Question from Ica:

Answer from Pat:
Spent brewery grains are an excellent additive to the compost pile, but they vary in characteristics. Some beer companies are learning to use them to make compost and other companies are also recycling them for use as mushroom compost. They can also be used to feed worm bins. Composted brewery grains are one of the ingredients in Milorganite and contribute a lot of its nitrogen.

Most spent brewery grains when used in the compost pile can be classed as a nitrogenous waste (a fast, hot, “green” ingredient, like grass clippings). Layer with some carbonaceous materials such as dry leaves to make a nitrogen-rich compost. Brewery grains can be especially beneficial if you have a bin composter since they are nitrogenous and are easy to compost but need tossing to maintain their warmth. You may have to add some wood shavings to keep the compost from getting too smelly. Brewery grains are likely to be very smelly already when you first pick them up, so get them as quickly as you can after use. Some grains also have allelopathic qualities, that is, like corn gluten meal, they can prevent seeds from germinating. Composting them may not kill this action. Thus I would use this compost in areas of the garden where you don’t intend to plant from seeds and where you would like to prevent weeds from growing. Before using this compost in the vegetable garden, try planting some radish seeds in a container of potting mix mixed with the compost to make sure the seeds germinate easily.

Spent brewery grains are not a good material for mulching due to the fact that they are too smelly and also attract animals. Spent brewery grains that are very soft, wet, and smelly can be dug directly into the soil, as you asked, since they are already well on their way to breaking down and will release nitrogen in the form of gas directly into the ground in a form that plant roots can absorb. On the other hand, spent brewery grains that have been allowed to dry out or cake and get hard should not be added directly to the garden soil. These would subtract nitrogen from the soil in order to rot. Also they will act more like carbonaceous waste in the compost pile. You will need to add water to them so they can puff up again and get going. (When brewery grains are hard and dry some gardeners even recommend layering them with grass clippings to add nitrogen to them, but this does sound odd since the grains themselves are classes as nitrogenous. Under normal circumstances the grains should provide the nitrogenous waste and what you would need to add, if anything, is carbonaceous waste.)

One easy way to compost these left over grains and increase the organic matter in your soil is simply to dig trenches, for example between the rows in your vegetable or cut-flower garden, pour the grain in there, cover it over with soil, and let the worms do the composting.

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Question from Debbie:

I am moving to the Temecula area and I have an orchard and vineyard area. Well I want to purchase two kiwi trees to take and start over a structure of some sort. I heard that you need a male and a female, one each; is this true? How do they do in the Temecula area? What size and how old trees do I need to get? Which kiwi variety should I get for that area?

Answer from Pat:

Kiwi plants grow like vines. They are not trees and need support such as a pergola or fence on which to grow. Yes, unless you purchase a self-fruitful variety, you will need to plant one male vine in order to have fruit on your female vine. It may take 5 years before you get fruit. One male can pollinate up to seven female vines. ‘Hayward’ is a good variety of female to plant. The male plant you purchase can be any fuzzy type named male kiwi or it may be simply marked ‘male’ on the label. One gallon or five gallon plants are fine to plant.

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• Swan Hill Fruitless Olives anchoring the house on both sides and middle in the front. (full sun with sea breeze)
• Acacia baileyana near street on both sides of driveway. (full sun with sea breeze)
• Mild slopes in front and side of the house (full sun), away from Olives will be native shrubs. Del Mar Manzanita and Heart’s Desire Ceonutha for low shrubs, Dara’s Choice Salvia, Catalina Island Fuschia and Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat for medium heights against the white stucco fence.
• I will use Toyon for a larger shrub/tree in one area with the same low lying natives I’m using on the slopes.
• A Jordan Macadamia in a wind protected area on the East side of the house. (full sun)
• A Swan Hill Olive in my main interior courtyard.
• I have a slope with a stairway in the back with boulders where I’m thinking of Pinus Contorta Contorta instead of the Japenese black pine because they don’t grow as big.

I’m using the planting/maintenance instructions from your site and the Las Palitas website for the natives. Please let me know if there is anything here that you might be concerned about.

