Author: Dr. Sherrilyn Billger

ISA Certified Arborist PD-2708A, the Tattooed Economist, seeker, student, teacher, allegorical hamadryad

Autumn Dos and Don’ts for Healthier Plants and Fewer Weeds Next Spring

Do

Don’t

Lawns

 

Leave the leaves (after chopping up with leaf mulcher or lawn mower)

Kick ‘em to the curb

Aerate and over-seed

Fertilize (particularly near trees)

Switch lawn to gardens

 

 

Garden Beds

 

Remove weeds and invasive plants

Let yourself be hypnotized by ‘pretty’ invasives

Remove any leaves with leaf spot

Allow the fungi to remain on the ground

Pull and dig weeds from the root

Yank and drop

Cover and smother

Weed whack and walk away

Solarize the soil to kill rampant diseases like blight on tomatoes

 

Resist the urge

Rototill weeds (Particularly with root systems like thistles, goutweed, etc.)

Cut back herbaceous perennials after they fade (less work)

Cut back while plants are still green (more work)

Add compost and/or leaf mulch

Pile up leaves around shrub stems and perennial crowns

Do a soil test and amend the soil

 

Plant garlic

 

Plant bulbs including tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths

 

Install new trees and shrubs

 

 

 
  • DO plant bulbs like tulips…
  • …and garlic

(Photos by Sherrilyn Billger) 

DO

DON’T

Soggy Soils

 

Plant trees

·      A mature evergreen intercepts more than 4,000 gallons per year

·      Red oaks can remove 92 feet of water per hour

·      Maples remove 8 feet per hour, willows remove 10

Add more grass

·      A study in NC found that switching from forest to suburban turf reduced the soil infiltration rate from 12.4 in/hr to 4.4 in/hr

·      That means trees are three times faster getting excess water out of the soil

Consider swales

 

Aerate your lawn

Compress the soil by driving over it, particularly when it’s wet

Add compost

Turn up your nose at mushroom soil

 

 

Lasagna Garden

 

To transform grassy areas into garden beds, don’t bother weeding, digging, or tilling. Ingredients: cardboard and/or newspaper, compostable materials (plant material, fallen leaves, egg shells, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds), compost and/or dirt

1.    Place cardboard or layers of newspaper on the ground and water

2.    Add a layer of compostable materials

3.    Add a smaller layer of compost or dirt

4.    Rinse and repeat steps #2 and #3 until your lasagna is at least 6” tall

5.    Do nothing for months and months

6.    Check your lasagna in April or May and marvel at the dead grass at the bottom of the ‘pan’

7.    Till if you really feel like it, to mix your lasagna into the soil below

8.    Remove any remaining bits of cardboard (toss ‘em in your compost pile)

9.    Add plants and seeds to your new garden bed

 

 

Miscellaneous Do’s

 

Remove vines growing on tree trunks

Remove dead, dying, and diseased trees, limbs

Remove invasive trees, shrubs, and vines

Consult with a certified arborist

 

In the Comfort of Your Warm House

 

Year in Review

·      What were your greatest victories?

·      What were you biggest challenges?

Start planning your next growing season. Try something new!
  • DO remove harmful vines
  • Do add compost to soggy soils or use in lasagna gardening

Teaching Climate Change

Sherrilyn Billger, PhD and Andrew Smith, PhD will present two companion pieces at the Next Earth: Teaching Climate Change Across the Disciplines conference June 10-30, 2019. This is a nearly carbon-neutral (NCN) conference presented by the Environmental Humanities Initiative at UC Santa Barbara. For more information about these projects, please read the abstracts below.

The Philosopher and the Entrepreneur: The Pedagogical Significance of a Symbiotic Relationship

Andrew F. Smith and Sherrilyn M. Billger

How many environmental philosophers do you know who’ve had the opportunity to develop a symbiotic relationship with an entrepreneur? In our case, the entrepreneur—a specialist in restorative landscaping and forestry—opened the philosopher’s eyes to one important way in which care for the needs and interests of urban and suburban landbases provides a tangible inroad into addressing climate change. This has had a marked effect on both his scholarship and his teaching. Reciprocally, the philosopher offered a theoretical framework to the entrepreneur, rooted in a defense of plant sentience and our embeddedness in the living community. This gave birth to the name of her business. It’s also informed how she advertises it to draw attention to the ecological and climatological importance of cultivating people–plant relationships.

