Savvygardener.com Update 05/10/00

May 10, 2000

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Savvygardeners Should Be Savvyshoppers...

After shopping several nurseries (and spending a small fortune) for just the right perennials to plant I have decided that enough is enough. The time has come to concentrate on annuals. I must say that I am not as choosy when it comes to buying most of my annuals. I will shop at Home Depot, K-Mart and Wal-Mart or wherever the best deals are to be found. Now I'm not coming home with a flat of petunias that look like toast but if the plants look reasonable and the price is right I will buy them. A perfect example are the impatiens I plant under the Magnolia tree each spring. I often start with some pretty sad looking plants (nearly 100 of them) but a steady regimen of water and Miracle-Gro always produces big bushy mounds of colorful flowers. Don't over-spend on the "simple" stuff. Shop around and be savvy.

It was great to see the rain on Monday and Tuesday. Although we didn't get much, every little drop counts. Continue to keep an eye on the lawn and your gardens. As the temperatures start to climb back into the 80's you will find the need to keep things moist. Don't forget the pots you've planted. When the temperatures are warmer they may need to be watered daily!

If you still need a great Mother's Day gift may I suggest purchasing a peony plant from our newest sponsor Bannister Garden Center. They have over 50 beautiful varieties to choose from. To learn more about peonies read the newest feature article "Peonies - A New Old Favorite".

To all of you Savvy Mom's - Have a Happy Mother's Day!

~ Shelly

Thin is In...

We planted our carrots with the help of our two young boys Noah (3yrs.) and Jake (2yrs.). Not ones to appreciate the finer points of seed placement the boys tended toward mass droppings of seeds in specific areas. Now we have tight bunches of carrots emerging far too close to each other for comfort. Carrot seeds are impossibly small and difficult to evenly sow even by the savviest of Savvygardeners. If your carrots (and lettuce, spinach, and beets for that matter) are coming up in overcrowded masses now is a good time to thin them. Simply pluck them from the ground or snip their tops off with a pair of small scissors.

Ugh. Slugs!

There's nothing quite as refreshing as the feeling of walking barefoot on a dew-covered lawn first thing in the morning. Nothing will ruin that feeling faster than stepping on a big ol' slimy slug. Aesthetically these guys have no redeeming properties at all. They can wreak havoc on your garden as well. Young slugs will damage your plants by rasping away the surface of plant leaves for food. These guys can eat 30 to 40 times their weight every day! The adults chew holes in leaves and leave slime trails on flowering or horticultural plants reducing salability. If you don't already have a favorite and effective way to control slugs try these tricks:

Slugs like the dark and damp. Place a board over damp ground for a hiding place during the day. Check each morning and destroy any slugs that have gathered on the bottom of the board.
Slugs are attracted to and drown in shallow dishes containing beer. Set the top edges of the dish at ground level and cover loosely with a board so slugs can easily get into the mixture.
If you don't like the idea of killing slugs you can try physical barriers, Slugs will not cross rough surfaces. Sprinkle ashes or special slug barriers around the perimeter of the garden. Stay on top of this method however. If rain, wind, or anything else sweeps the barrier away you can count on the slugs exploiting the breach in your defenses.

Green Thumbs Are Seeing Red!

Nothing new under the sun? Don't believe it! While the vast majority of home gardening practices have changed very little over the years there always seems to be a new technology to help us out. In this case researchers at the USDA and Clemson University have found that red-colored mulch can significantly improve tomato production.

SRM-Red (Selective Reflecting Mulch) works like black plastic sheeting mulch in retaining moisture and heating the soil. Interestingly, the red color reflects very specific wavelengths of light up to the tomato plant increasing tomato production by as much as 20%. Wow! There is also strong evidence linking the use of SRM-Red to the control of nematodes.

We ordered ours from Gardener's Supply. When you get to their site type 30-005 in the search field and click "Go".

Trouble-Free Plants for Time-Troubled Gardeners...

For time-stressed gardeners that want to plant flowers that look great, return every year, and are rarely troubled by pests think about these:

Coneflower	Daylily
Bleeding Heart	Hosta
Coral Bell	Bergenia

For pretty flowers that don't have to be "dead-headed" try these:

Begonia	Ageratum
Impatiens	Lobelia
Coleus	Vinca
Alyssum	Salvia

Be Wary of What's Blowin' in the Wind

If you are going to apply a broad-leaf herbicide to your lawn choose your days carefully. Never apply them on a windy day. Drifting herbicide can very easily land in your garden with tragic consequences. I don't even want to think about what would happen if the winds blow herbicide into your neighbors plot. Yikes!

What's Hot on the Hotline...

The Hotline receives many questions each spring about choosing plants that will provide maximum flowering over the entire growing season. The answer lies in careful selection of plant material.

Get a full page of great tips on extending bloom-time here.

Veggie Do's...

Through the middle of the month you can still plant beets, carrots, lettuce, onion, radishes, shallots and spinach.

The chance of frost occurring is basically zero at this point. Feel free to plant any other vegetables that are waiting for frost-free conditions. Don't forget that some vegetables, notably tomatoes and peppers, will not really thrive until soil temperatures reach 60 degrees on a consistent basis.

Finally...

"The trouble with gardening is that is does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession."

- Phyllis McGinley, The Province of the Heart