Response from Pat:
Your choice of plants sounds excellent. What I especially like is the way you’re sticking with a Mediterranean and native scheme and things that can stand up to wind. The colors sound good too. It’s a nice sophisticated choice of plants for a coastal Mediterranean climate.

A couple of ideas: When choosing natives, pay attention to some of the better and improved selections. Many of these are available at Tree of Life Nursery, 33201 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano. Phone 949728-0685 to be sure of hours and days open. November is a good time to plant natives. The toyon I like best is the one from Catalina island with bigger bunches of berries (Heteromeles arbutifolia macrocarpa.) I am not familiar with Ceanothus gloriosus ‘Hearts Desire’ but I know it’s from Point Reyes and thus good along the coast but not good inland. It’s one of the flatter ones but may let in weeds. (Not that you shouldn’t choose it.) You plants sound great.

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Answer from Pat:
Since you went to San Luis Obisbo in April or May and were struck by a very fragrant plant which you smelled everywhere, my guess is that it was Victorian box (Pittosporum undulatum). Pittosporum undulatum is a large shrub or small-to-medium size evergreen tree from eastern Australia often found in old established gardens in the mild coastal climates of Southern California. It’s invasive in warm-winter climates, thus it often seeds itself in irrigated gardens but cannot survive in wild lands unless there is a stream or other water source. It is drought-resistant along the coast, but needs regular irrigation inland.

Victorian box has a number of virtues. It has dense, clean green foliage, no pests, and creamy-white blossoms in spring that are not particularly showy but are wonderfully fragrant. One can clip it into a high informal hedge or let it grow into a tree. If a hedge ever gets too tall you can cut it down lower, even all the way to the ground if you want, and it will sprout and grow again. When this shrub or tree is in bloom in spring and when it has spread through many gardens, the utterly delightful fragrance may waft on the breeze throughout an entire town for about a month every spring. It is especially strong in the evening. Bunches of round seed pods take the place of flowers in summer. In fall they turn orange, and in December or January, they open and sticky seeds onto the ground or pavement. Birds love the seeds and spread them around to many gardens. The seeds also stick to animals’ feet and people’s shoes which are additional ways of spreading them. The seeds sprout easily in the winter rains. Victorian box is a pest plant in Hawaii since regular rainfall allows it to proliferate in wild lands. Here in California our seasonal rains confine it to irrigated gardens in USDA Zones 9 and 10. It cannot survive cold winters. If you live in Zone 9 or 10 you should be able to grow this tree, but check first that it is not on the list of noxious pest plants in your region. When rainfall is year-round, exotic species that need moisture and have invasive characteristics can spread into wild lands where they can choke out natives.

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Question from Zenna:

Answer from Pat:
To fertilize organically, we first need to think of nature. Plants and animals die and fall to the ground, plants drop leaves and twigs. Birds, animals, and fishes leave droppings. All this organic waste rots and adds nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil. Rain falls and washes the nutrients into the ground. Forests burn depositing ashes which also add potassium. Pulverized rocks provide trace minerals. All together ideally in a rainy climate all these ingredients become a layer of rich, fertile soil in which plant roots find all the sustenance they need and plants flourish. Throughout history, since the advent of farming, humankind have seen how nature works and fertilized their fields with bones for phosphorus, wood ashes for potassium, manure for nitrogen, and in many cases compost for beneficial bacteria. Ancient man even discovered how to add certain ground rocks to soil that needed it, and the Indians told the Pilgrims to bury dead fishes under their corn for a great harvest. Now we have to find ways to translate these natural and historic events into things we can do as easily as possibly in our own gardens. (Beware of using wood ashes, however, in western gardens, since these add too much alkalinity to our soil which in most cases is already too alkaline. (There are other ways of adding natural potassium, such as greensand or SulPoMag.)

