garden tips | Gardening

Tour offers tips, ideas, networking for gardeners – Daily News

Published May 27, 2012

GALVESTON — Drought-resistant landscaping, recycled tire gardens and a greenhouse operation will be among the sights of the annual Clean Galveston’s Back Garden Tour next weekend.

Seven locations are featured in the self-guided tour, opening back gates to some of the most beautiful gardens on the island, with homeowners and volunteers on hand to describe the landscape details.

“This is a wonderful benefit for Clean Galveston, such a worthy organization with an enormous mission,” said Kent Brashears, owner of Galveston Gallery, one of the tour stops.

A hidden garden winds along a brick pathway behind the 1890s Victorian house and adjacent Gallery gift shop in the historic Silk Stocking District in Galveston. The garden was, at one time, a shade garden with trees and overgrown Savannah hollies.

But Hurricane Ike and drought reconfigured that landscape.

“We decided we’re in Texas, and there will be drought,” Brashears said.

He brought in river rocks, fountains, colorful native wildflowers, Texas mountain laurel and potted cactus.

In contrast, the Mermaid and Dolphin Resort tour stop features more than 7,000 square feet of lush tropical garden with hibiscus, banana trees and Bird of Paradise. A fountain, gazebo and two fish ponds all are part of the garden design at the bed-and-breakfast inn that often hosts weddings.

Ike and winter freezes spurred major replanting projects, still focused on a tropical landscape.

“The garden is part of the inn and our guests enjoy it,” owner Jeff Reilly said.

Reilly and the staff maintain the garden located at the front and behind the 1866 Greek revival mansion.

The tour stop at the Sunshine Center gardens will include a greenhouse staffed by clients with developmental disabilities. A vegetable garden, herb pallet garden project and recycled tire garden maintained by the center’s scout troop also are featured.

Staff, volunteers and clients will be on hand to discuss the Sunshine Center garden projects. The tour presents an opportunity for gardeners to talk about their work and for visitors to gather ideas for their own homes.

Such conversations will be part of all seven garden locations.

“There’s a wonderful camaraderie,” Brashears said. “People are so interested in gardens; there’s almost a magical friendship that occurs.”

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At A Glance

WHAT: Clean Galveston annual Back Garden Tour at seven locations across the island

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. June 3; rain dates if needed will be the following weekend.

ADMISSION: Tickets are $7 in advance and can be purchased at Speedy’s Printing, Eiband’s, Panama Home, Tom’s Thumb Nursery, Galveston Gallery, West End Gallery Decor or online at www.cleangalveston.org. On the day of the event, tickets are $10 and can also be purchased at the gardens.

INFORMATION: Call 409-762-3363.

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Garden Locations

1417 Sealy

1601 Ball St.

1801 19th St.

1726 21st St., the Sunshine Center

1825 25th St. (Rosenberg), the Galveston Gallery

1103 33rd St. the Mermaid and the Dolphin Resort

4706 Ave. P 1/2

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Lots of tips for planting a rain garden

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Q: My Girl Scout troop would like to plant a rain garden at the school where we meet every week. The girls are 12 years old. I was hoping to get some advice regarding the type of native Florida wildflowers and ground covers they should use and whether there needs to be a border.

A: We have a booklet at the Extension office titled “Rain Gardens, A Manual for Central Florida Residents,” by Marina D’Abreau that is free if you just drop by to pick up a copy. In the back of this booklet is a list of rain garden plants with plant facts and photos. We also have a brochure on how to create a bog/rain garden and one on carnivorous plants.

Online, you can check out the University of Florida publication “Landscape Elements for a Florida-Friendly Yard” by Gail Hansen at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep424. There is a link under the section titled “Capture stormwater with a rain garden” that will take you to a 28-page article on “How To Create a Rain Garden,” with instructions and plant selections.

Regarding the border, I would say yes, you need one, and medium to large rocks work well. Are you planning on installing a heavy-duty pond liner in the bottom? Do you have a rainwater source nearby, like a downspout, cistern or rain barrel?

We have a rain garden in the courtyard of our office in Seffner. Please stop by to see it and decide if that is what you are thinking of creating.

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Gardening Tips: Greet the Summer Season in the Backyard

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It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and what better way to celebrate than by planting a Victory garden to produce fresh vegetables all season long for the kitchen, grill, and maybe even the neighbors.

