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As I write this, I’m thinking about the beautiful weather we have had the past few days. Pleasant temperatures and sunny days have made gardening such a pleasure, as are all other outdoor activities, although there were a couple of days last week when I thought the wind was way out of control. All in all the spring temperatures have been very nice so far. Some mornings have actually been cold enough to need a long-sleeve shirt. This is a great time to be a gardener.

Because of Earth Day, which was Tuesday, I’ve seen lots of advertising for “green” products. Products that are earth friendly are suddenly coming into vogue with all the current global warming issues. It’s good to see all this attention being paid to the environment and natural gardening in particular.

We organic gardeners don’t need a special day to celebrate our concerns, we celebrate every time we walk through our naturally healthy gardens. Knowing that there are no harmful chemical herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fertilizers on any of our plants is cause enough for celebration everyday. We can celebrate the fact that we are not only providing a healthier environment for our family, but we are making our small spot on the planet better as well.

For those of you who have not treated your pecan trees for casebearers and/or webworms, there is still time. Just keep in mind that the Trickogramma wasps we use to eat all the eggs of these bad guys are only effective on the eggs. Once the worm is present, the wasps will not help. If you are just starting to see worms, there is still time for them to help because there will still be unhatched eggs for them to destroy. But if you’ve seen worms for a couple of weeks, then the egg population will be almost, if not all, gone for the season. Then you need to spray the tree with a BT worm spray. It won’t harm the wasps, or you, it’s just harmful to worms and caterpillars.

Remember these same tiny wasps will help to rid all worm eggs from any area. Any worms eggs, whether it be webworms, gypsy moth caterpillars, sawfly worms, armyworms, tomato hornworms, cabbage loppers, plus any others, can be eliminated by having this tiny little beneficial helper.

For any gardener that has had problems with spider mites before, and that’s most of us, now is a great time to start a regular seaweed spraying schedule. Several common plants, such as lantanas and verbenas, are very prone to spider mite problems. Spraying these plants, as well as all others, with help to keep sucking insects such as spider mites and aphids away from them. Get in the habit of spraying the foliage of all your plants every couple of weeks with seaweed and keep them fertilized for healthy beautiful plants.

I’ve gotten question this past week about foliage problems on several different types of plants, mostly vegetables. If you noticed the leaves of a plant curling and the rest of the plant looking relatively healthy, it was probably due to the weather. High winds and up and down temperatures could be the problem. Watch the plant to see if it doesn’t get better with time.

Now is the time to start feeding almost everything with your favorite organic fertilizer. The upcoming months are very stressful for many plants to go through. Healthy plants will be better able to withstand the high temperatures and fight off insects and disease problems.

Until next time, let’s try to garden with nature, not against it, and maybe all our weeds will become wildflowers.

Laurie Garretson is a Victoria gardener and nursery owner. Send your gardening questions to laurie@vicad.com or in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77902.