Turn Your Garden into a Certified Wildlife Habitat

For those of you wanting to commit further to helping the ecosystem, consider certifying your garden as a haven for wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation offers a simple checklist to help you ensure your space meets the requirements for certification. In brief, the requirements are: 

  • 3 types of food plants or supplemental feeders (i.e. seeds, berries, nectar, foliage, fruits, suet, nuts)
  • 1 water source (birdbath, lake, stream, ocean, rain garden, pond, etc)
  • 2 “covers” (i.e. wooded area, bramble patch, ground cover, cave, evergreens, burrow, pond)
  • 2 places for mating/raising young  (mature trees, meadow, nesting box, burrow, thicket, caterpillar host plants)
  • 2 categories of sustainable practices (soil/water conservation, IPM, organic practices) 

If you have these elements, you’re eligible for certification. A $20 processing fee goes towards the garden sign as well as NWF programming and local initiatives. Easily apply online when your garden is ready. 

The following benefits of Wildlife Certification can also be found on the NWF website: 

  • Personalized certificate
  • A one-year membership in the National Wildlife Federation and subscription to National Wildlife® magazine
  • 10% off the National Wildlife Federation catalog merchandise, including nesting boxes, feeders, birdbaths, and other items to enhance your wildlife garden
  • Subscription to monthly Garden for Wildlife e-newsletter with gardening tips, wildlife stories, and other resources
  • Exclusive option to purchase attractive garden signs designating your garden as a Certified Wildlife Habitat® with the National Wildlife Federation

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

 

 

 

(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!

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.

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.

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