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With organic gardening becoming the norm in more and more gardens, it only seems natural to let the tiny creatures of the garden assist you with some of your gardening chores.  Ever wonder what Earthworms do to your soil?  Or whether you should try and get rid of those moles tunneling through the garden?  What about the birds pecking the ground or roosting in trees?  Should I try to get rid of what some gardeners call nuisances in the garden, or should I use my instincts and try to work with these creatures?

In the spirit of being a true naturalist, I have decided to enlist the help of small and tiny creatures in my garden to help me make the most out of my resources.  The animal most gardeners dread seeing the most is probably Mr. Snake.  Snakes rank right up there with root canals and filing income tax for most people.  More snakes meet their fatal end with the edge of a shovel or hoe stabbing into their middles. 

But, if you would just stop a minute before hacking your slithering enemy to death, you may learn to enjoy the benefits of snakes in the garden.  Number one, if you run upon a snake in the garden, he is going to be more afraid of you than you can ever be of him.  The snake’s first instinct is to get away at the first sign of danger.  If you will just step back, the snake will skim across the grass faster than you can scream, “Help!”  That snake will be so startled, he won’t come out for the rest of the day, and he will probably find another hiding spot, one well away from the crazy humans.

Snakes will keep your yard free from excessive mice, voles, and occasional rats that are a natural part of a neighborhood back yard.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to put up with see the occasional snake in the garden in exchange for no mice or rats in my home.

Walk through the gardening section of discount and home improvement centers and you will see many traps and contraptions to eliminate moles from your yard.  Moles are the tiny bulldozers that leave raised mounds all through some lawns and gardens.  Some people will try anything to stop these tunneling creatures from making tracks through their lawns, but is that really necessary?  Moles are not vegetarians, so contrary to popular belief, they don’t eat the roots of your plants and trees.  Instead, moles continually feast on grubs they uncover in the soil. 

So whenever moles are leading a wagon train through my gardens, I just gently lift the mounding soil into pots and use them to make container gardens.  This soil is nice and fluffy which leads to nice drainage and aeration, perfect conditions for container grown plants.  Or, I will sprinkle the super fine soil across the lawn to provide supplementation throughout grassy areas.  It is also easy to use a steel tined rake and rake the mounds into the surrounding areas.  I look at moles like an extra hand with tilling the soil.  They keep the topsoil aerated and tilled; in return, they also eat all the grubs hibernating in the soil.  I don’t know about you, but the quicker the moles can rid me of Japanese beetles, the happier I will be.

Spiders are another ick factor for some gardeners, but without their continual patrolling of gardens and lawns, all our plants would be overrun with aphids and other soft bodied insects.  Spiders use their webs to capture large flies, cabbage moths and other flying creatures.  As a matter of fact, some large farm install “spider boxes” throughout their fields to have with insect problems.  These spider boxes are typically wooden crates turned upside down; the spiders spend the hot days under the cover of the box and build their webs in the vegetation.

So next time you are tempted to hack at a poor little snake, set out mole traps or brush away those spider webs, think first of all the benefits these creatures can have to a natural landscape.  You will be surprised at what these creatures can do.

Over the past week, I have been noticing some damage to the trees and shrubs in my gardens.  They still look green and healthy, but there are numerous branches that look as if they have been snapped in two.  Upon closer inspection, I realized the damage has been caused by the female cicadas.

Although cicadas don’t eat the leaves of trees and shrubs, the females do lay their eggs on branches.  The females have a “blade” on their tails in which they slice open a branch and lay their eggs in the opening.

The branches I inspected all had numerous splits across the branch.  The branches that broke in two were too thin to support this sawing motion from the females.  The branches actually look like they have been badly widdled with a knife!

After four constant weeks of cicadas, I am finally noticing a dramatic decrease in the number swarming around the gardens.  Every day the driveway and the sidewalk are covered with dead cicadas, not to mention the dead ones under the trees.  We may finally be at the end of this 17 year cycle.

Makes me glad they only come once every 17 years!

My home is siutated on a dead-end street in a rual neighborhood on one acre of land, so my backyard is typically quiet.  But this past week a familiar buzzing noise started to resonated through the air, and the noise level just continues to increase.  So what is invading the silence of my backyard … the Cicadas have come to town.

Upon closer inspection of my back gardens, hundreds of Cicadas have taken roost in my trees and shrubs.  There are dime-sized holes littering the dirt in my gardens where the Cicada larvae dug out to greet the warm weather and, of course, to reproduce.  The Cicadas are everywhere - on the river birch, the snowball bush, the redbuds and the oaks, as well as the honeysuckle shrub that surrounds our property.