In this presentation, we tell the story of the pedagogical significance of this symbiotic relationship. The philosopher offers insights into how the entrepreneur’s hands-on work aimed at restoring ecosystems inspired a book project that’s influenced his teaching inside and outside the classroom. This has proven particularly beneficial when focusing on steps students can take to work with our distant green relatives to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. In turn, the entrepreneur has found the philosopher’s theoretical framework invaluable for teaching clients and employees how to be nurturers of the land.

Take it Outside:  Eating for the Ecosystem

Sherrilyn M. Billger and Andrew F. Smith

Most of us have strong (occasionally clashing) opinions about to best redress climate change. Whether we debate as polite discourse, lively classroom discussion, or proverbial bar-room brawls, we need to step back and take it outside. To wit, this collaboration between philosopher and entrepreneur presents strategies for enhanced learning by taking students outside.

The philosopher’s pedagogical methods in the comfort of the classroom encourage students to engage with climate issues intellectually. They obtain an essential foundation, understanding theoretical issues, scientific underpinnings, and cultural context, but are unsure about how to translate what they learn into what they can do. This frequently leads to depressive overwhelm that can fortunately be alleviated through interactions with living communities in local ecosystems. Such outings provide experiential learning about interdependence, soil health, social justice, invasive species, storm water, plant tending, etc. To be clear, what is needed is not vocational training per se, but a link between the theoretical and the practicable. 

Climate change isn’t just happening out there, in the rainforests, low-lying islands, and Arctic ice sheets. It’s happening down the block where the storm drains overflow, in the park overgrown by invasive vines, and among the street trees outside the classroom window. This presentation will lay out essential elements for connecting theoretical foundations to experiential learning. We will include footage from our out-of-the-classroom activities.  

Spotting the Spotted Lanternfly

Have you heard about the latest insect invaders? They reproduce in very large numbers, and swarms can cover entire tree trunks. They will land on your head, your shoulder, your shoe, your lap, anywhere they please. If you see one on the ground and try to stomp on it with your foot, you better be quick or it’ll hop away at lightning speed. Spotted lanternflies (SLFs) are an invasive pest, and they will be popping up all over the Philly area this year. They were already in Fairmount park last summer.

For most homeowners, SLFs are little more than a nuisance. But they can take nuisance to a whole new level. Their favorite plant to eat is Ailanthus, commonly known as tree of heaven, which happens to be another rapidly spreading invasive plant-pest. Unfortunately, SLFs also feed on fruits and have caused significant problems for some vineyards and orchards. And they feed on black walnut, maple, and willow trees, among others. Hops, cucumbers, and other crops can suffer serious damage too. (My biggest problem personally has been on my computer vines.)

I have been battling these beasties for a few years because I have a vegetable garden in Berks county, just a few miles from the location where the SLFs first came into the US (in a load of stones). 

Spotted Lantern Fly life stages
Image Source: Penn State Extension

Garden and home centers are advertising a number of different control methods, including a systemic insecticide that kills bees. If you are like me—eating for the ecosystem—you want to avoid using such toxic chemicals. You absolutely have other options.

The best non chemical option is scraping off and destroying egg masses. You can do this from late September through May, but the best time to scrape is late winter (nymphs start appearing in late April). Scraping is literally just scraping, with something like a plastic card or a butterknife. Just be careful to limit damage to the bark. Most egg masses are closer to the ground in sheltered locations. SLFs will lay eggs on just about any flat surface, including deck boards and concrete blocks.

The next step is to catch any after they’ve hatched. During their life span, SLFs climb upward in trees, so sticky bands around trunks are effective in catching them. One sticky band program in PA has already caught over a million of these buggers. In order to limit the likelihood of beneficial insects and birds getting caught in the sticky band, it’s a good idea to trim the width to just a few inches. Replace the bands every 2 weeks or sooner if they fill up.

Like many insects, SLFs can be killed with organic contact pesticides like neem oil and horticultural soap. I’ve also had great results using a spray bottle of diluted (biodegradable) Sal’s Suds. But remember that these interventions are chemical and can damage plants (don’t use in the heat of midday) and other insects (spray carefully and avoid bees as much as possible). I also like to swipe or finger flick the SLFs into a container with rubbing alcohol.

The option with the least impact on other insects is to just smash the SLFs. But you need to be quick! It could be a great game for your family and friends. 

hops

An unfortunate consequence of pests like this one is how they impact our food and beverage industries. Many of us choose organic food when possible, but the most effective methods of controlling (read: killing) pests are not certified-organic. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? Something that ‘efficiently’ kills one thing is likely to be harmful to other things. Many vineyards are now faced with higher costs from more extensive pest control measures. I’m not going to condemn wine growers out of hand for trying to protect their vines. To be frank, if the more toxic pesticides—including the neonicotinoids—were only available to companies (and not homeowners), we’d have significantly less run-off and over spray and residual contamination to deal with.

