DurhamRegion.com

DURHAM — Spring is here and gardeners are eager to start getting their hands dirty. However, gardeners need to be careful about what they plant since nights still tend to be cool and frost can develop. Next week on durhamregion.com, we are with Whitby horticulturist Ken Brown in his garden with some great tips and ideas about what to plant now, how to restart your lawn’s growth process, and what to look out for.

Mr. Brown is a certified horticultural judge and is a frequent speaker at horticultural meetings and seminars in Durham. His writing and photography continues to be published in several magazines and newspapers. Mr. Brown’s web page, www.gardening-enjoyed.com, is a great source of advice, tips and updates on his own garden. He grows a wide range of vegetables and flowers in some innovative ways to maximize the use of space.

Let’s wake up the garden to a new growing season. Join us next week, as we will have a new gardening tip on video for every day of the week.

Series Breakdown:

• Monday, May 26: Lawn

In this segment, Mr. Brown shows you how to top dress and overseed the lawn to fill in thin and bare patches, in order to restart the growing process.

• Tuesday, May 27: Asparagus

Today’s video includes how to pick the first asparagus and how to plant your own asparagus patch.

• Wednesday, May 28: Planting cool season veggies

Mr. Brown has the tools you need in this video to plant cool season vegetables like kohl rabi, broccoli and pak choi.

• Thursday, May 29: Prune your clematis and or hydrangea

In this video, we clean up the clematis. Mr. Brown has his plant growing up a trellis. He shows you where to cut and how much.

• Friday, May 30: The red lily beetle

With spring comes bug invasions. In this video, Mr. Brown shows you how to catch and destroy one of your garden’s arch enemies, the red lily beetle.

Is there a project or topic you would like to see us cover? Let us know what you want to learn. Drop us a line or post your information on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/newsdurham.

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With warmer weather here, the Garden City Postmaster is urging postal patrons to give special consideration to the condition of their mailboxes.

Garden City Postmaster Travis Alexander is asking all homeowners to inspect and repair their mailboxes.

“Repairing mailboxes improves the appearance of our community and makes delivering and receiving mail safer for our carriers and customers,” Alexander said. “The Postal Service makes this annual request because of the wear and tear that occurs to mailboxes every year. This is especially important after the effects of last winter.”

He suggests several maintenance tips. They include replacing loose hinges on a mailbox door; repainting a mailbox that may have rusted or started peeling; remounting a mailbox post, if loosened, and replacing or adding house numbers.

“If a homeowner plans to install a new mailbox or replace a worn one, he or she must use only Postal Service-approved traditional, contemporary or locking full/limited service mailboxes,” said Alexander. “Customers should be careful when purchasing curbside mail receptacles because the use of unapproved boxes is prohibited.”

He added that customers can use a custom-built mailbox, but they must consult with his office to make sure they conform to guidelines related to the flag, size, strength and quality of construction.

For more information on the use of names or numbers on mailboxes, or answers to any other questions, call Alexander at 734-421-3390.

Alexander added that the Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of stamps, products and services to fund its operations.

How can you get the most yield from a garden where space is limited, and water is, too?

Plant smart, and pay attention to the soil.

“Your garden is only as good as your soil,” says David Salman, chief horticulturist at High Country Gardens, a Santa Fe, N.M., catalog that specializes in native and low-water plants.

Find out what nutrients your soil has — and what it’s missing — with a soil test, available through local cooperative extension offices at a nominal fee (home soil-test kits are less reliable, according to the Colorado State University Extension).

Encourage plant health by fertilizing with natural, organic fertilizers, which include fish emulsion and liquid seaweed, says Salman. Limit the use of chemical fertilizers because they don’t help build the soil.

One trick Salmon recommends, especially for gardeners living in new housing developments, is adding a soil inoculant called mycorrhiza, a beneficial fungi. It’s found naturally in healthy soil, but often needs to be added to a new garden.

Plants that can offer high yields with low watering include leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce and spinach; beans, snow peas and sugar snap peas; and some varieties of cucumbers and squash, he says.

