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   Hooray for the EPA! They finally got around to banning Dursban for home use. Of course, it can still be used on farms, so keep that in mind when you go grocery shopping..

   Dursban, in case you don’t know, is possibly the most widely used insecticide around and is a deadly nerve poison. It kills critters by attacking their nervous system. The EPA finally decided that it was hazardous to children and that was their rationale for restricting its use. Whatever the reason, it is a good thing.

   The mystery is why it takes so long for people to realize that these poisons are not selective. If a substance is designed to attack the nerves of living creatures, it does just that. It doesn’t distinguish between insects, gerbils, poodles, and people. Of course, the size of the creature will influence how quickly the effect is felt and how deadly the poison is, but the effect is still there.

   Bugs are indeed an inconvenience. They gnaw holes in leaves and sometimes nip off the buds of flowers, but how does that compare to damaging the nervous system of our pets and kids and grandkids and even ourselves.

   We’re all so interested in keeping fit, staying young, being healthy, yet somehow we just overlook these ubiquitous chemicals. They are everywhere and so they must be okay. But they aren’t okay. They are dangerous, unpredictable, and easy to do without! That’s the best part. We can do without them easily.

   I can’t imagine any leaf that is worth more than my health. I am sure there is no patch of grass more valuable than my kids and grandkids. So there are some gnaws, some yellow spots, some gnarly flowers. So what?’

   I’ve often thought of gardening as comparable to parenting. We baby and coddle our plants just like we do our kids. We watch them, scold them, push them in one direction or another. We are proud when they do well and ashamed when they do not.

   But there are obviously differences as well. We can’t throw the kids into the compost heap when they disappoint us. But there are lots of similarities and perhaps there should be more.

   We accept that our kids will probably go through awkward stages as they grow up. When they hit early adolescence and get all bumpy and gangly and squeaky, we don’t give up on them or run to some quick-fix to get them over it. We wait until their skin clears, their voices change, their feet size becomes compatible with the rest of their bodies. We accept that there will be times when they are more lovely than other times.

   Why can’t we do the same with our gardens? My roses all get a touch of black spot in early spring. After the first blush of bloom and when there is rain, their leaves turn yellow, some bushes completely defoliate, but then when the sun comes out again, they start all over. New leaves appear, new blossoms burst forth, and the plants look good for most of the rest of the year. Still, lots of people panic when they see yellow leaves. We’ve been conditioned to run get a spray if any sign of a problem appears.

   We need to recondition ourselves to shrug and wait for nature to take its course. The roses will survive if they are good strong roses, and if they aren’t they need to go ahead and die so you can replace them with good strong roses. The cut-leaf bee comes around the spring roses as well to gather tiny little round blankets for her babies. It makes our roses look a little ragged for a while, but think of those babies! They’ll all grow up to be pollinators and make the summer garden look even better. There are few problems that won’t just work themselves out in the natural course of events.

   For those that won’t — like fire ants — there are safe options. There are fire ant baits made of compost tea and orange oil, of diatomaceous earth, of natural components. There are beneficial nematodes that eat grubs, fire ants, fleas and ticks. There is Bt that will get caterpillars and leave everything else alone. There are lots of options. We are grateful to the EPA for putting a lid on Dursban, but it is up to each of us to choose not to buy those poisons, to create a sanctuary in our own yards where poisons are not allowed, and to be aware that our lives will be richer and healthier when everyone else learns that we don’t need poisons to have a beautiful world in which to live and garden.