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Garden Tips: Prune peach trees annually for best health, fruit output

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Peach trees should be pruned annually. If they are not pruned, the trees may become weak and open to disease and insects.

The best time to prune peach trees is late March or early April. Avoid pruning within several days of predicted freezing weather. It’s OK to prune peach trees while they are blooming. It will not affect the production of fruit.

The main reasons for pruning peach trees:

To strengthen the tree.

To maintain an open center for adequate sunlight for fruit production.

To remove broken or diseased limbs.

To maintain tree height.

To keep the tree from having too many small fruits.

Remove all suckers and water sprouts growing at the base of the tree. When you are selecting a site for peach trees:

Avoid poorly drained soil.

Pick areas that receive full sunlight.

Avoid areas shaded by tall trees, houses or other buildings.

Young peach trees are normally shipped bare root, with the roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Plant the trees as soon as possible after you receive them. When you are planting, dig a hole twice the size of the root system. Cut off any damaged roots at the point of injury. After you have filled the hole, be sure to water the plant well.

Most peach trees grow best at a soil pH between 6.0 and 6.5. A soil test can determine this.

E-mail your gardening questions to bleigh1@utk.edu and I will answer them in future columns. Include your name and the area where you live. For more gardening information, call the Tipton County Extension office at (901)476-0231 or the Shelby County Extension office at (901)752-1207. Booker T. Leigh is extension director.

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Garden tips for March

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Time to tidy. The advent of a warmer weekend may send your housebound self outside where there’s plenty to do. Winter debris should be raked up, broken branches carted off and the places they tore away cleanly pruned. But step and rake and prune gingerly around new growth. This garden debris can start your new compost pile.
Spring in. When you’re outside with pruners, you may wish to take a few sprigs from your spring-flowering shrubs like forsythia to bring indoors for forced blooms. Only take a few that won’t be missed. Save your real pruning for after flowering. Choose branches with plump buds. Smash the bottoms of the stem to help them take up more water.
Heavy-handed. Butterfly bushes are another matter. You can cut back these unruly shrubs heartily. It’s also time to cut back grasses, as well as fruit trees like apples and pears. Delay pruning stone fruits until we have warmer temperatures, typically at the end of the month.
Peas, please. Mid-month is the traditional time to plant this spring crop. Use your judgement before planting though. If the soil is icy and sodden, it won’t hurt to wait a few weeks more.

Test to save. Before you rush out to buy fertilizers, find out what you really need. It’s time to take a soil test of your lawn and garden beds. Accurately determining the true nutrient needs saves you cash and keeps excess nutrients from polluting our waterways. Don’t let your money wash down the drain.
Tool prep. It’s time to ready your tools for the season ahead. Sharp blades make for cleaner cuts, preventing disease problems in your turf and plants. Beat the spring rush and get your mower blade sharpened now.
Bulb boost. Now’s a great time to scratch some fertilizer around your emerging bulbs.

Start right. Before starting your packs of seeds, be sure to begin with sterile soil and containers to prevent weeds and diseases. If you are using pots from last year, be sure to wash them well, dip them in a 10 percent bleach solution, and let them dry thoroughly. Plant each seed at the proper depth indicated on the package. To save extras for next year, reseal the packet and store in a cool, dry place.
Get growing. To speed seed germination keep them warm, preferably at 70 degrees. The soil must stay evenly moist, but not saturated. Cover the pots with plastic to keep moisture in. After germination, keep them in as much light as possible.
Tiny trees, big savings. Pick up a brochure from the Lancaster County Conservation District’s 39th annual tree seedling sale. While seedlings require patience, the upside is that most offerings cost less than a dollar. The order deadline is Monday, with pickup April 11 at the Farm and Home Center. Information: 299-5361.
Educational opportunities: Learn from the experts:
Landis Valley: The Backyard Fruit Growers will offer their annual grafting workshop at Landis Valley Farm Museum on March 23 from 12:30-3 p.m. Learn how to create your own “antique” fruit trees for a fee of $25. Register: 569-0401, ext. 204.