Plant vining beans and peas if you have space or can grow them up a fence or trellis; plant bush beans and peas in large pots if space is limited.

Sarah J. Browning, an extension educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, suggests planting radishes, carrots, peppers, zucchini and summer squash for summertime bounty. Peppers grow well in dry conditions, says Browning, and root crops such don’t need frequent watering.

Plant radishes early in the season or in part shade, and mulch them and other plants to retain moisture and combat weeds.

Melissa Ozawa, a features editor for gardening at Martha Stewart Living magazine, recommends growing okra and Swiss chard; both are heat- and drought-tolerant.

Melons also can handle less water once established because of their deep root systems, she says.

Not all vegetables grow well in all regions, so read seed packets, matching days to maturation to your region’s growing season, Salman advises.

Online

www.extension.unl.edu

www.highcountrygardens.com

www.marthastewart.com

http://extension.psu.edu/plants/vegetable-fruit/research-reports/tomato-report-2011

A National Park Service worker tends to the White House kitchen garden.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge

How can you get the most yield from a garden where space is limited, and water is too?

Plant smart, and pay attention to the soil.

“Your garden is only as good as your soil,” says David Salman, chief horticulturist at High Country Gardens, a Santa Fe, N.M., catalog that specializes in native and low-water plants.

Find out what nutrients your soil has — and what it’s missing — with a soil test, available through local cooperative extension offices at a nominal fee (home soil-test kits are less reliable, according to the Colorado State University Extension).

Encourage plant health by fertilizing with natural, organic fertilizers, which include fish emulsion and liquid seaweed, says Salman. Limit the use of chemical fertilizers because they don’t help build the soil.

“You will have more nutritionally complete vegetables if you have healthy soil,” he promises.

One trick Salmon recommends, especially for gardeners living in new housing developments, is adding a soil inoculant called mycorrhiza, a beneficial fungi. It’s found naturally in healthy soil, but often needs to be added to a new garden.

“New gardens in new subdivisions, their soil is scraped off as part of construction,” says Salman. “You need to put beneficial fungi back in.”

Peas, beans and soybeans could benefit from legume inoculants, which are species-specific (a soybean inoculant cannot be used to improve peas’ growth). Read product labels carefully or ask your gardening center for assistance.

“Your beans will do OK (without it), but if you really want to crank out the beans, you can do that with the inoculant,” says Salman. “It’s kind of a ‘grandma’s secret’ to growing great beans.”

Plants that can offer high yields with low watering include leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce and spinach; beans, snow peas and sugar snap peas; and some varieties of cucumbers and squash, he says. Plant vining beans and peas if you have space or can grow them up a fence or trellis; plant bush beans and peas in large pots if space is limited.

Sarah J. Browning, an extension educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, suggests planting radishes, carrots, peppers, zucchini and summer squash for summertime bounty. Peppers grow well in dry conditions, says Browning, and root crops such don’t need frequent watering.

“If you watered them well and then mulched them, I think you could get a crop with fairly small amounts of water input,” she says.

Plant radishes early in the season or in part shade, and mulch them and other plants to retain moisture and combat weeds.

Browning recommends the cherry tomato cultivar Sun Gold and the slicers Big Beef and Celebrity as great-tasting high producers. Also look for disease-resistant tomato varieties, which are easier to grow. Browning refers tomato lovers to Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences Extension’s “Tomato Report 2011,” which lists the best varieties in its tomato trials.

Melissa Ozawa, a features editor for gardening at Martha Stewart Living magazine, recommends growing okra and Swiss chard; both are heat- and drought-tolerant. Melons also can handle less water once established because of their deep root systems, she says.

Not all vegetables grow well in all regions, so read seed packets, matching days to maturation to your region’s growing season, Salman advises.

“One of the big problems with horticulture in this country is everyone tries to be one-size-fits-all, and this is just too big of a continent to do that,” he says. “You don’t want to grow a 120-day watermelon in Denver. They can grow those in Texas, but the maturation period in Denver is much shorter.”

