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March 2, 2005

Feeling Skittish...
It has been hard to concentrate around the Marsh house these past few days. We are having a new roof put on and since Tuesday there has been a constant pounding sound that is so loud. The pets are not sure what to think. To say that they are skittish is an understatement. They follow us from room to room, like us, looking for a little solitude.

I have been a bit skittish myself. You should see me continuously peering out the window to make sure that the workers throwing the old shingles off the roof are not hurting any of my trees, shrubs or plantings. Leave it to me to be worried about the gardens (photos). At least the roof is going on now instead of in the middle of June when the perennial garden is coming into full bloom. The thought of that makes me crazy.

It is going to be a perfect weekend to be out and about. The temperatures are supposed to be in the mid 50's all weekend. If you are looking for something to do, how about the Lawrence Lawn, Garden & Home Show?  It runs Friday night through Sunday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.  This is a nice, smaller show with Lawrence-area garden centers and nurseries showcasing their abilities. Always a garden show somewhere this time of the year.

~ Shelly  

Trees That Survived The Storm...
As tragic as an ice storm can be, it is also an opportunity to learn. 
In January the Wichita area was hit by the worst ice storm in south central Kansas’ recorded history bringing the area to its knees as tree limbs crashed into power lines, buildings and vehicles – creating enough broad-scale damage to qualify it as a federal disaster area.  

Some trees faired better than others and our friends at K-State Extension surveyed the damaged and not-so-damaged and are sharing the results with us.  Lessons learned and a list of the most resilient trees can be found in our feature article, Trees that Survived the Storm...

Feeding Bulb Upstarts...
If you have spring bulbs in the ground we'll bet that at least some of them are poking up through the soil by now.  Last week we talked about moving any leaves or compost out of the way to make room for their growth.  This week we tackle their care and feeding.

"You need to fertilize as soon as the foliage pokes up through the ground. That's when the bulbs' roots are most active," said Ward Upham, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension. "If you wait until or after they're flowering, you're basically wasting time and money."

Blood meal is the traditional choice and still an excellent fertilizer for spring-flowering bulbs, Upham said. Its application rate is 2 pounds per 100 square feet or 1 teaspoon per square foot.

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).

 


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Pets And Plants...
We've received several requests for a list of plants that are deemed safe for pets.  We turned to the ASPCA for assistance and are please to provide pet lovers/plant lovers with links to two important ASPCA documents:

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.

Crown Jewels...
Once the soil is suitable for digging 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.

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...
"Gardeners , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by."

~ Allen Lacy, The Gardener's Eye

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