March
27, 2002
Weather
Or Not...
I thought about starting with the weather but I am not quite
sure what to say. I would like to say that since spring has
arrived there will be no more snow or freezing cold weather.
Then again that might not be the most intelligent thing to say
considering we are stuck riding on a crazy pendulum swinging
wildly from warm to cold without much warning. Hopefully
the pendulum will stop swinging and settle in to some consistency
so that we can get busy and do what we have been wanting to do -
plant, plant, plant. I don't know about you but the itch
really needs to be scratched!
I am excited to introduce Bradfield
Industries as our newest sponsor.
Bradfield Industries make a line of natural fertilizers for
lawns, vegetable, herb and flower gardens, roses and commercial
landscapes, farms and golf courses. (We use their alfalfa
pellets to add organic matter to our lawn.) You can buy their
products at several garden centers throughout Kansas City.
Please visit their
website to learn more about their products and where to buy
them.
Before heading out on Sunday morning tune in to KCTV5 to watch me
discuss Easter Lilies and Savvygardener.com with Valissa Smith
and Bob Thill. This will be my second appearance on This
Weekend and I am excited that they have asked me back. Who
knows, maybe I will get to become a regular. Move
over Martha!
Don't forget Savvygardener.com's special Garden Party sponsored by
our friends at Earl
May Garden Centers, Thursday April 11th from 6-9 PM at all of
their Kansas City locations. (Make sure you take advantage of the
coupon which you need to print out and bring with you.)
Kevin and I will be at the Shawnee store to help you with
gardening questions and anything else you might want to ask us.
This is going to be great! Can't wait to see you there!
Have a Happy Easter!
~
Shelly
Start,
Stop, Stagger?
Well it's less than five weeks from the weekend that we
usually feel is "frost free" in our garden.
This is such a guessing game! If you want to play it safe
with transplants you're generally better off waiting. For
instance, according to the Savvygardener.com Seed
Starting Calendar now would be a good time to start
tomato seeds indoors. But what if it's too cold to
transplant tomatoes in six weeks? Cloches, water walls, hot
beds and the like are one approach. Another is to stagger
the starting of your seeds - start some now and some more in a
couple of weeks. It's cheap insurance!
Do Not
Disturb...
Our bulbs are popping up all over. I'll bet yours are
too! Look closely at your bulb beds. Are there weeds
popping up as well? If so remove the weeds by gentle hand
pulling. Removal with a cultivator or other weeding tool
may disturb the bulbs unnecessarily.
Well
Oiled...
Savvygardeners with fruit trees will soon be applying
horticultural oils to fruit trees to reduce certain pests.
These oils are not poisons. Instead, the thin film of oil
covers the target insect or mite and plugs the spiracles or pores
through which it breathes. Pine needle scale, oystershell
scale, euonymus scale, aphids, spider mites and small pine sawfly
larvae are all effectively controlled by this method.
Proper
timing is critical for success when using oils. Dormant
oils should be applied in late March or April before leaves or
flowers show signs of breaking dormancy. A common mistake
is to apply 'dormant' oil sprays too early (on the first warm day
in February or March) before insects are actively respiring and
susceptible to the oil's suffocating effects. Wait until as
close to bud break as possible before applying oil sprays.
Also make sure temperatures will be above 40° for at least
24 hours.
Source
Dig
This...
Depending on which "how to" guide you're reading
you might see different references to what many simply refer to
as digging. While some people use the terms interchangeably
digging, shoveling, and spading are actually 3 different actions.
Digging turns up, loosens or removes soil. Shoveling
moves loose material from one place to another. Spading
mixes the material leaving it in the same location. For
example we dig a hole, we spade (work) compost into
the soil, and we shovel the soil mix back into the
planting hole. They're not just different actions either.
Digging, shoveling, and spading require different tools to get
the job done right.
- For digging
the best tool to use is a round-point shovel. The point
at the tip of the blade focuses the digger's weight on a very
small area, increasing the pounds per square inch on the
shovel and allowing the cutting surface to move through the
soil easily. This becomes a disadvantage if the blade
hits a tough root or rock.
- For shoveling
the tools of choice are a square-point, flat-backed shovel or
the round point shovel. On a flat surface the square-
point, flat-backed shovel works more efficiently. For
shoveling out planting holes, the round-point works best
because its smaller head can fit into tight spaces.
- For spading,
a digging fork or a round point shovel work well.
Source
Rose
Tips by Al Karsten
Years ago, it use to be said "never plant a five dollar
rose bush in a fifty cent hole." The price of roses
may have changed but the notion is still sound. This month
our rosarian Al Karsten walks us through the proper planting of
your new bare-root roses. Check out Al's Rose Tips...
What's
Hot On The Hotline...
We're all being reminded the hard way that a few days of warm
weather do not mean it's time to do all of our spring
planting. There are things to do, and things not to
do. Get an expert's opinion on which is which in this
week's What's
Hot on the Hotline...
Weed
Control for Newly Seeded Lawns...
While early fall is the optimum time to plant cool-season
turfgrasses, many people seeded in late fall last year
because of hot, dry conditions in September. While it is
uncertain what effect our dry winter may have had on these late
seedings, crabgrass control options are more limited for turf
planted in spring. Remember that crabgrass preventers do not
discriminate between turfgrass and crabgrass; we rely on having
plants with roots below the herbicide barrier when we apply these
products in spring.
If you are
in a situation where you seeded late in fall or must seed this
spring, you have two options for crabgrass control.
Tupersan is a product that can be used at the time of
seeding. It is somewhat less effective than other
preemergence herbicides but is safe to the newly seeded
grass. Tupersan only provides short-term control, so an
additional application will be necessary about six weeks after
the first. Dimension is a newer lawn product that has
potential for late fall or spring seedings because it has some
postemergence effect on crabgrass. Dimension cannot be
applied at the time of spring seeding but, if spring seeding is
performed before the end of March, use of Dimension in early May should
be safe for your turfgrass and still effectively control
unwanted crabgrass. Dimension also offers season-long
control, so a second application will not be necessary.
Source
Finally... "I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils." ~
William Wordsworth, 1770-1850, English Poet |