Angela Fritz lays out the reasons why an early spring, though tantalizing, is actually a bad thing, in her article in the Washington Post.
Freeze damage by late frosts once plants have started emerging too early, not enough water in many places for the extended growing season, indirect light out of season that doesn’t supply enough energy and compromises the plant’s health, and lack of regeneration during what would normally be a dormant period.
As she points out with climate change this will probably be the rule not the exception.
In addition to what she mentions a proliferation of bugs is an issue, too.
So while we enjoy the sunshine and early warmth, it is good to remember that we need to work on climate change. It causes problems everywhere, including in our gardens.
Synthetic pesticides, weedkillers, and fertilizers are petroleum based and contribute to climate change.
On the other hand, healthy soil traps carbon and helps regulate greenhouse gases.

This is not a surprise, since treated wastewater enters the Hudson, but it is alarming. In a new study by scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in the journal Water Research they have found pharmaceuticals at 92% of the 72 places they tested throughout the river, from above Troy south to the Battery.
Antibiotics, acetaminophen (tylenol), blood pressure medication, caffeine, anti seizure drugs, and ulcer medication were among the 16 compounds found. The volume of treated wastewater entering the Hudson is mind boggling. New York City alone treats and discharges and average of 1.3 billion gallons of sewage a day. Water treatment does not fully remove pharmaceuticals, as this study shows.
The effects of these chemicals are multifold, from antibiotic resistant bacteria in the river, to a myriad of adverse health effects to the people who get their drinking water from the river or who use it for recreation. And the effects of these drugs are cumulative, and cause problems even at levels we used to think of as inconsequential.
It is not just the Hudson either. USGS tests show that traces are in most of the water in the US. Some pharmaceuticals will enter the treatment facilities in urine, but a lot of it is improperly disposed of drugs that are flushed down the drains. Don’t flush drugs down the drains!!!
Many police stations are now part of the DEA National Drug Take Back, so a good first step is to ask at your police station. Otherwise you can get more information at the DEA site
To find a take-back center near you contact use the DEA data base.

Exposure to chemicals in the environment is estimated to cause health problems that cost 10 percent of Global Domestic Product according to researchers from Harvard Department of Environmental Health, the University of Southern Denmark, and EHESP school of Public Health in Paris. And this is largely preventable!!!
For most of us water is our biggest source of exposure to toxic chemicals, because we drink it, we cook with it, and we water our other food with it.
The most widespread source of pollution in our drinking water is the chemicals we use in our yards and gardens and pharmaceuticals we flush down the drains. Easy to change.
And change can be beautiful. Start planning now for a beautiful, healthier spring.
-Mulch those last fall leaves into your turf to feed it. Way better than synthetic fertilizers!
-Where the leaves are heavy collect the mulched leaves and use them on your garden beds.
-Leave plants that birds can use over the winter. Wait to cut back echinacea, roses, and many other plants until the spring. The birds love the thistle and rose hips.

A story in the BBC says nitrates from chemical fertilizers used by farms not only pollute the soil and water, but also rocks. The nitrates will eventually be released from the rocks into rivers and groundwaters. The nitrate is highest where chemical fertilizers are used, and increasing. This means we are underestimating the longterm nitrate pollution caused by using these chemicals.
Homeowners that use synthetic fertilizers are contributing significantly to this problem, too. Homeowners own most of the land in the US and use much more fertilizer per acre than farmers do.
As gardeners we can protect our drinking water by not using chemical fertilizers on our yards and gardens. But even compost and organic fertilizers can contribute to the nitrate load if we are not sensible.
Some tips for home gardeners:
-Don’t use synthetic chemicals on your yard and garden. They wind up in your water.
-Use lots of native plants that grow well without help in the soil in your area. Some good sources for native plant ideas are:
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Missouri Botanical Garden
Audubon Plants for Birds-pairs the plants with birds that they support, and attract!
-For turf, support soil health by aerating in the fall, leaving grass 4″ long cutting to 3″, and leaving the clippings to return nutrients to the soil.
-If you have a problem, measure the nutrients in the soil and only replete what is lacking.

