So! You’ve been admiring your neighbors’ beautiful gardens for years and decided this is the year: You’re going to take up gardening. Hooray, you’re going to love it! I hope? I love gardening, anyway. Your green-thumb happiness level depends on what kind of start you get, though. First thing to keep in mind is to start small your first year. You can get more ambitious each year as your build your expertise and confidence. Let’s get you going with some simple guidelines that will hopefully minimize frustration and maximize your efforts.

1. Get the DL from your neighbors. Everyone’s climate and location presents different challenges. Find out from your fellow gardeners which plants get inundated by aphids and which plants go gangbusters no matter what the weather.

2. Choose a sunny plot. Find an area that’s in the sun for most of the day. If it also gets shade for 2 or 3 hours, that’s even better. Plants usually grow more slowly in the shade, and they flower less, too.

3. Start with annual borders. Don’t get in over your head, yet. Start small, like maybe a narrow area just around your lawn or surrounding your mailbox, and plant annual flowers. These are the flowers you re-plant each year. At the garden center, ask for flowers that will bloom through summer. Petunias, zinnias, celosia, marigolds, pansies, and impatiens are usually pretty low-maintenance.

4. Use starters, not seeds. If you’re a beginner, use starter plants instead of seeds. If things go well this year, go ahead with seeds next spring (March or April, depending on your climate).

5. Measure your gardening area. How many square feet is your gardening space? Measure, and then tell the gardening center employee so they can tell you how many plants to buy.

6. Herbs before vegetables. YES, it’s amazing to grow your own food. I’ve done it, and it’s a blast. But before you go there, start small with a little herb garden: Basil, thyme, parsley, mint, and sage are pretty easy to grow, depending on where you live. Plant them in containers if you can, especially the mint, which will spread everywhere.

7. Feed your soil. Before you plant anything, mix in some compost into your soil. Talk with the garden center people about how much to use.

8. Put yourself on a watering schedule. Once you find out how often your plants need to be watered, make it part of your regular routine. Set up reminders so you’ll keep it up. Summer is a busy time of year, and it’s easy to forget to water.

Have you ever gardened before? What have you learned?

 

Image via Seres Fortier/Flickr

 

 

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (Mass Appeal) We went live on location the Mountain View Farm in Easthampton to show you some gardening tips and to introduce you to just one of the ways that the Food Bank of Western Mass helps people in need.

Succession Planting Tips:

• For summer plantings, select varieties labelled “heat tolerant” or “bolt resistant”​
• In early spring and late fall, plant cold hardy butterhead varieties.
• ​Sow a two week supply of lettuce every other week
• Seed your last batch of lettuce one month before the average fall frost date in your area
• Mark your calendar with frost dates and planting reminders

Fertilizing Soil Testing Tips:

• Collect at least one cup of soil from your garden, digging 6-8 inches deep in at least 6 different areas
• Mix the samples together and spread on a paper bag to air dry
• ​Send samples to your local agricultural extension for testing.
• Add soil amendments such as compost or lime based on the results of your soil test.

Container Gardening

• Sow loose-leaf lettuce in a well drained container at least 6 inches deep​
• Try adding other baby greens like arugula or tatsoi to your lettuce mix
• Fertilize with fish emulsion or compost tea when plants are 2 inches tall
• When plants are 6 inches tall, cut leaves 1 inch above the soil
• Continue watering the stems until plants are big enough for a second harvest

About the Food Bank Gardens:

The Food Bank Farm is a 60-acre parcel of land on the Connecticut River in Hadley. Since 1992, the land has been farmed without chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides, with the primary purpose of providing fresh, healthy produce to households in Western Massachusetts that face hunger or food insecurity. Additionally, the farm’s 60 acres are protected from any development, preserving an important riverside ecosystem.

The Food Bank Farm operates as a production farm in partnership with Mountain View Farm CSA, based in Easthampton. Mountain View Farm leases use of the land from The Food Bank, and in exchange, provides 100,000 pounds of fresh, local, chemical-free produce to The Food Bank for distribution to front-line food assistance providers and people in need throughout our region. Mountain View Farm also operates a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program out of its Easthampton farm, with CSA shares available to residents.

History of the Farm
The Food Bank Farm was started by the staff and board of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in 1992. We were one of the first food banks in the country to start a farm, and the Food Bank Farm spearheaded a movement to create and support CSAs in the Pioneer Valley and beyond. The farm’s 60 acres of land in Hadley is owned by The Food Bank and portions of it are cultivated with the primary goal of bringing fresh, chemical-free produce to people in need of food assistance.

