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March 3, 2004

Lions, Lambs, and Lovin' It...
As I sit here at my desk busily typing this week's newsletter it has begun to rain. No ice, no snow, just rain. What a welcome sight. It appears that March is arriving like a lion. It all began Monday with ferociously high winds. Showers and thunderstorms off and on today, tonight and tomorrow. Flooding is possible in some areas. The lion's roar is being heard. We can only hope that March's gentle lamb will not wait until the very last week of March to make her appearance.

Welcome to all of you new Savvygardener.com subscribers! We are thrilled to have you receive what we think is one of Kansas City's best gardening information sources. A special thanks to all of our existing subscribers, some of whom we had the opportunity to chat with this past weekend at the Johnson County Home & Garden Show (photos). Kevin and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to talk with so many of you.

Spring is certainly in the air for us. Kevin and I and the rest of the Marsh clan will be off to Wichita, Kansas to attend the Wichita Garden Show. This will be our first time so we are really excited and promise to take plenty of pictures to share. The following weekend we are headed to Philadelphia to experience one of the premiere Flower Shows of all time. The question is "Will we suffer from garden show fatigue?" Hardly! What a life!

~ Shelly  

Springtime Splitters...
Now would be a great time to think about dividing select perennials.  We say this in the fall also.  Don't be confused.  Just use the following logic:  Divide fall-blooming plants in the spring and spring-blooming plants in the fall.  Plants to divide now include asters, mums, shasta daisy, and yarrow (to name a few).

When You Just Can't Wait...
If you are just dying to do something in the flower garden try sowing the seeds of asters, bachelor buttons, calendulas, delphinium, dianthus, larkspur, and snapdragon.  These hardy annuals should weather the remaining cold days and get your flower garden off to an early start.  As insurance against really cold weather you can always sow smaller quantities at weekly intervals.

Peas Be With You...
Peas should be among the earliest crops you plant in your garden, and can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked. They love cool weather, grow quickly, produce abundantly for a few weeks, and then succumb rapidly to our summer heat. More pea stuff:

  • Some varieties, especially snap peas, require trellising, but many modern varieties do not. Seed catalogs or packets usually will indicate whether this is required.
  • Because plants don't stand very well on their own, peas may benefit from being planted in double rows 6" apart that will allow plants to support each other.
  • Peas should be planted 1 inch deep and 2 inches apart with about 2 to 3 feet between the double row. If trellised, space rows 4 to 6 feet apart.
  • Plant several varieties to make sure you get each type, and to enjoy a succession of harvests

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Digger Delay...
Rain today and tomorrow means that soils are wet, wet, wet.  I know you are tempted to start working that wet soil, but there are some serious consequences to consider.  Digging in the dirt now means soil structure may be destroyed, forming large clods that take weeks or months to break up with natural weathering.  Use of a roto-tiller is especially damaging in soils that are too wet.  A gentle spading will cause the least soil damage but is still a risky proposition.  It is better to delay planting a few days or weeks than to try to till wet soils.

Crown Jewels...
Once the soil is suitable for digging (see above) you may be thinking about planting some asparagus crowns.  Don't dig too far down when planting them.  Yields improve dramatically when crowns are set at a depth of 5 to 6 inches - not the commonly advised 12 inches.  Contrary to the standard practices of deep planting and not harvesting for up to three seasons, recent studies show that harvesting shallow-planted asparagus after the first year boosts yields 40 percent over three years.


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What's Hot On The Hotline...
With today’s column, we say goodbye to Winter Wisdom for Gardeners for another year, and mark the return of the column entitled, What’s Hot on the Hotline?” This coincides with the opening on March 1, 2004, of the K-State Johnson County Research and Extension Hotline, a public information service staffed by Extension Master Gardeners.

Although we are saying farewell to Winter Wisdom, winter itself can still hold some frigid surprises, so, as we warned last week, don’t be too eager and rush the growing season. There are plenty of late winter tasks for the gardener in this week's What's Hot On the Hotline..

Head 'Em Off At The Pass...
Though cultural practices are the most effective crabgrass controls, herbicides are often necessary to really get the job done.  Crabgrass can be controlled through an application of a pre-emergence herbicide between mid-March and mid-April.  The herbicides available on the market have been shown to be very effective crabgrass controls, but often control suffers when the product is not applied correctly or when the lawn is not maintained properly.  When using pre-emergence herbicides, keep in mind: 

  • Maintain a healthy dense lawn. 
  • Closely read and follow all label recommendations.
  • Apply the herbicide accurately and uniformly over the lawn. 
  • Apply the herbicide early because they will not affect crabgrass already germinated.  Early would be mid- March in the greater Kansas City area.
  • After application, apply enough water to move the herbicide off the leaf blades to the soil surface for maximum control. 
  • Do not apply these products over newly-seeded areas or try to seed into areas where these products have been recently applied.

Source

Finally...
"It seemed to my friend that the creation of a landscape-garden offered to the proper muse the most magnificent of opportunities. Here indeed was the fairest field for the display of the imagination, in the endless combining of forms of novel beauty."

~ Edgar Allen Poe

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