January 16, 2013

Tim’s Tips: Start seeds eight weeks before to garden move

Tim’s Tips

Tim Lamprey
The Daily News of Newburyport

Wed Jan 16, 2013, 04:23 AM EST

This is turning out to be another odd winter. We’ve seen cold weather, warm weather, rain and snow, and now, most of the snow has melted. You know it is a strange year when it is warmer here than in Southern California!

With very little snow on the ground, you may see signs that the moles and voles have been tunneling in your lawn or in your perennial beds. The tunneling by these pests will damage the roots of your perennials.

If you remember back to last spring, many of you had major damage to your gardens from tunneling. Our best hope will be for the ground to freeze solid as this will put an end to their ability to tunnel. If the problem continues, you may want to apply a granular repellent onto the surface of your lawn and perennial beds. The repellent will drive the moles and voles out of your yard.

January is a good month to catch up on the pruning of your trees. Broken branches should be pruned out. You should also look at the overall framework of your trees. You may see that some branches are going to crisscross each other as they grow. This will eventually lead to damage of one or both of those branches.

While these branches are small, you need to prune them. If they have gotten large, it is best to cut them back in sections. The reason for this is that if you try to cut off a large branch all at once, its weight will cause the branch to tear its bark off the main part of the tree as it falls. If this project is too much, a landscaper or tree service can do the pruning for you.

As December draws to a close, the seed catalogs arrive in the mail. The colorful pictures of plants will get you in the mood to order seeds and to start some plants. We have seeds in the store too.

Keep in mind that problems will arise if you start the seeds for your tomato plants too early. This causes an issue when the plants gets too big before the weather allows you to put it outside. The general rule of thumb is that you want to start the seeds about eight weeks before you set the plants into the garden.

If you put your tomato plants into the garden around the end of May, then you will start your plants in mid-to-late March. If you want to grow some herbs, or if you want to start some pansies from seed, you can plant the seeds now. Otherwise, wait a bit before you start those plants for your gardens.

Well, that’s all for this week. 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.

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TOWNSEND — A myriad of labels can be applied to Roger Swain: television host, scientist, gardener, editor, writer, lecturer. But before Swain is anything else, he is an entertainer.

“It’s entertaining; that’s why I do it,” said Swain of his lectures. “I don’t call it a lecture, I call it entertainment and maybe you pick up some things along the way.”

Swain, who is nearly as famous for his cherry suspenders as he is for being the longtime host of “Victory Garden” on PBS, will be guest speaker at the Townsend Public Library on Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. and will lecture about backyard vegetable gardening. And attendees should expect to laugh as much as they learn.

“We have a lot of fun. I try to be humorous, but my lectures are based on almost 50 years of personal experience, so I’ve got a few tricks and I’m happy to share,” said Swain. “That’s the way most of us learned gardening is through other gardeners.”

Backyard gardening has been around since about 1944, said Swain; at the time, 44 percent of vegetables in the United States were being grown by amateur gardeners.

The reason for the boom at the time can likely be attributed to World War II, said Swain. People would grow food to eat themselves, which in turn freed up rations to be sent overseas.

Now, victory gardens are once again coming back in style.

“I’ve been talking about this for 45 years and all of sudden it gets trendy,” said Swain. “Everybody’s doing it, now I’m just encouraging

everyone.”

Swain, who has been backyard gardening since he was 15, said the benefits are innumerable. First and foremost, you’re eating fresh, clean vegetables and you know where they came from. It’s good for the planet and cuts down on the miles that food travels.

Additionally, the hard work and exertion involved provides great physical exercise.

“You don’t need to go to the gym if you have a garden,” said Swain.

Gardening also provides better understanding and awareness of global warming.

“You have your finger on the pulse of nature,” said Swain.

And farmers markets are a great way to build up the community, he said.

“Being a gardener is so easy; it makes you generous and it makes you a lot of friends,” he said.

