0 comments

Login Now

Subscribe

• 1
  
  
  Reporter-Times web subscription
  $6.95 for 31 days$13.90 for 61 days$20.85 for 91 days$27.80 for 123 days$34.75 for 153 days$41.70 for 183 days$62.55 for 271 days$83.40 for 365 days
  
  

  Subscribe to Reporter-Times.com for $6.95 per month. 

  Get all the local news, sports, and events on your desktop, tablet, or mobile phone any time you want it!

• 1
  
  
  Complimentary access for home delivery subscribers
  
  
  

  Individuals who have a seven-day subscription to The Reporter-Times or Mooresville-Decatur Times at home, providing that you do not pay your carrier directly, may activate free web access on Reporter-Times.com.

  You need the phone number on the account and your account number to complete this process. You can obtain your account number by consulting your bill or calling our circulation department at (765) 342-1448.

Need an account? Create one now.

• 
  Discuss

• Print
  
  

As you begin your spring cleanup and planning, think about how water works in your yard and the needs of your plants, including trees and shrubs.

How does water behave in your yard? Do you have an area that’s consistently wet or dry?

Don’t fight your site. Look for varieties that thrive in those conditions.

Get to know the water needs of your plants. Some can handle a moist area and some do best with good drainage.

Where is your hose? We’ve got plenty of moisture now, but come July, rains tend to peter out. Placing containers in easy reach of hoses or watering cans makes far less work for you.

Think about placing a bird bath in the midst of plants with high water needs. Between birds splashing about and you refilling the bird bath, those water-craving plants get extra moisture with little effort.

Mulching trees and shrubs keeps weeds away and moisture available. Try winding soaker hoses through your beds under mulch for a simple solution to getting water to plant roots easily without losing it to evaporation.

With a little planning, you can keep yourself and your garden happy.

Garden Tip is courtesy of Heather Prince, The Growing Place, 630-355-4000, www.thegrowingplace.com.

Raised beds carry a litany of advantages that make them an ideal solution for novice and experienced gardeners alike. But to get the very most out of your beds, follow this advice from the pros.

Build and Test Your Soil

Begin your gardening season with a soil test. This will identify what your soil has or lacks. In turn, you use this information to build your soil.

Start with the planting mix. Most of these are blends of peat moss, bark, and/or compost, and they help growers spoon-feed nutrients to their crops. However, mixes lack a high mineral content and do not provide all the nutrients needed for plants to thrive. Without a strong organic and mineral structure, the nutrients will leech through the soil before plants can use them. Correct this by adding compost to convert the blended mix into soil that holds nutrients, water, and oxygen for plants to use.

Although plants may require more fertilization in the first year or two of gardening, the need for added fertilizer decreases as you build the soil structure to the point where it retains nutrients.

“Good organic matter definitely reduces the need for fertilizer, so building the soil is important,” says Howard Eyre, DelVal’s associate professor for the landscape architecture department, adding “don’t neglect testing the soil’s pH. Consider the needs of your crop and adjust pH as needed based on your soil tests, not by guessing what the plants need.”

For example, blueberries require an acidic soil to thrive, but tomatoes (contrary to what many people will tell you) prefer a slightly acidic, almost neutral pH. Extremely high or low pH causes nutrients to lock up in the soil, and this can lead to plant discoloration, stress, and low yields.

Solarize

Use solarization to rid the growing medium of soil-borne pests. By spreading a large sheet of clear plastic held in place with bricks, you can raise soil temperatures high enough to kill weeds, insects and their eggs, and various soil pathogens. Yes, this requires more time up front in preparing your beds, but this method can save you time, trouble, and expense later in the growing season when you have to deal with infected plants or damaging insects.

“Many people incorrectly think that solarization sterilizes the soil, and this will kill beneficial organisms,” says John Long, DelVal’s greenhouse manager. “But we regularly use this method in our greenhouse raised beds and enjoy reduced pressure from pests and weeds because of it. This method also provides a valuable lesson for our horticulture majors who use raised beds to schedule, sow, harvest, and weigh their production for a practical lesson in companion planting, crop rotation, and commercial vegetable production.”

Solarization is easier in warm climates, but even in northern regions you can use the method to heat the soil to around 110 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period.