Between 1992 and 2009, Michael Docter was first employed and later contracted through his company, Cultivating Solutions Inc., to operate the farm as a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program through which hundreds of general public shareholders received delicious produce each year. At the time it was founded, the Food Bank Farm was one of the first CSAs in the Pioneer Valley, and was unique in combining a CSA model with a food assistance mission. Over the course of 18 growing seasons, the Food Bank Farm provided about half its annual harvest to The Food Bank’s warehouse for distribution to people in need of food assistance.

In 2009, The Food Bank Farm ended its CSA program and shifted to a production model in partnership with Mountain View Farm, in order to focus the use of the land on providing food for people in need. The partnership allows the land to continue to be stewarded and farmed without chemicals, while providing 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to the emergency food network each season.

For more information about the decision to transition from a CSA to a production model, read our Farm Transition FAQ or contact The Food Bank.

The Food Bank Farm operates as a production farm in partnership with Mountain View Farm CSA, based in Easthampton. Mountain View Farm leases use of the land from The Food Bank, and in exchange, provides 100,000 pounds of fresh, local, chemical-free produce to The Food Bank for distribution to front-line food assistance providers and people in need throughout our region.  Mountain View Farm also operates a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program out of its Easthampton farm, with CSA shares available to residents.

The Food Bank Farm was started by the staff and board of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in 1992.  We were one of the first food banks in the country to start a farm, and the Food Bank Farm spearheaded a movement to create and support CSAs in the Pioneer Valley and beyond. The farm’s 60 acres of land in Hadley is owned by The Food Bank and portions of it are cultivated with the primary goal of bringing fresh, chemical-free produce to people in need of food assistance.

Between 1992 and 2009, Michael Docter was first employed and later contracted through his company, Cultivating Solutions Inc., to operate the farm as a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program through which hundreds of general public shareholders received delicious produce each year.  At the time it was founded, the Food Bank Farm was one of the first CSAs in the Pioneer Valley, and was unique in combining a CSA model with a food assistance mission.  Over the course of 18 growing seasons, the Food Bank Farm provided about half its annual harvest to The Food Bank’s warehouse for distribution to people in need of food assistance.

In 2009, The Food Bank Farm ended its CSA program and shifted to a production model in partnership with Mountain View Farm, in order to focus the use of the land on providing food for people in need.  The partnership allows the land to continue to be stewarded and farmed without chemicals, while providing 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to the emergency food network each season.

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.

Tweet

<!– –>

Join the Discussion
<!–

–>
Post a Comment
<!–

–>

“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.

Next Page

Copyright 2014 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted: Friday, May 16, 2014 2:02 pm

Gardening Tips: Growing your own strawberries at home

By Matt Stevens

The Daily Herald, Roanoke Rapids, NC

|
0 comments

Strawberry season is in full swing and there are many great places to purchase locally grown strawberries. In Halifax County, Dean and Joyce Kight at Oak Grove Orchard on Highway 301 North of Halifax, Kathy Barnhill at Plants and Things Nursery on Highway 48 in Brinkleyville and Ashley Mohorn Highway 48 in Brinkleyville grow fantastic strawberries. There are also several growers in the surrounding counties.

Subscription Required

An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.

You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.

Have an online subscription?

Login Now

Need an online subscription?

Subscribe

Login

Or, use your
linked account:

Need an account? Create one now.

You must login to view the full content on this page.

Or, use your
linked account:

© 2014 The Daily Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thank you for reading 10 free articles on our site. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 10 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you need help, please contact our office at 252-537-2505.

You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.

Have an online subscription?

Login Now

Need an online subscription?

Subscribe

Login

Or, use your
linked account:

Need an account? Create one now.

• 
  Discuss

• Print
  
  

Posted in
Columns

on

Friday, May 16, 2014 2:02 pm.

Master Gardener Carl Parsons offers some advice for keeping your garden looking good for less. (5/16/14)

Posted on: 8:51 am, May 17, 2014, by Megan Salois, updated on: 08:55am, May 17, 2014

Tim answers questions regarding growing grass in a shaded spot that hasn’t seen grass in decades, how to increase an asparagus yield, and if there are any other options in getting rid of moles.

Do you have a question for Tim? He’ll be back on Saturday May 24th to answer more questions. Submit your questions here.

Thinking about having a garden this year?

Maybe you’ve already plowed or are building a trellis for your peas or are harvesting asparagus, rhubarb and spring onions.

