For example, several people want to know about the safest way to deal with slugs with the emphasis on "safe" because they have pets and children. Frankly, it's a bit early to see lots of slug damage, but never too early to get them out of the garden.
This time of year, be on the lookout for small, pinhead-size, milky-white eggs in clusters of a dozen or so. (I have had reports of potting soil that contained these eggs.) Destroy any you find. Remove any good hiding places left over from planting, things like flats, boards for kneeling, and the like. The slugs love to congregate in such places. And, look under containers.
Next, use copper screening and copper flashing, available at hardware stores, to keep slugs out of a garden. It only takes half an inch to an inch strip. Wrapped around planter boxes, gardens, individual pots and anywhere else you expect slugs, a small electric current develops when the slug touches it. This they do not like and they turn back. You can make a barrier by nailing or stapling copper onto 1x2's and lay these out to frame your gardens.
You can use also use homemade traps, but only if you put them outside of your gardens -- so you don't attract every slug in the neighborhood into your gardens. The old standby is to put out small cups of beer or water mixed with yeast. These will need to be cleaned out and the liquid replaced every few days. Products that are made up of iron (sometimes "ferrous") phosphate such as Escar-go, Sluggo and Worry-Free are touted as being totally safe. I would still take care to make sure they cannot be ingested by children or pets; I worry about the inert ingredients. Put them under small pots with holes punched in the top or on the side.
Finally, don't ignore hand-picking slugs. It is a messy job, but works well especially on dark, damp days. Other things that are helpful include sand barriers or used coffee grinds around plants -- and ducks.
Which brings me to the last question and perhaps the most important: How does one know that a product is really "organic" and not just some a label full of greenwash and hogwash.
This is an important question. For one, it shows that we are not as dumb as some companies think we are by using the word "organic" on their label. In any case, "organic" means that a product is carbon based and was once alive. When a product is certified, the word means something. When a product just uses the word without a certification it almost always means the product is not really organic.
Labels bragging "Organic" "All Natural," "Healthy," "Made with Organic ingredients," "No harmful ingredients," "Safe around pets and children," and other such phrases are merely designed to make the product sound like it is organic if there is not a certification. Shame on such companies. And shame on the attempt to make fake certifying trade groups and using phony but official-looking seals. Who knows what these products really contain? It is often the inert ingredients that cause the problem and are the reason the product couldn't be certified.
So, for my money, when I buy a garden product, I look for a legitimate organic seal from a certifying agency, a government one, either federal or state, or one of the organic certifying agencies like Oregon Tilth, Washington Tilth or OMRI. If you are unsure, just get out your cell phone and use Google.
Hear Jeff Lowenfel's "Garden Party" from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday mornings on KBYR radio, AM 700. Call in with questions, 274-5297 or 1-866-610-5297.
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