Americans are a restless bunch. They change locations with a frequency that would tire a migrating songbird.

But there is more to moving day than unpacking boxes; there’s also learning to care for that garden inherited with the new home.

If you were thinking ahead, you asked for an inventory of the plants and accessories that came with the house.

“There’s no problem with asking owners for a list of landscape items and for an explanation about the plantings,” said Shirley French, an agent with the Woodstock, Va., office of Funkhouser Real Estate Group. “Usually, the owners are more than happy to give you a list. In fact, if they know the purchasers are interested, that will make for good feelings on both sides.”

Gardening priorities are determined mostly by the seasons. You won’t be mowing the lawn in February, although you might be combing the seed catalogs.

But where to start with a newly purchased property?

Michael Becker, president of Estate Gardeners Inc. in Omaha, Neb., suggests that putting safety first.

“Check out the dangers,” said Becker, a spokesman for Planet, the Professional Landcare Network that certifies green industry professionals. “Are the retaining walls stable? Are any trees leaning or diseased with dead branches?

“Assess the hardscape,” Becker said. “Is anything heaving, creating tripping hazards? Examine the drainage around the house. More often than not, it isn’t correct and may be damaging the structure. Bring in some professionals to help sort things out.”

As for plantings, be patient with the perennials.

“Go through the seasonal changes,” Becker said. “Learn what things look like in your yard. Determine if it’s aesthetically what you want, or if it’s so high-maintenance you won’t have the time to care for it. Most perennials need pruning and deadheading.”

Other things to consider when dealing with an unfamiliar landscape:

— Make note of the average frost dates. Do soil tests. Map the yard for sun and shade. “If you live in the city and all you have is a porch or a patio to work with, where is all that water going to go that you’ll be putting on plants?” asked Josh Kane, president and head designer at Kane Landscapes Inc. in Sterling, Va. “Also, where do you get the water? You’ll have to figure out how to care for everything.”

— Water fixtures. “Look for care instructions when dealing with special features,” Kane said. “A lot of people get put off or are scared of things like koi ponds, pools and fountains that require startups, maintenance and attention during the seasons.”

— Don’t try to do everything the first year. Mulching will keep the weeds down. Composting will improve the soil. Bringing in some annuals for window boxes, hanging baskets or containers will provide instant color. “Nothing gives you as much impact in a garden as planting annuals,” Kane said.

— Anticipate. Avoid planting trees or shrubs near sewer or water lines, to prevent root damage. Study the plat map for restrictions that could prevent expansions or additions. “A lot of people might want to build a big outdoor room or pool and find they can’t do it because of an easement on the property,” Kane said.

By RITA JACINTO, Flying Blue Dog Farm

Here we are, already at the half way point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Technically that would be February 2, or as we have come to celebrate it, Ground Hog Day. This day actually has as many names as there are cultures around the world for every culture marks these special days. Even if you didn’t know that little tidbit of information I bet you feel it.

The days are measurably longer, the robins and peepers are starting their mating songs, new growth on the trees is coloring up and buds are swelling with the surging sap. And, we have rain! Soaking, drenching wet and wonderful rain.

It is time to get your garden on. The very first thing we plant in the new gardening year is peas. English pod peas, Sugarsnap peas and tender snow peas all benefit from being pre-germinated but are just as happy to be sown directly in the soil.

Pre-germination can be of benefit if the weather is particularly cold and wet. While peas are cold tolerant and can take longer to germinate in cold soil, the combination of cold and wet can do them in causing the seeds to rot in the ground. Pre-germinating the seeds in the house, garage or what have you gives you the advantage of planting out already living plants which are much more able to deal if the weather turns cold and wet. There are lots of ways to accomplish this.
The method we use here is to fill a shallow tray with soil two-to-three inches deep. Next scatter the pea seeds in the tray so that the seeds are barely touching each other and cover with a half-inch of soil. Water well and keep the tray somewhere warm and bright. Depending on the temperature they should be up in 10 days or so. Once they are up with a pair or two of leaves it’s time to plant them out.

Prepare the bed or row for planting, use a trellis! I know some of the pea variety descriptions say that you don’t need to use a trellis, especially on shorter types but I’m telling you it will be so much easier to pick them if you use a trellis.

It’s nice to have the trellis up before you plant then you know exactly where to plant. It is much easier to put the trellis up before planting, besides you know you will never get back to it even though you tell yourself you will do it later.

Your trellis can be anything from orchard prunings rammed into the ground, to fancy store-bought trellising. We use t-posts and orchard fencing; it’s fast, easy and re-usable. Once the ground is prepared and the trellis is up it’s time to plant.

