In Good Thyme - by Mariana Graham

You know how those advertising jingles and slogans get embedded in your brain and drive you nuts? Who doesn't remember that Wonder Bread "Builds Strong Bodies 8 Ways," or that "Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should?" For better or for worse, Madison Avenue knows how to get to us. There's another slogan, the axiom of a major corporation, that sticks in my mind: " Better Living Through Chemistry." Yes, because of the innovation of chemical engineers and researchers, we have a myriad of wondrous products, ranging from jet fuel to panty hose. Imagine life before chemotherapy, plastics, Silly Putty! In the realm of gardening, imagine life before Diazinon and Dursban. Well, that is soon to become reality in the United States of America.
The Environmental Protection Agency has banned these pesticides, citing health and environmental concerns. Both organophosphate chemicals are broad-spectrum toxins, which according to the EPA, are destructive to the nervous systems of humans and wildlife alike. Dursban products will no longer be available for sale as a home insecticide after December 31, 2001. Diazinon will be available until 2003. However, the amount of Diazinon manufactured will be decreased by 25% in 2002 and by 50% in 2003.

The mounting bans of broad-spectrum chemical insecticides and herbicides means that home gardeners may have to shop selectively to purchase alternative pest and weed controls. The companies that once manufactured organic gardening supplies for a small consumer base are now rushing to fill the demand for safe, natural, yet highly effective products.

I took an informal survey of nurseries and garden centers in North, Central and South Whidbey Island and learned that all of them carried at least some organic gardening products. Most prevalent was insecticidal soap. The active ingredient is a plant oil that kills aphids, mites and mealy bugs on indoor and outdoor plants. Another rose and flower insect killer is made with pyrethrum extracted from several species of chrysanthemum. It's also available in a tomato and vegetable formulation, which can be used on edibles up to the day of harvest.

Every nursery I contacted stocked diatomaceous earth, which contains sharp microscopic particles of fossilized freshwater seashells that kill a broad range of crawling insects. It's also easy to find the pricey, but effective, beneficial nematodes, tiny living creatures that destroy the dastardly rhododendron root weevil. There is a wide range of organic fertilizer made from such natural substances as kelp, alfalfa and of course, composted manure.
You can find compost activators made from wheat bran and kelp, non-toxic (except to slugs) slug baits, deer and rabbit

Repellents made from eggs, cat and dog repellents composed of extracts of pepper and mustard. Even some supermarkets carry a citrus-based insecticide that kills and repels ants, roaches and other indoor insects. Gardeners have been buying - and using - oil extracted from the seed of the Indian neem tree for years. It's an effective, natural dormant season spray that kills insects and their eggs.

Four of the Island-wide nurseries/garden centers I either called or visited carried an exciting new organic product. It's a pre-emergent weed suppressant that prevents weed growth around flowers, vegetables and shrubs. Developed at Iowa State University (where else?), it's made from corn gluten, and is available under various trade names in either powder, granular or pellet form. In another formulation, corn gluten can be used as lawn fertilizer…Mother Nature's own weed and feed, sans the poisons.

Later in the season, you'll see little boxes and bags of ladybugs, lacewings and other beneficial insects on your nursery counter. These "good bugs" help control aphids and other "bad bugs." In addition to the stuff you can buy, there are the age-old garden recipes your grandparents may have used. Catching slugs in beer traps, spraying roses with a mild baking soda solution to combat black spot, and scalding dandelions and other weeds with boiling water are a few of the "old wives" remedies that really do work.

If you have the option of using environmentally friendly products, Island County's Master Gardeners and the Washington State University Cooperative Extension encourage you to do so. If your favorite garden center doesn't carry these items, ask them to order them for you.

We gardeners are close to the earth, literally and figuratively. Our concern for the ecological effects of traditional chemicals has led to the development of natural products. Let's use them and make the earth a safer place for all living creatures.
Garden questions or comments? Call 675-6611; fax 675-2732, or wnt@whidbey.net. Mariana Graham is an Island County Master Gardener and member, Garden Writers Association of America.

MASTER GARDENER CLINICS (click on picture)
Master Gardener plant clinics are being held at various Island locations throughout the summer. On the North end, bring questions and plant samples to The Greenhouse Nursery each Saturday in July from 9 a.m. to noon, Cenex on Aug. 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or the Navy Exchange Garden Shop June 30th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In Central Whidbey, it's at the Coupeville Farmers Market each Saturday through the end of July from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. South end clinics include Freeland Ace Hardware from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 23, July 28, Aug. 25 and Sept. 22. You can also find Master Gardeners at South Whidbey Tilth on July 7, Aug. 4, and Sept. 1 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Clinics are held at Bayview Farm and Garden June 30th, July 7, 14, 21, 28; Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25. Clinics may be scheduled at other locations when volunteers and resource materials are available. 'Can't make it to a plant clinic? Call the Master Gardener hotline (360) 679-7327 each Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through the end of September.