WASHINGTON GARDENER
to make them break down much faster. Use that compost to amend your soil, as a top dressing mulch, and as a fertilizer. [Editor’s note: Many local county governments offer free or low-cost compost bins for county residents. Check on your local county government web - sites.] Go Organic Stop using pesticides and herbicides as well as any artificial fertiliz - ers. I use a fish fertilizer for any edible plants that need a boost, such as tomatoes; and then an OMRI-certified one for ornamental plants that are heavy feeders, like roses. For insect pests and diseases, you can learn to live with a little leaf damage. If it starts to affect the overall plant’s health, then bring in organic techniques to combat them, such as introducing a predator insect to eat the aphids on your shrubs. Reduce Your Turfgrass Lawn This May 20 will be the first-ever “Reduce Your Lawn Day”. Pull up some lawn and replace it with groundcovers that are more suited to the growing conditions in your landscape, and more eco-beneficial to wildlife in this area, such as Golden Ragwort, if it is a sunny open spot, and native ferns, if it is a damp, shady area. Learn more about Reduce Your Lawn Day at www.ReduceYourLawnDay.org. Ditch the Plastic Look for alternatives to plastic in your garden. New materials are being introduced to the growing market to replace many of the plastic items we use daily — from grow bags made out of recycled jeans to start pots formed for composted cow manure. If you have plastic pots already, re-use them until they break and then recycle them.
Eliminate Invasives Attack the invasive plants in your garden a little at a time and soon you’ll have more green growing space to plant natives and edibles. Two to start with are Bamboo and English Ivy. We are all on this planet together, but are we practicing green gar- dening methods? Being Green comes from taking stock and making the best informed decisions we can at that time. Then, we need to reg- ularly take stock and upgrade our practices as new information be- comes available. Kathy Jentz is editor/publisher of Washington Gardener maga- zine. She is also the host of the popular GardenDC Podcast. All photos by Kathy Jentz. Washington Gardener magazine is the gardening publication pub- lished specifically for the local metro area — zones 6-7 — Washington DC and its suburbs. The magazine is written entirely by local area gardeners. They have real-world knowledge and practical advice. They share their thoughts on what to plant in deep shade, how to cover bare spots, which annuals work best throughout the humid DC summers, and much more. The magazine is published monthly online and includes timely in- formation such as a local garden events calendar and gardening to- do list for that month. A year-long digital subscription is $20.00. To subscribe to the magazine: Send a check/money order for $20.00 payable to “Washington Gardener” magazine to: Washington Gar - dener, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910 OR to pay via Paypal/credit card click on the “ subscribe ” link at www.Washington - Gardener.com .
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