"Always plant a tree at the same level as the soil in the pot or top of the root ball."

Oh no you don't. I've got the scoop on very important, new findings by the University of Minnesota. Click on New from the U.

“It’s a good idea to rototill your garden beds every year.”

Wrong. Believe it or not, one gardening device that even the most fanatical, obsessive, anal, and ridiculously addicted gardener can live without owning is a rototiller. Trust me.

It’s not a good idea to rototill your beds every year, not even your vegetable beds. Studies have shown that once soil has been properly prepared, it wants to sit there and do its thing, and needs several years to settle into healthy soil-structure mode. Ripping it up with a rototiller (particularly one of those little 1/4 horse, high-speed Italian sewing machine tillers) every spring or fall disrupts the microorganism activity, to say nothing of how it treats your poor earthworms.

I’ve even read a report stating that vegetable yields are actually better in year two of a new bed, because the soil structure, micro- and macroorganisms have had a chance to settle down to the business of becoming a healthy, living growing medium.

Pictured is a bed I made about five years ago. I took the black topsoil that was there, added a little sand, some peat moss, a lot of compost, some additional pulverized peat soil, and rototilled the hell out of it, raising it for good measure. I planted it with irises, daylilies, and mums.

I haven’t touched it since, and don’t plan to for the next five years. Sure, I do some mildly wise things, such as mulching with compost and adding compost to a hole every time I dig, divide, or plant something, and that’s about all you need to do.

When it’s time to make a new bed, I go out and spend seventy bucks and rent a rototiller for the day. Then I don’t have to store one, maintain it, winterize it, or justify it to my wife.

Besides, nothing handles wicked abuse better than a rental rototiller.

"Organic pesticides don't harm the environment."

Unequivocally false.

We're talking pesticides, and on the organic side of the equation, this means things like insecticidal soaps, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), pyrethrum (from African mums), and rotenone (pea family). You'll see these listed as the active ingredients in all sorts of organic pesticides.

What is important to remember is that a pesticide contains a chemical that is a poison, whether the chemical is organic or synthetic. "Organic" means the chemical is derived from the earth, its deposits, or its plants. "Synthetic" means the chemical is made by evil Republicans in lab coats. Either way, the chemical kills bugs.

All chemicals used in pesticides are rated on a scale called EIQ, or Environmental Impact Quotient. The chemicals are tested for range of toxicity, or what it is they will harm or kill. Let's say the chemical doesn't harm people in anything short of beer-chugging amounts; that might merit a 2. But an ounce of the stuff in a stretch of stream kills all the fish; give it a 10. The chemicals are tested for how long they stay in the soil, in plants, if they kill bees, if they kill worms, etc.

Here are some interesting EIQs:

Bt (organic) 13.5
Acephate (synthetic) 17.9
Soap (organic) 19.5
Carbaryl (synthetic) 22.6
Malathion (synthetic) 23.2
Rotenone (organic) 33.0
Sabadilla (organic) 35.6

You can see that some organic chemicals-and all of these are in use-have a higher Environmental Impact Quotient than some synthetics, notably the synthetic Carbaryl (which is Sevin), one of the most commonly used synthetic pesticides in the world.

My point is not to knock organics. I try not to use any pesticides in my garden. The best way to avoid using pesticides is to keep a clean and tidy garden, keep your plants watered, and keep them healthy. I've had stretches close to ten years without having to spritz anything that's a poison. But once in a while an infestation can get pretty ugly. I'll first use an organic insecticide, usually a soap, in moderation and exactly according to instructions. A very limited use and most often the job is done.

But organic pesticides have very real drawbacks. Most of them have broad spectrums, meaning they kill beneficial insects (just like those dangerous synthetic chemicals). They are not as thoroughly tested as synthetics. Batch strength can vary. And, perhaps most dangerous of all, they are perceived by the gardening public as safe. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Pyrethrum is a widely used organic chemical, used by organic vegetable growers, and used by commercial industries as the toxin in sprays designed to kill everything from wasps to asparagus beetles. It's also a nerve toxin, and extremely dangerous to infants. Never use wasp spray around an infant, or you will learn just how dangerous some of Mother Earth's little secrets can be.

Safe/dangerous are always relative, anyway. 100 years ago, there were no synthetic, man-made chemical pesticides in use, not in gardening, not in agriculture, not anywhere. The big pesticide used across the land was 100% organic. It was lead-based.

"When buying tomato plants, buy the biggest plants you can find"

Only do this if you are interested in growing sub-par tomatoes.

It all comes back to a basic principle of gardening: The earlier in an annual plant's development that you can get the plant into your ground, in your yard, where it is exposed to your soil type, your light conditions, and your gardening habits, the better.