The trick to the home vegetable garden is not really in the growing. The secret lies in the variables surrounding the growing process. It is the what, where and how often of the garden that makes a difference.

Location

The first key to success is choosing the space. Many growing guides will explain, for example, that tomatoes require at least 5-6 hours of light a day. This amount is a real minimum. The fact is that almost any vegetable garden in the northeast needs the most sun it can get its leaves on.

Preparing the Soil

For an initial garden, choose the sunniest spot in the yard and till the earth. Large forks and shovels are appropriate on a small plot, but for any large garden, renting a rototiller may be a good investment, for the back as well as well as the vegetables. Go as deep into the topsoil as possible, eight inches to a foot will give plenty of room for roots to stretch to a water source during the drier times. Adding amendments like peat moss or composted manure during tilling will enrich the soil and improve its consistency. Fertilizer can also be applied and worked into the dirt.

Choosing Plants

Most every garden as at least one tomato plant with the hope of receiving dozens on the other end. When picking a tomato seedling at the garden center, pay attention to the labeling to make sure it will yield the desired fruit for its intended use, i.e. slicing, sauce, etc. Also look for a healthy plant, which is not always or even usually the biggest. Look for tomatoes with a dark green or even purplish tinge with thick stalks. These will usually be plants that have been grown over a long period of time and treated to colder conditions so that they will be hardier when they are transplanted outdoors.

Spacing

Pay attention to spacing suggestions on plant labels. Tomatoes can be planted as close as 18 inches apart or as far as four feet. The close proximity of the any vegetables growing together generally results in a smaller yield as they are competing for nutrients. If variety is more important than quality, however, squeeze them in.

Companion Planting

A great way to get the most out of a garden is to practice companion planting. This entails planting short-lived crops like radishes or lettuce in between long term crops like peppers and tomatoes. Because the quick crops will come and go in about a month they will leave space for the longer-term vegetables to fill in, and the more space taken up with vegetables the less room for those pestering weeds. It is also a nice technique because the payoff of all the hard work of the garden comes along quicker and lasts late into the season.

Weeding

It has to be done. Just buckle down and do it. A little time each day can make a world of difference for the garden as well as the back.

Harvesting

Once plants begin to be produce be ready, have a few recipes already chosen to take advantage of the newly picked veggies. While tomatoes are slow to ripen and give plenty of advance notice, zucchini and summer squash grow very rapidly, often doubling in size in a day. These vegetables and cucumbers warrant almost a daily check for prime picking.

Sometimes at this point, all that is needed is a little salt and a maybe a fork, but however it is enjoyed, the efforts are always worth it! Enjoy!

Information for this column was contributed by Volante Farms, 292 Forest St., Needham.

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Tips on doing your own garden research

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William Bohl

Posted: Friday, May 25, 2012 3:27 pm

Tips on doing your own garden research

William H. Bohl
University of Idaho

Idaho State Journal

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A few years ago I painted my house using leftover and new paint. Since all the paint was purchased from the same store and the color in the cans looked the same, I didn’t mix them. The paint was applied adjacent on one side of the house, and when it dried I could easily see the color was not exactly alike. The next summer I repainted that portion.

I tell this story because occasionally someone tells me they’ve used a product on a plant(s) and ask me if I think it did any good. Did it? Maybe, maybe not. I only noticed the difference in paint color because they were side by side. Likewise, unless you have a side by side comparison of plants with and without the product in question, it’s nearly impossible to determine the effect. Here’s a purely hypothetical scenario to explain why.

Let’s say you applied a product this year to increase the yield of potatoes in your garden. You’ve kept records of pounds harvested each year, and at the end of this season you have more potatoes from exactly the same number of plants you had the previous year. It’s plausible to assume the product worked. Did it? Again, maybe, maybe not.

The yield increase may have simply been due to a better year for growing potatoes. Environmental differences alone make it difficult to compare results between years. Then too, the product may actually have been effective.

Determining if a product works can only be ascertained by research, but you don’t have to rely on someone else, such as a university, to do it. You can do your own simple research and make decisions yourself as to what works in your yard or garden. Furthermore, conducting research at your location likely makes the results more applicable than relying on research done at some far away location. Here’s a brief description of how to do this.