Prolific, water-wise herbs include basil, oregano, parsley, thyme and rosemary, says Browning.

Salman offers space-saving planting tips for herbs: Plant lavender and oregano along the dryer edges of your garden, since they’re the most heat-tolerant, and plant Greek oregano and dill, plus annual herbs such as basil and cilantro, among the root vegetables.

Try growing perennials such as rosemary, English thyme, tarragon and lavender in your ornamental beds. They don’t require your vegetable garden’s mineral-rich soil, says Salman.

Drought-tolerant flower varieties include coneflowers, hummingbird mint, salvia and blanket flowers, according to Ozawa. Other cutting-garden winners are cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers and larkspur, says Salman. His favorite late-season bloomer is the Mexican sunflower.

“If there’s a bee or butterfly in a 10-mile radius, they’ll find that Mexican sunflower,” he says.

While the lawn calls have been far outweighing the gardening calls this year, there are still a number of homeowners installing and maintaining vegetable gardens.

While I’ve heard both novice and experienced gardeners comment regularly that it is much cheaper and easier to buy tomatoes at a grocery store than to struggle with a garden, there is still a certain degree of accomplishment that comes with seeing those tomato plants begin to produce.

While every season brings its own challenges — be it wet and cool or hot and dry — there are some basic steps that will increase your chances for gardening success. Consider the following suggestions:

Proper nutrition: It is always a good idea to do a soil test during the dormant season to determine nutritional needs. In the absence of the test, a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, is a good choice. Vegetables range from light to heavy feeders, and therefore have different nutritional requirements. It is important to avoid over-fertilization, which promotes succulent, vegetative growth of the plant but can diminish your vegetable output.

Water management: Maintain a consistent supply of moisture. Most gardens need at least 1 inch of water per week, which we have been receiving so far this spring. As we move through the summer, use soaker hoses or drip irrigation to avoid wetting the foliage. Use a watering can in small gardens to target moisture directly on plant roots. Remember that wet foliage can lead to diseases issues.

Mulch: Mulching plants offers many benefits in the home garden. Mulch prevents weeds, which rob moisture and nutrients from vegetable plants. It also conserves moisture and provides a more uniform water supply. The occurrence of diseases that are spread by water splash will also be prevented with a layer of mulch.

Scouting: Don’t forget to scout your garden for pest problems. Tomatoes, especially, have a difficult time with disease in Georgia’s hot, humid climate. Hand-pick any infected, suspicious-looking leaves or fruit. Remove plants completely that are heavily infected with disease. Remember that most insects in the garden are actually beneficial and cause no problem to your plants. Make sure you properly identify the insect pest before you spray an insecticide.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Scouting is only one small part of IPM, which is a process used to solve pest problems while minimizing risks to people and the environment. IPM involves scouting and monitoring leading to correct pest identification to determine what management strategy might be needed. Management approaches then range from cultural controls such as correct irrigation practices to chemical control as the final option to control pest problems.

Harvesting: Finally, harvest vegetables as soon as they’re ripe. Leaving them on the plant too long will lead to poor quality and attract more diseases and insects. Picking squash, okra and indeterminate tomatoes frequently can also extend your harvest. If you allow the fruit to stay on the plants too long, they’ll actually shut down production.

Your local Cooperative Extension office will likely have a number of vegetable gardening publications available. For the internet savvy reader, type “vegetable gardening site uga.edu” into your preferred search engine. The list of publications should include general vegetable gardening publications for Georgia, planting charts and recommendations for growing vegetables organically. For more information, contact your local Cooperative Extension office.

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The benefits of having your own backyard vegetable garden are plentiful, and can include significant lifestyle impacts, such as healthier eating habits, money saving perks and more.

A Relaxing, Healthful Hobby

Looking for a hobby that allows you to contribute to the health of your family? Take up gardening. Beyond producing nutritious foods, it can help you teach your family about local agriculture, all while basking in the tranquility of the great outdoors. Though starting your own home garden can be intimidating, there are a few simple steps to get you started. Once developed, it can yield fruits and vegetables from early spring and into the fall.

