Welcome to Garden Myths – We are the Garden Myth Busters!
Our Goal: to provide correct gardening information and make you a better gardener.
Our Process: We research topics and examine scientific studies to bust gardening myths. Then we provide FREE blog posts.
Our Experience:
The author of most posts, Robert Pavlis, has 50 years of gardening experience, is an award winning author of 11 gardening books, holds an M.Sc. in chemistry and biochemistry, teaches numerous gardening courses and has written articles for many popular magazines such as Mother Earth News.
Robert has just won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Science with his book, Plant Science for Gardeners.
Our Guarantee:
- The information on this site is more accurate than most other gardening sites. If you find an error and let us know in the comments, we’ll correct it immediately.
- None of the information is created by AI – we prefer real people.
- All of the information is science based.
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Good day Robert, hope you are well. Here in South Africa scientists did a research on greywater. Here is a link to that, what is your input on it?
https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8267
“The same chemicals in washing detergent that strip dirt and grime from clothing also strip beneficial humus from the soil” – since humus does not exist – not sure what this means.
“Based on these results it is recommended that powdered laundry detergent greywaters are not applied to soils. Liquid laundry detergents” – that is not very scientific – what is the difference. It is not the liquid or powder.
to understand this research you have to read the original paper with the details.
Hello Robert,
I am a 3 year Master Gardener in New Hampshire and I have found your articles, posts, and YouTube videos to be extremely enlightening. Your scientific background and science based approach is a breath of fresh air over so many of the other gardening programs that I have watched.
Keep up the excellent work. And I hope you have a new book appearing soon – I have all your others!
Thank you very much. Not sure there will be another book – they are a lot of work 🙂
If your MG group ever wants a virtual speaker, get in touch. Here are my talks: https://www.gardenmyths.com/public-speaking-topics-robert-pavlis/
African Violets! I can vouch for the method of “6” beneath the fluorescent lights.” When I lived in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), land of endless winter, I found myself in Walmart for some items, and there were pots and pots of dying African Violets. I told the manager, “I’ll take them all for 1/2 price” and he agreed. But I also bought a hanging fixture and the “grow-light bulbs. I install all of this in the bay window of my sewing room (where I made quilts). “The long dark” was shorter than the “long cold, ” and through all those months, the plants BLOOMED and BLOOMED. It was such a pleasure to have a bay window filled with color, precious blossoms and thriving hairy green leaves when there was NOTHING in the plant world that was flourishing outdoors. Even when the sun returned, the land remained frozen and harsh…just brighter.
Attendance to watering and fertilizing and those close lights created all that beauty. For the subsequent winters, I think it was those violets that saved my sanity.
Why do we expect plants to give us what we want when don’t bother to meet their needs? Publications like yours helps to educate us in what the plant world needs from us. Thank you!!!
I just watched your youtube video on using too much compost. While I agree with your assessment, I do have a question, that is;:IF a gardener turns the soil OVER with a spade to 8-10″ deep or so, between crops, ie at about 6month intervals, doesn’t this mitigate the build up of the P and K in the upper layers of the soil? I have very heavy clay soil that holds onto EVERYTHING and resists draining. I’ve found organic matter to be a lifesaver. Yet, I don’t want my soil to become toxic over several years.
I enjoyed your ‘Soil Microbes’ book very much btw! I’m in California, zone 9 hilltop, chaparral environment.
If you dig up the soil you do move the nutrients to a lower level, but they are still there. If you keep doing that yearly you build up toxic levels a bit lower down.
An easier solution is to use less organic matter.
I am glad you enjoyed Microbe Science for Gardeners.
With all the science-backed information, to be clear! Thank you, I think I’ve found the holy grail of gardening. A gold mine.
I’m in love.
Hello Robert….I am just enjoying “Plant Science for Gardeners”. The question I have is about ph. I have soil that I added sulphur to and the ph does not seem to be moving after about 4 months. There is very poor light there. Other samples that I have in a lit area are changing nicely. Would light effect the lowering of ph? Thanks, Greg
Light should not affect the reaction. The change happens because microbes convert sulfur into sulfur dioxide. This will happen faster in warmer soil, so maybe shade keeps the soil cool?
But the reaction is mostly taking place under ground.
Just watch a couple of your videos about starting seeds and raised garden beds. There is a lot of information here but thanks for including the dumbed down info along with it so I don’t get brain overload. It’s the middle of January and I want to do some raised beds in my back yard here in extreme south Alabama. I’ve tried this a half dozen times over the past 20 years with very little success. Watching your videos I see very clearly a few big mistakes I made. So here we go for another try. Thanks your help.