Let’s say you’ve read about a product that’s supposed to boost the yield of tomato, and you decide to try it. Instead of using the product on all your tomatoes, conduct a test by randomly applying it to only part of your tomato crop. At the end of the season compare the amount produced, size, color, etc. from plants treated with and without the product. By comparing the results, you can determine if the product boosted your tomato yield or had other positive effects.

More detailed information on conducting your own garden research is found in a University of Idaho bulletin, Conduct You Own Garden Research, CIS 1041. Download a free copy at http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/edComm/pdf/CIS/CIS1041.pdf.

Happy Gardening!

William H. Bohl is Extension Educator with University of Idaho located in Blackfoot, 785-8060 or wbohl@uidaho.edu.

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Pots with panache: tips for DIY containers

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Do you wander through the nursery every spring, overwhelmed by a riot of colorful plants for your containers? Information regarding the culture and care of containers is readily available, but design is just as important to successful container gardening as it is to any other aspect of gardening.

Before you go plant shopping, take a moment to plan your containers. Nothing creates personality in a garden, or establishes a sense of style at an entry, like a well-chosen container overflowing with thriving, colorful plants. Take a fresh look at your home and decide where containers will have the greatest impact. Containers are especially well suited to entries and outdoor living areas, be it a terrace, deck, porch or balcony.

Once you’ve determined the site for a container, evaluate the conditions where the plants will be growing. If the spot has six hours or more of direct sunlight, it is full sun. Between two to six hours of sun, consider the space part sun/part shade. Anything less than two hours of sun is considered shade. The proximity of a water source should also factor into the equation. If the container will be sitting on a porch or under an overhang, it will be entirely up to you to provide water, and the time and effort required should be a consideration. Even if a container is open to rainfall, some hand watering will be required. A densely planted container will shield the soil from a good soaking, and potting soils typically dry out quickly.

Choose the largest container that will fit the site you’ve chosen. Large containers require less frequent watering. A cluster of tiny pots might look cute but will lose their charm after requiring twice-a-day watering in mid-summer. There are myriad choices for containers, from classic terra cotta or concrete to lightweight synthetics and glazed containers in sumptuous colors. Containers are limited only by your imagination: There are wall-mounted planters, hanging baskets and planters created out of found objects, from wagons and wheelbarrows to chimney pots and porch chairs.

Consider the background where the container is to be placed. A casual home clad in warm cedar might call for a terra-cotta pot, while a formal dark brick home might look best with a classic concrete urn. The same traditional home constructed in pale stone or light brick would benefit from containers with more depth of color, be it bronze or a dark, rich glaze. If you fall in love with a pot that is colorful and detailed, it might look best with a very restrained planting, allowing the container to take center stage. Amphora shaped pots can be left unplanted and used as lovely pieces of sculpture within the garden.

A symmetrical, formal entry looks great with a classic pair of containers, planted exactly the same, on either side of the door. A casual, asymmetrical entry could feature a vignette of pots, perhaps one large and one smaller on one side, and a medium pot on the opposite side. The shape of the pots could be varied; one tall and thin, one a low bowl, and the third somewhere in between.

Groups of containers can enliven your deck or patio. In one area you could arrange a trio, while across the way two pots with different shapes create another vignette. I have used multiple groupings of containers in my garden, typically with a loose theme carried throughout. Year one might have had lots of white with silver foliage. Another year, I chose pinks and purples and upped the contrast with chartreuse foliage such as lime licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare ‘Limelight’) and golden creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’). Last year I went with warm purples and bright orange; my favorite foliage plant with this palette was ‘Sweet Caroline Red’ sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batata).

Just to get you started here are some ideas to try this year:

For a pair of containers or a single large container in full sun: Try the amber and russet coleus ‘Henna’ (Solenostemon scutellarioides) with the dark leaved, yellow-flowering dahlia ‘Mystic Illusion.’ Add bright yellow or orange lantana or calibrachoa to tumble over the sides. If you prefer cool pinks to warm colors, try anchoring a container with a hot pink Mandevilla x amoena ‘Alice du Pont’ vine climbing a teepee of bamboo stakes or a metal obelisk. Add the sweet pink and white Verbena ‘Lanai Twister Pink,’ Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’ and the silver licorice plant. The euphorbia is a plant that has earned its press. It thrives in full sun to part shade and adds softness to any planting.