Use Plasticulture

Years ago, growers used constant cultivation to stay ahead of weeds, but research has shown this can break down the soil structure that you worked so hard to build. So make use of plasticulture, the method in which you place black plastic over the soil and plant crops through it. Drip irrigation installed under the plastic provides proper moisture. This reduces the need for soil cultivation (weeding) and elevates the soil temperatures in the months when you would like to extend the season for temperature-sensitive crops.

If you are not into plastic and want to repurpose something from around the homestead, you can also use old carpet, wooden planks, bark mulch, or leaf mulch to discourage weeds. “Remember, weeds take vital nutrients and moisture from your plants and impede the harvest,” says Kristin Hulshart, DelVal’s director of the College’s Roth Center for Sustainable Agriculture in North Wales, Pa.

“As soil temperatures begin to heat up, your raised bed may also benefit from swapping the early-season fabric row cover or clear plastic row tunnels for a black woven shade cloth,” Hulshart says. “This can coax your cool-weather crops, such as strawberries, radishes, and lettuce, into producing a little longer into the heat of the summer.”

Plant Cover Crops

“Growing vegetables is very taxing on the soil and can strip away its nutrients,” says Scott Smith, assistant farm and horticultural production manager at DelVal’s South Campus Farm. “Planting cover crops in the off-season or between crop rotations adds back in these vital soil nutrients.”

Cover crops add significant organic matter, and future plantings benefit from the stored nutrients. These crops also improve soil structure by reducing compaction and opening up soil pores to store water and oxygen. Some of the more common cover crops are oats, buckwheat, rye, and clover.

Grow With Worms

Worms are terrific little soil engineers. They break down raw organic matter into smaller pieces that beneficial fungi will make available to the plant’s root system. They also help blend organic matter through the soil, and their tunnels improve soil oxygen and water-holding capacity.

Consider building a vermicomposting bin with red worms to convert kitchen scraps into a nutrient-dense organic matter called castings, a great energy source for plants. You can also add night crawler worms directly to your beds to help build the soil structure.

Police were called as angry drivers found themselves stuck in mile-long jams at rubbish tips, believed to be sparked by Birmingham’s controversial “garden tax”.

Officers were despatched to the Lifford Lane tip in Kings Norton as tempers frayed because of huge demand to dump green waste, councillors were told.

A
meeting heard the city council’s decision to charge £35 to collect grass cuttings had triggered a surge in the number of people using communal
rubbish dumps instead.

Just
20,000 of Birmingham’s 400,000 households have so far signed up for the
scheme, with thousands more deciding to drop off their garden waste at the city’s five tips.

Coun Deirdre Alden (Con, Edgbaston) said drivers arriving at Lifford Lane faced 45-minute waits. Long queues have also been spotted at the depot in Sutton Coldfield.

“People are queuing for 45 minutes with the queue reaching a mile,” she said.

“They are having serious trouble getting to Lifford Lane, even the police have been called.”

Coun Alden urged the Labour-run city council to extend opening hours of the sites.

Coun
Jon Hunt (Lib Dem, Perry Barr) added: “It was inevitable that residents
would decide to take their garden waste to recycling centres once the council decided to press ahead with its ill-conceived charging policy for garden waste.

“We have all seen the long queues – and they will get longer. Not only is recycling being reduced but queuing cars are adding to fumes and greenhouse gases.”

Coun
Hunt said the Labour leadership could have kept the previous free doorstep garden waste collection by reassigning some of the £30 million being spent on wheelie bins.

The council said it was considering extending opening hours and urged taxpayers to avoid tips at weekends and from 10am to 3pm on weekdays if possible.

The
cabinet member responsible for bins, Coun James McKay (Harborne), said:
“We are always looking to see how we can make the service better with less and less money to do so.

“Extending
the opening hours would mean spending less on something else, but we’re
looking to see if there’s a way we can make it work.”

Walls can get dirty before you know it — from a splatter of spaghetti dinner to the crayon artistry of a roaming toddler to fingers simply reaching for a light switch.

It’s easy to pass by walls and woodwork every day without a second glance, but spring-cleaning season is a great time to give them the attention they deserve.

Like many housekeeping tasks, regular cleaning can help avoid bigger cleanup work later on.

“It doesn’t have to be as difficult of a job as it sounds,” said Amy Panos, senior editor at Better Homes and Gardens. “The easier you can make it on yourself, the more likely you are to do it.”

DIRT AND SCUFFS

Walls tend to get dirtiest around light switches and door knobs.

