I think the message as it applies here is that we shouldn't be afraid of using synthetics in lawn care just because they contain chemicals. Just because something has an "ingredient" with a funny looking name that may be hard to pronounce doesn't mean that it's necessarily bad or wouldn't be produced naturally. For example, organic fertilizers can cause chemical run off just like synthetic fertilizers. Somewhat off topic, someone asked me what I was feeding my dog because her fur was so shiny and smooth. This person couldn't believe when I told her that I feed her bagged, dry dog food from the pet store. "All those chemicals and artificial ingredients! It's just not natural!" This person fed her dog a raw diet, and I guess she was assuming that plopping a round of filet mignon into the food bowl was somehow more natural than dog food. To me, that's just as unnatural. (Her dog was also suffering from conditions that may or may not have been related to diet, including terrible fur quality and weak bone issues...) Giving a dog a T-bone is as unnatural as dropping countless pounds of soy meal in a lawn to feed it., just as broadcasting Scotts Lawnfood is equally unnatural to feeding your dog dry kibble. There is nothing natural about a lawn (or farming or gardening, for that matter). There was an entire hoopla about this years ago, which is why the word "organic" is used where "natural" used to be. Lawns do not exist in nature without human intervention. Stop mowing, feeding and weeding the lawn for a single season and you will see my point. In nature, success would be a single seed out of thousands germinating and surviving log enough to produce more seed. In the man made lawn, success is typically 85-90% germination at a minimum, with the constant upkeep to ensure proper care for many years, and the prevention of any grass plants from producing seed. At any rate, I was going for a lighthearted post with that image and not something of serious analysis.

Probably a good idea to get some oxygen into that brew or it's liable to be harmful to plants. Low tech way is to pour bucket contents back and forth into another bucket ... several times a day ... plus stir it every time you pass by. Do you have any comfry? It is supposed to be elixer for fert/tea. Sounds like a fun experiment. Good luck.

This is a hard question to answer simply because there are so many wonderful books available on organic gardening. If I had to choose just a few, here's my list. I consider the first three indispensable and the next three pretty darn close to indispensable. I have read at least 50 books devoted to organic gardening. Here's my Top Ten favorites. OK, it is actually my Top Twelve because I listed two of Louise Riotte's books as item #7 and two of Sara Stein's books as Item #6. 1. "Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" (appprox. 700 pages)--this is the ultimate how-to for organic gardeners. 2. "Organic Gardening (Your Seasonal Companion to Creating A Beautiful and Delicious Organic Garden)" by Maria Rodale This book teaches the basics--the hows and the whys. It includes tips for planning and design. It has spectacular photos. Written by the granddaughter of the founder of ORGANIC GARDENING magazine, this book also incorporates the whole philosophy of organic gardening and organic living. 3. "The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control" by Barbara Ellis A huge book. Over 500 pages. Many, many photos. 4. "Lasagna Gardening" by Patricia Lanza. Simply the best book on building beds and improving soil the easiest way. 5. "The Rodale Guide to Composting" 6. "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Backyards" by Sara Stein. I read this book not long after we moved to Oklahoma and it has had a HUGE influence on me and on how I do things. There is a follow-up book called "Planting Noah's Garden" that is also wonderful. 7. "Carrots Love Tomatoes" and "Roses Love Garlic" by Louise Riotte. Theoretically these are books about companion planting. In reality, they are full of organic gardening how-tos and whys. I love every book written by Louise Riotte. She lived in Ardmore, Oklahoma, by the way, so much of what she wrote is geared towards our soils and our climates. 8. "Trowel and Error" by Sharon Lovejoy. This is a little handbook of organic formulas, tips, ideas, remedies, etc. It is a beautifully illustratate paperback. Any other book by Sharon Lovejoy is wonderful and well worth your time. 9. "Texas Organic Gardening: by Howard Garrett. It was Mr. Garrett who first taught me about organic gardening the natural way when I lived in Fort Worth, via his newspaper columns, radio show, books and TV appearances. Anything written by him is good. He has a great website too. It is www.dirtdoctor.com. 10. "Lessons in Nature: 50 Years of Organic Gardening From An Organic Gardening Pioneer" by Malcolm Beck, It was Malcom Beck who first inspired Howard Garrett to go organic, I think. Mr. Beck was truly ahead of his time and is very much responsible for getting many people in Texas to convert to organics long before it was popular. Buying books can get expensive. I always go to Amazon.com and search long and hard for used copies of the books I want. You can save a lot of money this way. And, you don't have to buy them. If you live in a town with a decent library, you can check out the books and read them first. After reading a book, you can decide if it would be worth your while to have a copy at home available for constant referral. For what it is worth, organic gardening is more than just using natural methods and abstaining from quick chemical fixes. It is, first and foremost, living and gardening in such a way that you work WITH the natural world and its systems, and not against it. Organic gardening is all about trying to improve the world and to "first, do no harm". It is NOT about feeding the plants or killing insects off with 'natural' potions. It is about feeding and improving the soil so that the soil will feed the plants. It is about working with the good, beneficial insects because they will help you battle the bad insects. It is about living your life and gardening on your piece of earth in a way that is in harmony with the natural world. Organic gardening is an amazing experience. It will change the way you look at the world. Good luck! Dawn Oh, and about the peach tree. If your soil is healthy, it won't need supplemental fertilizer. I never fertilize my peach trees. I feed the soil and the soil feeds the trees.

I had exactly the same problem this year. It wasn't a supply problem, but rather that it was not an essential trip and I skipped it (our household is two high-risk people so we're even treating the upcoming Yellow Phase as being Red as much as possible to avoid minor things like 2-3 weeks in the ICU and dying). You can use a synthetic feeding applied any time within the next two weeks or so to substitute for your spring feeding. I ended up doing a hybrid feeding--half overpriced organic I had delivered from the Home Depot, half urea I had on-hand. In Zone 6A, unless you have a warm-season grass, you won't need a July feeding and, in fact, it's a waste--the grass won't use most of it. But save that for Labor Day when the grass roars back to life, unbelievably hungry and ready for an early dinner. Likewise, depending on the grub treatment, it might be better applied right now. Things like GrubEx are getting a bit late to apply (I did mine a few weeks ago; it takes ages to work into the soil enough to be useful). Merit wouldn't be applied until and unless you had a problem, which wouldn't be until very late August or September. It works in fast and is gone very fast. But it does depend a bit on the grub type. I'm talking about Japanese beetles here as they're my personal nemesis and I've taken it upon myself to wipe out the species as much as I possibly can within my own sphere of influence.