For a trio of containers in the shade: Try the mini-impatiens ‘Butterfly Deep Pink.’ Because of its vigor I like to plant it on its own. Add a pot filled with pink caladiums and finish the trio with a container planted with the perennial lady fern ‘Lady in Red’ (Athyrium felix-feminina).

Using perennials in containers allows you to plant them in your garden at the end of the year. If you want a classic, grand entry, splurge on a pair of ivy topiaries centered in elegant urns. At the base of the ivy add one variety of the beautiful patterned Rex begonias; and finally, add a few complementary colored torenia plants to spill over the sides.

Some of the most inspired container plantings have no flowers at all. Foliage is center stage with tapestry plantings of succulents that have color and texture and nary a flower. The aforementioned Rex begonias mixed with ferns and sedges can create similar excitement in the shade.

Finally, don’t give up on the “spike,” properly known as Dracaena species and their relatives, Cordyline. Try them as a dramatic textural element surrounded by soft, low growing annuals or ground covers and showcase their architectural strength. With a little planning and imagination your containers can be a fun, yearly adventure in making your garden an expression of personal style.

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Five Useful Tips To Help You Prepare For Your BBQ Garden Party

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WALSALL, UNITED KINGDOM, May 25, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) —
The sun is shining and it’s time to bring your barbecue out of
storage and prepare for summer get-togethers in the garden.

Everyone knows there’s no fun in cleaning sticky, messy, burned-on
charcoal that collects on your grill each time you use your barbecue
– it’s a chore that’s enough to put a lot of people off. And it’s
inevitable that ants, wasps and other irritating insects will come
out of hiding to disrupt your fun.

So HomeServe have come up with some simple but effective tips on how
to keep your barbecue sparkling and a few useful ideas for keeping
those unwanted insects out of the way while you’re cooking.

1. Preparing for a barbecue

To make cleaning easy, it’s best to prevent food from sticking to
your grill in the first place. To do this, coat your grill rack with
a generous layer of oil before you start to cook. This will prevent
food from sticking to the grill.

2. How to clean your barbecue

If you didn’t clean your barbecue properly before storing it away
last summer, then here’s a tip to help you get it back to its
sparkling best. Firstly, let the grill rack soak in warm water with
some white vinegar and washing detergent – this will help to loosen
the dirt. Then scrub with a wire brush.

3. Cleaning your barbecue with a wire brush

A wire brush is essential when it comes to cleaning your grill rack.
The best time to do this is when the grill is warm. You’ll find that
the burned charcoal can be removed much more easily, as opposed to
leaving it to cool right down. And remember – never start to clean
your barbecue when the grill is still hot!

4. Combat ant problems

Cinnamon is a great natural deterrent to fighting ant invasions.
Sprinkle a line of cinnamon wherever you see ants trying to enter
your home and they’ll turn on their heels and retreat. This won’t
kill the colony, but it will discourage them from coming into your
home again, as well as creating a lovely smell.

5. Make a natural wasp repellent

Wasps can be a real pain when it comes to enjoying the sunshine and
chemical based insect repellent doesn’t always smell pleasant. Try
creating the illusion of the wasp’s natural enemy – the hornet. If a
wasp spies a hornet nest it will vacate the area, so make your own
hornet’s nest by taking a brown paper bag and blowing air into it,
tie the end with a rubber band, then hang in a conspicuous area in
your garden.

About HomeServe

Every minute a HomeServe engineer comes to the rescue of a British
household. With over 2,700 directly employed and sub-contracted
engineers, HomeServe is a national emergency home repair service
backed by a 24 hour claims handling and repair network. HomeServe’s
new tradesmen service provides households with access to vetted
tradesmen who are qualified to carry out hundreds of different jobs
around the home.

HomeServe tradesmen are guaranteed to turn up on time, to hold the
necessary qualifications to do the job at hand, to provide a price
before they start the job and will even guarantee their work for a 12
month period afterwards.

HomeServe also offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains,
electrical wiring and gas central heating.

Important information regarding HomeServe help and advice

HomeServe try to make the home advice as useful and reliable as
possible. However, the purpose of HomeServe help and advice content
is to provide homeowners and private landlords with general guidance
and useful tips only. It doesn’t necessarily deal with every
important topic or cover every aspect of the topics with which it
deals and might not be relevant or appropriate in all circumstances.
It is not designed to provide professional advice or financial advice
and should not be relied on as such. The full disclaimer regarding
HomeServe help and advice can be found on the website at the
following page:
http://www.homeserve.com/help-advice/disclaimer .