If you’re a budding gardener, I’m sure you have a lot of questions about weeds, soil and seeds.

And if Jeff Ishee isn’t around to answer your horticultural questions, you can always ask me.

Remember that seeds sprout best when planted in the ground. Don’t scatter them on top of asphalt and expect to get a crop.

Another tip: Read the labels on all plant food and weed-killer products carefully and follow them. You could end up killing the lettuce and fertilizing the chickweed.

Do you wonder how to keep ants from crawling on your zucchini?

Since I’m an organic gardener, chemicals are out. Scolding them won’t help, so I suggest putting up a picnic table near your plants and keeping it covered daily with fresh salad, sandwiches, cakes and soft drinks. Introduce the ants to it and maybe they’ll leave the zucchini alone. If not, pull up the bushes. Chances are somebody will offer you their leftovers.

Of course if they’re fire ants even that won’t help, and I would recommend picking each ant off with tweezers and drowning it in a glass of warm beer.

What about getting rid of slugs?

If you try and use them in vending machines, you’re liable to get arrested. I’d recommend making a necklace of them and giving it to your mother for Christmas. Even if she doesn’t like it, she’ll wear it.

You mean the creepy, crawly, slimy garden slugs?

I know people who pour salt on them, but it leaves a sticky, gooey mess. Others put out plates of beer so the slugs will imbibe and drown. But beware. I had so many slugs in my garden last year that I would have been terrorized by a board of drunken gastropods if I had tried it.

My suggestion is to cultivate a taste for them. People eat snails after all. If you eat slugs, word will get around the slug community and soon they’ll be gone.

Have you let your azaleas get too tall?

Cut them off at ground level and burn the roots. I hate azaleas.

Last summer, Japanese beetles destroyed roses. The year before they decimated beans. What’ll they do this year?

Who knows? But as a precaution, keep your vehicles and small children indoors.

Your neighbor gave you a compactor plant for Christmas. You water it regularly but it has shriveled and is dying. What are you doing wrong?

A compactor plant, or munchum garbagium, is botany’s newest ecological creation and you’re probably not feeding it properly.

It needs garbage — trash — at least a pound a day.

Feed it aluminum cans, wet paper towels, old newspapers, fishbones, etc. and I think that you’ll see immediate improvement.

Warning: Don’t let the kids or the family pet get too close. It thinks everything is garbage.

Write Fred Pfisterer, a retired editor for The News Leader, at fpleader@comcast.net.

Plants are popping out of the ground these days thanks to the warm temperatures and lots of rain. It’s time to get ahead of weeds before they overwhelm perennials and all those annuals you are about to plant.

Maple seedlings are in abundance this year and should be removed promptly. They grow amazingly fast into 6-foot trees. Chickweed has been blooming merrily and crabgrass is about to germinate in all the bare spots in lawns and garden beds.

Hand-weeding is much preferable to toxic poisons and this means you need good weeding tools. My favorite three-pronged weeder has gone missing and I must replace it at the garden center. The substitute I’ve been using just isn’t satisfactory. Many gardeners love the sharp-edged triangular Ho-Mi Korean weeder, which can be quite lethal so watch out when using it. A dandelion digger is great for garden beds as well as for lawns. A friend gave me a long-handled knife-like tool for use in between paving stones, bricks and cobblestones. You still have to get down on the ground to remove the weeds but the knife slices through the roots quickly. Vegetable gardeners can rely on a variety of hoes but they are seldom helpful in a perennial flower garden where plants are close together in haphazard patterns.

Follow @GazetteNET

Mulch is the ultimate defense against weeds. It also holds moisture in the soil, a boon during dry spells. Wood chips around trees and shrubs are a great idea. Just be sure never to create “volcanoes,” those cone-shaped piles around tree trunks. Keep the mulch several inches from the trunk to avoid harboring diseases and insect pests. Mulch makes gardens look neat but the downside in perennial beds is that desirable self-sown flower seeds won’t germinate. You have to decide whether to reduce weeding and help retain moisture or provide a hospitable environment for forget-me-nots and little bulbs. Vegetable gardeners don’t face that dilemma. Straw — not hay, which has too many weed seeds — or grass clippings are great for vegetable gardens. That is assuming you never use pesticides on your lawn.

Get all those plants you bought at local nonprofit plant sales into the ground as quickly as possible and start a weeding routine for all your gardens. Gardening season has finally arrived and we need to keep ahead of Mother Nature.