“Even if a hand looks clean, it still has a little dirt and oils that over time build up and eventually make that area of the wall dirty,” Panos said.

Walls also get marked up from accidental kicks or the brush of a bag near the baseboards. Parents know how toddlers’ hands often find their way to walls, either with filthy fingers or with crayons or markers.

These fingerprints and other blemishes are best tackled right away. “The sooner you can get to a mark that is noticeable, the easier it will be” to clean, said Sharon Grech, a color and design expert for Benjamin Moore.

People are wary of cleaning or washing painted surfaces because they fear the process will remove the paint. But Grech said the technology has improved over the last decade, and paints now are more stain-resistant and durable for cleaning.

Still, it’s important to use the right products.

To remove everyday marks, Grech suggested using a clean cellulose sponge with a little warm water.

“Just give it a good rub,” she said. “Wait for it to dry and see if it’s clean.”

If the dirt is still evident, repeat the process using a dab of dish detergent and wipe the area dry with a clean sponge, rag or paper towel.

“Warm water does miracles with a sponge,” Grech said. “You want to avoid using regular household cleaners that have ammonia and other products in them” because they can change the sheen of the paint.

Panos likes the ease of a foam eraser pad, like Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, though be sure to test it first in an inconspicuous area to make sure it won’t remove the color or finish. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is approved by the manufacturer for use on most paints, including flat and semi-gloss paint.

“They’re quite incredible,” Panos said. “They take care of a lot.”

Don’t forget doorways and trim, often coated in easy-to-wipe paints but in light colors like white and cream that make marks especially visible. Cleaning those areas can instantly make the room seem brighter.

“It really glistens,” Grech said. “It’s like putting on a nice lip gloss.”

DUST AND COBWEBS

While most people know to take care of an unsightly mark, many overlook cleaning the whole wall, Panos said. Once you have a fresh coat of paint, lightly dust the walls about every three months.

“You don’t need to get a bucket and soap and sponge and completely wash down the walls,” she said. “Make it easy on yourself by getting a tool with an extension pole so that you can stand on the ground and take care of the job in just a few minutes rather than having to drag out a ladder.”

Clean the ceiling first, with a dust-attracting microfiber mop on the extension pole for smooth ceilings, or a slightly damp paint roller on the pole for a popcorn ceiling, she said. The walls can be cleaned from top to bottom with the mop (dry or slightly damp), and the baseboards hand-cleaned with a microfiber cloth.

“Keeping the environment as dust-free as possible is helpful for a good interior air quality,” Panos said.

Grech recommends regular cleaning where dusts collects, such as on baseboards, and on window ledges, where it can mix with moisture and turn into a mess.

While cleaning the walls won’t prolong the paint job, she said, it will help keep them looking their best.

“You want to clean the areas that are getting a little bit more abused to keep it fresh,” she said.

A rain garden can capture rain that would otherwise flow down your lawn and driveway into streets and storm sewers, and use it to make your property more beautiful.  It does this if  it is located where rain can be directed into it, built so that it can temporarily hold the water (a rain garden is not a pond), and planted with appropriate plants to add beauty and attract birds, bees and butterflies. While a handy homeowner can
create a nice rain garden, assistance of a landscape professional with experience in rain gardens can be very helpful.

As in real estate, the first three things are location, location and location. The rain garden should be at least 10 feet from buildings. If one of your downspouts drains into your lawn, perhaps you already know where your rain garden should go. If it instead drains onto the driveway, could it be redirected toward a section of the yard?

Does the soil in that section drain readily? Dig a wide hole 6 inches deep and fill it with water. Wait 24 hours. If the water disappears within that time, the location is suitable for a rain garden.

Can you carve out a large enough space to handle the amount of rain you will get during downpours? Rain gardens range from 100-300 square feet and can usually handle rain from hard surfaces (roof, driveway) three times their size. More than one rain garden may be needed to handle rain from larger areas. Use a hose or rope to outline a curved shape for the proposed garden and move it around until you are satisfied with its placement.
Unless it is located in a depression, you will have to excavate between 4-10 inches to form the level bowl of the rain garden. If the site is not level, use some of the excavated soil to make a berm on the downslope side to further prevent overflow. You may also wish to add a border.