        
        Contacts:
        HomeServe
        Diane Jones
        01922 659 731
        diane.jones@homeserve.com
        
        HomeServe
        Melanie Fleet
        01922 659783
        melanie.fleet@homeserve.com
 
www.HomeServe.com

SOURCE: HomeServe



        mailto:diane.jones@homeserve.com
        mailto:melanie.fleet@homeserve.com
 
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Rex’s Tips: Using animal manure in the garden

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Animal manure is the foundation of all fertilizer. It is either applied directly to fields and gardens or it is processed to make bagged manure, or other forms of commercial fertilizer around the world. Animal manure is excellent fertilizer and an excellent source of nitrogen and other essential nutrients; but it has its drawbacks, its deficiencies and its costs too.

Steer manure

Steer manure is by far the most abundant animal manure and the most complete; it contains generous amounts of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, it also contains many of the trace minerals that aid plant growth. Fresh steer manure contains about 3 to 4 percent nitrogen by volume. The older manure is, the less nitrogen it contains. Part of the nitrogen in steer manure is ammonia, which is a gas, and dissipates into the air quite rapidly; it should be tilled in immediately.

But how do you use the stuff, and how do you apply it? One reason commercial fertilizer is so popular is it is in a concentrated form, comes in a nice clean bag and is easy to apply. Steer manure? Not so much. Steer manure is available from dairies, cattle farms and stockyards, and in bags at your local nursery. Some of these might deliver the product to you, but it’s more likely you will have to go get your own. This is a major inconvenience, but it might also be free which makes it a major advantage.

As a rule of thumb, if you decide to apply steer manure to your garden, you would apply about three to four inches of manure on the ground and then till it in as deep as you can. This may seem like a lot of manure, but considering the distribution you’re not getting a huge amount of nitrogen out of it. Only about half of the nitrogen will be released the first year, the rest the following year. By comparison, a few pounds of 34-0-0 commercial fertilizer equates to all this steer manure — and it is available as needed. On the other hand, you will not get organic matter from commercial fertilizer.

Keep in mind that steer manure also contains quite a lot of weed seed that will sprout. Some commercially bagged steer manure is “cleaned” and is free of weeds, but this bagged manure ends up being quite expensive – so that’s your trade-off.

Horse manure

Horse manure has about 1 percent nitrogen by comparison, but it has more “undigested” feed in it. If sawdust is included, much of the nitrogen will be tied up in breaking down this material. Horses don’t digest feed as well as cows do, so much of the hay is just pushed right on through and ends up in manure. If you use horse manure, it’s generally necessary to supplement with a commercial nitrogen fertilizer.

Corn and cantaloupes thriving in manure in Rex’s Garden, Toquerville, Utah | Photo by Rex Jensen, St. George News

Horse manure also contains a fair amount of weed seed, and horse manure is almost always free. Those with horses are delighted to get rid of the stuff but you’ll probably have to go get it yourself. I always make friends with a couple of neighbors who stable horses; when I ask if I may take their manure, I’ve never been refused yet.

Turkey manure and chicken manure

Turkey manure has a nitrogen content of about 9 percent which is triple that of steer manure, so it is “hot” stuff and you must be careful in applying it or you will “burn” your young, tender plants. The Moroni, Utah turkey growers, sell a “turkey mulch” that mixes turkey manure with sawdust or other wood products. Because some of the nitrogen is tied up in breaking down the sawdust, turkey mulch makes a great fertilizer and mulch for the garden. It is expensive and must be trucked in.

However, turkey mulch has very little phosphate, potash or the trace minerals. So what you’re getting is nitrogen and excellent mulch with very little weed seed in it, which is a plus.

All that is true about turkey manure is true with chicken manure also.

Pig manure

Pig manure has about double the nitrogen of steer manure, but because it contains different bacteria than other animal manure it becomes a very slow-release nitrogen. It generally takes two to three years before your soil and plants get all the nitrogen from it, so it is a poor fertilizer for nitrogen. It also contains less organic matter than steer or horse manure.

Cost considerations

Fertilizer doesn’t need to be expensive, but it can be. Commercial fertilizer is not cheap but it’s very convenient and easy to apply. Turkey manure is an excellent fertilizer and compost but is also expensive. If you’re resourceful you can get all the steer manure and/or horse manure you want for free provided you’re willing to invest the labor.

