Backyard Wisdom

Gardening and Young People

Young people love their video games and their text messages, but around my neck of the woods, I am seeing more and more who are developing an interest in gardening. Most of these young gardeners seem interested in vegetable gardening.

That may surprise some parents who struggle to get their children to eat vegetables, but to me it makes a lot of sense. Young vegetable gardeners know what they're eating when the fruits of their labors wind up on the supper table. It is not something that Mom brought home in a plastic bag from the grocery or farmer’s market. It is something they have nurtured and harvested.

I noticed this first earlier this year at several benefit plant sales that I worked at. At both of these, I met parents shepherding children as young as four as they made vegetable and herb selections. There were teens as well shopping on their own. One young woman had chosen a number of heirloom tomato plants along with several selections of basil. She told me that she had put in a raised bed in the corner of her backyard. Turns out neither of her parents is a gardener, so I and some other Master Gardeners gave her some advice on getting the most from her small garden.

One of my colleagues is a serious container gardener with a wide selection of tomatoes and peppers all in containers on his patio. His assistant is his teenage cousin.

Justin used a rental cement mixer to mix their custom potting soil. He and Mario, my co-worker, set up drip irrigation for each container.

Let me tell you this container garden is going to town. Check out these photos.

My colleague readily acknowledges the container garden is “really Justin’s baby.”

Recently, Justin decided they needed a tumbling composter, but prices for readymade ones were too steep. Did Justin give up on his tumbling composter? Nope, he sent Mario to the store with a parts list and then built it himself.

With Justin and other young people developing a passion for gardening, I am hopeful for a greener world.

Fertilizing Turf

I will be honest with you. Turf is not my thing. I grew up on a farm. Our lawn was a modest patch of centipede because my dad didn’t have time in the summer to worry about fertilizing and mowing grass when there were hayfields to manage.

Now as an adult, turf exists to connect flower beds and to give my daughter and the dogs a place to play. We have never had a regular fertilization schedule for our Zoysia lawn that is almost as old as our 48-year-old house.

But the combination of last year’s drought, an active daughter and three active dogs has done a number on our turf particularly the backyard. Zoysia just doesn’t handle traffic and wear the way some turfs do. There are bare patches, and the grass just doesn’t look good. Plus, the weeds seem to be taking advantage of the thinning turf.

Now—I’m thinking that we really need to get on a good fertilization schedule.
Why? Well, one of the best ways to avoid weeds in your turf is to ensure you have a dense healthy stand. Weeds cannot seem to get a foothold in healthy dense turf. Fertilizers are an important element in maintaining turf density. Turf that is getting inadequate amounts of nitrogen becomes open and vulnerable to weeds.

First thing to do is get a soil test and find out where we stand in terms of overall nutrients. After that, we will need to buy the right fertilizer and get it applied.

For more information about fertilizing your turf, check out the Home Lawn Maintenance publication from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System as well as Selecting Turfgrasses for Home Lawns

With any luck, we can have a dense green lawn like this before the end of the year.