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Whether It's The Weather
It's been raining, it's still raining, and looks like it'll
keep raining for a while! Yes, the ground is totally
saturated, so not much work will be going on in the lawns
and gardens for a few days. Again, be sure to stay off
soggy wet soils as you will create a mess and compact the
soil, and that's the last thing your soil needs. If you're
itching to garden, get those container gardens ready to go
for planting now and later in the season. It's also a great
time to visit the garden stores to see what's new and what's
happening for spring 2008.
This
is one time where you will definitely see the low areas or
poorly drained areas in the lawn. Over time, low areas will
just get worse, as between gravity and standing water, the
soil becomes more compact, and that means nothing grows
there except weeds. Mark those low areas and when the soil
dries, work to fill, level and regrade to keep the surface
water moving. By the way, those low spots in the lawn also
become the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
[How can you tell which rabbits are the oldest in a group?
-Just look for the gray hares.]
What's Bugging You?
Nothing bugging yet, but it won't be too long. Again, let's
all make a promise for 2008 and beyond that when a bug
problem arises, we identify the bug, determine amount of
damages possible and whether action is actually needed, and
then what are the options for control or suppression. All
the while, keeping the good bugs in mind, including those
precious bees.
Now is the time for dormant sprays if needed, as well as
soil drenching with Bonide or Bayer Tree and Shrub Insect
Control, for controlling problems with scale, leaf miners,
adelgids, bores, and more. Yes, that includes treating Ash
trees for the Emerald Ash borer, and pines and other
evergreens for White Pine Weevil. It's too wet right now,
but timing is soon. As always, read the labels and follow
the directions.
Check your houseplants for bug problems. Just looked at a
ficus tree this morning with scale and mites! Don't forget
that your indoor plants would love a few minutes in the
shower. Luke warm water - they love a good rinsing. Gets
rid of the dust, knocks off bugs, and the plants love the
humidity and the shower itself.
[Why can't a rabbit's nose be twelve inches long? -Because
then it would be a foot.]
Question Mark and The Mysterians -
Your Questions Answered
"I keep seeing ads for the 'Canada Green Grass' and all the
great benefits. Is this really good stuff for our lawns?"
-I don't think so. It's a mix of almost 50% creeping red
fescue, 26% annual rye, and about 24% Kentucky bluegrass.
Not exactly a great mix. It's not sold in local garden
stores. That should be a real indicator to how good it
isn't.
"I keep seeing ads for the 'Zoysia' grass and how good it
is. Do you recommend this type of grass for our area?"
-Well, I will say that zoysia grass is all that its put up
to be, but that's only about 4 months out of the year. It's
brown the rest of the season - not exactly the type of turf
I'm looking for! Oh yeah, did I mention it creeps? Yep,
right into the neighbor's yard. So do make sure they would
like to have it as well, because eventually, they will! :)
"I heard you talking about a new type of arborvitae that
gets larger, and fairly quickly. What was it again?" -It's
called 'Green Giant' or 'Spring Grove', and what's so nice
about this evergreen, it's fairly fast for an evergreen, so
you get something (especially if you're using it for a
screen) within a reasonable amount of time. It is an
arborvitae, usually single leader, and gets 10-15 feet wide,
and 30 feet plus tall. It's also showing low deer browse,
compared to other arborvitae selections. I'm liking this
one for a larger / quicker growing evergreen.
"What type of eco-friendly bug sprays do you recommend to
control those caterpillars in my garden?" -Remember what we
promised this year. Let's identify what it is, how much
damage it may incur, and whether it needs to be controlled.
But as a general rule, many of those caterpillars can be
controlled by hand picking, or by spraying Bt. But make
sure we identify the bug first, before you spray. Thanks!
[What kind of bling bling do rabbits wear? -14 carrot
gold.]
Success Tip of the Week
You may think I'm crazy saying this, but its time to get
your hummingbird feeders cleaned and ready to go. The
hummingbirds are on their way!
That's
right - the ruby throated hummingbirds are already working
their way north, and right now, have entered northern
Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, and should be
arriving in our area in about 2-3 weeks, weather pending.