NATIVE BEE POLLINATORS: Learn about essential native bees who pollinate food and ornamental plants on a walk at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to noon. Joan Milam, a research associate at UMass, will lead the walk. Suggested donation, $5. Register by calling 256-6006.

BOREAL FOREST WALK: Aimee Gelinas will lead a spring ephemeral boreal plant and tree walk at Tamarack Hollow in Windsor tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., under the auspices of Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. Fee is $16. Call 584-3009 to register.

NATIVE WOODLAND PLANTS: Learn about native medicinal plants on an herb walk on Skinner Mountain Tuesday, 6-7 p.m. Herbalist Brittany Wood Nickerson will lead the walk. Meet at the main entrance to Skinner State Park off Route 47. Suggested donation, $10.

PLANT EXCHANGE: The Belchertown plant exchange is Tuesday, at 6 p.m., at 253 Warren Wright Road in Belchertown. Elaine Williamson organizes this twice-monthly exchange. Bring perennial divisions, seedlings, seeds and a box to take home your treasures. Fee is $2.

WILDFLOWERS: Uncommon ferns, yellow lady’s slippers and pitcher plants will be among the wildflowers expected to be seen on a hike at High Ledges in Shelburne on Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon. Botanists Janet Bissell and Connie Parks will lead the walk for Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. Bring a hand lens and field guide if possible and be prepared for ticks. Fee is $8. Register at Arcadia, 584-3009.

GARDENING WITH MUSHROOMS: Fungi Ally will hold a workshop on growing mushrooms on May 24, 1-4 p.m., at Hacker Farm, 141 Franklin St., Belchertown. Fee, $30. Participants will take home a log inoculated with mushroom spores. Register at http://fungially.com/workshops/ or call Willie Crosby contact at 978-844-1811 or fungially@gmail.com.

PLANT SALES: Here is a list of plant sales scheduled in the next month. Visit as many as you can!

∎ May 17: Easthampton: Pascommuck Conservation Trust, 8 a.m. to noon, Big E’s Foodland parking lot. Perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, garden stepping stones, bird houses and a raffle of wicker rocking chair with gardening items. All proceeds benefit the trust, which is dedicated to land preservation and trail building; Easthampton Garden Club, 8 a.m. to noon, Emily Williston Library, 9 Park St., 527-1031. Holyoke: Wistariahurst Museum, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the museum, 238 Cabot St., 322-5660. Pelham: Pelham Library, 9 a.m. to noon, the library at the corner of Amherst and South Valley roads. Perennials, annual seedlings and vegetable starts. Benefits library programs. Shelburne Falls: Bridge of Flowers, 9 a.m. to noon, Trinity Church Baptist at the corner of Water and Main streets. Proceeds fund Bridge of Flowers maintenance. South Hadley: Council on Aging, 9 a.m. to noon, South Hadley Senior Center, 45 Dayton St. Soil testing and garden advice available from master gardeners; Mount Holyoke College Talbott Arboretum, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Benefits purchases for the greenhouse and campus grounds. (Sale also on May 24.) Southampton: Southampton Woman’s Club Anita Smith Memorial Plant Sale, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Conant Park. Locally grown plants at reasonable prices. Sunderland: Sunderland Public Library, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Graves Memorial Library at the corner of School and North Main streets. Plant donations accepted there on Friday.

∎ May 24: Amherst: 4-H plant sale, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Amherst Farmers Supply, 320 S. Pleasant St. Hanging plants, patio pots, vegetable plants, flowering plants, herbs and perennials. Leverett: Leverett Historical Society’s Plant and Garden Book Sale, 9 a.m. to noon, Leverett Town Hall. To donate plants or books or to help, contact Dawn Marvin Ward at 367-9562 or Julie at 367-2656. South Hadley: Mount Holyoke College Talbott Arboretum, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Benefits purchases for the greenhouse and campus grounds.

∎ May 31: Amherst: Grace Episcopal Church, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on the Town Common. Plants, including house plants, garden tools, decorative pots and books. Proceeds finance landscaping at the church. To donate plants call the church office at 256-6754.

Whether you have finished planting your gardens or not, it is already time to pay attention to their maintenance. Keep your plants blooming all summer long with simple routine care.

Water

Plants are accustomed to a steady diet of water and nutrients when we bring them home from the nursery. Keep them well watered until they establish. Remember, even drought-tolerant plants require water.

New trees and shrubs must be kept well watered until they are established. Trees, depending on size and type, need extra water for two, three and up to five years.