Normally, we will see less than a dozen Cicadas during a summer season, but this year’s crop is a different story entirely.  This morning, I saw dozens in many different areas of the gardens.  And the sound they make is unbelievably loud, especially when they all start singing at the same time.

According to the UK College of Agriculture, these are periodical Cicadas because they come out only at designated times.  KY has some Cicadas that emerge every 13 years, but the current crop is on a 17 year cycle.  These Cicadas are called Brood XIV and there have been sightings in Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville, as well as Bowling Green and Cincinnati.

Cicadas normally appear in late April and early May, when the ground temperature reaches about 65 degrees.  They emerge from underground and the Cicadas nymphs climb onto any vertical surface and hatch out of their shells.  The Cicadas are harmless and do not bite or sting defensively.

The loud buzzing noise emminating from the Cicadas is actually the male Cicadas mating call.  Once a male finds a partner, then the female finds a place to lay her eggs.  Typically the females use a blade on the bottom of their abdomens to slice open tree branches and lay their eggs in the openings.  The eggs will hatch in 6-10 weeks and the Cicada nymphs will fall to the ground and burrow into the soil.  They then search for tree roots to feed upon.  The larvae will then resurface again in the next 13 or 17 years.

And if you are concerned with Cicada carcasses littering your yard, don’t be.  The birds love these tasty bugs and they make quick work of any leftover Cicadas.  Believe me, I have some of the fattest Robins in town.

So, if you miss the parade of Cicadas in your yard this year, don’t fret - they will return, albeit many years down the road.

Gardening in rows, while on the one hand is extremely productive, they are usually not much to look at.  With organic gardening becoming more of the norm these days, different gardening techniques are meant to provide healthier products.  Some of the gardening techniques implemented into agricultural landscape today is a throw back to the time of Native American gardeners.  Small spaced gardens and water saving techniques helped the Native Americans not only provide for their village, but to do it in an effective manner.

One unique way of gardening is to use mounds instead of straight rows.  Typically these mounds were planted with the “Three Sisters of Life” – which are corn, beans and squash.  This important trio of crops helped each other in several ways when interplanted.  Corn planted deeply in a mound can withstand high winds, and mixed plantings of crops aren’t as likely to be destroyed by pests.  Corn, the tallest member of the family, provides a support for her climbing sister, the bean.  The bean takes nitrogen from the air and transfers it into the soil, enriching it for her two sisters.  Squash spreads her big leaves over the ground, shading out sun-loving weeds and helping to conserve moisture for them all.

To experiment with my own three sisters garden, I started with an 8 by 8 foot square of land that was in full sunshine for the majority of the day.  I layered newspaper, shredded bark, and compost over the area in late fall.  By spring, I had the perfect planting bed.  I divided the garden into four equal blocks, with two pathways going through the center of the garden in a cross formation.

In each block of garden, I mounded the soil up approximately four inches to form a hard-packed boundary wall.  I filled each mound with composted garden soil to make four nice planting beds.

Corn is the first sister to be planted – I used red popcorn for my experimental garden, but sweet corn or field corn is just as acceptable.  For ease with planting corn, try soaking the kernels overnight in warm water to soften them.  Poke 4 to 6, 4-inch holes throughout the mound and drop a corn kernel into each hole.  Refill the holes with compost, and pat down thoroughly.  Water the mound to help settle the soil.  When the corn is about six inches high, thin to six inches apart and add another two inches of compost around the bases of the cornstalks.

After thinning the corn and adding more compost, make a one-inch deep hole near the base of each corn stalk.  Drop a bean seed into all but one hole.  In the remaining hole, plant a squash seed.  Water the garden again and keep the seeds moist until they sprout.  Check the soil daily for moisture; when the soil is dry, fill the mound and allow the water to slowly seep down to the roots.

Throughout the growing season, feed your plants every two to three weeks with manure or compost tea.  Lend a helping hand to the beans by guiding their vines up the cornstalks.  If the squash vines are crowding the corn, clip them at a leaf node.

When the corn plants are about a foot high, mound more compost around their stalks to provide support; take care not to bury the young squash or bean plants when doing this.

When the corn silks turn brown, the corn is nature.  Pick and hang them in a dry area, or spread on newspapers to dry.  Harvest the brown pods of pole beans and dry them on old screens.  Gather the squashes, wipe clean, and store in a cool, dry place.