At the same time, I enjoy a nice malbec or syrah, and I’d prefer my wine be organic. Contending with SLFs clearly raises costs for all affected vineyards, but is particularly rough for organic growers. Organic pesticides like spinosad and neem oil degrade quickly, requiring many more applications than conventional options like carbaryl and dinotefuran.

So let’s be informed consumers, purchasing food, wine, and garden products that align with our values, keeping in mind the underlying costs that lead to the price on the tag.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can deal with these spotted lanternflies, EFTE will gladly venture to your home for a consultation. We will teach you how to identify all life stages, as well as where to look for the eggs, the nymphs, and the adults. We will discuss the more eco-friendly control options with you, helping you craft your custom intervention plan. We will also provide you with tips and strategies for protecting your most favored plants and trees.

If you’d prefer not to be bugged by these bugs, we also provide egg mass detection and scraping services, to destroy as many as possible before they even hatch.

What we eat matters

What we already know

The majority of food available to us is heavily processed and shipped long distances. Conventional produce has often been sprayed with chemicals that may cause cancer. We know that diets high in fresh produce are healthier, and many consumers demand organic options. Locally-produced food is generally fresher, and prevents large transportation costs, including the pollution that transportation generates. CSAs are growing, farmers’ markets are booming, and community gardens are popping up all over the city. We’re moving (slowly) in the right direction.

We know climate change is real. We know monoculture crops are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. And we know that the political climate directly affects environmental regulations and therefore the quality of our air, water, soil, and food. Now is the time to take action. Now is the time for every single one of us to improve the way we eat.

But why should I grow my own food?

Growing your own food is a patriotic and revolutionary act. When you grow your own food, you have greater control over what ends up on your dinner plate. You can pick the varieties you like best, you can use organic methods, you can eat the veggies at their peak ripeness. Nothing tastes better than a freshly picked vine-ripened (in my opinion Brandywine) tomato.

If you are a CSA member or buy produce at a farm stand, growing a few of your own edibles is a great complement. The CSA and farm are indeed local—which is great!—but nothing’s more local than your back door. And maybe they don’t grow your favorite hot pepper. At the height of the harvest, vegetables like snap peas and string beans should be picked every few days. You can claim your bounty at its absolute peak.

When’s the last time you bought a head of lettuce with a few brown leaves? How about a strawberry with a mushy spot? An oddly shaped tomato? We demand visual perfection from the produce we buy, and as a result, we waste a lot of perfectly good food. You are probably more forgiving with edibles you grow yourself. You’re likely to pull off (and compost) the brown lettuce leaves, cut out the mushy strawberry spot, and use the tomato anyway. Let’s embrace imperfection and reduce waste!

You can make our ecosystem healthier

By growing more of your own food, you add more green to our city, which not only looks nice, but also helps improve air quality. Adding new garden beds and containers chips away at the ubiquitous concrete surfaces that perpetuate our ongoing runoff problem. Your garden can enhance biodiversity, feed pollinators, and improve your own connection to the natural world that surrounds us. And fresh produce is just plain yummy.

How to have happy houseplants

Do you have a houseplant that seems unhappy? Trust your gut. If the plant looks like it’s struggling, it probably is. But don’t worry! There are only two causes for most indoor plant problems: light or water (or both). And I’m going to let you in on the top-secret two-step method for houseplant happiness.

All too often, houseplants don’t get enough light, or they drown in too much water, or they dry out because we forget to water them. It happens. It doesn’t make you a bad person.

Want to learn more about houseplant care? Here are some of my favorite online resources:

Oh no! Looks like it’s too late for Mr. Crispy.

Here’s the top-secret two-step:
1. Look at your plant. Does it look happy? Does it look strong and proud or weepy or saggy or sparse or shriveled? What color are the leaves? Look at the soil. Is the surface smooth, cracked, covered in white crumbs or green goop? Touch the soil, heck stick your finger in the soil at least to your first knuckle. Is the soil dry and brittle? Dense and soggy? Gather up your data and visit the links above.
2. Do something different immediately, but not too different. Yes, your struggling plant needs a change, but too much change at once could kill it. Change your watering frequency or move the plant to a new spot or repot the plant. Doing all three at once could be too much stress for an already struggling plant.

