WHO AMONG us has not walked into their garden, brimming with pride at what hours of hard work has wrought, only to find worms on the tomatoes, aphids on the roses and scale on the citrus trees? That's when our fingers may itch to take immediate and deadly aim at the pests despoiling our gardens.
Take a deep breath and put down the spray gun. Taking less lethal steps can make a huge difference, not only in your own garden, but in those of your neighbors as well as in the health of the San Francisco Bay and the multitude of wildlife that calls it home.
By using natural gardening techniques, you can have a healthy and attractive garden without applying synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides or fungicides -- all of which can have lasting consequences beyond getting rid of this season's pests.
The use and abuse of pesticides is a problem that may be closer than you think. According to the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, half of the pesticides sold in California are applied in urban areas.
Chemicals such as weed-and-feed lawn care products and ant sprays don't limit their impacts to the places they are applied. When transported by rain or overwatering, they travel into the water system, harming aquatic species in nearby creeks and on into San Francisco Bay.
The Environmental Protection Agency has listed 35 Bay Area creeks, along with the San Francisco Bay and Lake Merritt in Oakland as
DW Description: Chris Langan is known to have the highest IQ in the world, somewhere between 195 and 210. To give you an idea of what this means, the average...
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