soil that needs replenished
they dont im afraid
and
we suffer
by eating their chemicalized produce
by living near their fields
by their over use of water
by the deplenishing of their soil as evidenced
by the increase in dust storms in farming areas like west texas
and the mid west
just like in the dust bowl from the 1930s
here at the country n we are doing and using the right things to
improve our soil and to decrease water use
we add compost we make ourselves
we add mulch and lot of it in the hot summer and cold winters
which decreases water loss and makes the soil warmer or cooler
we add organic fertilizers each year
we use only rainwater to water our plants
some recommendations for things im not doing regularly to what
im doing now
is adding humates and molasses once or twice a year
and occasionally adding minerals to the soil
by
humates using medinas humate humuric acid
these humates make it easier for plants to use minerals
hold more moisture and use fertilizer more efficiently
its the humus thats in the soil naturally
weve just all depleted it over the years
molasses using medinas or any commercially available liquid or dry
the molasses provides the food for the bacteria and fungus
thats important for plant growth
minerals need replacing
the best product is greensand which has a lot of these in it
then there are 2 other very important things to add to your garden
love
your shadow
there was a lengthy discussion of gmo seeds
which i wont address much today
i am concerned for the potential disasters that make come
a monocrop of seeds is not good
seeds owed by one or two companies is not good
the seeds are overtaking the wild or heirloom crops by pollinating them
the movement of genes from crops to weeds like resistance to things
like roundup
a super weed may be developed
plus
whats the effect on humans
has the research been done
so
ill add that stuff to my garden this year-humates greensand and molasses
ill keep catching my rainwater
ill not eat gmo stuff when possible-heck we dont know if its used or not in
our food
ill continue to do organic practices
since
it seems to be the least toxic of the approaches
and
its the way our forefathers did it
the organicgreen doctor
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