Penn State Master Gardeners: The 21st annual gardening symposium will be held April 6, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at DoubleTree Resort at Willow Valley. Speakers will address a variety of gardening topics including fallscaping, creating backyard habitats, gardening with changing climate trends, and new and underused perennials. Local vendors will offer plant and tool selections, as well as a goodie bag for each attendee and door prizes.

The cost is $65 and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Registration is limited and will be accepted on a first-come basis. Register: 394-6851.
Minimum Space, Maximum Yield: Permaculture enthusiasts and biodynamic gardeners Wilson and Natasha Alvarez are offering a workshop teaching participants to “grow more food than you ever thought possible in your own backyard.” using permaculture principles and biodynamic growing techniques. The class will be held April 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 11 Edgehill Drive. The cost is a sliding scale from $60 to $35. Class space is limited. To register and for more information, call 203-6735.

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Senior center offers tax-aid, gardening tips

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Laurel Senior Center will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Friday, March 15, and Easter Thursday, March 28. Make St. Patrick’s meal reservations by March 8, and Easter reservations by March 22.


The AARP Tax-aide program is available Tuesday, March 12, from 9 am. to 2 pm. and Saturdays 9 am. to 2 pm. To schedule an appointment for this free service, call 629-7571.

Gardening season is coming soon. On Monday, March 25, at 12:45 pm., the County Extension Office of Yellowstone County will offer tips on how to garden without much bending.

The center has its board meeting and general meeting Thursday, March 7, at 10 and 11:50 am., respectively. Friday, March 8, is a blood pressure check before lunch. The bookmobile will be at the center Monday, March 18, from 11:30 am. to 1 pm. Jeanie Voorhis will offer foot care Wednesday, March 20, from 9 am. to 1 pm. Call 855-7014 to make a foot appointment.

Regularly scheduled activities are Mondays, pinochle at 10 am. and bingo at 1 pm.; Thursdays, pinochle at 1 pm.; and Fridays, bingo at 1 pm. Sunday activities scheduled for March are Pinochle March 10 and 24 with snacks at 12:30 pm. and cards at 1:30 pm., bridge March 17 at 1:30 pm. with snacks.

The Laurel Transportation program runs Monday – Friday 10 am. to 4 pm. Transportation to Billings is available the first and third Tuesday afternoons. Call 628-4796 to reserve a ride.

Please make meal reservations at least one day in advance by calling 628-7571.

Menu for March 6 – 13:

Wednesday, March 6 — Porcupine meatballs, mashed potatoes, three-bean salad and apricot bar

Thursday, March 7 — Pennsylvania Dutch Ragout, biscuit, cottage cheese and fruit

Friday, March 8 — Veal Parmesan, noodles, mixed vegetables, broccoli salad and Spumoni ice cream

Monday, March 11 — Hot hamburger sandwich, mashed potatoes, vegetable, fruit and cookie

Tuesday, March 12 — Sausage pasta, vegetable, cherries and magic bar

Wednesday, March 13 — Salisbury steak/gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetable, fruit and blueberry streusel cake

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How to grow veg, even in a small plot

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THINKING of growing veg in containers this year? The One Show gardening expert Christine Walkden offers down-to-earth advice on growing a variety of visually pleasing edibles, even in a small garden

Growing veg on your patio couldn’t be easier – you can control the soil type, the situation and the watering, often providing shelter near the house when it’s needed.

Yet some gardeners are put off by the idea of unsightly veg taking up valuable flower space in pots on the patio.

But they shouldn’t worry, says TV and radio gardening expert Christine Walkden.

Walkden may be the wrong person to ask about pretty veg because she finds all veg plants beautiful, she admits.

“I see beauty in a cabbage! A beautiful dense cabbage head in a classic terracotta pot is just as attractive as the non-edible ornamental sorts.”

Some of her patio planting ideas are featured in her new book, Christine Walkden’s No-nonsense Container Gardening.