My houseplant care regimen looks like this:
1. Bring plants indoors when nighttime temps get to 50 degrees and below. Place them near windows that best approximate their light needs. Some of the plants overwinter under grow bulbs.
2. Water the plants every week unless they don’t need it (finger into the soil to test). Take the plants to the sink or the shower, water thoroughly, let them drain, take them back. I often rotate the plants so a different side faces the window every week, to keep the growth more consistent. I rarely fertilize houseplants in the winter.
3. Take most of the houseplants outdoors when nighttime temps get to 50 degrees and above. Keep them in the shade (I like to hang them in trees) or with at most a few hours of morning sunlight.
4. Water when they need it, paying attention to how often it rains or just use the aforementioned finger test. If it’s hot and it doesn’t rain they need water multiple times per week.
5. Fertilize once per month. I’m a big fan of Planet Natural‘s organic fertilizers.

All else equal:
Plants in bigger pots are more resilient than those in smaller pots.
Plants in pots with drainage holes are healthier than those in pots without holes.
Squishy-leaved plants (succulents) need less water than other plants.
Flowering plants need more water than other plants.

I hope the links above will help keep you and your houseplants happy together. But if you need some more help, let us know.

Happy houseplants

Why “eating for the ecosystem”?

I started Eating for the Ecosystem because I am determined to change what we grow and how we grow it. I know we can choose plants and designs that strengthen our ecosystem, while looking beautiful and providing food.

The company name arose from discussions with my husband about his second book, A Critique of the Moral Defense of Vegetarianism. One of his points matches one of my long-held beliefs: that “[h]ow plants are treated in the process of cultivating and gathering them for food matters morally” (p. 31). To me, plants are people too.

We both consider what we consume to be a moral decision, and we constantly re-examine our choices. We believe that the best metric for weighing these choices is the effect we have on our ecosystem. “[T]he world is full of people, only some of whom are human. Plants and other-than-human animals may be people, too. Moreover, we maintain a special bond with, and specifiable obligations to see to the needs and interests of, our landbase and all the people who live on it and in it” (p. 8). We have a bond with, and obligations to, our ecosystem.

Myriad factors can drive a person’s food choices, whether health effects, genetic modification, price, availability, treatment of animals, synthetic chemical use, sentience, or environmental impact. I frankly don’t care whether other people have the same diet I have. I do care whether people think about what they eat and how their food choices impact their ecosystem. And I want to make it easier for anyone to make consumption choices that match their values.

I want to encourage eating for the ecosystem: growing more food in urban settings, selecting diverse plants that support local animals and insects, turning lawns into woodlands or gardens, and using integrated pest management rather than reaching for a chemical solution. We need to do more to enhance food safety and food security for ourselves and future generations.

Gardener’s to do list for late spring

This post originally appeared in the Penn State Extension Master Gardener’s blog.

All vegetable gardeners want a successful harvest, and I’ve found that no time is more pivotal than the first month or so after planting. This is when our seedlings take root, and establish a strong foundation for future growth. I spend more time in my garden in spring than any other time of year, and it always pays off. Here’s a list of late spring tasks that will benefit your organic vegetable crops.

Monarch caterpillar feeding on milkweed leaf

1. Attract Pollinators

Many of our vegetable plants already attract bees and butterflies, but we can supplement these with flowers like Echinacea, bee balm (Monarda), zinnias, yarrow, and sunflowers, among others.  I like to grow common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) to attract Monarch butterflies, and bronze fennel to attract Swallowtails. It’s also a good idea to include a shallow water source for the pollinators. You’ll find some more tips in my printable PDF. And if you’re committed to attracting pollinators, you could get your garden certified.

2. Protect your vegetables from critters

I live in central city Philadelphia, but my vegetable garden lives in rural Berks county (zone 6b). I see no deer or groundhogs in my Philly neighborhood, but they certainly frequent the neighborhood around my garden. The local rabbits are quite voracious as well. So I’ve installed simple 8-foot long 2×4 posts (not pressure-treated) and plastic deer fencing. I added some short galvanized wire fencing to keep the rabbits and groundhogs from gnawing through the deer fence. I’ll have to keep an eye on my fence throughout the growing season, because those critters are crafty, and just might find/dig/gnaw a way through or around my fence. Vigilance is key.

munched tomato
Somebody got to my tomato before I did.

3. Weed and mulch

As they establish themselves, our vegetable plants compete with weeds for sun and water and soil nutrients. My garden is host to a seemingly endless army of thistles and wild onions. Until my vegetables are large enough to shade competitors, I need to weed frequently. I also use mulch to keep the soil moist and discourage weeds. Some gardeners use inorganic materials, but I prefer organic mulch. It doesn’t keep every weed out, but it will slowly decompose and further nourish my soil.

