Growing Organic Landscapes One Yard at a Time
1275 Fairfield Ave, Reno NV
775 - 250 - 2240
Mon-Sat: 08:00 - 17:00
Heirloom Gardens

Category: Dan’s

Heirloom GardensBlogDan's
19 Apr 2022
1 Comments By valarie Dan's, Featured Posts, Irrigation

Time to think about water

Once again we got off to a screaming start, with record snowfall in December, only to peter out over the rest of the precipitation season. This year’s mild winter weather will no doubt remind all of us as to the fragile nature of our water resources in Northern Nevada. Every few years, Mother Nature reminds us that we live in the desert. So I’d like to talk about lawns and sprinkler systems, actually “sprinkler nozzles” to be more precise.

Were you aware that many of the major manufacturers now make a more efficient nozzle that can shave 30% off of your lawn watering consumption? Most of us use the standard “spray” pattern and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see their inefficiency on a breezy day. No really! It’s windy here, but at least the neighbor’s driveway stays clean.

The new technology uses a rotating, stream pattern that has proven to be far superior for it’s wind resistance and overall absorption rate. Sounds expensive right? The price will vary with the manufacturer but in many cases the retro-fit nozzles sell for as low as $5.00 each. I did some conservative math in my yard and realized that we will likely cover the cost of materials and installation in one season. But the truth is, this makes sense at just about any price. If you are thinking about water conservation and ways you can reduce it in your yard, this is a great step to consider.

Photo credit: Greening it up by Drew Bloomfield, from Flickr via Creative Commons license.

19 Apr 2022
3 Comments By Dan Rider Dan's, Featured Posts, Grow Your Own Food

Food Safety – Another reason to grow your own

Editor's Note: This is an older post, but bears repeating. Listeria, among others, has not miraculously disappeared

Most people have forgotten about the Listeriosis outbreak which occurred in September of 2011. As it turns out, 30 people died with 146 confirmed cases in 28 states caused from ingesting tainted cantaloupe. A handful of media outlets have continued to cover the investigation but I am surprised that the facts about one of the deadliest food outbreaks in the U.S. have been so poorly covered.  Here are a few items I dug up from the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and NPR plus a link to CDC's list of recent outbreaks:

* The FDA has 1,800 inspectors that are responsible for overseeing safety in over half a million produce processing facilities in and outside the U.S. This shortfall has lead to a third party audit system.

* One of these third party auditors inspected the offending site (Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado) just days before the outbreak and gave them a 97% “Superior” grade. This is in spite of the fact that they were using a potato washer to wash melons. The inspector noted that “no anti-microbial solutions” were applied even though it’s an industry standard to do so.

* The latest food safety law, characterized as a “sweeping reform” by the Food and Drug Administration (The Food Safety Modernization Act), leaves untouched the problems that allowed Jensen Farms to distribute its tainted melons. Meanwhile, new efforts by members of Congress to fix the problems have gone nowhere, leaving potentially deadly gaps in the food safety inspection system.

* “Unfortunately we are going to see more of this,” says Mansour Samadpour, president of IEH food testing lab. He compares the third party audit system to a person who claims to be a physician, but only takes your pulse. “Even if they do the work properly, these are not food safety audits.”

I hope this information will encourage people to begin shopping at their local farmer’s markets more often. If you haven’t visited the Great Basin Community Food Co-op, give it a look, they sell loads of local stuff. Lastly, I realize that it is impractical to think that we can all grow all of our own produce, but I’m having a good time trying. I think I’ll go out back and pick a melon now….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Listeria Outbreaks (CDC)

 

Cantaloupe Garden

The little bug that caused it all - Listeria, courtesy of Wikipedia.

17 Apr 2022
0 Comments By Dan Rider Dan's, Featured Posts, Lawn

The Greenest Yard on the Block — Redefined!

Four Steps to an Organic Lawn

  • Mulch your grass clippings. Get a mulching mower or blade setup for your current mower and leave as much of the clippings as possible on the lawn. The clippings are full of good stuff! This can provide 30% of your lawn’s nutrient needs while increasing the organic matter in your soil. Not only will your lawn thank you, but so will the soil ecosystem, along with all of the other plants that have sent roots out under your lawn.

 

  • Stop "feeding" your lawn. Instead of fertilizing in the fall and spring, put a thin layer of fresh compost (or a compost tea) on your lawn twice a year. This will provide all of the needed nutrients for your lawn, your soil, and many other plants and trees in the area. Synthetic fertilizers are like fast-food for your lawn. It may green up temporarily, but your yard’s ecosystem in actually damaged by the treatments, increasing certain species of micro-organisms at the expense of others. Compost is a complete nutrition source that has natural time-release qualities and ultimately is much more effective long-term than synthetics.

 

  •  Plant clover with your grass, or at least let it grow when it begins to come in. Clover seed is available at many natural gardening supply sources, including Rail City Garden Center in Sparks, NV. Clover and grass live symbiotically, which is why they tend to end up together unless you constantly and aggressively try to kill it. Clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant, which basically takes nitrogen out of the air and constantly delivers it into the soil where the grass can take it up. In other words, clover mixed in with your grass can provide another 30% of your lawn’s nutrient needs, keeping it and the soil greener and healthier.

 

  • NEVER use ANY herbicide or pesticide on or around your lawn. Most people know not to use most herbicides, but the gardening industry has made 2,4-D (the active ingredient in most “broad-leafed weed killers” including the Ortho product Weed-B-Gon) seem to be benign for your yard. Unfortunately, they fail to make clear how damaging it is to your other plants that search for water and nutrients under your grass. Most plants in your yard, including your trees, are broad leafs. They will certainly be less healthy when these types of products are used on the grass and it may ultimately kill them. And pesticides are not particular about what insects they kill. Most of them are detrimental to ALL insects. In Nevada, according the UNR Extension Master Gardener training, 99% of insects are beneficial or have no-known problems. The trouble with using a pesticide is that all insects are affected, wiping out both the problem and the solution. If the ecosystem is healthy, and the beneficial bugs are allowed to do their thing, they themselves will control the population of pests in the garden. When we increase the healthy organisms living in our gardens and our soil, we are fully able to take advantage of nature’s bounty and balance.

None of these steps are hard, however they may seem daunting at first. If you feel like you need help, please call us and we can get you started on the path to a TRULY green lawn right now. Fall is the perfect time for an application of compost.

Call or email Valarie at: 775-250-2240 or valarie@heirloomgardensreno.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

This yard is maintained without any synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.

 

This lawn just received a compost treatment. It disappears in a couple days and it doesn't stink - REALLY!

 

After compost treatment. And yes, there is clover in there!