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| Borage has pink and blue flowers, which tempt the gardener to tell the innocents, "The blue ones are boys and the pink ones are girls." |
According to our monthly forecast, frosts are over. I remain cautious about planting tomatoes. Nothing conks faster than tomatoes, except its cousin the eggplant.
The straw bales are conditioned and the plants for them are overdue to arrive. My first efforts are to wedge the potatoes into the straw bales and plant strawberries on top. Some suggested planting flowers on the side, so I am going to poke borage (bee bread) into the sides facing the sun. Borage loves the sun and bees love borage.
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| Borage blooms and goes to seed constantly. This is one of the best ways to promote bee activity. Besides the flowers can be eaten from the plant or brought in to garnish salads. |
I am beginning to think landscapers know the least about lawns and gardens. One lives behind us, on another street. I saw him spraying his weed choked front lawn with weed killer. One of those ugly but uncommon weeds had taken over, so it looked like grass was threatening his weeds.
Class, what have we learned so far? The health of the soil is the foundation for all plant life - and soil creatures do not like toxins. They like organic material to feed themselves and to nourish their future food. Bacteria thrive on rotting matter, and they provide food for other creatures, like earthworms. Fungi decompose organic matter and transfer useful nutrition to plant roots in exchange for carbon, which fungi must have for growth.
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| Why would anyone want to hinder a handsome and useful creature like this? |
Weed killer, oil, and detergents suppress the microbe life needed in the soil, so the least desirable plants will make a comeback first. Like any town, when key parts are taken away, the rest of the dependent social structures decay and move away.
The solution is simply to mow the lawn frequently, which is hard on weeds but good for the grass. Three other steps are easy to take:
- Use a mulching lawnmower that drops nitrogen rich clippings into the soil for earthworms and everything else.
- Set the mower high so that thick, taller grass dominates and suppresses the weed growth.
- Let the dandelions grow. They are herbs, not weeds. They can be used for salad greens and dandelion wine (minus the weedkiller and insecticide). They drill down into the soil and rain organics back down into the ground. They also provide fluff for bird nests, especially the hummingbird. How many gardeners plant daffodils and other yellow bulbs in the lawn, then kill the yellow flowering herbs of the dandelion plant?
Here is the gardener who has read superficially:
"Oh yuck. Dandelions have blown into my yard from my trashy neighbors. Should I burn them with fire, gouge them out of the ground with a spade, or spray them?"
"Oh look at the bulbs I planted in my lawn. They are blooming right in the grass. Yes, thank you. They are so beautiful."
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| Speedwell. |
Creeeping Speedwell is one of the weeds growing in my lawn right now. There is a big swath of tiny white flowers, too, but I have not identified them yet. I have both flowers next to the keyboard. The search continues.
Both plants are grabbing the sunlight, fixin' to set seed, and establish roots. What better way to provide seed for birds and pollen for bees?
Healthy soil means a foundation teeming with life, plants bursting with nutrition - animals and humans enjoying the benefits of a rich mixture of food.
The Word of God is the same foundation for the Christian Faith, and yet is its neglected and ignored in the same way as the soil is. People poison it with false doctrine, and neglect it by using fad solutions when Creation principles rule.
Where the efficacy of the Word is neglected, the results are just as bad as the weed-choked lawn sprayed down with toxins. God's gracious work can continue in spite of man's obstinate stupidity, but no one should expect good results from denying, neglecting, and destroying the foundation - the Spirit at work in the Word alone.
"The Word never without the Spirit. The Spirit never without the Word. That is sound doctrine." A. Hoenecke, Dogmatics. Few in his denomination, WELS, care to teach or follow that basic truth.
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| The Son of God, the Creating Word, gave His creatures the characteristics used in His parables and illustrations. |