Next comes the fun part – planting. Rain gardens can be located in sun or part shade. They have distinct planting areas: the bowl and the upper part and a transition zone between them. The bowl area will need plants such as spiderwort and blue flag that can handle wet feet. Plants for the entire rain garden should also handle dry conditions. Native plants are often preferred for that reason. You can use perennials, shrubs or even small trees in a rain garden. Don’t forget mulch. Choose wood chips made from hardwoods that will not float away. River rock can be used for the inlet.

Mulch will help keep down weeds but you will have to weed, especially the first season. You will have to water your rain garden in dry seasons. The final result is a beautiful garden that captures rain that would otherwise overburden storm sewers and water treatment plants. Step-by-step instructions are at: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/GWQ037.pdf

The Anoka County Master Gardeners invite you to visit our web page http://anokamastergardeners.org/. Click on “hot topics” for information about the Home Landscaping and Garden Fair, April 12, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Bunker Hills Activities Center, 550 Bunker Lake Blvd. NW, Andover. There also is information on our plant sale (hundreds of plants at reasonable prices) and the plant diagnostic clinic, which offers expert help with your landscape and garden problems.

Lynda Ellis is an Anoka County Master Gardener.

Photo by William DeShazer, The Commercial Appeal // Buy this photo

Sook Mellen, owner of Artistic Touch Home Accents, hand-paints napkin rings made of tiny flower pots.

Photo by William DeShazer, The Commercial Appeal // Buy this photo

March 21 2014 — French Marigolds sit on display during the Master Gardeners Spring Fling Garden Show and Plant Sale at the Agricenter. (William DeShazer/The Commercial Appeal)

When Kim Dyer was a little girl, she hated vegetables, but she was promoting them Friday.

Dyer, 44, was handing out recipe cards at the Bartlett Station Farmers Market at the Memphis Area Master Gardeners Spring Fling at Agricenter International’s red barn.

“I was a real picky eater as a child,” Dyer, 44, whose recipes had ingredients available only at citywide farmers markets. “My mom used to cook out of cans. I hated spinach because she opened the can and it stank and it was icky, but now I love spinach.

“I know who grows it. Yang Farms is going to grow me some spinach, and I’m going to eat it.”

Linda Taylor, Spring Fling coordinator, said the show, now in its 10th year, helps fund year-round gardening education for children and adults.

The Spring Fling, which also runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, featured lectures, merchandise, and gardening and cooking demonstrations from L’Ecole Culinaire on Friday. On Saturday, garden designer, author and TV personality James Farmer will speak on planting at 11:30 a.m. Other speakers will discuss trees, kitchen gardening, terrariums and how to attract birds to your backyard.

Mary Jo Bibbs, 65, has been gardening for three years since she stopped working.

“I thought it would be a fun time to see what’s available and learn some things,” said Bibbs. “I’m trying to get ideas on expanding (my garden) a little bit. I guess you could say I’m a novice.”

Bibbs said she enjoyed the variety of plants offered in the barn and will incorporate some with her hosta plants and day lilies.

Taylor said health is a big factor in a lot of the work done by the Master Gardeners.

“The trend now is to be more conscious about where your food is coming from, and that’s the purpose of some of the speakers,” said Taylor.

Dyer said education is everything.

“You have to know your farmer and know your food,” she said. “Because you go to Kroger, and who knows where that comes from, but if you go to a farmers market, you know that food was grown right here in Tennessee (or in Mississippi).”

Marketers are trying to start a new trend in gardening: planting perennials in containers. Advertisements showing annuals and perennials planted together in pots have been evident. However, I am not sure this is a trend that gardeners in our area will want to try.

Locally, we are usually not concerned about hardy garden perennials surviving the winter, even after the cold temperatures we experienced this past winter. When planted in the garden, the soil provides insulation, keeping roots at temperatures above the ambient air temperature. When planted in containers, the perennial roots are subjected to colder temperatures close to the air temperature.

There are options for overwintering perennials in container gardens. One way to protect roots is to dig holes and sink the pots in the ground. That may be OK for a few small pots, but it would be a monumental task for me because I have large pots.

A less troublesome way to protect potted perennials is by grouping and placing them in a protected spot on the ground, such as in an alcove or corner and mulching them with compost or straw.

Perhaps the best option is to move the potted perennials into an unheated structure where the temperature will stay cool but above freezing. An unheated garage is the most likely place to meet these criteria. (With the number of sizable containers I have, this would mean parking my car outside all winter.)

Before storing, prepare containerized perennials for winter. This is done by not fertilizing or heavily watering the plants in late summer and fall. You want growth to slow and stop so the plants can prepare for winter’s cold temperatures. However, still water regularly to keep the plants from becoming drought stressed.