On Thursday there was a study published in the journal Nature by researchers in Canada showing that seed eating songbirds exposed to the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid and the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos lost weight and had impaired orientation. Both of these would increase the chance that they die or don’t manage to breed during the very long, hard trip of migration.
This is another good reason not to buy plants treated with neonicotinoids, and to avoid food treated with chlorpyrifos.
Over half of the apples and broccoli in the US are sprayed with chlorpyrifos, which is known to harm children’s brains and neurologic development. It makes sense to buy organic apples and broccoli.
There are many studies that show chlorpyrifos harms birds and children, and groups such as the National Audubon Society are lobbying to have these chemicals banned.
Groups such as Earthjustice are working to enforce laws in the courts that would ban chlorpyrifos because in 2016 the EPA health hazard assessment and drinking water assessment confirmed that research that these chemicals are harmful enough to support revoking all food residue tolerances.
Unsurprisingly, if these chemicals are harmful to birds, they are harmful to people, too.

An article in the journal Nature this week entitled “The bitter battle over the world’s most popular pesticides,” reviews the research looking at whether neonicotinoid pesticides pose a significant threat to bees.
The European Union has acted in a precautionary manner and restricted the neonics imidacloprid and clothianidin, made by agrochemical giant Bayer, and thiamethoxam, made by Syngenta. In some studies honeybees weren’t significantly affected by exposure, but bumblebees were. In some conditions and some locations honeybees were also affected. Importantly, when combined with other insecticides such as pyrethrins, as they usually are, the effects were worse than either alone. And when neonics are sprayed on seed, they persist in the plant and its flowers.
the upshot is that many of the academics Nature talked to agree that research has shown that neonicotinoids lead to weakening of bee populations.
Farmers like neonics because they believe that when combined with other pesticides they can lead to up to a 4% increase in crop production. Clearly, this is not something we need in our yards!
The takeaway for gardeners:
Buy plants that have not been treated with neonics, so that we are not poisoning the pollinators we are trying to protect and nurture.
Also, if these chemicals are not good for bees, they are not good for us.
Look at the graph from the article. Pesticide usage is soaring. That is bad for our water quality, our soil microbes, and our health.

Researchers from the University of California published a study last week in JAMA showing a 500% increase in the amount of the weedkiller glyphosate in the urine of adults from California studied from 1994 to the present. Authors attribute this increase to the introduction of GMO crops resistant to the weedkiller introduced in 1994 that are now widespread. People are then exposed through food and water contaminated with the chemical.
Glyphosate, marketed as Roundup, is also the most common backyard weedkiller.
This is a good time to stop using this chemical in your yard. Consider simple alternatives like
-pulling
-cutting repeatedly
-killing with vinegar
-covering with black plastic that suffocates the weeds and cooks the seeds (the picture is me doing this in our yard).
-using a weed torch where sensible
-outcompeting with plants or seeds of plants that you want

The EU did not vote as scheduled yesterday on whether to extend the license for the weed killer glyphosate.
The European Parliament said this week that they thought home use of the herbicide should be banned as of December 15th when its current license runs out. They also said permits for professional use of glyphosate should be renewed only until 2022 and banned thereafter.
France and Germany have big farming and chemical industries and have been opposing the proposed EU ban.
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has said glyphosate is a probable carcinogen, but the UN’s food and Agriculture Organization disagrees.