People head to the garden center and see twelve- or sixteen-inch tomato plants next to eight-inch plants, and decide the taller plants are a better buy. I suppose they figure that the bigger the plant, the closer it is to producing fruit. I've even seen tomato plants for sale in flower, in three-gallon tubs, and watched people buy them. Oh boy, they think, we'll have tomatoes for breakfast.

But think about this: If you were going to get a dog for your children, and had a choice between an eight-week-old puppy and a two-year old pound dog named Sid, which would you buy? Which dog would probably be happiest and safest around your children?

When you buy tomato plants, look for plants between eight and ten inches tall. They're still toddlers, are a ways off from flowering, and will adapt earlier and better to your specific growing conditions. Taller plants have spent too long in a greenhouse's ideal growing conditions, and they won't like the shock of having to change their adolescent ways and adapt to your garden.

Smaller, eight- to ten-inch tomato plants will give you a bigger yield of tastier tomatoes during the season.

"Water-soluble fertilizers work just as well as granular, and are in many ways easier and more beneficial"

Nah-nah-nana-nah-nah, hope you're having real fun. If your garden is anywhere near Minnesota, and you've pledged your allegiance to only using water-soluble fertilizers (Peter's, Miracle-Gro, etc.) you could have used the stuff every two weeks starting in late April and still not fertilized a (non) bloomin' thing. Been a little rainy.

I don't want to come off as a complete granular snob — I use Peter's to fertilize my containers, and splash it on big beds of annuals, why not? But this heretofore extremely wet season is a good example of why it's hard to beat granular fertilizers scratched in around perennials, vegetables, trees and shrubs.

Water-soluble fertilizers only work so long as the water remains around the root zone. Well, plants don't snort it up the second it arrives, they like to graze. Meaning that when it rains every day like it has been, the water-soluble fertilizer gets washed through the root zone, particularly of shallow-rooted annuals and perennials.

Luckily I gave my trees and shrubs the proper amount of granular fertilizer around the start of May, meaning they have been gently and purposefully fertilized during this continuing monsoon season. I could go out there right now and dump gallons of Miracid around the evergreens, and it would be history by the time the skies dump buckets of rain again tonight.

Granular fertilizers are a type of soil additive. Scratching them in with a hand claw loosens the soil, and breaks topsoil tension. The granular sits in the soil and releases a little bit of N-P-K every time the plant is watered, or after a rain. One treatment typically lasts about a month, though there are season-long, time-release granulars also available to try.

Water-soluble "plant food" is an adrenaline rush of nutrients, and like so many drugs, the effects wear off far too soon. Plants become junkies, waiting for their next hit. And if fertilizing means you have to water, as is the case with water-soluble fertilizers, what exactly do you do when your soil is too wet in the first place?

What about the benefits of "foliar feeding" touted by the water-soluble manufacturers (well, one, anyway)? There is some credence to their claims when it comes to annuals. Aside from that, the differences are negligible. Plants draw a huge majority of the nutrients they need through their roots, not their needles and leaves.

And are water-soluble fertilizers easier, more convenient that granular? I've already stated that I use them on my containers, and for big beds of annuals. Well, I'm picking the fertilizer type that best fits the situation. Annuals in containers need constant moisture, and aggressive feeding. There isn't much soil surface after I'm done potting up a container. Big beds of annuals are dicey to get into, after I've planted the annuals. All these reasons make water-soluble fertilizers the best choice.

But when it come to trees, shrubs, my perennials (those that I fertilize), and your vegetables, I'm sold on granular fertilizers, and use both organic and synthetic.

"The most important design consideration in choosing and placing perennials and annuals is color of bloom"

Wrong. The most important consideration in choosing and placing perennials and annuals is shape, size and color of leaves. Color of bloom is secondary.

Check out my column in the September issue of MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine, hitting newsstands the last week of August, if you don't believe me. As soon as it's in print, I'll reprint it here.

"You should add sand as an amendment to clay soils."

Wrong. Sand usually compounds the problem (clay acts as Portland cement; add sand and you make concrete), or at the very least improves drainage not a whit.

Remember, clay is sand in advanced age. Clay is tiny, tiny particles of sand, and is in your soil as a result of time, glaciers, and you not realizing the importance of a soil test before you bought your house. The big reason people hate clay is that it doesn't drain; the particles are so small they pack tightly and allow for no air to enter. Plants roots suffocate and rot in it.

Newest studies show that the best way to turn clay into a medium that doesn't make you switch from gardening to drinking in the morning is to add copious amounts of organic materials, such as compost, peat moss, and/or composted rice hulls.

The more organics you add, the better, up to fifty percent. If you want to bring in some pulverized black dirt, that's good too. Just keep the sand in the sandbox, where it belongs.