Garden Notes: Handmade fertilizers and planning for fall

“The four laws of ecology: Everything is interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. Nature bats last. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”  –attributed to Barry Commoner

August on the Vineyard is associated with sunny days and deep blue skies, what we called “fair weather” when the Agricultural Fair was the crowning event of summer.

The air quality is now very poor, with widespread coughing and throat clearing. The numerous days of white or no-color skies this summer are attributed to upper-atmosphere pollution from forest fires in many different parts of North America, some as nearby as Western Massachusetts, some as far away as Hudson’s Bay.

We need no further debate about the interconnectedness of everything on this small, blue, currently life-friendly planet.

Heat waves and blankets of particulate matter prevent radiational cooling and the lowering of the dewpoint that gives land and vegetation the relief of evapotranspiration and dewfall (bit.ly/Wiki_Evapotrans). Meanwhile, here we are choked with polluting and heat-emitting vehicular traffic, and busily bulldozing land and chopping down trees for subdivisions.

Homemade fertilizers

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) offers tips on making low-cost liquid feeds and fertilizers. Homemade feeds are suitable for edible crops, including tomatoes, garden plants, and houseplants: “Soft green vegetation can be used to make liquid feeds. Nettles and comfrey are often used, as they are easy to grow. You will need a rain barrel (‘water butt’), a lidded pail, or a five-gallon bucket. Liquid from wormeries, bokashi, or compost teas also make good liquid feeds. Using homemade feeds is a good alternative to manufactured or mined fertilizers. Homemade feeds are usually weaker than bought ones, so apply them more frequently.”

Garlic

For the first time in years, the garlic I sowed in 2024, and grew and harvested earlier this summer, was a mediocre crop. Reportedly this year there are widespread complaints in the Northeast about garlic. What I grew is not really seed-quality garlic, so I will be ordering rather than planting my own seed, as will be, presumably, many others: Get in line.

Hypericum

While it is not a plant for just specialists or connoisseurs, hypericum is also not widely grown in Island gardens. This is a missed opportunity, because hypericum is very attractive, and well-suited to Island conditions.

According to Plant Delights Nursery, hypericum is a great landscape plant, drought-tolerant and extremely tough, producing hundreds of flowers during its season of bloom, and attracting butterflies.

In fact, a common related species, Hypericum perforatum, is found Island-wide in open, sunny situations such as old meadows, preceding goldenrod in bloom. It is the ingredient in herbal remedies for depression under the common name St. John’s wort. (Some studies have found St. John’s wort to be equal in effect to pharmaceutical preparations for treating mild to medium depression.)

Pictured is a hedge of hypericum, a planting that showcases some of the features of this midsummer to fall bloomer. It is likely composed of ‘Hidcote’ (RHS Award of Garden Merit), a cultivar favored for its large, golden-yellow blossoms, characterized by tufts of showy stamens.

Other cultivars that have received the Award of Garden Merit include ‘Rowallane,’ and Hypericum x inodorum ‘Golden Beacon.’

Yet another hypericum is H. calycinum, with a low, groundcover habit. It also sports the neat, attractive, blue-green foliage and yellow flowers, but may be used as a bank holder or underplanting in shrub borders. All hypericums are suited to full sun to partial-shade conditions, and are generally considered to be deer resistant.

In the garden

Speaking of attracting butterflies, the half-hardy Verbena bonariensis is a magnet for them and their larvae in sunny gardens.

In June I acted on a tip I received concerning figs. Figs are a relatively recent arrival here; many fig growers are figuring it out as they go along, with a degree of uncertainty. The suggestion was to pinch out the new growing points of the tree once it has sprouted five or six leaves, in order to force the formation of figlets. Seems to have worked well, as the limbs are crowded with developing figs.

Cut non-reblooming daylilies back when they have finished, and let the phlox take over. Assess lavenders; trim or prune them back to allow for formation of new, tighter growth over coming months. Lavenders that have become woody often fail over winter. 

Lift growth of perennials to check underneath for crabgrass and unwelcome perennial weeds. Porcelain berry seedlings are rampant, Island-wide. A grassy plant I mistook for Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) turned out to be native nimble-will, Muhlenbergia schreberi. Every little piece roots, just like stiltgrass.

Renew sections of vegetable garden soil by spreading compost or other organic matter, cover-cropping, and feeding with low-number organic soil food (fertilizer), readying it for a fall crop of peas, potatoes, carrots, greens, or garlic.

Everything goes somewhere

Whole property insect spraying has become a business. While no gardener welcomes squash bugs, the various “scarab” beetles and white grubs (Japanese, Asiatic, and Oriental), or cabbage worms, their low numbers this year are strange. Few moths at the porch light, little mosquito action, and only one bat, instead of three or four, flitting overhead at dusk. Is this business contributing to the apparent dearth of insect life?

“Safe, organic tick and mosquito treatments” promise the free lunch of no insects with no pesticides. Risk-free insect elimination? Not likely. This claim is not proven, and is an oxymoron. Accepted, but far more lethal, permethrin goes to the liver, and is deadly to honeybees, fish, and cats (bit.ly/Wiki_permethrin). It must be reapplied regularly.

If the insects are dead, then humans and other wildlife are also at risk. If the insects are not dead, then there is a false sense of security, and misleading claims. 

Don’t scratch — Investigate. Tick check every night.