Really great article in The Guardian summarizes the issues the MEP’s will vote on today when considering a ban by on glyphosate by 2020.
The problem is that glyphosate is found in food, water, and the blood and urine of most people tested because it is so widely used. Small amounts of it are harmful, especially cumulatively after constant year to year exposure.
Glyphosate is used on crops-conventional corn and soy and others-that are engineered to be resistant to the weed killer. The fields are then blanketed with the chemical to kill everything else. Glyphosate and its breakdown product, AMPA which is also toxic, are then absorbed into food, soil, and washed into water. No surprise that it is in our bodies if it is in our food and water. But chemical manufacturers argue that this is better for the soil because there is less erosion since it isn’t tilled. This isn’t true. Cover crops can be used to add nitrogen to the soil and prevent erosion. Cheaper, easier, and healthier. What is more, glyphosate kills the good soil bacteria, and prevents good soil culture and carbon retention by soil bacteria.
Here in the US the debate also goes on. California listed Glyphosate as cancer causing in July. But the EPA has not listed it as a carcinogen, and the EPA assessments have been based on Monsanto research, ignoring many academic researchers. Here is a great summary of that issue and the financial stakes in Bloomberg News.
One of the problems is that a scientist that worked for the chemical industry is now in charge of the EPA’s policies on chemicals. Truly the fox guarding the chicken coop.
In my NYT article in 2014 I wrote that gardeners need to stop using these chemicals in our yards. And we still do. But the problem now is not just that science and public policy can move at a snail’s pace. The problem is that science is being ignored. So we still need to stop using these chemicals on our yards and gardens, and teach our friends and neighbors why it is so important to do the same. But we also need to speak to our elected officials from both parties and tell them they are there to protect us from widespread problems that can’t be controlled on an individual basis. Regulating the use of chemicals that go into our food and water is important and needs to reflect current science.
The picture included here is by Jesse Chehak for Bloomberg Businessweek. Would you want to eat food from this field? Unfortunately we do.

Fall leaves – beautiful, but in days gone by serious work to clear from your lawn. Now we know better. Fall leaves are not only a gift of beauty, but also a great way to return nutrients to our yards and gardens. Five things to do with fall leaves:

1. Mulch them into your lawn
They return nutrients to your lawn, and boost the lawn with good bacteria and fungi. They don’t cause thatch. Overfertilizing causes rapid, weak, growth that leads to thatch. A mulching mower makes this really easy. Our mower has blades that recirculate the leaves chopping them up so the lawn looks beautiful when it is mowed. No raking, no blowers.
2. Use leaf mulch to mulch your flower garden beds
This is free, and really easy because mulched leaves are so light weight. Keep the mulch layer light, if it is several inches deep the chipmunks will have a field day burying nuts in your garden. The leaf mulch keeps the soil between plants covered. That prevents erosion and protects good soil bacteria from frigid weather. Of course, the leaves also add nutrients and boost good bacteria. To mulch the leaves up into small enough pieces mow them into a pile and go back and forth over them in different directions several times. Leaf mulch is a different look than pine bark, but we have grown to like it better. The leaves get darker over the season.
3. Use leaf mulch on your garlic bed and raised vegetable garden beds
This is the time of year to plant garlic. But you don’t want the soil in your garlic bed uncovered all winter. Protect it and feed your garlic with a good layer of leaf mulch. I plant onion starts now as well as in the spring so that I have onions from early spring straight through the summer. I mulch them in heavily in my fenced vegetable garden. Cover crops work well on resting raised beds, and so does leaf mulch, for all of the reasons mentioned above.
4. Compost extra mulched leaves
Where tree cover is heavy and the mulched leaves would really cover the grass and not let the sun in, use them in your compost pile. And no, you won’t find more ticks in your compost.
5. Heavy layers of mulched leaves can be used where you have weeded to suppress weeds
However, heavy layers of leaves are also an invitation to mice, and mice carry ticks. Leaf piles next to stone walls are particularly attractive to mice.

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO WITH FALL LEAVES:
1. Let them pile up in a wetland or wetland buffer
Leaves, and degrading leaves, can wash into streams and ponds where they add excess nutrients that cause over-abundant algae growth.
2. Leave them where they will wash into roads and catch basins
They clog up the catch basins and drains, and wash into the waterways adding phosphorous and nitrogen.