Gardening
for Your Watershed – August 2003
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This is the inaugural issue of the Gardening for Your Watershed Newsletter. You’re on this mailing list because you’ve attended a lake-friendly gardening workshop or requested a kit -- if you’d rather not be on the list, just send an e-mail to Scarlet Tang
This month’s
topics:
* Conserving water in your yard and garden
* Pest of the Month: Crane Fly
* General gardening tips
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Conserving water in your yard and garden
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The Bellingham area only received seven-hundredths of an inch of rain this July. While the state is not officially experiencing a drought, wells all over Washington are beginning to run dry, and the city of Bellingham has issued a voluntary conservation alert.
Landscapes account for up to 40% of water use in urban areas. If you use overhead sprinklers, almost half of the water may be lost to evaporation, especially when you water between noon and 6 p.m. Here are a few alternatives for getting water to your plants’ root zones:
* Use a rain barrel. Capture what rainfall there is and use it to water your plants.
* Punch holes in the bottom of an empty large juice or coffee can. Then bury the can in the ground so the bottom of the can is at and adjacent to your plants’ root level. Pour water in the open top and it will reach the roots with a minimum of loss. For individual plants like tomatoes, use a slightly smaller can and punch the holes only on the side next to the plant.
* Put in a drip irrigation system.
* Water deeply but infrequently, to help your plants build deeper root systems.
* Use mulches. Mulch will not only help your soil retain moisture, it’ll also keep down weeds.
For more tips on conserving water, see:
* WSU Extension weekly
gardening columns
* Conserving Water in the Garden (Oregon State University Extension)
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Have a crane fly problem? Ignore it and enjoy the summer
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Wondering what to do about the flock of long-legged, gangly crane flies hovering around your porch light? Washington State University (WSU) scientists’ advice: Don’t do anything.
“Even though people are seeing adult crane flies hatching now, this is the worst time of year to try to treat your lawn for a cranefly problem,” says Todd Murray, manager of the Integrated Pest Management Project at Whatcom County Cooperative Extension. “Adults are harmless; use a fly swatter if you want to get rid of them. It’s the larvae, or leatherjackets, that might damage your lawn, and the best time to look for and manage leatherjackets is in the spring.”
Since 2001, WSU Master Gardeners have examined 168 lawns in the Lake Whatcom watershed, and have found none with more than 25 leatherjackets—the minimum number that might cause damage in a healthy lawn. Murray notes that most pesticide applications for cranefly in the watershed, and in the county as a whole, are probably unnecessary. “Judging by our study, cranefly doesn’t seem to be a problem for most lawns,” he says.
Despite the lack of actual crane fly problems, homeowners around the Puget Sound spent an estimated $13 million on home use pesticides for crane fly control in 1999. Chlorpyrifos (also known as dursban) and diazinon, two chemicals commonly used to control craneflies, have been detected in streams, rivers and lakes throughout Washington. The US Environmental Protection Agency has determined that diazinon and chlorpyrifos in drinking water is primarily due to their use by homeowners. A 1999 Department of Ecology study did not detect any insecticides in Lake Whatcom, but preventing them from entering the lake is still a priority for local government agencies.
For more information, visit http://whatcom.wsu.edu/cranefly.
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General gardening tips from WSU Master Gardeners
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* Strawberries. In mid to late August, June-bearing strawberries set flower buds for next year’s crop. Now’s the time to apply fertilizer. Late summer and fall growth of the plants will help them make and store food for fruit production next June. On the other hand, fertilizer applied in the spring will not increase fruit yields—just leaves and runners.
* Using a high-nitrogen fertilizer after mid-July will spur tender new growth that won’t have a chance to harden off before frost.
* Interested in winter gardening? For wintertime blooms, August is the month for sowing seeds of winter pansies, violas, wallflowers and forget-me-nots. Sow either in a cold frame or in a sheltered, shady spot in the garden.
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This newsletter
is produced by Whatcom County Extension. To subscribe or unsubscribe,
or to make comments and suggestions, please contact Scarlet
Tang or
360/676-6736.
