Nature’s Cleanup Starts in Your Own Back Yard : Organic gardener offers advice on getting things back to normal in private wildlife habitats after malathion spraying.
Families that have experienced the malathion spraying in west Ventura County should “wash the environment in the back yard before they let out the pet turtle or uncover the goldfish pond,” said organic gardening expert Andy Lopez. “Then your job is to get the normal back yard creatures to move back so nature can do her thing.”
Lopez is part of a nationwide movement promoting back yards as wildlife habitats--even sites for what has been called a “back yard safari.”
From his base on Whitewater Lane in our county’s little portion of beachfront property on this side of Malibu, he regularly dispenses this kind of blunt, sometimes startling advice via fax, electronic mail, newsletters, lectures and even house calls. His enterprise is called “The Invisible Gardener” and is dedicated to helping gardeners “get out of the way so nature can come back.”
After the recent malathion spraying, this columnist consulted him about what homeowners might do other than just grin and bear it. There is, we discovered, a whole world of landscaping ideas for folks who are getting over a malathion incident. Lopez and groups such as the National Wildlife Federation think we all should consider restoring our yards to a condition closer to a nature preserve than a photo opportunity for realtors’ multiple listings.
First, wash your yard. Don your boots and gloves and hose the place down with a solution of Dr. Brauner’s Peppermint Soap, an environmentally friendly, readily available organic gardening product. The goal is to get the malathion off everything because the sun breaks it down into another chemical--maiaxon, which kills the beneficial insects, “but lets the bad guys come back fast,” he said.
Second, Lopez likes to tell people not to compound their malathion problem by going back to using toxic products themselves.
“I especially like being able to tell people what they can do to help creatures to return to normal ,” he said. “All creatures are affected from use of any chemical on their environment. Especially hurt are beneficial insects such as aphid lion, ladybugs, dragonflies, praying mantis, honey bees, birds, frogs, bats, hawks, et cetera.”
He advocates special plantings such as those offered in the Seeds of Change catalogue specifically to attract beneficial insects. And he advises installing birdhouses and birdbaths.
This matter of special plantings is tricky. We’re talking native grasses and such. One practitioner of this back-to-the-natural-state of home landscaping got into trouble. Jack Schmidling, another organic gardening advocate, restored his yard to a botanical condition appropriate to its location--Chicago. Soon, the authorities, dubbed “the weed police” by Schmidling, cited him for not keeping his property mowed “to an average height of 10 inches.”
There followed a series of legal skirmishes, comically mixed in with invitations from the Chicago Department of Environment to participate in its 1994 Annual Garden Contest. The latest official communique Schmidling received was from the Mayor’s Office and addressed to DEAR GARDEN CONTEST WINNER, which he hope is the final word on the matter.
He’s made an instructive and aptly named video, “Backyard Safari,” about his project, which is appropriate for anyone interested in making a back-yard wildlife habitat.
The mighty and prestigious National Wildlife Federation, headquartered in Washington, is a booster of this kind of thing. It offers a packet of plans and advice, even a Program of Certification in certain back-yard wildlife projects homeowners volunteer to undertake.
Locally, if you’re thinking about some “nature friendly” thing such as harboring coyotes--don’t. If you see such critters in the neighborhood, Lopez said to call the local animal control agency. You stick to the birds and the bees--after helping them survive the chemical sprays.
Details
* FYI: The Invisible Gardener (Andrew Lopez), a newsletter and local organic gardening source, can be reached at (800) 354-9296.
* VIDEO: “Backyard Safari,” an instructional videotape, is available for $32 (postage included) from (312) 685-1878.
* BOOK: The National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Information Packet, including a paperback, “The Backyard Naturalist,” can be ordered for $5.25 (postage included) from (800) 432-6564.
* CATALOGUE: To obtain a Seeds Of Change catalogue, call (800) 957-3337