If you choose to buy all the expensive gardening materials, you might well have $14 tomatoes. By being resourceful, you can produce the best tasting and largest tomatoes around — at a fraction of what you will pay in the store.

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Our Garden: Gardening in containers

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If your yard is full of rocks or your backyard is nothing more than a concrete patio, you may think gardening is out of the question. It’s not. Many vegetables and most other plants can be grown successfully in containers.

This week at Our Garden, Contra Costa Master Gardener Terry Lippert shared her tips for growing plants in pots, explaining that the right container with the right plant in the right place can transform almost any space into an oasis.

The right plant

Some people don’t garden because their yards or patios are too shady. However, a number of vegetables can grow well in partial shade. If you don’t have enough sun to grow tomatoes, which need six to eight hours of sun a day, try cherry tomatoes. The smaller the tomato, the less sun is required. Also try broccoli, Brussels sprouts, onions, salad greens, beans, cauliflower, peas, spinach, beets, kale, radishes and Swiss chard.

The right depth

When choosing your containers, be sure to consider how much space a plant will need. Shallow rooted vegetables such as lettuces, radishes, green onions, spinach, chard, kale and herbs will need 9 to 12 inches of depth; peas, carrots, eggplant and peppers will need 12 to 14 inches; tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, winter squashes, beans an cucumbers will need 16 to 18 inches.

The right soil

Using

soil that you dig from your own yard is not a good idea for containers. Most of our soils are heavy clay; when clay is used in a container, it tends to get denser and harder, making it difficult for plants to spread their roots. Lippert mixes her own potting soil by combining equal parts of compost-rich soil, coconut coir and either vermiculite or perlite. You can purchase all three ingredients at home and garden stores and nurseries. Coir is a byproduct of the coconut growing industry, and is packaged in blocks. Before adding it to the mixture, break off pieces and soak them in water.

If you don’t want to create your own potting mixture, buy quality potting soil that should already have these or similar ingredients in them.

Plants grown in containers need extra care when it comes to fertilizing and water. Plants in the ground can better find their own nutrients and water, but container plants must depend on what is available to them in the pot. Be sure to keep them watered and provide fertilization as needed.

Worm tea is a good choice for container plants. Mix two to three cups of worm castings in a five-gallon bucket of water, stir well and let sit for about 24 hours in a shady spot before diluting it 5-to-1 and using it on plants. Lippert adds a tablespoon of molasses to her worm tea, but recent studies have warned against the practice, as it may be linked to E. coli outbreaks.

The right container

Almost any container that is large enough for the plant and has adequate drainage can be used. You’ll find scores of decorative pots on the market, or you can use what you can find, including buckets and horse troughs. Look around, and don’t be afraid to experiment. The only container Lippert recommends against is terra cotta if you garden inland. Terra cotta pots are porous and tend to dry out too quickly in the heat. They do much better in coastal areas. If you like the look of terra cotta, Lippert says you can place a small pot inside the clay one. The plants are insulated, and you retain the terra cotta exterior.

New in the Garden

All of our plants are doing well, and we may soon have beans to harvest. Nearby, at Our Garden Too, we’re almost ready for Home Depot to install our fence. Volunteers have cemented in the posts at the new site on the corner of Wiget Lane and Shadelands Drive, and the wire fencing goes up Thursday.

Next week

Master Gardener Shelly Somers will discuss ornamental landscaping with edibles plants. Our Garden classes are at 10 a.m. Wednesdays at the Contra Costa Times, 2640 Shadelands Drive, Walnut Creek. Classes are free. Master Gardeners are on hand to answer questions, diagnose sick plants and identify pests. Vegetable and ornamental plants also are available for sale.

— Joan Morris

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Garden Tips: Got a bare spot? Try a ground cover

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If you have an area in your landscape where grass will not grow or an area that gets a lot of shade, why not plant a ground cover?

Ground covers are low-growing plants that spread quickly to form a dense cover over an area. They can add beauty and color to the landscape and help prevent soil erosion. Also, ground covers require less maintenance than grass.

When you select a ground cover, consider the following: Height, width, soil requirements and the amount of sun needed for good growth. Most ground covers can be planted any time during the growing season, but fall, spring or early summer are the best times.