Whenever he can, Swain said if there’s something he needs, he prefers to buy it at farmers markets. Still, he goes to the grocery store just like anybody else.

“It would be a very boring diet; I would be eating cabbage all winter long,” he said.

Swain spent 15 years hosting 500 episodes of “Victory Garden,” the longest running gardening television show and a sister show to “This Old House”; Swain and host Norm Abram worked on the same property for their shows.

With each episode, the main message Swain wanted to impart was this: “You can do it.”

Although Swain never gives exactly the same lecture twice, he said, he always tries to make it interactive and enjoyable.

“In a good lecture you start talking and you can guess the response from the audience. Then you know you’re on the same page and you’re going to have a good time,” he said. “When you start seeing people taking notes, you know it’s going to be a long hour.”

In addition to the show, Swain was also the science editor of “Horticulture Magazine” for 30 years, he authored several books and essays and he has instructed courses with the master gardeners program with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. That’s how he became acquainted with Susan McNally and Carolyn Sellars, the two Townsend residents and members of the library’s gardening club who recruited him for the lecture.

“He likes to share what he knows and he likes people, he likes to talk to them,” said McNally. “He’s so entertaining, it’s fun to listen to him even if you’re not gardener.”

The cost is being paid for by local groups, namely the Friends of the Townsend Library and the Amanda Dwight Entertainment Fund.

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Conifers with blue foliage add color to the winter garden.
THE OREGONIAN

 

Beyond plants with brightly colored blooms or berries, winter landscapes can benefit from color from a variety of other sources.

Some ideas:

Plant conifers with red, gold, purple or blue foliage in winter: Chamaecyparis thyoides ‘Red Star’ (white false cypress), which is plum red); or all year: chartreuse Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Wilma Goldcrest’ (Monterey cypress) and Picea pungens ‘Sester Dwarf’ (Colorado spruce; icy-blue needles).

Build paths and patios with colored concrete, bricks or flagstone of red, orange or speckled with shiny quartz.

 

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THE OREGONIAN

 

Place a pot or piece of art in a saturated color such as red or cobalt blue somewhere in the garden, in a spot that you see often.

 

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THE OREGONIAN

 

Paint a portion of your fence or a wall of a garden shed or garage in a bright shade. A mural is another option.

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Prunus serrula
THE OREGONIAN

 

Use plants with stunning bark. Stalwarts include stewartia (S. pseudocamellia or S. monodelpha; birch-bark cherry (Prunus serrula); and crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia species and hybrids).

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Orange Carex testacea (New Zealand sedge) adds color and texture.
THE OREGONIAN

 

Choose broadleaved evergreens with blue, silver, gold and copper foliage, including rhododendrons with strong red or silver indumentum (fuzzy growth that’s usually under leaves but can be on top); bright-yellow Acorus gramineus ‘Minimus Aureus’ (dwarf sweet flag); orange Carex testacea (New Zealand sedge); and many heathers such as Calluna vulgaris ‘Firefly.’

— Kym Pokorny

You can keep your Christmas poinsettia and have it bloom again next year, but it will take a little work. If you wish to try:

January-March: Keep watering your poinsettia when the surface is dry.

April: Gradually reduce the water it gets, letting it completely dry between watering. Move it to a cool spot, like your garage. The desirable temperature is about 60 degrees.

May: Cut the stems back to about 4-5 inches, and repot the plant in the next-size-larger container. Continue watering when the surface of the soil is dry.

June: Move the poinsettia outside to a partially shaded location. You can keep it in the container or plant it in the soil.

July: Cut back each stem about 2 inches, to encourage new shoots and a compact plant.

August: Bring the plant back indoors where it can get some sunlight, and check it for insects. Cut the plant back, leaving three to four leaves on each stem.

September: Continue to water when the surface dries out. Also, start to fertilize every two weeks with a liquid all-purpose houseplant fertilizer, such as Peters, Miracle Gro, etc. Follow fertilizer directions for the size of container.