In it, she features fabulously ornamental purple kale in brightly coloured plastic trugs, lime-green lettuce in a bubblegum pink metal bucket, leafy veg in wooden crates and a hanging basket made out of an old metal colander.

There are colourful flowers in old food tins and shopping baskets, a rock garden planted inside a vintage pram and other quirky ideas.

But veg also win a place in the looks department, she says.

“Kale is a hardy brassica that you can go on picking right through winter and it looks great in containers. Striking red stems and leaf veins make beetroot plants attractive enough to grow in among flowers.”

For those who love colour, you can’t go far wrong with beans, she says.

“Runner beans are ideal because you’ve got all the different flowers, the whites, the bi-colours and the pinks.

“Black Tuscany kale is great to grow to add interest in the winter, and ferny-leaved and coloured-leaved lettuces are also great.

“Now, we have so much diversity in leaf shape in salads, from the spoon-shapes of lamb’s ears to the really frizzy stuff that’s available. It’s breathtaking.”

Lettuce can be grown in any pot, but where it really scores is in shallow, saucer-shaped troughs, where other veg would need deeper soil to survive.

Walkden grows lettuces all year round in seed trays, because that’s all the soil which is required, she says.

“As long as you’ve got 2in of soil, you can grow cut-and-come-again salad leaves. A lot of gardeners hate shallow containers because they dry out so quickly, but lettuce will cope with the occasional drought. They will tolerate the heat generated in the container and the root run.”

To make a window box containing edibles look pretty, plant lettuces, radishes (place them behind because they have pretty foliage), spring onions or chives, and small beetroot such as ‘Boltardi’, with its spectacular red foliage, she suggests.

Climbing beans have long been grown around wigwams but you can grow dwarf varieties in regular plant pots.

“There are a lot of good varieties now that you can grow in window boxes and containers,” says Walkden, who will be mentor to the winning amateur designer of a BBC and RHS competition to create The One Show family garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in July.

“Mix veg in with your flowers as well,” she suggests.

“The ferny leaves of carrots make a fantastic edging to a container. We tend to categorise things, but at the end of the day, they are all just plants.”

Walkden believes that great plant companions are those which contrast well.

“I go for things like chives, with vertical growth, contrasting well with the dark reds of kales and beetroot.

“Daisy-like flowers including osteospermums, argyranthemums, coreopsis and calendulas all contrast well with veg.”

Nasturtiums, in shades of orange, yellow and red, are often grown as a sacrificial crop to lure blackfly away from more precious plants, but the flowers make a colourful, faintly spicy addition to salads and look wonderful draping over the edge of containers in front of taller plants.

Follow her advice and soon enough you could have patio plants which not only look good but taste good too.

:: Christine Walkden’s No-nonsense Container Gardening is published by Simon Schuster, priced £20. Available now

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Spring gardening tips for St. Louisans

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Video: Spring gardening tips for St. Louisans

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) – It didn’t seem like it Tuesday, but spring is just two weeks away.

That means it’s time to get out into your yard and do some work.

Heidi Glaus stopped by the Missouri Botanical Garden for some advice from the experts.  Watch the video players above and to the left of this story to see her interview.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KSDK

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Library offers advice for gardeners

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CHARLESTON –

Not everyone can have a full garden in their backyard. But community gardens can provide access to fresh vegetables even for people who live in a more urban environment.

Kanawha County Public Library’s main branch in Charleston will host experts on community gardening in March and April.

Organizers say gardening can not only provide access to fresh herbs and food but can also help individuals develop socially and improve their health.  They say other benefits include potential cost savings at the supermarket and conservation of resources. To learn more about upcoming classes just follow the link provided.

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A different kind of garden

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What are the benefits of growing aquaponically? Aquaponics gardening enables home fish farming. You can now feel good about eating fish again. It uses 90 percent less water than soil-based gardening and is twice as productive on a square-foot basis as soil-based gardening. It is free from weeds, watering and fertilizing concerns, and because it is done at a waist-high level, there is no back strain. It is necessarily organic. Natural fish waste provides all the food the plants need. Pesticides would be harmful to the fish. Hormones, antibiotics and other fish additives would be harmful to the plants. And the result is every bit as flavorful as soil-based organic produce. It also consumes no energy to transport out-of-season produce to distant markets across the globe because you will be able to select your own produce from the garden right in your own home.