Here are some ground covers that are commonly used in the landscape:

Creeping juniper is a woody, evergreen ground cover that grows 1 to 2 feet tall, depending on the type. The leaves are needle-shaped and green to blue-green. The needles turn purple in the winter. Creeping juniper can withstand hot, dry situations and prefers full sun. It is good for slopes and banks.

Monkey grass (liriope) does well in heavy shade or full sun. The variegated types are better used in shade. Monkey grass is used as ground cover under trees and shrubs, on slopes and even in front of low-growing plants or foundation plants. Monkey grass is easy to establish and does not require heavy fertilizer. Monkey grass stays attractive year-round, although leaves may become ragged by late winter. Monkey grass can be cut back in early spring, before new growth starts.

English ivy is an evergreen, creeping vine that forms a dense mat of dark-green foliage 6 to 8 inches tall. The plants grow best in shade or in semi-shaded locations. If exposed to full sun, the foliage can burn or turn color. When used next to buildings, walls or trees, English ivy will climb mortar between bricks and is known to damage trees.

Pachysandra is a popular ground cover for a shaded location. When planted in full sun, its growth is poor. The color is purple in the spring, bright green in the summer and yellow-green in winter.

E-mail your questions to bleigh1@utk.edu. Include your name and where you live. For more gardening information, call the Tipton County Extension office at 476-0231 or the Shelby County Extension office at 752-1207. Booker T. Leigh is the Extension director for Tipton County.

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Tim’s Tips: Gradually expose veggie plants to outdoors

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As Memorial Day arrives this weekend, many of you will plant your vegetable gardens. Some of you may have a plot of land that you use, while others may use a few containers for your garden. Either way, let me give you some information that will help you to do it right.

If you are planting in containers, you must fill them with potting soil. Using topsoil to save money will result in poor yields. If you are growing tomato plants, put only one in each container. You will need to use a 14-inch pot, or in some cases, up to a 24-inch pot for your tomato plants. Using smaller pots will result in a poor crop.

Much of what I will talk about for planting in the ground also pertains to container gardening.

Before you put your plants out, make sure that they are ready to go into the garden. Some plants have been grown in a greenhouse and shipped directly into stores. If the plants have not been exposed to the wind, they may get windburn when you place them in the garden.

It will be better for the plants if you gradually expose them to the elements by putting them outside for a short time each day, and then bring them back into the house. After a few days, the plants will toughen up and will be ready to stay outside.

Make sure you read the tag that tells you how far apart to place the plants in the garden. Just like growing in containers, if you crowd the plants, you will get a poor yield. For example, you will get more tomatoes from two plants properly spaced than you will from six plants crowded together.

When you set your plants out, either in containers or in the ground, always use a plant starter fertilizer. This will help stimulate new growth and help the plants to overcome shock from being transplanted.

If your soil is a poor quality, add some compost or garden soil and work it into the top 6 inches of dirt. Your plants need good soil for proper root growth. If the plants don’t have a good environment for the roots to grow, the garden will not give you the amount of food you want.

Once you have the plants in the garden, keep an eye out for the insects that want to feast.

Cutworms live in the soil and will attack your plants by eating through the stem. You can treat the soil at planting time to kill the cutworms. Flea beetles will eat hundreds of holes in the leaves, thus weakening the plant. The flea beetles are particularly fond of peppers and eggplant. You can spray the leaves with any product that has a label stating it’s safe to use on vegetables. The good news is that once the plants get bigger, the flea beetles stop being a problem.

The soil needs to keep moist to encourage the roots to take hold. This is vitally important in the first few days. Try to do your watering in the morning to allow the foliage to dry before night. Do not keep them soaking wet, however.

Wet foliage at night can lead to fungus diseases. If we get rainy days, you can prevent the formation of fungus diseases by using an organic spray called Serenade. It works well on plants, and is very effective at preventing diseases on squash and cucumbers.

Well, that’s all for this week. The store is open all weekend, including the holiday. If you have more questions, we will be there to help you out. Happy Memorial Day and I’ll talk to you again next week.

• • •

Tim Lamprey is the owner of Harbor Garden Center on Route 1 in Salisbury. His website is www.Harborgardens.com. Do you have questions for Tim? Send them to ndn@newburyportnews.com, and he will answer them in upcoming columns.

Filed Under: garden tips

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