October: Poinsettias are short-day plants, meaning they need about 10 weeks of complete darkness from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. to produce color. Any exposure to light during this time will delay blooming. Many homeowners put their plants in a closet at night. Make sure you take the plant out during the day and put it back in a sunny window.

November: Around the last week, stop the dark treatment and let the plant remain in the window. You should start to see color.

December: Keep watering and treating your plant as you did when you brought it home in bloom.

TARBORO —
Nancy H. (Tarboro) asks – The weatherman is calling for highs in the mid-70s over the next few days; what effect will this have on my ornamental plants and should I be concerned? Will the warm weather wither my plants?

The quick answer is: It depends. On how long will the warm temps last and will the temps drop gradually after the warm-up or will there be a severe quick drop in temperature after the warm up.

In addition, it depends on the particular plants involved and your location, how your plants fare depends on how quickly cold temperatures return, how cold it gets, and other environmental factors.

A sudden drop to below-freezing temperatures following the warm weather in early January would severely stress many plants. But most plants should acclimate OK with a gradual return to more normal winter temperatures.

It is likely some flower buds will be killed. So we may see fewer blooms on flowering trees and shrubs this spring. That would be a grave concern for commercial fruit growers, as they will harvest less fruit if too many flower buds die. But for most of us, it just means we’ll see fewer flowers.

With regard to your lawn, the good news, say turf specialists, is that warm temperatures in early winter encouraged root growth in existing lawns and strong establishment of young seedlings in new lawns planted last fall. The bad news is, if temperatures drop too fast, lush top-growth may be more prone to freezing damage. So you should avoid walking on lawns as much as possible until the soil dries out and grass starts growing again in spring.

While the picture is more complicated concerning fruit trees, in general, flower buds on fruit trees won’t be as cold-hardy this year due to the combination of warm weather and fluctuating temperatures, say fruit specialists. Many flower buds could be killed if temperatures drop rapidly below freezing, reducing flowering in spring and fruit harvests later.

It’s a similar story for ornamental trees and shrubs. Most woody plants have evolved to deal with a brief spell of unseasonably warm weather. With most woody plants in the Northeast, buds won’t open during the first warm spell and then get killed by a return to cold temperatures because buds require a period of cold temperatures to break dormancy. But we now grow many ornamental trees and shrubs far from their native range. Some of these trees and shrubs have shorter chilling requirements, and may begin to flower prematurely if we have prolonged warm weather in winter. So we’ll lose some of those flowers for this season, but the long-term health of most plants probably won’t be affected.

There are a lot more details regarding warm winter effects on the following site:  http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/warm_winter/

“Ask A Master Gardener” is a weekly column providing our readers solutions to common problems concerning horticulture, gardening, and pest management.  Trained Extension Master Gardener Volunteers have access to the research that provide answers.  

Submit your questions by email to askemgv@gmail.com.  Or call the local Extension Center at 252-641-7815 and tell them you have a question for a master gardener; a volunteer will return your call with a solution to your problem, or write to “Ask A Master Gardener”, c/o The Daily Southerner, P.O. Box 1199, Tarboro, NC 27886.

 

 

Posted: Friday, January 11, 2013 11:05 am

Gardening Tips: The ins and outs of pruning grapevines

By Matthew Stevens

RR Daily Herald

|
0 comments

This is always a tough time of the year to write a gardening column. Very few of us are thinking about the garden right now, nothing is really growing and there’s no interesting insects or diseases to be found.

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Friday, January 11, 2013 11:05 am.

Join the Great Backyard Bird Count by noting visitors to your bird feeder from Feb. 15 to 18.

The holiday madness is over and the long, cold winter stretches ahead. There are 69 days between here and spring ­— but who’s counting?

You can hibernate like bears or do something to maintain the connection between you and nature. Here are a few suggestions for keeping boredom and despair at bay.