1) Do Some Research

Find out what vegetables grow best in your area and when is the right time to plant and harvest. Many local university extension programs have this information readily available online. For each plant, consider the amount of water needed, how much sunlight is required and if it should be started from seed or a transplanted seedling.

2) Choose a Good Spot

Keep in mind vegetables need at least six hours of sun each day, so plant away from the shade of buildings, trees and shrubs. Planting close to your house may make you more likely to bring your harvest right into your kitchen, and will help you remember to weed and water. Including rain and irrigation, your garden needs at least one inch of water per week. Make sure you can easily access a water supply nearby. Some products, such as an Ames NeverLeak hose reel, provide convenient hose storage and can easily reach all parts of your yard. Be sure to choose a level area of your yard so when watering it will not pool in lower areas.

3) Clear the Area

Use your garden hose or a string to mark the area for proper placement of your garden. Use a sod lifter or garden spade, keeping the area level and removing as little topsoil as possible. Next, use a round point shovel, such as the True Temper True American Round-Point Shovel, to dig into the soil about 12 inches, breaking it up and removing clumps. To encourage proper drainage and escape light freezes in early spring and fall, construct a raised bed by creating a border with wood slats and filling in with soil.

4) Prepare the Soil

Use a rake to create a smooth finish and remove debris or stones on the surface. You may want to add manure, compost or soil additives to provide additional nutrients in the soil.

5) Plant Your Seeds

Determine if you will be starting your plants from seeds or transplanting small seedlings. Be sure to research how much room each plant will need and plot the layout of your garden. Dig V-shaped furrows using a warren hoe or the edge of a garden hoe. Carefully distribute the seeds in the furrows evenly and in accordance with the instructions on the seed packet. Cover the seeds and pat down gently, then water thoroughly.

Use this information for a fruitful harvest this gardening season. For more tips, visit www.AmesTrueTemper.com or www.Facebook.com/TrueTemperTools.

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Last weekend, I took advantage of the weather to prune my forsythia that was crowding plants. I hadn’t pruned it much for the past two years, and it was becoming unruly. It put on a beautiful show of blooms this spring, but I knew that if I didn’t remove some of the old wood, it probably would not have as many flowers next year.

My approach was to remove one-third to one-fourth of the older (thickest stems with side shoots) stems down to the ground. A healthy forsythia is a vigorous shrub that sends up new stems each year that bloom the following spring. Removal of the oldest stems should be done after flowering because the buds for next spring are formed on the new wood by early summer. Pruning later in the season or in winter will reduce the flower display the following year.

A weigela was one of the plants being crowded by the forsythia. I planted it in early summer two years ago, and initially it benefitted from the shade the forsythia provided, but now it needs more light. I also have two mature weigela shrubs elsewhere in my landscape.

One of these weigelas is Wine and Roses, with dark burgundy leaves and dark pink flowers. It has prospered, but now it has become bedraggled, and there are dead twigs and branches throughout. Since weigelas are prone to winter dieback, this may have been caused by the cold snap last fall. The dieback could also be related to the increasing amount of shade provided by two trees on that side of the yard. Weigelas do best in full sun and will become straggly if planted in shade or crowded by other plants.

Perhaps I should remove it and plant a more shade tolerant shrub, but I think I will see if I can revitalize it first. As soon as it is finished blooming, I will prune out the thickest, oldest stems along with any of dead branches and twigs. To shape it, I will prune back any overly long stems to a side branch, being sure not to remove more than one-third of the stem.

Most other multistemmed spring-flowering deciduous shrubs are also pruned after flowering. This is because they too flower on wood produced the previous growing season. These shrubs include forsythia, weigela, lilac, viburnum, honeysuckle, mock orange, Nanking cherry, flowering quince, white-flowered spireas, beautybush and deutzia.

