Dan's Papers - July 4, 2008 - Earthly Delights

Two weeks ago I attended the East Hampton Garden Club's seminar on organic gardening. It took place at Devon Yacht Club, overlooking Napeague Bay and the old fish factory. It was an auspicious view considering that fish emulsion and kelp products were going to be topics on the agenda and samples lined the information tables.

Each dining table was set with beautiful arrangements, artfully put together in attractive kitchen compost containers. I almost nibbled on some strawberries before I realized that they were part of the décor.

Jeff Frank from the Lyceum Organic gardening school gave his usual entertaining and wide-ranging introduction dressed in a shirt that proclaimed "Rocks think." Offering advice and reading lists that included Chief Seattle's speech to Congress and Dr Seuss' The Lorax, he reminded all of us that disease is a result of malnutrition in plants, the same way we experience health problems from poor diets. His emphasis was on feeding the soil, mostly with compost. And he quoted Einstein as a way of prodding us to change our ways to go organic. "Once the bee goes, then mankind will follow," stated one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. Considering the decline in honey bee populations perhaps we had better begin to listen.

And changes are being made. The organic gardening and recycling crowd is no longer a bunch of sandal wearing hippies. Municipalities and large food store chains are getting on board with the concept, and recycling has experienced a huge swing in popularity. NYC sludge is now being used on Texas farm land, old subway cars are decommissioned and repositioned under sea to create reefs and Whole Foods grocery stores are selling liquid compost by the gallon at some of their locations.

Jeff was followed by a presentation on the importance of clean water. This is the topic of the World's Exposition this year in Zaragoza, Spain. But it has long been on the mind of noted Japanese scientist Dr. Emoto, who was a keynote speaker at the United Nations in 2005 and his book The Hidden Message from Water was on the New York Times best-seller list. Check out hado.net and click on water crystals to see the results of some of his work.

Several years ago Dr. Emoto took samples of water from a famous natural spring in Japan, the River Thames, the Seine and other noted locations around the world. He froze the water and then brought it back up almost to the point of thawing and noted the crystals that formed, or didn't. The purest waters formed crystals like snow flakes, six sided beauties that he photographed and catalogued. But the more polluted the water, the less crystals formed, until some were just amorphous masses. He proceeded to experiment with distilled water and came up with some interesting results.

Starting with samples of highly polluted lake water, Dr. Emoto had monks pray over the lake for many days. As time went on the water samples slowly began to form crystals. Draw your own conclusions, but read the book first, before you throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak.

After a fantastic lunch as part of this marvelous presentation by the East Hampton Garden club, a representative from the Green Mission department of the Whole Foods grocery chain spoke about compost. He focused on how simple it is to make it, as well as compost tea, which is a wonderful liquid fertilizer. It was heartening to listen to him and be reminded that we have been doing a few things correctly. For example, his emphasis on foliar feeding has turned out to be the secret of my success as we use a formulation of fish emulsion, humic acid and kelp that can practically bring things back from the dead. You can buy a hose end attachment that allows you to simply fertilize every time you water, some can even be attached to a rotating sprinkler. It could not be easier or more effective in building healthy soil and beautiful plants.

The day ended with a presentation by Steve Storch on bio-dynamics. Sometimes this sophisticated form of organic gardening and farming, developed by Rudolph Steiner, seems like hocus pocus. But it is practiced with great success locally by the Green Thumb in Water Mill. And when Steve breaks out the photos of cow horns that he packs with compost and buries in the ground to ferment, well you may think he's madder than scientist. But what he is doing is similar to brewing compost tea. He is creating the ideal environment for growing certain types of beneficial bacteria. And it is bacteria that break down organic matter in the soil and produce nitrogen to feed the plants. Some bacteria can even break down plastic into harmless compounds. Scientists are finally studying what has been practiced for millennia as a part of organic farming traditions, and their conclusions point to the most effective and safest way to work in the field, farms or flower beds.

It is time to yank out anything that bolted in the veggie garden. A few weeks ago 90 degrees of heat did in the broccoli rabe, the arugula and the spinach. I am reseeding with lettuces and fertilizing my fruit trees. Stake the tomatoes before they fall over and detach those energy sapping side shoots for bigger fruits.

For more than 20 years, April Gonzales has been involved in garden design, installation and maintenance on the East End, as well as specimen plant scouting and site supervision for landscape architects.