Check out new stuff

Pleasant winter daydreams come easily with a stack of fresh, new gardening catalogs — or links to websites of specialty horticultural suppliers that intrigue you.

Head to the Garden Watchdog section of the website Dave’s Garden (davesgarden.com/products/gwd) and you’ll find a free directory of 7,563 mail-order gardening companies of every stripe.

Whether you’re interested in tropical plants, deer-resistant species, hydroponic gardening or terrarium supplies, you’ll find companies devoted to your obsession. If you find something irresistible, be sure to check out the copious customer reviews before you reach for your credit card.

Try winter sowing

Sometimes, in winter, I can be caught fondling the bundles of seed packets that I store in my lunch meat drawer. There is an alternative to merely dawdling over the leftovers: winter sowing.

Not indoors, since it’s far too early for that. I’m talking about planting outdoors, in mini-greenhouses made from cast-off plastic milk cartons and translucent take-out food containers. You can just set these outside, heedless of bone-chilling temperatures, snow and sleet. When the time is right, the seeds will break dormancy and sprout.

Put a few slashes in the bottom of the container for drainage and a few in the cover for ventilation. Fill with a sterile potting mix and sow seeds at the depth indicated on the packet. Water gently but thoroughly and put in a sheltered spot outside.

Condensation should take care of moisture needs but if the containers become too dry, dampen the soil again and tape over some of the ventilation and drainage holes. If the potting mix stays too wet, put a few more slits in the bottom to improve drainage. This science experiment gives you an excuse to go outside and you may wind up with some cool little seedlings to transplant into your spring garden.

houseplants’ spa day

There’s nothing like a nice shower for freshening up. Your houseplants, growing dusty, dry and tired in overheated rooms, heartily agree.

Cover the tops of pots with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to keep the soil from getting overly soggy. Pop the plants in the shower, run some lukewarm water for five or 10 minutes, and leave them in there to dry. Smaller plants can be collected in the kitchen sink and rinsed with the hand sprayer.

Your plants will enjoy the treat and the spray will clean the dust off their leaves and help control populations of common indoor pests, including aphids and spider mites. If you repeat this beauty treatment two or three times during the winter, your plants will be grateful and your friends will be amused.

Count along

Ornithology is one field of science to which amateurs can make a real contribution. If you have bird feeders up, plan to report your visitors from Feb. 15 through 18 to the Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of the National Audubon Society and Cornell (University) Lab of Ornithology.

This is a terrific project for families or classrooms. Create a free account at birdsource.org/gbbc/howto, spend at least 15 minutes recording species in attendance on one or more of the designated days and enter your results on the website.

Your data will be included in the annual summary, which last year accounted for 17.4 million individual birds reported by 104,151 participants. It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure!

Spruce up tools

You probably haven’t thought about your garden tools since you tossed them into the shed last fall. The slow days of winter are ideal for giving your collection a tune-up.

My favorite rust-buster is the old-fashioned stuff known as naval jelly. This strangely pink goo is brushed on, left in place for 10 minutes or so, and rinsed off with plain water. ’Tis wonderfully effective. Follow up with a thin coat of oil or spritz of WD40.

Sharpen your pruners and you’ll be cutting plants again, instead of merely scaring them. My favorite gadget for the job is the Chef’s Choice Edgecrafter diamond file, available at Walmart or Amazon.com for about $30. A few swipes along the beveled cutting edge and you’re in business again.

Take a hike

New Jersey’s public gardens are treasures not nearly as well-known as they should be. Even in winter, there are trails to wander, vistas to seek out and (often) programs to stimulate your winter-weary mind.

Many of the top gardens from Ringwood to Medford are part of a consortium you’ll find at gardenstategardens.org. Hop over to the website and choose a location to explore. The website features links that include calendars of events for each garden.

Learn how to track winter wildlife (Jan. 19 at Duke Farms, Hillsborough), enjoy a Maple Sugar Fest (Feb. 24 at Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit) or try tai chi (Wednesdays through March 20 at Van Vleck House and Gardens in Montclair). The possibilities are endless and admission to the grounds is free.