Before placing the plants and pots in storage, ensure the plants are fully dormant by waiting for the temperature to drop below 30 degrees on successive nights. While stored, periodically check the potting mix. If it is dry, water sparingly to keep the mixture slightly moist.

If you decide to follow this trend, select only hardy perennials. Proven Winners, a company that develops and markets annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs suggests choosing ones that are hardy in our United States Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zone or one zone colder if you will be overwintering them in an unheated garage or burying the pots in the ground. Since we live in Hardiness Zones 6a to 7b, select perennials hardy in Zones 6a to 7b or Zones 5a to 6b. If you must leave the pots more exposed, the USDA recommends plants that are at least one to two zones colder than your region.

I am sticking with annual flowers in my containers. I want to park my car in the garage and I’m not digging big pits in the yard. I also like the option of trying flower and color combinations each year. That’s what makes container gardening fun for me.

— Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for Washington State University Benton County Extension.

If your planting is attracting bees, butterflies and other wildlife, your shed is devoid of pesticides and your fruit and veg are strictly organic, then you are already heading along the right road to eco-friendliness.

But follow these 10 simple tips and you could get even further, even faster.

1. Plant bright flowers such as candytuft, sunflowers and marigolds, to encourage beneficial insects like ladybirds and lacewings. These will eat aphids such as blackfly, which can decimate your flowers and crops. Bluebells, cowslips, foxgloves and primroses are all wildflowers to add colour and beauty to any garden. Buy flowers that will bloom as late into the autumn as possible, to allow more beneficial bugs and bees plenty of time to pollinate.

2. Invest in a water butt. Even better, blend it in with your garden scheme by building a wooden casing around it and painting it, suggests DIY power tool experts Dremel (www.dremel.co.uk). Alternatively, buy an old wine barrel as an attractive alternative and customise it so you can fill a watering can. Wooden water butts need to stand above ground level, allowing the wood to breathe from beneath.

3. Create your own makeshift mulch. If you have collected leaves to make leaf mould over the years, this will act as a great mulch in spring. Alternatively, use compost, bark or garden clippings which have been shredded.

4. Consider ‘companion planting’ to ward off predators. Many plant combinations mask each other with scent. The smell of Tagetes (French marigolds) will deter whitefly, while garlic and other alliums have been used as companions to keep pests at bay. Trailing nasturtiums repel woolly aphids, while bugle extract repels cabbage white caterpillars. In a similar way, leeks repel carrot flies, okra shields peppers from wind, while tall crops provide a canopy for short ones, such as lettuce and spinach, which prefer partial shade in the heat.

5. Recycle everyday packaging to use in your garden. Plastic cartons which have held pre-packed veg can be adapted as seed trays, yoghurt pots which have been thoroughly cleaned can be used to raise seedlings and larger plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off can work as makeshift cloches around young vulnerable plants. Large wooden crates can be used to store fruit and veg later on in the season.

6. Set up a worm compost bin if you only have a small space, and make a home for some small, red tiger worms, which you can buy. Use a wooden box with holes and a lid for a worm compost bin., add a layer of moist, shredded newspaper and soil for their bedding, then feed them once a week with vegetable peelings wrapped in newspaper or paper towels. Every two or three months, the rich, fine compost will be ready to use.

7. Use solar power to light the path to your front door. Solar lights fixed into the ground store energy at low cost in the daytime and light the way to your front door in the dark. Cut niches into your paving stones by using a compact saw or plant them either side of your path in the garden borders.

8. Make a compost bin if you don’t already have one. To make a simple wooden compost bin simply cut wooden slats to size and screw them together at right angles. Sand down any sharp edges or splintered wood, then prepare your compost by layering grass cuttings, leaves and natural waste from your kitchen (such as paper, cardboard and vegetable peelings) and turn regularly. Once the waste has rotted, it should be an ideal supply to mix with your garden top soil.

9. Charge battery-powered equipment the smart way. If your garden tools are battery-powered, bear in mind that the prices charged for electricity may vary at different times of the day and night. Once you have the details you can start saving money by charging batteries during off-peak hours. Additionally, lithium-ion batteries retain their charge even if they haven’t been used for some time.

10. Minimise your non-permeable hard landscaping, such as pavers set in concrete. Create boundaries with hedging rather than fencing if you can.