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18 | February 22, 2017 | Malibu surfside news Sound Off
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Don’t Panic, It’s Organic
Gardening to-dos for those rainy days
Andy Lopez
Contributing Columnist
Invisible Gardener
Rain is good, but it
is not the ultimate
solution to your
gardening woes.
Many folks have emailed
me to ask what they should
be doing this time of year,
and many have also said
they feel the rain is all
the trees and plants need.
We can come up with the
strangest reasonings!
Yes, rain helps clean
toxins and salts out of the
air and soil. Yes, the rains
are soaking the earth and
replenishing our underground
water supplies, but
it is incorrect to think that
we must do nothing.
First up for folks in
Southern California/Malibu
is soil preparation. If
you have been reading my
column, you would have
done this already. By now,
the rock dust, compost and
mulch that you applied
should have been soaked
and almost have disappeared
into the soil. If you
did it right, the nutrients
the soil gets now would
become the food the plants
get next month. Living in
the hills of Malibu means,
amongst other things, that
one needs to learns how to
correctly apply rock dust,
compost and mulch. I always
suggest using a rock
barrier to keep in your soil.
At any rate, it will be a
good idea to redo this after
the rains finish. I would apply
several times per year
to build up soil levels.
The application of a
rock dust blend over the
entire property is critical.
I would also find a source
of microbes that you can
add right along with the
rock dust. Go to your local
hardware or garden center
and ask them if they carry
any microbial products.
If you cannot find locally,
then Google it and order it
online. I will post a list of
the various microbial products
I use and where I get
them from on my website.
It is important not to add
rock dust by itself since it
has to first be digested by
the mycelium. The plants
receive this mineral soup
directly from mycelium
in the soil and in the root
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hairs of the plants. The
mycelium in the root hairs
of plants has developed
over millions of years to
transfer this nutrient soup
into the root hairs.
Applications of a good,
organic pelletized fertilizer
over the entire property
is an excellent idea.
You should buy organic
fertilizers made for specific
plants, like organic lawn
fertilizer. Organic fertilizers
also come with particular
microbes added to increase
the microbial activity of the
soil and thereby enhance
the absorption of the nutrients.
Organic fertilizers also
have more minerals.
You must also locate
a good source of minerals.
Do not just buy them
separately unless you are a
chemist. I am an excellent
chemist, and even I do not
buy minerals separately. I
always try to imitate nature
and get a blend of as many
minerals as possible. Not
only do I buy from various
sources of rock dust, but
I also buy minerals from
other sources. Google
Natural Mineral sources,
and you will find there are
many natural sources of
minerals available. I would
write to the company and
have them send you their
lab report. Look for any
toxins they may carry.
I found that many
good mineral sources for
humans can be used on
plants! I have been using
Nature’s Energy Mineral
Complex as my mineral
source for a long time now
and quickly realized it
is also good for plants.
Since it is in liquid form, it
should be foliar applied.
Organic and natural foliar
spraying of your entire
property, including trees,
lawns, gardens, vegetable
and fruit trees, is one of
the best things you can do
for a property’s health. The
nutrients quickly absorb
into the plants via the living
microbes found on the
surface of the leaves. They
are found there, but due to
the toxic nature of man and
what they use from pollutants
in the air to chemicals
in the water, etc., these
microbes are not as present
as they should be.
Compost tea is the
solution to this problem.
We make compost tea by
soaking live compost (you
put 1 cup compost, 1/4 cup
rock dust blend and a few
drops of any liquid microbial
blend like Superseaweed),
tying it into a ball
and suspending it into five
gallons of clean filtered
water (I use a GardenGro
Filter) or rain water. Do
not use city water, as the
chemicals in it will kill the
beneficial microbes.
Allow it to sit for about
an hour (the length of
time will depend on many
things; more on this in my
next column). Then strain
it into a sprayer and spray
the leaves, lawn and trees
on your property. You
can get an EZOFLO unit
added to the bib at where
the hose connects, and you
then connect the hose to
the unit. As water flows
through, it siphons off the
liquid inside it and blends
it with the flowing water.
You then spray your plants
with it. Cool, huh?
Any questions? Email me at
andylopez@invisiblegardener.
com.