Valerie Sudol: vsudol@starledger.com

Rose Crawford, author of the “Ask Rose” gardening column. CREDIT: Don Boomer/The North County Times

Q. My husband surprised me by building some elevated garden planter boxes. they are up on legs. However, I don’t know how to fill them and am getting all sorts of conflicting advice. I plan to grow vegetables in them. Some people have told me to put gravel in the bottom so the boxes will drain better. Others have told me that gravel is too heavy and would make the boxes collapse. They recommend that I just put a lot of holes in the bottom of the boxes. Others have told me to mix empty milk jugs and yogurt cups into the soil to keep it lighter. The boxes themselves are 4 feet by 8 feet, with lots legs in the middle and are very sturdily built out of cedar. Can you offer me some advice on how to use them? Thank you. — Pat

A. You certainly have been given some strange advice, Pat. I hope mine is a little more practical. You definitely need drainage but the best way to get it is to drill holes in the bottom of the beds. Half-inch holes every foot or so should work fine. To prevent your soil from falling through the holes, just cover the bottom with a fine screen. Set your boxes in a sunny location and then fill with soil. If your native soil is good quality, use about two-thirds soil and one third compost mixed together well. Let the mixture set for a couple of weeks before plating. If you feel that you need a little fertilizer, my recommendation is to get it from Gardens Alive at

gardensalive.com. Their fertilizers are organic and as well as all of the major nutrients they also contain the minor nutrients and trace elements.

Q. I just moved here from Ohio a few months ago. There are quite a few rose bushes around our yard. Much to my surprise, some of them still had roses in December. Should I cut them back as I did in Ohio or is there some other system that gardeners here use? — Edna

A. Growing roses in Southern California is quite different from growing them where the winter is severe and the ground freezes. Roses here still need to be pruned, usually this month before the new growth starts. But no, do not cut them down to the ground as you did “Back East.” Just remove approximately one-third of last year’s growth and take off any leaves. They do not always fall off in this climate. Of course, as in most other types of pruning, remove all dead or damaged wood and crossed branches. Volumes have been written about how to prune roses but there are several very basic rules that most everyone follows. Always cut to a bud eye that is facing outward. Cut out all small twiggy branches and old fragile canes. If a cane looks sick or tired, cut it back to the bud union. After you have done this, depending on the type of rose, you should still have about five strong canes left and your bush will be a fairly good size.

Rose Crawford is a certified garden consultant and a master composter who lives and gardens in Vista. She answers your gardening questions every other week. E-mail questions to askrose@cox.net

Rose Crawford, author of the “Ask Rose” gardening column. CREDIT: Don Boomer/The North County Times

Q. My husband surprised me by building some elevated garden planter boxes. they are up on legs. However, I don’t know how to fill them and am getting all sorts of conflicting advice. I plan to grow vegetables in them. Some people have told me to put gravel in the bottom so the boxes will drain better. Others have told me that gravel is too heavy and would make the boxes collapse. They recommend that I just put a lot of holes in the bottom of the boxes. Others have told me to mix empty milk jugs and yogurt cups into the soil to keep it lighter. The boxes themselves are 4 feet by 8 feet, with lots legs in the middle and are very sturdily built out of cedar. Can you offer me some advice on how to use them? Thank you. — Pat

A. You certainly have been given some strange advice, Pat. I hope mine is a little more practical. You definitely need drainage but the best way to get it is to drill holes in the bottom of the beds. Half-inch holes every foot or so should work fine. To prevent your soil from falling through the holes, just cover the bottom with a fine screen. Set your boxes in a sunny location and then fill with soil. If your native soil is good quality, use about two-thirds soil and one third compost mixed together well. Let the mixture set for a couple of weeks before plating. If you feel that you need a little fertilizer, my recommendation is to get it from Gardens Alive at

gardensalive.com. Their fertilizers are organic and as well as all of the major nutrients they also contain the minor nutrients and trace elements.