Also, don’t forget to deadhead the spent flowers or seed-heads from the stems you don’t remove. This will give the shrub a tidier appearance and allow its energy to go into plant growth rather than seed development.

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

How can you get the most yield from a garden where space is limited, and water is too?

Plant smart, and pay attention to the soil.

“Your garden is only as good as your soil,” says David Salman, chief horticulturist at High Country Gardens, a Santa Fe, N.M., catalog that specializes in native and low-water plants.

Find out what nutrients your soil has — and what it’s missing — with a soil test, available through local cooperative extension offices at a nominal fee (home soil-test kits are less reliable, according to the Colorado State University Extension).

Encourage plant health by fertilizing with natural, organic fertilizers, which include fish emulsion and liquid seaweed, says Salman. Limit the use of chemical fertilizers because they don’t help build the soil.

“You will have more nutritionally complete vegetables if you have healthy soil,” he promises.

One trick Salmon recommends, especially for gardeners living in new housing developments, is adding a soil inoculant called mycorrhiza, a beneficial fungi. It’s found naturally in healthy soil, but often needs to be added to a new garden.

“New gardens in new subdivisions, their soil is scraped off as part of construction,” says Salman. “You need to put beneficial fungi back in.”

Peas, beans and soybeans could benefit from legume inoculants, which are species-specific (a soybean inoculant cannot be used to improve peas’ growth). Read product labels carefully or ask your gardening center for assistance.

“Your beans will do OK (without it), but if you really want to crank out the beans, you can do that with the inoculant,” says Salman. “It’s kind of a ‘grandma’s secret’ to growing great beans.”

Plants that can offer high yields with low watering include leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce and spinach; beans, snow peas and sugar snap peas; and some varieties of cucumbers and squash, he says. Plant vining beans and peas if you have space or can grow them up a fence or trellis; plant bush beans and peas in large pots if space is limited.

Sarah J. Browning, an extension educator for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, suggests planting radishes, carrots, peppers, zucchini and summer squash for summertime bounty. Peppers grow well in dry conditions, says Browning, and root crops such don’t need frequent watering.

“If you watered them well and then mulched them, I think you could get a crop with fairly small amounts of water input,” she says.

Plant radishes early in the season or in part shade, and mulch them and other plants to retain moisture and combat weeds.

Browning recommends the cherry tomato cultivar Sun Gold and the slicers Big Beef and Celebrity as great-tasting high producers. Also look for disease-resistant tomato varieties, which are easier to grow. Browning refers tomato lovers to Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences Extension’s “Tomato Report 2011,” which lists the best varieties in its tomato trials.

Melissa Ozawa, a features editor for gardening at Martha Stewart Living magazine, recommends growing okra and Swiss chard; both are heat- and drought-tolerant. Melons also can handle less water once established because of their deep root systems, she says.

Not all vegetables grow well in all regions, so read seed packets, matching days to maturation to your region’s growing season, Salman advises.

“One of the big problems with horticulture in this country is everyone tries to be one-size-fits-all, and this is just too big of a continent to do that,” he says. “You don’t want to grow a 120-day watermelon in Denver. They can grow those in Texas, but the maturation period in Denver is much shorter.”

Prolific, water-wise herbs include basil, oregano, parsley, thyme and rosemary, says Browning.

Salman offers space-saving planting tips for herbs: Plant lavender and oregano along the dryer edges of your garden, since they’re the most heat-tolerant, and plant Greek oregano and dill, plus annual herbs such as basil and cilantro, among the root vegetables.

Try growing perennials such as rosemary, English thyme, tarragon and lavender in your ornamental beds. They don’t require your vegetable garden’s mineral-rich soil, says Salman.

Drought-tolerant flower varieties include coneflowers, hummingbird mint, salvia and blanket flowers, according to Ozawa. Other cutting-garden winners are cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers and larkspur, says Salman. His favorite late-season bloomer is the Mexican sunflower.

“If there’s a bee or butterfly in a 10-mile radius, they’ll find that Mexican sunflower,” he says.