Organic gardening should be a 'natural' process, like a forest

By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition

July 26, 2001 -- For many Texans organic gardening is like taking a walk on foreign soil. But if Tess Lueders, master gardener and owner of Native by Native Landscapes in Johnson City, has anything to say about it that will change.

On July 21, Native by Native hosted an educational seminar on organic gardening with speaker John Dromgoole of Austin. In addition to the wealth of information the seminar provided, master gardeners in attendance received continuing education credits.

Dromgoole has been an organic gardener in Texas for over 30 years. "I've learned a lot over the years," he said in his opening statements. "Not much has changed in organic gardening except for the development of a few new products."

According to Dromgoole, organic gardening is a continuing attempt to work in balance with nature. His education in organic gardening started with reading books on the subject and working in a nursery that was dedicated to using organic techniques.

For a short time Dromgoole operated an organic nursery in San Antonio and according to him customers would get very upset that he did not carry malathion. "They would just storm out the door," he said. "But that was the way things were back then."

Now gardeners are learning how to work with nature and use techniques that are not chemical oriented he said. "Even people who are not necessarily organic gardeners are utilizing some organic techniques," stated Dromgoole.

According to him one of the most important techniques is making and using compost in the home landscape and garden. "Compost brings life back to the soil," he said. "So many of the chemicals out there kill the soil; they work against it."

Most people do not realize the effects of the products they put on their lawns and gardens said Dromgoole. "You don't weed and feed at the same time," he said. "Either you are feeding the weeds or you are using some product that is so toxic that it creates more problems later on in life. It is just not a good system and it destroys the soil."

Dromgoole discussed a recent analysis of Barton Springs and Barton Creek in Austin that found diazinon, atrazine, and symazine in the water. Atrazine is the active ingredient in weed and feed and it is highly water-soluable as is diazinon, according to Dromgoole. "If you put diazinon around your house in the recommended rates, it can still be detected for up to seven weeks in the run-off water from the lawn," he said.

"Today in Barton Creek, the level of diazinon is four times what it takes to kill most insects," he said. "And that is Austin; the environmental city. There will be children swimming in that creek today and deer will be drinking from it." These chemicals do not just go away according to Dromgoole and that is why "we need to start looking for alternative ways of treating the environment."

One way to do this is by using organic techniques he said. According to Dromgoole, a good layer of compost around shrubs and trees with a layer of mulch added on top will create an environment of healthy soil similar to what is found in the forest. "You can't do this in just a year," he said. "It will take at least three years of this kind of soil building practice to get to the point where you may not have to water any more."

"If you go out into the forest and look at the profile of the soil, there will be a nice layer of rich organic matter with a generous layer of mulch on top," he said.

Another way to help the soil along is to aerate it, stated Dromgoole. "The soil in the forest is not packed down tight like most private lawns," he said. "To help this process along you can take your garden fork and loosen up the soil. This will allow the compost to percolate down into the ground."

To find out more about organic soil feeding, Dromgoole suggests visiting www.soilfoodweb.com. For more information about Native by Native and their seminars contact Tess Lueders at tess@moment.net.