But going back to nature in this way requires some thought and decision-making. When we used synthetics we just went to the nursery or hardware store, read a few labels, grabbed a package of this or that bagged, granulated, or bottled liquid fertilizer and that was that. As organic gardeners, the choices are wider, but the payoff is greater. For example, many of the substances we could chose for fertilizing are actually free for the taking. (For a few ideas, please see my downloadable chart of “Generic Fertilizers and Soil Amendments” under the heading “Fertilizers” on this website. Stick it in the back of your copy of my book, since it was meant to be in there anyway. Whenever my book says “See the chart of generic fertilizers on page 28, it means this chart. The publishers regret it was left out and it will be in the next printing.) Now here are some guidelines and ideas:

Container-grown plants respond best to timed-release or liquid fertilizers. Thus it follows that the best way to fertilize your outdoor pots and do so organically is to use fish emulsion mixed with water according to package directions. Fish emulsion, in general, has always been one of the best liquid fertilizers available, and most brands are fully organic. Once you start using it, you’re likely to be surprised and pleased to see how well your container-grown plants will respond to regular applications of it. Read the label since various strengths and types are available and a few brands have synthetic fertilizers added, though of course we don’t have to be purists. (As I’ve said many times, being an organic gardener is not a religion.)

Fish emulsion is good for all container-grown plants, including succulents, and it is gentle. Don’t be too concerned about the odor because it soon wears off, though odorless types are available and these are useful for houseplants.  When mixed according to directions, it won’t burn roots. For most container-grown plants, apply the diluted fish emulsion solution once or twice a month during the growing season. Succulents in the ground need little or no fertilizer, but in pots they should be fed occasionally during the warm growing months. (See remarks on page 273 of my organic book for more on fertilizing succulents.)

In regard to plants in the ground, there are many ways to fertilize organically. I know some organic gardeners who send for a truckload of clean, aged, horse manure (horse manure that has been picked up daily by a conscientious horse owner), and have it spread it all over their garden in fall and let the winter and spring rains wash the goodness into the ground. Once again, after spreading the odor soon dissipates. One of these gardeners has often told me she finds this is all the fertilizer her garden plants ever need. One of my daughters layers horse manure with alfalfa (as described in my book) and after it composts for three months, her gardener spreads this onto the ground around plants. This is all the food they get in her established garden. Another way is to purchase organic fertilizers especially formulated for specific plants and to use them according to package directions. Some gardeners concoct their own fertilizers from generic sources. Others swear by sheep, rabbit, or aged chicken manure. All these manures are good and it’s just a matter of finding a convenient source. Homemade compost also adds nitrogen to the soil and thus acts as a fertilizer, though it is actually an organic soil amendment. The monthly chapters in my book are filled with specific suggestions, named products, and fertilizer recipes, especially for roses and specialty plants such as cymbidiums. Fertilizers are also discussed and explained in detail in the opening chapter. And once again see the ideas listed under “Fertilizers” on this website.

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Question from Andrea:

I recently planted pole beans Kentucky Wonder and next to them I planted beets. I just read they they stunt each others growth. Should I pull out the beets? Thanks.

Answer from Pat:

The idea that beans and beets “stunt each other’s growth” most likely has no real basis in fact. I would need to find out that this concept has been tested by agricultural scientists in a controlled test for me to believe that there is any truth in it. This idea, and many other similar ones, are sometimes found in books or writings on “companion planting”, which is an ancient but largely untested pseudo-science. People who believe in companion planting think that certain crops grow well together and others don’t. Even though most of the ideas of companion planting are nothing more than old wives tales, some of these ideas do contain grains of truth.

For example, even if beans and beets don’t actually “stunt” each other, they are nonetheless not particularly good companions, and here is why: Beets are root vegetables and root vegetables require a rich fertile soil, well supplied with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. Beans, on the other hand, are legumes, which means they have nodules on their roots and that through a symbiotic relationship with certain rhizobia these nodules enable them to make their own nitrogen. This works particularly well if you inoculate their seeds with the appropriate rhizobium especially the first time you plant them. (If you grow them more than once in the same place they will have inoculated the ground themselves.) For this reason there is usually no need to fertilize the soil when you plant beans. If, on the other hand, you plant beans in rich soil that has been well fertilized, such as beets require, then your beans will put all their energy into growing leaves and you will get mighty few beans.