I don’t bother separating each plant out; rather I gently grasp a few plants and tease them out of the tray. Each group of three or so plants gets planted about two inches apart down the row.  In past years I haven’t worried about laying irrigation since the peas are usually done by the time the rains stop. Last year was different and this year may be as well with hardly any rain and heat coming on early.  So we will be laying soaker hose down the row.  If the heat starts early we may be out of luck any how since peas pretty much shut down when the temps reach 75 degrees. For that reason it may be a good idea to plant more heat tolerant varieties.

A 100’ row of pod peas will yield about 20 pounds; snap and snow peas will yield around 30 pounds. There are some great charts online listing expected yields by plant variety. They will tell you how much seed it takes to plant a certain amount of row feet, how much space to leave between plants and between rows and expected yield.

Seed saving is super easy with peas because they have perfect flowers and pollinate themselves as they are blooming. So choose open pollinated varieties as these are the only kind of seeds that will come true the next year. Once the peas are growing and setting pods mark out a section that looks especially healthy and refrain from harvesting them. Make sure that you save at least 10 plants for seed saving in this section. You want to get enough genetic diversity to keep the variety strong. Let them grow on to maturity and when the pods are brown and just before they twist open harvest them into a paper bag. Now you have next year’s seed stock!

If you ask to name the most beautiful flower, the majority of people will give you the answer “a rose”. Poets, painters, nature lovers, photographers, lovers! Who is not there to adore the beauty of roses?

A rose is such a beautiful flower, and it will make your garden stunning with its beauty, fragrance and colour. Roses are the all-time favourite choice of garden lovers.

Having a rose plant in your garden will be the best thing that you can do to make your garden attractive without much effort. The most interesting fact is that, you can keep rose plants in your patio or indoor green space as well, provided there is enough direct sunlight.

Make Your Soil Naturally Fertile With These Tips!

Growing this charming flowering plant is not a difficult task if you are smart enough in following some rose gardening tips. Here, we have listed some effective gardening tips for rose bushes, which will help you in making your garden eye-catching.

Planting: The rose gardening tips that you have to follow while planting a rose depends on the method how you are planting it. While you are planting it in pots, mix the soil with organic fertilisers before planting. While on open ground, remember to keep the minimum distance between two roses. Plant only where you get direct sunlight.

Watering: It is important to provide enough water for ensuring good growth. But, remember not to pour too much water if it is in a pot. Early morning is the best time to water rose plants. During the summer, make sure that your roses are provided with enough watering schedules.

Mulching: Since roses don’t demand too much water, the best way is to use mulch. This will ensure the presence of continuous moisture in the soil and will help encourage healthy growth. Apply 2 to 4 inch layer of chopped and shredded leaves or grass at the base of your roses. Leave an inch of space from the base stem.

Fertilising: It is a good idea to quit chemical fertilizers. There are many homemade fertilisers that can enhance the growth of roses. Egg shells, vegetable wastes and tea ground are excellent choices. While using chemical fertilisers, make sure that you are using them in correct timings. Choose fertilisers that contain phosphorus.

Pruning: The ultimate aim of planting roses is to enjoy those beautiful flowers. Pruning is one of the best gardening tips for rose bushes to get maximum flowers. Pruning will help the plant grow healthy with a lot of blooms on it. Cut at an angle of 45 degrees, about 1/4 inch above an outward facing bud. Remember to remove dead, broken or diseased wood as well.

The Edmonds Floretum Garden Club will be having its second event in this season’s series of Saturday Workshops Feb. 22 from 10 a.m. until noon. Sally Wassall, Master Gardener Emeritus, will present “Pruning Tips for the Home Garden” with a focus on fruit and flowering shrubs. She will cover basic practices for a variety of plants appropriately pruned at this time of year.

Wassall is an active member of the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation at Mount Vernon and the Edmonds Floretum Garden Club. She grew up on a 10-acre mixed farm in Surrey, BC, which she and her husband also farmed for 20 years. There they pruned fruit trees, flowering shrubs, fruiting shrubs, and roses. Currently, they are renovating a garden in Bellingham and are also caring for the garden at their home in Edmonds.

The presentation will be in the meeting room of Coldwell Banker Bain at 108 5th Ave. S. in Edmonds. All are welcome. Donations are accepted. For more information, contact Janice Noe at janicenoe@comcast.net or call her at 425-774-4991.

Edwards has been on the radio as the sod expert of Kern County for many years, and he talked about the benefits of watering lawns once a month instead of every day.

“If you’re watering your lawn every day, you have a lot of weeds,” Edwards said.

Edwards will provide tips on how to conserve water while keeping a green lawn and how to plant your own garden.