You might consider red plastic mulch for your tomatoes. Penn State scientists found that red mulch increased tomato harvest by 10 percent on average.  To keep the weeds at bay and encourage a better tomato harvest, staple red mulch to black mulch  and lay it on the ground red side up. The easiest time to do this is before you plant your seedlings, but you could also lay it after planting, and create cut-outs for your tomatoes to poke through.

4. Erect plant supports

If you haven’t yet done so, now is a great time to install plant supports.  Putting off this task will leave you wrestling with large plants, and you’ll risk breaking the stems and damaging the roots. Supports are particularly important for peas, pole beans, and tomatoes. I also like to provide supports for my cucumbers, and occasionally for my pepper plants. Garden supply stores offer a wide variety of stakes, teepees, and cages, but you can also make your own. In order to keep your garden chemical-free with natural materials, choose bamboo, cedar, cypress, and jute twine. I use jute twine throughout my garden, because I can toss it in my compost pile in the fall.

Cucumber seedlings starting to climb

5. Make frequent inspections

Organic vegetable gardening is actually really easy. The biggest time commitment comes in the spring, but the summer and fall payoff is truly worth it. Take a little extra time now to nurture the plants and help them set a strong foundation. The absolute best thing you can do for your garden now and throughout the growing season is to walk around and look at the plants. How are they doing? Are they getting enough sun and water? Do you see any evidence of disease or insect damage? Catch it early, and your plants are likely to recover.

I love composting

I love composting.  I mean I really love composting.  Every part of the composting process makes me so deeply happy, it’s probably strange to most people.  I find composting satisfying on so many levels.  I don’t put out all sorts of yard waste, I don’t toss my food scraps in the trash, and I don’t dump all kinds of crap in the garbage disposal.  And then, I get this amazing, sweet smelling happy soil amendment for my plants.

One of my earliest low-low-tech composting systems

But I understand that it isn’t easy or obvious for everybody, so…I’ll dive into some tips.

One of my facebook friends told me she has trouble with her tumbler.  Tumblers work best when there’s a good moist (like a wrung-out sponge) mix of “greens” and “browns” that is left alone (nothing new added) for a while, and tumbled from time to time.  If you keep adding ingredients to your tumbler, you won’t get good compost, because you’d have to sift out the newer ingredients.  A tumbler with only one compartment isn’t enough for an effective year-round compost operation.  Some tumblers have two compartments, so one is for adding and the other is for compost-cooking.

The mix of greens and browns isn’t an exact science, though a number of books and web pages suggest a certain mix of each.  In my personal garden I ignore that, because composting as waste disposal is only useful to me if I can add whatever I have when I have it.  “Greens” are mostly green, but this also includes your food waste.  If you only put food waste (and no yard waste) into your tumbler, it’s too green. It won’t decompose well, and will probably smell funny.  Add browns, like dried leaves, dried grass clippings, or shredded soy-ink newspaper scraps to the mix.  And make sure it isn’t too dry, it should be just damp (not soggy) for best cooking.

As with most horticulture, the best way to maintain compost bins is by looking at them from time to time.  Does the compost stink?  Add browns.  Is it too dry?  Add water.  It is moist, not stinky, but still not decomposing?  Well, it’s either winter or you need more greens.

I heartily welcome any and all questions about composting. How’s your compost bin cooking?

Starting garden seeds indoors

It can be a challenge to find good information about what plants need and when it’s safe to plant them outside. This printable table provides sunlight and soil depth requirements, along with the earliest dates to start or transplant these vegetables and berries outside. This information applies to gardens in the Philadelphia metro area, which is USDA hardiness zone 7. The soil depth requirements also assume you are growing varieties that are suitable to container growing.

You can start plants anytime after the dates shown. If you choose to start early, make sure you watch the weather, and gently cover your plants if it gets “cold” again. For annual vegetable plants, “cold” generally means mid-thirties or lower. You could also watch weather forecasts for frost or freeze warnings. It’s also important to remember that the conditions that damage tender plants are determined not only by air temperature, but also by soil temperature, moisture, wind, and precipitation.

Determining the “last frost date” is not an exact science. Current estimates of the last frost date for Philadelphia range from April 6 through April 30. At EFTE, we have scheduled seed starting according to a last frost between April 15 and April 22.

If you are a relatively new gardener, it’s safer to err on the side of caution, and plant your garden later rather than sooner. If your plants are in the ground too soon, they might survive the conditions, but they won’t be as productive as they would otherwise.

Growing Chart thumbnail