Another reason these two crops are not particularly good next door neighbors is that beets must have full sun and correct spacing. If beets are not correctly spaced or if you grow them in shade you won’t get a good crop. Pole beans, on the other hand are tall and leafy and cast shadows on crops planted to the east or west of them. I would not plant a north-south row of beets next to a north-south row of pole beans not because there is anything chemically wrong with the two crops growing side-by-side, but because the beets would be shaded in the morning or the afternoon. I am not going to tell you to pull out your beet seeds because I think I’ve given you enough information to make up your own mind depending on how well you have spaced your crop. If you’ve left a 3-foot pathway between the two veggies, you should have no problems, but it you’ve planted them in a raised bed where they are crowded together, your beets are unlikely to thrive and your beans may have too many leaves.

Another example of companion planting—but this is a positive example and not a negative one—is that corn, beans, and squash grow well together. For this reason, the American Indians called these three vegetables “The Three Sisters”. First you make a hill. Then you plant 3 or 4 corn seeds in the hill. Once these are up and growing you plant a bean seed next to each corn stalk. (In interior zones plant pole-type lima beans, since these require a long season of growth.) As the corn grows, the beans climb up the stalks so you don’t need to stake them and they also help make nitrogen to feed the corn. After the beans have climbed up the corn stalks about a foot, then plant 3 or 4 squash seeds surrounding the hill. The squash plants grow quickly and with their big leaves and a lot of prickly stems help hide and protect your ears of corn from raccoons who love corn but hate the feeling of all those prickles on their cute little hands. In this case, companion planting makes great sense. You can even plant this combination in a half-barrel.

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Question from Debbie:

I have a client who lives in the North Tustin area and he has both a two-year old peach tree and apricot tree who each have dropped their fruit in last years. What is the cause and what should we do??? Both are planted in the ground in full sun.

Answer from Pat:

Deciduous fruit trees always drop a lot of excess fruit and some drop more than others. Always thin out the fruit so it is evenly placed down the branches, but the trees may still drop more when they cannot maintain all the fruit that set. When a lot of fruit drops at once, this is called “June Drop”. See page 243 o my organic book for explanation of June drop. Also see this answer I wrote to another gardener:— http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/trees/june-drop-on-peach-trees-and-proper-thinning-of-fruit/ By the way, I said to thin when the fruit is about the size of a hens egg but you can begin thinning when the fruit is more like the size of a walnut, and some gardeners begin even sooner:

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Question from Robin:

I spread granulated sulfur on the top of heavy clay soil. Hindsight shows me this is not optimum, and I would like your opinion on my options. I want to establish vegetables on the site. And I had wanted to do it ASAP.

The garden is 10 x 15 feet and I spread most of a 5 lb box of sulfur “lentils.”

The following is a list of options I have thought through. I would like your opinion and suggestions.

Scrape it off and start over. (e.g. Amend with gypsum and compost.) -Removal poses safety and disposal problems. I would need advice on the best way to go about this

Till it in

• I worry that this might throw sulfur out of the garden area, endangering the dogs. (I’ve never used a tiller) I burned my hand on the dust so I’m a bit nervous.
• It will burn any earthworms under there.
• It may burn the roots of garden plants

Till it in, cover with 6” Agromend, and plant my veggies.

• any chance I can get away with this? It will still probably kill earthworms, but would the plants survive?

Scrape it off, save it, till the soil and apply properly at appropriate depth. After tilling in the sulfur, cover with 6” agromend and plant veggies.

• I feel this would be the best way if I want to grow veggies this summer, but I wouldn’t know what to save it in. Again I would need some safety advice.

The most sensible and least desirable option that I have come up with:

• Till it in, leave it till fall or next year, then establish my garden.  I’m unemployed and this was my chance to make a break from the office retrace. I want to sell at farmer’s markets to get myself known, and eventually open a nursery. This is a long time dream. I don’t want to go back to an office.

Corollary question:

Green humb carries an adorable garden boot, but will I need industrial type chemical resistant boots if I walk in this stuff? I haven’t yet stepped into the garden.