Although Edwards is not a fan of vegetables, he said there is nothing better than growing your own food in your backyard.

And in hopes of luring vegetables onto dinner tables, local chef Jeff McFee will fire up the grill for summertime vegetable cooking and barbecue recipes.

The show kicks off from noon to 7 p.m. Friday at the Kern County Fairgrounds. Tickets are $8 for adults and children under 12 enter free.

For a complete list of times and activities, visit www.ggshows.com.

 

The following information was released by Agromin.

With a dry January in Southern California and very little rain forecasted for the remaining winter months, gardeners can take steps now to ensure their gardens receive enough water to ensure a bountiful spring and summer harvest, say experts at Agromin, an Oxnard-based manufacturer of earth-friendly compost products made from organic material collected from more than fifty California cities.

Residents can obtain Agromin soil products in bulk or in bags at Rainbow Environmental Services (gate seven) in Huntington Beach, in bulk at South Coast Supply in Huntington Beach and Los Alamitos and in bags at Lakewood Nursery in Cypress.

Install a drip irrigation system: Now is the ideal time to install a drip irrigation system. These systems, available at nurseries and home improvement stores, can be elaborate or simple. They apply water directly to the base of plants. Other forms of watering increases the likelihood of evaporation and runoff. Sprinklers deposit water onto leaves where it evaporates. They often soak unnecessary portions of the yard including sidewalks, driveways and patios.

Select plants that need little water: A number of attractive drought tolerant plants thrive in Southern California. Consider planting only perennials because once established, their water needs are minimal. Some plants to consider are bear’s breech (spiral flowers bloom in late spring to late summer), kangaroo paw (long-lasting blooms come in a variety of colors), sage (numerous varieties, attractive fragrance), western redbud (magenta flowers in spring) and deer grass (dense base with slender flower stalks).

Mulch your garden: Use organic mulch around flower and vegetable gardens. Mulch traps moisture in the soil, keeps roots cool during hot spells and reduces erosion so less water is needed. As organic mulch decomposes, it releases nutrients into the soil so plants are healthier. Before mulching, remove weeds from your garden. Then apply two to three inches of mulch to discourage new weed growth and to retain moisture. Place mulch at least one inch away from stems to discourage possible rot damage to plants.

reduce lawn square footage: According to the EPA, landscape irrigation accounts for nearly one-third of residential water use. The percentage is higher in dry climates. Lawns are the biggest outdoor water users. Consider replacing all or most of the lawn’s square footage with bark, drought tolerant plants and shrubs. With water rationing a possibility, this preemptive move will keep lawns looking green and reduce water bills significantly.

Determine how much water to use: Most homeowners have a tendency to overwater. Go to Be Water Wise to calculate how much water is truly needed to water a garden. Calculations are based on location and soil make-up (sandy or clay).

For more gardening tips, go to www.agromin.com.

Featured photo

Drought-tolerant Mexican sage file photo by C.E.H. Wiedel.

Related articles

• January is prep time for Southern California gardeners (oc-breeze.com)
• Protecting your garden from summer heat (oc-breeze.com)
• This Summer start saving by planting a water-wise garden (oc-breeze.com)

That said, peaches and apricots grown on walls do flower early in the year so it will be worth keeping an eye on them and draping the branches with muslin or old net curtains on cold nights to help preserve a degree or two and give them a better chance of setting fruit.

As for the snowdrops, as soon as they finish flowering they are in the best state for digging up, dividing and transplanting. I’m not suggesting you do this on a regular basis. The great thing about snowdrops is that once planted they can be left alone – no amount of overcrowding seems to worry them, they just keep on spreading which is what most of us want. But if you want to make more plantations, planting them “in the green” rather than as dry bulbs in autumn is a more reliable method of ensuring their survival.

Dig up a clump as soon as the flowers fade and divide it. Don’t waste your time separating the single bulbs, but break them into clusters of half a dozen or so and plant these mini-clumps about a foot apart, and at the same depth as they were growing before, in any half-decent soil in dappled shade or between shrubs. Or naturalise them in a corner of the lawn, planting them in the turf; they will wilt and look sad for a while but then they should pick up and eventually the foliage will die down and disappear.  

Next year, just when you had forgotten where you planted them, up they will push and cheer you in the darkest months of the year. And hopefully next year they will push up in the more normal fashion, starting to flower at 4in high instead of at ground level. Well, you can’t say we don’t get variety!

Don’t miss Alan’s gardening column today and every day in the Daily Express. For more information on his range of gardening products, visit alantitchmarsh.com.

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Americans are a restless bunch. They change locations with a frequency that would tire a migrating songbird.