Q. I just moved here from Ohio a few months ago. There are quite a few rose bushes around our yard. Much to my surprise, some of them still had roses in December. Should I cut them back as I did in Ohio or is there some other system that gardeners here use? — Edna

A. Growing roses in Southern California is quite different from growing them where the winter is severe and the ground freezes. Roses here still need to be pruned, usually this month before the new growth starts. But no, do not cut them down to the ground as you did “Back East.” Just remove approximately one-third of last year’s growth and take off any leaves. They do not always fall off in this climate. Of course, as in most other types of pruning, remove all dead or damaged wood and crossed branches. Volumes have been written about how to prune roses but there are several very basic rules that most everyone follows. Always cut to a bud eye that is facing outward. Cut out all small twiggy branches and old fragile canes. If a cane looks sick or tired, cut it back to the bud union. After you have done this, depending on the type of rose, you should still have about five strong canes left and your bush will be a fairly good size.

Rose Crawford is a certified garden consultant and a master composter who lives and gardens in Vista. She answers your gardening questions every other week. E-mail questions to askrose@cox.net

There’s nothing worse than seeing badly staked trees. Has anyone seen trees that are tied so tightly to a stake, whether it be made of wood or metal, that the tie and even part of the post have grown into the bark? Or a tree lying on its side with the roots out of the ground and a stake still attached to the trunk? Or perhaps a tree that snapped in half after a stake was removed?

And all because someone didn’t know how to properly stake a tree and/or know when to remove it.

First of all, throw away the stake that came with the new tree in the pot. Leave it on until you get a better one, but don’t even consider keeping it because that stake was intended for nursery use only.

Instead, you want two stronger stakes that are long enough to reach the lowest part of the tree’s crown, with an additional 18-24 inches, which will be pounded into the ground.

Place the stakes about 6-8 inches on either side of a small-diameter tree trunk and further away, about 12 inches, for a larger-diameter trunk. For young trees that will be planted in an area that’s protected from strong winds, a 1-inch by 1-inch wood stake will work.

But if the young tree is going to be planted in an area that gets stronger winds, it should have 2-inch by 2-inch stake.

The tree then needs to be tied between these stakes in such a way that it can still sway back and forth with some movement in the breeze, but not tied too loosely so it can be blown over or snapped in half. Remove the nursery stake and slide your hand up the trunk until the top of the tree stands straight up. That’s the spot where the tree needs to be supported.

On young trees in protected areas that won’t get strong winds, 1-inch green plastic garden tape and the 1-inch by 1-inch wood stakes will work fine. This tape is used more often than twine and twist ties because it’s easier on the tree. It won’t rub the bark off, and if you forget to take the tape off, it won’t strangle the growth, but will stretch along with it for a short period of time. (It can still work its way into the bark and girdle the trunk.)

Where the winds are stronger and/or the trees are bigger, you’ll need the bigger stakes and some sturdier ties, like cut-up sections of a bicycle inner tube.

The idea of staking a tree is to use the minimum sized stake that will support it, so the tree trunk can move in the slightest breeze and flex its “muscles.” Compare it to your arm or leg in a cast. If you keep the tree immobilized, it won’t develop any strength and it will lose what strength it had.

So if you let it bend and flex, it will eventually become strong, and you’ll be able to remove the stakes within 18 to 24 months.

When using the plastic tape to tie the tree to the stakes, don’t make simple loops between the stake and tree. Make a figure-eight loop, so the tape will be less likely to slide down the trunk. Where possible, put the tape above a branch that will hold it in place so there’s no way it could slide down the trunk.

(Send your gardening questions to The Garden Doctors at pdgardendoctor@gmail.com. The Garden Doctors can answer questions only through their column, which appears twice a month in the newspaper and online at pressdemocrat.com.)