Answer from Pat:
As explained below, I don’t advocate that gardeners use soil sulfur but despite that, a five-pound box of granulated sulfur spread over a space that is ten by fifteen feet in size and then dug into the ground is not going to do any huge amount of harm. The correct proportion of soil sulfur to garden soil (if one were to add it) is 5 pounds for 1,000 square feet twice a year. (This is supposed to bring down the base of calcium in the soil and raise magnesium.) It would do more harm to the environment for you to scrape it off and dump it. I doubt also that it is going to kill earthworms since you are digging it into soil that I presume you already know is alkaline. Add plenty of organic matter into the ground and as mulch on top and you’ll get any number of earthworms. Also, once you have combined the sulfur with the soil, the alkalinity in the soil will neutralize the acid in the sulfur. That is a backwards way of saying the whole point of adding soil sulfur is to create a less alkaline condition in the soil. Your best option since you’ve already spread the sulfur is to dig it into the top foot or more of the ground. It will gradually combine with the soil over the years as you dig and amend your garden soil with organic matter twice a year prior to seasonal planting spring and fall. You could, however, rake it up and dig it into the ground in another part of the garden where you are not planning to plant seeds, but I really don’t think this is necessary.

You mention that you don’t use a tiller but amending the soil includes first spreading on the amendments and then using a garden fork or a garden spade and turning the soil over to combine ingredients into it. One does not need a tiller to do this, one just needs a sharp spade or garden fork and strength like I once had and don’t have any longer. Or you need a willing workman to do the job for you. Either that or become a “No Dig” gardener, but in that case never use anything like soil sulfur that has to be combined with soil in order to work.

Companies make granulated sulfur because it is considered safer for the environment than liquid sulfur which is a by product of some industries. Soil sulfur is a mined product, a natural mined element that comes from the earth. Sulfur is acid, not alkaline, and sometimes farmers add it to soil to try to correct problems with alkalinity. Soil sulfur differs from dusting sulfur. Dusting sulfur is one of the most ancient garden products. It has been used by mankind for thousands of years for dusting onto plants to kill some insects and plant diseases, such as mildew and blight. (American Indians dusted sulfur onto plants long before the white man discovered the New World.) Soil sulfur is sold by some nurseries as an acidifier for alkaline soils.

Despite all this, I do not advocate the use of soil sulfur by the home gardener for the purpose of acidifying soil. Instead, I have always felt the best way to acidify garden soil when necessary is to work in acid organic soil amendments, such as wood shavings. The main reason that I don’t recommend the use of soil sulfur for soil acidification is not so much because it’s dangerous, but more because it doesn’t work. In order to have soil sulfur work one would have to work it into the soil so that it is evenly distributed and so each grain of sulfur actually contacts individual particles of alkaline soil and then it also takes time to work, so you would have to keep it up twice a year. For example, simply spreading sulfur on top of the ground around camellias and azaleas and hydrangeas and then watering it in, as some gardeners have done, won’t work because sulfur doesn’t water into the ground that way.

You should also be careful not to breath sulfur into your lungs and you should use protected clothing, including gloves, when handling it. Also, soil sulfur can sometimes inhibit seeds from sprouting rather like corn gluten meal does but this action won’t last forever. It’s temporary.

Please refer to the pages at the beginning of my book for ways to treat alkaline soil, such as clay and for ways in which you can improve clay soil and make it drain better. Yes, gypsum is a harmless and helpful addition if your clay soil is compacted due to its alkalinity. (Please refer to other discussions about gypsum on this site.) Also, there is no better way to make clay soil drain than mixing in a layer of well-composted organic matter and keeping it up throughout the years.