I also tried another variation on the Three Sisters Garden, and I had great success.  Instead of using corn, beans and squash, I used sunflowers, beans and pumpkins.  I planted the sunflowers in the same way as I did the corn.  When the sunflowers were one foot tall, I planted the beans and pumpkins seeds exactly like I did the beans and squash.  When using miniature pumpkins, the vines can grow up the sunflower stalks just like the beans.  With larger pumpkins, you will have to let the pumpkin vines escape from the garden and grow along the yard.

Growing By the Light of the Moon

Some Native Americans plant their above ground crops, such as corn, on a waxing, or growing moon.  They believe that seeds planted on a waning moon will not grow.  They plant underground crops, such as potatoes, on a waning moon.  From the new moon to the full moon is considered the waxing moon because the moon appears to be growing in size.  From the full moon to the new moon is a waning moon because the moon appears to be shrinking in size.

A new idea I am trying this year is to grow tomatoes in hanging buckets. I’ve taken a 5-gallon bucket and cut a two inch hole in the center of the bottom. I also punch several small holes for drainage. Then I took a tomato plant and gently placed it in the bucket upside down. The plant will be hanging from the bottom of the bucket. I then placed moss around the opening to keep the plant securely in the bucket and then filled the bucket with compost. In the top of the bucket I planted two sweet potatoes. I have the bucket hanging from my clothesline and I water as needed. During the last cold spell we had, I brought the bucket inside to prevent frost damage.

I got this idea after seeing a commerical for a similar planter. The tomato vine grows out the bottom of the bucket and the sweet potatoes grow down the sides of the bucket. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this experiment!

For too many years to count, Friday night has always been pizza night at our home. Our carry-out order is half meat lovers, half supreme, and it usually comes from Pizza Hut. For me, pizza is not pizza without veggies, and for my husband, pizza is not pizza without the meat; so we compromise. We also rotate between pan pizza and thin crust, depending on our mood.

With the increasing cost of groceries, this spring we decided that a pizza garden should be on our list of new gardening projects to tackle. By using whole-wheat flour to make a very filling crust, and growing our own veggies to use as toppings, we decided we would try and bring Friday night pizza kicking and screaming into the 21^st Century.

Now that spring is finally here, I have started planning what to do with this garden. Maybe this would be the perfect place to grow the pizza garden; the shape was already right – circular - and the soil has already been amended. I re-anchored the water pump in the center of the garden and outlined the area with large rocks to form a faux crust / border around the garden. I then divided the area into eight slices, outlining the areas with smaller rocks.

Onions and garlic are the workhorses of pizza and pizza sauce. I love sliced onions all over my pizza, and the garlic gives a wonderful taste to the homemade pizza sauce. Because garlic requires such a long growing season, I typically grow this in my large veggie garden. Garlic should be planted in the fall and allowed to grow through winter, spring and summer before being ready to pick the following fall. So, the new pizza garden will get one garden slice just for onion sets.

Most pizza sauces begin with tomatoes, so these will be the backbone of the garden, but they can’t be planted until we have nighttime temperatures of at least 50 degrees. Make sure you plant tomatoes on the north side of the garden, so they will not shade out other veggies in the garden. Plum or Roma tomatoes make a wonderful pizza sauce, plus they can always be sliced directly onto the pizza crust. Make sure you supply some type of growing support for your tomatoes; either cages or stakes. The tomatoes will take up two slices of the pizza garden.

Peppers are another veggie that is essential for pizza making, either bell peppers or hot peppers, whatever your preference is. Typically, our family doesn’t like really hot peppers, so bell and banana peppers are our choice. I like to use stoplight peppers: red, yellow, and green. These make a pizza look festive. You should have at least 4 or 5 pepper plants. Just remember, we planting hot pepper, place these where they will receive the most sun. They need long hot days in order to develop their heat.

Zucchini and eggplant are two veggies you may not normally think of for a pizza, but we have learned through experimentation that these veggies give pizza a whole different taste. I will plant only one zucchini plant in a slice of the garden all by itself, mainly because this one plant has the potential to take over the entire garden. As for the eggplant, “Little Fingers” is my favorite variety. The eggplant can be slightly roasted or grilled before putting it on the pizza.

The last garden slices will be interplanted with herbs: oregano, basil and rosemary. Oregano is a perennial, so it will be given a permanent spot in the pizza garden. Rosemary is a tender perennial, so I will plant it in a pot so it can be brought indoors every fall before the first freeze. Basil is such a wonderful and useful herb, so I want to plant at least three different varieties so we can vary the taste. Extra basil can also be used to make pesto, which keeps well in the freezer.