Check container plants daily. They dry out much faster than plants in the garden. Don’t count on rain or overhead irrigation to adequately water them. The heavy foliage and blooms often act an umbrella over the soil with rain rolling off the foliage onto the ground.

Fertilizer

As you know, soil should be well prepared with plenty of compost. In addition, annuals and perennials generally benefit from balanced, slow-release fertilizer applied in time for their spring surge of growth. Long blooming annuals, repeat blooming perennials and heavy feeders welcome another serving of slow-release fertilizer midseason, but hold back on application if we are in a drought. You can also treat prolific bloomers with a periodic light (half-strength) dose of liquid fertilizer.

Pests

Inspect your plants regularly. Aphids, mites and white flies love new growth. Catch them early and you can spray most of them off. Follow up with soap spray or horticultural oil.

Deadheading

Deadheading is an easy but important garden task that keeps lots of flowers blooming throughout the season. Deadheading prevents flowers from going to seed, thereby allowing plants to keep putting energy into new growth and blooms. Deadheading is simply pinching or cutting off spent flowers.

Some people love to wander through their gardens pinching off faded blooms. Others find deadheading tedious. Either way, you can improve the look of your garden if you know what plants to deadhead.

Read plant tags. Often they tell you if a plant is self-cleaning. Plant breeders continue to make life easier for gardeners by developing self-cleaning varieties which drop their spent flowers before they can develop into seeds. Old petunias, for example, need to be deadheaded; newer varieties like Wave, Supertunia and Million Bells (calibrachoa) are self-cleaning. Also, plants identified as sterile hybrids do not need deadheading.

In general, cut spent blooms back to just above the first leaves or bud below the faded flower. Daisies, cosmos, dianthus, gaillardia (blanket flower), marigolds, scabiosa, snapdragons Stokes asters and zinnias should all be consistently deadheaded in this manner.

Plants that bloom on stalks are handled a bit differently. Cutting back faded flowers will bring on a second bloom, extend bloom time or facilitate summer-long blooms.

• Bleeding Heart (dicentra hybrids): Cut flower stems back to the foliage to keep plants blooming all summer.

• Columbine: Cut stalks back to stimulate a second round of blooms.

• Gaura: Cut older stalks back to encourage branching and more flowers.

• Lavender: Cut stems to base to promote a second round of blooms.

• Salvia: Cut stems back to side branches after the first set of blooms for a better next round.

• Delphiniums, foxgloves, hollyhocks, lupines, perennial salvia and veronica (speedwell): Cut the spires back after blooms are about 75 percent spent.

• Coreopsis blooms all summer if it is deadheaded, but it is not practical to deadhead thread leaf coreopsis blooms one by one. After your patch of coreopsis has bloomed shear it back by one- half to two-thirds. It will bloom again. This method can be applied to other tiny bloomers.

Some plants do not need deadheading to rebloom but benefit from deadheading in another way.

• Coneflowers rebloom but deadheading stimulates larger flowers.

• Asters rebloom but deadheading promotes consistent repeat blooms.

• Hibiscus and verbena do not need deadheading but look tidier when spent flowers are cleaned off. Iris and daylilies look better, too, when unattractive stalks and brown flower heads are removed.

• Lantana blooms all summer, but cutting off the black seeds will produce more blooms.

• You will be relieved to know that most vines do not need to be deadheaded.

As you deadhead your way through your gardens this year, expect to be gratified by the result.

Reach DEBBIE MENCHEK, a Clemson Master Gardener, at dmgha3@aol.com.

During dry weather, don’t forget to occasionally water your compost pile. Dry organic matter will not break down. It can be helpful to shove the hose into the compost pile to make sure water reaches the inner parts.

• Apply a slow-release fertilizer to your outdoor container plants to keep them well fertilized throughout the growing season. One application will feed for many months, saving you time and effort.

• Most of the cool-season vegetables still lingering in the garden will be cleared out this month. As cool-season crops finish and are removed, rework beds and plant heat-tolerant vegetables for production during the summer.

•  Caterpillars will feed on the foliage and flowers of ornamentals and the foliage and fruit of vegetables. The tomato fruit worm eats holes in tomatoes. Spinosad, BT (organic insecticides), carbaryl or permethrin regularly applied will keep them in check.

•  If you want to control broadleaf weeds in your lawn with a weed killer, do so now. High temperatures can lead to lawn damage if herbicides are applied when temperatures hit the 90s. Many brands of lawn weed killer are available, but do make sure the label states that the product is safe to use on the type of lawn grass you have. Do not lawn herbicides now if you recently applied a weed and feed fertilizer.