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David Hall's
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First of all I apologize for not figuring out GardenWeb's new CSS coding to allow you to see the picture of my house in the background. They don't make this easy. It used to be pretty cool how this worked.

Background: I've been gardening in one form or another since I was a child in the 60's. I helped my first wife study for her degree in ornamental horticulture in the 1970s. Due to an unfortunate quirk in my memory, I can still spell, pronounce, and identify Schinus terebinthifolius and probably 50 other ornamentals growing in Southern California back then. In 1991 I started a compost pile behind the garage. It quickly became a home to many invertebrates including worms, ants, grubs, flies, and others. They are all welcome as long as they're working to the same goal - eating leaves and leftovers.

In 2001 I heard a radio program for organic gardeners. The announcer said you could stop powdery mildew on roses by scattering ordinary corn meal under the plant. I tried it and it worked. Not only that but I have not had any aphids on my roses since I started using corn meal. That was enough to convince me to try a 100% organic approach to gardening. I have finally tossed all the chemicals and synthetic fertilizer from my garage and have no regrets. I call it, "no hassle" gardening.

In about 2005 I became a "soil food web" student by following Dr Elaine Ingham. I think she is on top of the situation with her analysis of soil bacteria and fungi.

I have watched Jerry Baker on PBS and generally like his homegrown approach; but I think some of his ingredients are detrimental, if not poisonous, to soil bacteria and fungi. Still, though, if your ranch has a couple million head of well-fed microbes, the poisons should dissipate quickly.

We have a canopy of Texas Live Oak trees providing 90% shade year round in the front yard. The back yard canopy is elm with 90% shade for 9 months. The only grass that will grow in San Antonio with all the shade is St Augustine.

Some years ago I wrote the piece that became the FAQ for organic lawn care over on the Organic Gardening forum. Following these forums for many years I have learned enough to know that the FAQ needs to be updated, and perhaps shortened, and made into several FAQs. Someday...sigh!

The background photo is my front yard. You can get an appreciation for the shade we get to deal with. The grass is St Augustine mowed at about 4 inches. The plants around the nearby oaks are cast iron plants.

I live in: United States

My zone is: 8 San Antonio

My birthday is on October 30.

My favorite forum 1 is Lawn Care.

My favorite forum 2 is Soil.

First registered on December 20, 2001.

I live in: United States

My zone is: 8 San Antonio

My Birthday is October 30 .

My favorite forum 1 is Lawn Care.

My favorite forum 2 is Soil.

First registered on December 20,2001.