Is aquaponics organic? It doesn’t work unless it is organic. Think about it. If you were to add chemicals, antibiotics, or other artificial additives to your aquaponic fish tank it would harm your plants. If you use pesticides or growth stimulants to your plants, it will harm your fish. Your plants are being grown with “composted� animal waste. Aquaponics works as well as it does because of how well it mimics nature. The closer you are to pure nature, the better your system will work.

Is Aquaponically grown produce safe from E.coli and Salmonella? Yes, because fish are cold blooded animals their waste does not, and cannot, contain either of these pathogens. In fact, there was a recent study done by the College of Tropical Agriculture in Hawaii titled “A Preliminary Study of Microbial Water Quality Related to Food Safety in Recirculating Aquaponic Fish and Vegetable Production Systems� that explored this very question and concluded that, in general, aquaponically grown food is even safer than soil-grown food.

Can I grow outdoors in the winter? That depends on your winter, the type of plants you are growing and the type of fish you are using. All three living components to an aquaponics system (fish, plants, bacteria) need to be bio-active in order for the system to thrive, or at least survive until the following spring.

Source: www.theaquaponicstore.com

Farmer Michael Dickson believes aquaponic gardening — a system of growing fish and vegetables together — can be the ideal way to grow food in urban areas.

Dickson, owner of Seed of Life Nurseries Inc. in Frederick, demonstrated the food-growing method and shared other gardening tips recently at Ag Week at The Mall in Frederick, which offered the public a glimpse of Frederick County’s $200 million agriculture industry.

“Aquaponics is a revolutionary combination of the best of aquaculture and hydroponics — and an amazingly fun and easy way to raise fish together with organic vegetables, greens, herbs and fruits,” according to aquaponicgardening.com. “Aquaponic systems are much more productive and use up to 90 percent less water than conventional gardens. Other advantages include no weeds, fewer pests, and no watering, fertilizing, bending, digging or heavy lifting.”

Dickson said aquaponic farming functions on a closed-loop system that cultivates both organic fish and vegetables for consumption. This process is a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. The fish effluent is converted into natural plant food, then filtered through plant absorption, returning viable water back to the fish habitat. This recirculating environment permits both cultures to grow at an accelerated rate without producing any waste or using chemicals.

Quick crop vegetables, such as assorted lettuces, chards, spinach, turnips and greens, endives, watercress, arugula and fresh herbs are ideal in this process due to their aggressive nature to grow in low nutrient conditions, Dickson said. When these vegetable plants grow in an aquaponic farming environment, they are able to more quickly absorb nutrients, thus reducing growth time cycles.

According to traditional farming practices, one lettuce plant needs 1.5-square-foot of soil for a 60-day harvestable growth cycle.

“In the aquaponic growth bed, we will grow six times more lettuce in the same square footage with half the growth time needed,” Dickson said. “This equates to 12 plants harvested in aquaponic farming versus one in traditional farming.”

Tilapia and catfish also grow faster in aquaponic conditions, Dickson said.

A small aquaponic system that produces 20 pounds of produce a month will cost about $300; using recycled materials will cost between $100 to $125, Dickson said.

Dickson is no stranger to finding ways to grow food. He has organized a collaborative effort to help counter hunger locally.

Working with the Middletown FFA, local churches and the community, Dickson started Bethel Farm in Frederick, a 20-acre tract that grows lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, radishes, potatoes and other vegetables. Much of the food the venture grows is donated and delivered to needy people in Frederick. The remainder is sold to raise additional funds for the farm.

Lisa and Peter Moholt, of Gaithersburg, said Dickson’s presentation gave them confidence about their gardening skills.

