Gardening for Geeks. Christy Wilhelmi
in this book is compiled from several classes I teach, with extra-bonus nerdy details that don’t fit into the confines of the classroom. Students have been asking me to put it all down in one place. Well, here it is. Have at it. I hope you enjoy this journey into the geeky side of gardening. Put on your gloves, and let’s get started.
Happy gardening!
Chapter 1
Creating Your Garden Ecosystem
There are many things to consider when planning a garden. Location is everything, but not the only thing. Sure, it’s important to make sure that your garden will get enough sun (a minimum of six hours per day), but let’s talk about the other factors. Let’s talk about your garden ecosystem. After all, your garden is a community of living things, and, for it to flourish, they will all have to get along together.
Wherever your garden is located, be it on a balcony, on a patio, or in a backyard, you will want to create an environment that supports your efforts. Your garden’s ecosystem can provide shelter, windbreaks, and even pest-control assistance if you include a few key elements. From simple to more complex, the following components all play a role in that ecosystem.
A water source for pollinators and wildlife is part of your ecosystem.
Habitats
Established trees are an important part of your garden’s ecosystem. Not only do they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen for a healthier planet, but they also provide a place for birds and insects to live. Ants and other insects crawl through the trees’ bark, and birds take advantage of that traffic. Birds build nests and lay their young or visit on their way to higher latitudes. Then they scavenge your garden for food, and, in the process, they provide pest-management services for you, gobbling up bugs and worms.
You can help provide a reason for birds to congregate in your garden by hanging bird feeders and seed cakes. Birdhouses, made from gourds or wood, provide a habitat as well. Many gardeners grow sunflowers, which develop dinner-plate-sized seedheads, to attract birds. While it’s true that these winged creatures will enjoy your sunflowers whether you want them to or not, the benefits of having birds in the garden generally outweigh the negative effects.
Bats
Bats, if you have them in your neck of the woods, help reduce the pest population by swooping through the sky at dusk like airborne vacuum cleaners, eating bugs in midflight. According to Bat Conservation International, bats consume “night-flying insects, including many of the most damaging agricultural pests… A single little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in a single hour.”
Bats serve other purposes as well. Did you know that they are pollinators? As they drink nectar from flowers, they help pollinate many cacti and fruiting plants. As a bonus, they leave behind droppings called guano, which happens to be among the best fertilizers around. Bat droppings include 11–16 percent nitrogen, 8–12 percent phosphoric acid, and 2–3 percent potash—all components of healthy soil. Guano can also serve as a composting starter and a fungicide.
If you are reluctant to welcome bats into your world, this is a good time to let go of creepy bat stereotypes. With bat populations in serious decline, they need all the help they can get. You can install a bat house on a wall under the eaves of a home, garage, or shed to encourage bats to take up residence. Bat houses are narrow boxes with even narrower compartments inside (about ¾ inch [2 cm] deep) that allow bats a place of safe, dark shelter. In a study published in The Bat House Researcher in spring 2004, it was revealed that bats prefer larger bat houses (at least 20 inches [51 cm] wide x 25 inches [64 cm] high) that are painted and mounted on buildings rather than mounted on posts or trees. You can find several free plans for building your own bat house, along with tips for attracting bats, on the Bat Conservation International website, batcon.org.
Consider a bat house to attract this helpful animal to your garden.
Toads
Toads are another great addition, and pest consumer, for your garden. They consume slugs (yay!) and worms (such as nasty cutworms that mow down your kale plants before the seedlings ever reach harvesting size). Granted, toads don’t inhabit every climate zone, but where there is moisture and shelter, they often make a home. Make a toad house out of a terra-cotta pot by chipping off a wedge of the upper rim of the pot. Turn the pot over, nestle it into a grassy corner, and voilà! You have a toad house with a little entryway. Provide a water source, like a fountain or shallow pond, and toads will find your garden very desirable.
Bees
Bees are critically important to our garden ecosystem. They are responsible for pollinating a huge percentage of crops, constituting one out of every three bites of food we eat. Without bees, we wouldn’t have many of the fruits and vegetables we bring to the table. The presence of bees in your garden can boost yields by between 10 and 50 percent, according to independent studies on a variety of crops. Even crops that don’t require bees in order to set fruit appear to benefit. Cheryl Miller of Sustainable Harvest International reported on coffee farmers in Honduras for The Rodale Institute, explaining that “coffee plants are capable of self-pollination, so for a long time researchers did not think insects made much difference to the crop. But studies show that when bees pollinate coffee plants, yields can increase by more than 50 percent.”
A honey bee rests on a beekeeper’s arm.
Farmers hire beekeepers to bring hives to their fields, but urban beekeeping is gaining popularity with home gardeners. As colony collapse disorder (CCD) continues to decimate the world’s bee population (theories about what causes it range from cell phones to mites to pesticides), gardeners are taking the fight into their own hands by setting up beehives as part of their ecosystems. Some place hives on their roofs, while others situate their hives in corners of their backyards, pointing toward walls to direct bees upward on a path away from humans.
Geeky Gardening TiP:
Be One with the Bee
Bees only become aggressive if their hive is being threatened. Many gardeners enjoy tending their gardens while bees hover nearby. Bees come and go as they please, pollinating your vegetables and fruit trees, increasing yields, and leaving behind a legacy of bountiful harvests.
Build a Swarm Box for Bees
If you want to dive into urban beekeeping or invite bees into your ecosystem, start by attracting a swarm to your garden. It’s not as scary as it sounds. You can order bees by mail, but it’s expensive. It’s actually better to attract a swarm that may be passing through or one that frequents your yard already. When a swarm is looking for a new home, the bees are at the least aggressive stage in life because they don’t have a home or offspring to protect. A swarm box provides a temporary habitat (instead of inside your wall or water-meter box) in which bees can congregate. Once you’ve collected a swarm in the box, you (or, better yet, a local beekeeper) can transfer the colony to a proper hive that will live on your property.
HoneyLove (HoneyLove.org), a nonprofit urban beekeeping organization in Los Angeles, California, is on a mission to educate residents about keeping bees. HoneyLove was instrumental in the effort to legalize beekeeping in Los Angeles and spends countless hours rescuing bees from “unsupported” locations. If a homeowner finds a swarm living in his or her walls, HoneyLove is one of many organizations that will come and remove the colony without killing the bees. The founders of HoneyLove strive to find a home for the bees with a farmer or homeowner in an area where beekeeping is legal.