No pizza is ever complete without the cheese, so the pizza garden cannot be complete without marigolds and Calendulas. These festive flowers are the color of ooey, gooey cheese and they will be used to fill in around all the veggies and herbs. Not only will they provide the cheese coloring for the garden, they will help with pest control on the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.Just as each slice of pizza can hold a new surprise, your pizza garden will reveal magical changes on a daily basis. You will be able to nibble tiny, bite-size tomatoes, smell the wonderful scents of herbal seasonings, and meet friendly, helpful garden critters. To finish off the summer growing season, why not host a “do- it- yourself” pizza party.

To control weeds and conserve moisture, lay a two-inch layer of straw or shredded bark around each seedling, but do not cover the stems. Poke your finger into the soil each day and if it feels dry, water deeply. Feed your plants once a week with weak manure tea and once a month, add some deep compost around the plants and work it into the top few inches of soil.

To encourage tall, spindly plants to become bushier, pinch off the top few inches of each plant at a leaf node – the spot where buds and leaves are formed. Deadhead marigolds and Calendulas to keep them blooming. Do not allow herbs to go to seed because this decreases herb production; pinch off any flowers that form on the herbs.

At harvest time, ripe tomatoes should almost fall off the vine when they are twisted. Zucchinis can be used in the pizza sauce, or sliced and grilled for a crispy topping. The zucchini flowers can also be used as a topping. Eggplants and bell peppers can be damages very easily if you tug them off their plants. The easiest way to harvest these veggies is by clipping the fruit with a small portion of the stem still attached. Onions and garlic can be pulled from the ground without removing their tops. Pick Calendula flowers and lay them facedown on sheets of newspaper or paper toweling to dry. Snipped sprigs of rosemary, basil and oregano can also be gathered on sheets of newspaper. Make sure to rinse all the veggies, flowers and herbs and pat them dry before using them to assemble pizzas.

When the garden begins to supply you with fresh veggies, plan a pizza party for a Friday night. Pizza dough and sauce can be pre-made the day before and you can encourage your guests to go to the garden and pick their own pizza ingredients. Supply everyone with a cutting board and sharp knife and encourage them to prepare the veggies and decorate their own pizza crusts.

Throw the pizzas on a stone and cook in the oven until golden and bubbly, or try cooking the pizza on your outdoor grill. Pop open bottles of soda and enjoy family, friends and good times.

Bobbi’s Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast 

2 ½ to 3 cups of all purpose flour; bleached or whole wheat

½ tsp salt

2 TBSP olive oil

Combine water, yeast and 1 ½ cups of flour in a large bowl – mix well. Gradually add oil, salt and remaining flour. With a wooden spoon, combine ingredients until dough holds its shape. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic – about 5 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise until it has doubled in size – about one hour. Place covered bowl in refrigerator overnight. An hour before cooking your pizza, remove dough from the refrigerator and preheat oven to 450 degrees, (you can also cook dough outside on the grill). Punch a hole in center of the slightly risen dough and let rise for another hour. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into 3 or 4 pieces. On a piece of parchment paper, using your fingers, spread dough out into an 8 inch round, slightly rolling edges to make a crust to hold the pizza sauce. After building pizza with your favorite toppings, cook in oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

 Bobbi’s Pizza Sauce

2 ½ pounds of Roma tomatoes (about 12 to 15)

4 TBSP olive oil

2 onions; peeled and sliced

3 cloves garlic; peeled and slivered

2 bell peppers; cored, seeded and diced

1 tsp salt

 ½ tsp cracked black pepper

1 TBSP sugar

3 TBSP fresh basil leaves; chopped

1 TBSP oregano leaves; chopped

2 sprigs rosemary; chopped

 Cut tomatoes into quarters and place in 3-quart saucepan. Mash with a potato masher, cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. Pour tomatoes through a food mill to remove seeds and skin; set aside. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat; add onions and cook until softened and golden brown. Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add bell peppers, salt, pepper and sugar; cook, covered, over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add milled tomatoes and continue cooking, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add basil, oregano, and rosemary and cook 10 minutes more until sauce thickens. Let sauce cool and then add more salt to taste. Refrigerate for 24 hours before use; sauce will develop a deeper flavor and thicken a bit more. (NOTE: cooking times vary depending on juice content of tomatoes.) Leftovers can be frozen for later use.