“You can feed people, but educating people on how to grow their own food is a lot more important,” Lisa Moholt said. “You got to teach people how to fish. I learned a lot of helpful, useful, take-home tips, and I like the idea of reducing your carbon footprint by growing a garden.”

Peter Moholt liked Dickson’s tips on inexpensively growing food in a small space, and without insecticides or pesticides.

“I thought his presentation was awesome. It offered very practical tips,” Moholt said.

Dickson wants to grow more food. He plans to start a 350-acre farm in Emmitsburg later this year to grow produce for the Maryland Food Bank and Maryland schools. The land was bought by a group of local businessmen, he said. The project will create 30 new jobs and, when fully operational, add 80 new positions to the local workforce.

“We’re planning to grow the food, then freeze, package and deliver it to different locations,” Dickson said.

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UNH master gardener to share tips in Londonderry

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LONDONDERRY — AS A YOUNG BOY, Henry Homeyer would count down the days to those precious four weeks each summer when he would visit his grandfather’s organic farm in Massachusetts.

“My grandpa was a pretty serious gardener,” the Cornish Flats resident recalled. “I think it was fun because he understood that kids don’t really like to pull weeds all day. I got to get my hands dirty and learned a lot while I was there.”

Decades later, those early lessons left permanent impressions on Homeyer, a UNH master gardener whose weekly gardening column now appears in a dozen New England newspapers.

Homeyer will share his knowledge at Londonderry Leach Library later this month as part of the free program, “Growing Great Flowers in New Hampshire: Old Favorites and Lesser Known Beauties.”

A regular contributor to Vermont Public Radio, Homeyer has taught sustainable gardening at Granite State College and also posts regular blogs on his website, www.gardening-guy.com.

During the March 21 program, Homeyer will discuss which varieties of flowers grow best in New Hampshire and what each needs to succeed.

He will share tips and tricks and explain how one can grow such exotic species as showy lady slipper orchids and Himalayan blue poppies – or just have better luck with the standard roses, peonies and bee balms.

“Many times people get discouraged when they buy a nice plant and in a few years it’s gone,” Homeyer said.

And while many New Hampshire residents are tempted to try to grow the endangered pink lady slipper orchids in their home gardens, Homeyer recommends they instead try their luck with some of the orchid’s colorful cousins.

“Many other lady slipper varieties can be purchased, and they’re wonderful additions to a home garden,” he said.

Homeyer’s presentation will emphasize the importance of gardening without chemicals, and the audience will have the opportunity to ask him questions. Growing vegetables and edible flowers is something that can be done year-round, he said.

“Organic gardening is really about stepping back and letting Mother Nature take control,” Homeyer said. “I don’t spray my garden for insects because in doing so, you’re killing some of the beneficial bugs too. Remember, you’re born with the best insecticide of all – your two fingers to pick the Japanese beetles off your flower bed.”

Homeyer’s presentation, which will begin at 7 p.m. on March 21, is free and open to the public. The program will take place in the library’s lower-level meeting room and light refreshments will be served.

aguilmet@newstote.com

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Getting started: Organic gardening tips for newbies

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If you’re tackling organic vegetable gardening for the first time, here are a few tips to get you started. They’re from organic gardeners and gardening experts around Tucson.

Get rid of your old soil. If you’ve used chemical fertilizers the last few years, your soil has lost beneficial microbes and earthworms, maintains Tucson Organic Gardeners member Rich Johnson.

He suggests removing the top 12 inches of your garden soil. Then fill the basin with water, allowing it to percolate into the ground. Do this three times. This pushes fertilizer salts deep into the ground.

Then replace the topsoil with compost.

“The number one key is to create an environment that worms would want to live in,” Johnson says.

Add organic compost and fertilizer. Create your own compost or shop for officially certified organic amendments at retail garden centers, suggests MarciBeth Phillips, a biocontrol specialist with Arbico Organics.

Also look for sources that follow organic-growing practices. One place she suggests for manure is Hickman’s Family Farms.

You want to use compost from plants without pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms (GMO) and manure from animals raised without antibiotics or growth hormones.