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Question from  Tod:

Answer from Pat:
This is a lovely question and it has two answers, the first answer is a scientific one and the second based on observation and history. First for the answer based on scientific experiments here in America and also in the Mediterranean region and the Near East—particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia—where date palms are extensively grown for their fruit. Even though the edible date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is a different species from your Canary Island date palm (P. canariensis), the requirements should be similar. Experiments have shown that palm trees are big eaters requiring a balanced fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in roughly equal proportions along with trace elements especially iron, manganese, and magnesium. They also need calcium which is abundant in most of our local soils. When palms lack manganese, leaves shrivel on the ends and bear black stripes. When deficient in magnesium, leaves go brown and the meristem layer stops growing. Palms have been known to die from magnesium deficiency. All good palm fertilizers thus contain trace elements usually with more iron, manganese, and magnesium than others. (Read the labels to make sure.) Additionally, palm trees need fertilizer on a regular basis during growth, thus those growing in sandy soil (as often is true in desert regions) need fertilizing more than once a year during the warm months. This is why many gardeners have used slow-release fertilizers, such as the palm spikes you mention, to stretch out the fertilizing over a longer time span. (Manganese palm spikes are available also.) Fortunately for organic gardeners most organic fertilizers are slow-release by their very nature.

Thus, any good organic fertilizer recommended for palms such as Dr. Earth Palm Food should do the trick, but you may need to use more of it than stated on the label. Another way to go if you wish would be to mix up your own concoction of ingredients. To make your own fertilizers for palms, check this website under “Fertilizers” and see the chart called “Generic Fertilizers and Soil Amendments” for ideas. For example, blood meal provides strong nitrogen (though it is fast acting) and it also contains iron. Palms love it. Seaweed is a good way to provide trace elements and so is humic acid. “John and Bob’s Soil Optimizer” is beneficial to palms–it contains humic acid that releases the iron and other trace elements already existing in clay soil. Products containing mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia also have been found to be beneficial to palms. Biosol Mix 7-2-3 is among all-purpose organic fertilizers since it contains rhizobia and rock powders, including bentonite for calcium. Rock dusts are one way to provide trace elements to soil that is deficient in specific elements, but it is unwise to add rock dusts without having a soil test by a reputable company to make sure your soil is deficient. In general if a palm is growing at a good clip looks good you can count on the fact you are doing the right thing and it’s getting what it needs.

Now to consider manure and compost. Homemade compost teams with beneficial organisms, including rhizobia, and thus it benefits all plants, including palms. Manure is an ancient generic fertilizer for trees of all kinds. Tropical trees in rain forests are fed with droppings of monkeys and whatever other animals roam the forests in which they grow. On the northern hemisphere, we often see herds of cattle, deer, sheep, and other herd animals sheltering under trees. Many of the ancient trees of England doubtless owe their health and size to large number of cow pats one sees under their shady branches. While hiking through England, one may find that the spreading tree on a hilltop that looked like a perfect picnic spot from afar has been rendered inhospitable by a heard of cows that previously thought the same thing. Historic drawings of date palm groves show hundreds of camels sheltering in their shade. While traveling in Africa I once saw a camel market where thousands of camels stood in the shade of date palms as men haggled over prices. Cattle and goats also seek shelter under date palms. Thus it stands to reason the ancient fertilizers for palms were manures just as we can imagine also that cycads (though they are not palms) thrived on dinosaur dung. Thus, in my opinion a layer of horse or other manure spread under the shade of your Canary Island date palm in fall would do no harm and probably would do it a great deal of good as the winter rains washed the goodness into the ground.

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Question from Howard:

Answer from Pat:
Before I can answer your question, I need to know where you live. Plants are adapted to certain regions and not to others. I cannot give you any suggestions for what to plant without knowing where you live. For example, what if you live in the Middle West, or Arizona, or New England? Your question gives me no clue. My recommendations for planting a bank in each of these regions would be totally different. Also, if you live in Southern California, or anywhere in the west, please tell me what Sunset Climate Zone you live in. (Please do not give me the USDA Climate Zone since they are not specific enough.) If you give me your Sunset Climate Zone, I will know what plants to recommend. Also, please refer to my suggestions to other readers who have written with questions about planting a bank. Perhaps I have already described a bank planting that will perfectly fill your needs. You will find many suggestions included in the answers given on the following link: Plant to Prevent Erosion on a Steep Hillside.

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