But there is more to moving day than unpacking boxes; there’s also learning to care for that garden inherited with the new home.

If you were thinking ahead, you asked for an inventory of the plants and accessories that came with the house.

“There’s no problem with asking owners for a list of landscape items and for an explanation about the plantings,” said Shirley French, an agent with the Woodstock, Va., office of Funkhouser Real Estate Group. “Usually, the owners are more than happy to give you a list.”

Gardening priorities are determined mostly by the seasons. You won’t be mowing the lawn in February.

But where to start with a newly purchased property?

Michael Becker, president of Estate Gardeners Inc. in Omaha, Neb., suggests putting safety first.

“Check out the dangers,” said Becker, a spokesman for Planet, the Professional Landcare Network that certifies green industry professionals. “Are the retaining walls stable? Are any trees leaning or diseased with dead branches?

“Assess the hardscape,” Becker said. “Is anything heaving, creating tripping hazards? Examine the drainage around the house.”

As for plantings, be patient with the perennials.

“Go through the seasonal changes,” Becker said. “Learn what things look like in your yard. Determine if it’s aesthetically what you want, or if it’s so high-maintenance you won’t have the time to care for it. Most perennials need pruning and deadheading.”

Other things to consider when dealing with an unfamiliar landscape:

• Make note of the average frost dates. Do soil tests. Map the yard for sun and shade. “If you live in the city and all you have is a porch or a patio to work with, where is all that water going to go that you’ll be putting on plants?” asked Josh Kane, president and head designer at Kane Landscapes Inc. in Sterling, Va.

• Water fixtures. “Look for care instructions when dealing with special features,” Kane said. “A lot of people get put off or are scared of things like koi ponds, pools and fountains that require startups, maintenance and attention during the seasons.”

• Don’t try to do everything the first year. Bringing in some annuals for window boxes, hanging baskets or containers will provide instant color.

• Anticipate. Avoid planting trees or shrubs near sewer or water lines, to prevent root damage. Study the plat map for restrictions.

When warm weather arrives in early summer, our garden tomatoes will start to grow very fast. Once a plant is a foot or so tall, it will start to branch. As rapid growth continues, the plant flops over and grows along the ground unless it is provided with support. Left to grow horizontally, the vine will develop more and more branches, eventually becoming a tangled mess.

As noted last week, sturdy tomato cages are usually adequate support for shorter determinate tomatoes, but the taller indeterminate types need more support. This can be provided by staking each plant individually or building a trellis.

Staking individual plants involves pounding a sturdy 6- to 8-foot stake firmly into the ground 3 to 4 inches away from the plant. To avoid injuring the roots, do this within two weeks of planting in the garden and before branching begins.

When the vine is a foot tall, tie it to the stake using a soft tying material that won’t cut into the stem, such as strips of nylon pantyhose, or use one of the commercial tying materials available at garden stores.

After this, pinch out any side shoots or “suckers.” These side shoots develop between the base of a leaf and the main stem. A tomato plant staked and “pruned” in this way produces fewer tomatoes per vine, but the fruit that does develop will be larger. However, it makes the fruit more prone to blossom end rot and sunburn. You can try to avoid these problems by also leaving the first sucker that starts to grow above the first flower cluster that develops. Any other suckers or shoots are removed, leaving two main shoots.

If you grow more than a few tomato plants, consider building a trellis for support. The Basket Weave or Florida Weave is commonly used to trellis commercially grown tomatoes. Using this system space, your plants 18 to 24 inches apart and then place 6- to 7-foot stakes between every plant or every three plants. Use strong posts, such as a metal T or a 4-by-4-inch wooden fence post, at the ends of the row.

When plants are a foot tall, it’s time to start “stringing” the trellis using nonstretching twine, such as baler’s twine, or wire. Secure the twine or wire to the end post and then run it on one side of the tomatoes and fix it to the next stake. (Hint: Twine can be fixed by wrapping it around the stake.) Keeping the “string” taught, continue running it to the second stake on the opposite side of the tomatoes and fix it to the next stake.

Continue weaving the “string” in this manner until you get to the end post, fasten it to the post, then return the “string” to the beginning post by weaving it back on the opposite sides of the tomatoes, and finally fastening it to the post. Repeat the process every time the plants grow 8 to 10 inches.

To avoid dense, overcrowded vines, prune your trellised tomatoes. Leave two shoots per plant if they are spaced 2 feet apart, and three shoots if spaced 3 feet apart.

Many gardeners use their own variation of the Basket Weave or design ingenious other trellises that work for them. The key to success is a trellis that’s tall enough and sturdy enough to support the vines. I think I’ll try trellising my tomatoes this year.

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

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