Plant organic seeds and seedlings. These are partly defined as open-pollinated and non-GMO plants, Phillips says.

“We’re very fortunate here,” she says, because there are several local sources of these types of seeds and seedlings. These include Native Seed/SEARCH, Aravaipa Heirlooms and the Pima County Library’s seed library.

Any plant grown organically will yield organic seeds, she says.

Use less-toxic pest- and disease-control methods. Here are some ideas:

• Decide how much damage you’re willing to tolerate, says Peter Warren, director of the Pima County Cooperative Extension. “It’s good to know so you can be prepared to act when necessary,” he says.

• Plant complementary crops. For instance, onions and garlic planted around potatoes discourages insect pests, says Emily Rockey, horticulturist at Tucson Botanical Gardens and an organic gardener.

• Try high-spray water or soapy water to get pests off plants.

• Buy pest-eating insects at places like Arbico Organics.

• Purchase natural or organic pesticides and herbicides.

Many products for organic gardening are now readily available at many gardening centers, Phillips says, because of its growing popularity.

“It has joined the mainstream,” she says.

Learn about organic gardening from these resources:

• Tucson Organic Gardeners’ Spring Fair, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. It’s in the community garden at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, 3809 E. Third St. The group also holds regular meetings.

• Pima County Cooperative Extension demonstration gardens and talks, 626-5161.

• Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona workshops, 882-3303.

• Farmers markets.

• Tucson Botanical Gardens’ compositing demonstrations, 326-9686, Ext. 19.

Whether you practice organic gardening or not, here are some gardening tasks to do in March, according to horticulturists at the Tucson Botanical Gardens:

• Keep covers ready for possible late frost early in the month.

• Spring planting season commences, including herbs, trees, shrubs, corn, tomatoes and peppers.

• Prune perennial herbs.

• Watch for aphids on new plant growth. Use soap and water to remove them.

• Remove caterpillars that can eat up flowering plants.

Contact Tucson freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net

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Local nursery offers some tips and planting advice

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Victory Gardens were popular during WWII when everything was scarce and rationing was enforced.

“With ever-rising food prices and today’s shrinking pocketbooks, growing your own food has made a comeback, big time,” said Dale Loy, who owns Sunnycrest Nursery and Floral along with his wife Claudia. “Growing your own food also provides a means to control our exposure to the vast number of chemicals in our food system.”

Many new gardeners, however, have never lived on a farm or developed the proverbial “green thumb,” and can find only limited guidance among the mass-produced seeds and starts at the big box stores.

Answers and quality plants can be found at the Sunnycrest, family-run store located in downtown Key Center.

“My first jobs back in junior high were weeding yards,” said Dale Loy. “I’ve always worked with plants. When Claudia and I bought the small existing nursery in 1981, it was learn or die,” Loy said.

He said he studied a complete 12 volume encyclopedia set dedicated to gardening and nurseries.

In 1983, they built their new building, which still exists and it remains a profitable business.

Sunnycrest sells everything garden related, from seeds to bulbs, shrubs, bushes and trees; from pots and planters to organic fertilizers, soils and garden tools; and from bird seed to pink flamingoes, gift items and whimsical stuff. They also arrange floral items for weddings, funerals, loved ones and the ever-important apology.

Loy loves plants and loves giving advice and tips on the best care, maintenance and use of plants. He even has eight bonsai trees that more 20 years old, and has a friend who is a noted expert on the popular subject.

According to Loy, popular plants this year include any food plant, the cross-bred dwarf hellebore from Holland, and the purple-leafed dwarf hydrangea. Sunnycrest has eight different grapes, for wine or table and can special order anything available.

Loy said there are no firm rules in gardening, as Mother Nature has given us frost as late as June 12 in Key Center. 

According to Loy, more sensitive plants either need to be started indoors, preferably with artificial lighting, or else wait until after the last frost. If you wait too long, then you risk not having a food crop or flowers that year, he said. Light and shade are also very important, with requirements varying for each type of plant.

For information, visit sunnycrestnursery.com.  

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