As a matter of fact, you can track their migration north, by
going to a special web site -
www.hummingbirds.net/map,
or find the link at
www.wildbirdcenter.com/mas
. It shows you exactly where they are and how soon they'll
be here!
Now if you don't have a hummingbird feeder, there are
definitely many for you to choose from. As a matter of
fact, there are so many styles from your basic hummer
feeders, to multiple feeding stations to fancy glass globe
feeders, it's hard to choose. But they all work - and the
common factors between all of them is that they hold liquid
hummingbird food, and the feeding stations are usually red,
or a bright color, which attracts hummers.
As for the hummingbird food, you'll find several available,
from instant nectar mixed with water, to ready to use
nectar. You can also make your own, using 4 parts water to
one part table sugar (thanks Patrick McCollum, Wild Bird
Center). And do not use red food coloring to color it red!
Research has shown hummingbirds cannot properly digest food
coloring - and the red coloring isn't necessarily needed.
If you find red colored nectar, make sure its colored using
fruit and vegetable coloring.
So whether you watch the migration map or just want to be
ready for those early hummingbird scouts, get those
hummingbird feeders filled and hung up within the next 2-3
weeks. (Again, thank you Patrick McCollum for all your
great birding information!)
[Here's one from Patrick MCCollum - What do you call a
rabbit with fleas? -Bugs Bunny.]
From the Garden to the Kitchen
"Hey
Rita what's Cooking?"
Yardboy, it's GREAT to be back after such a long winter. But
you know what? I really did enjoy this winter, having to
stay home because of snow days and just tending to the wood
stove, making sure my girls and Yardboy/your namesake (my
chickens and the rooster) were warm, as well, and fed.
The interesting thing about Mother Nature is even during the
coldest freeze, the salad burnet and thyme in the garden
were still greening up. I did pick some of each but the
flavor was too faint to use in foods. That's because herbs
need lots of warm sun to develop their oils.
My rosemary is still doing well in the basement sitting on a
cabinet facing south. She is spurting new growth so I know
spring is not far behind. My tropical hibiscus, which is
wintering over in the same spot, stayed a beautiful green.
Ditto for my cardamom plant.
The herbs in our unheated, attached garage fared pretty
well, too. I know my rose geraniums are going to be OK even
though their growth is spindly, and the lemon verbena has
lost all of its leaves, which is typical, yet the woody
branches are green inside.
Right now I'm taking inventory of the herbs and spices in my
pantry - remember, a healthy pantry makes for happy
families. All of our readers should do the sniff test with
the herbs and spices now that they've been in a warm
environment for quite a few months. The herb or spice should
have a tantalizing aroma when you open the container; if it
doesn't toss it out.
This is a good time, too, to do a visual check of the herb
garden. If you kept a journal like I do, you'll know what
changes have to be made, if any. For example, I forgot to
pull up the Hopi red dye amaranth before it started to seed,
so I know I will have hundreds of babies this spring, since
that seed winters over. I'll be doing a lot of hand
plucking of the tiny scarlet shoots.
My lavender plants did OK. I won't be pruning those until I
see lots of good, lush growth. Lavender is one of those
herbs that looks pretty "old" until it has enough warm,
sunny days to maximize out.
Again, it's fun to be back in the garden!
-Rita
Nader Heikenfeld, CCP / Macy's Regional Culinary
Professional / Herbalist / Local TV and Radio Cooking Expert
/ Adjunct Professor UC Clermont College / Community Press
Papers / Part time Witchdoctor / Maker of Strange Potions /
www.abouteating.com
[How are rabbits like calculators? -They both multiply
quickly.]
Yardboy's "Plant to Ponder"
This week, I'm just going to give you a little teaser. A
teaser because these plants won't be available until the
middle of April!
'Sunny' Knock Out Rose will be available this year! All the
same attributes that you've seen with the other Knock Out
roses, with a wonderful yellow flower, and to add to the
wonderful yellow color, it's fragrant as well! Look for
'Sunny' Knock Out rose this spring!
'Drift Roses' will also be available around mid April. So,
what is so unique about these roses? Drift roses are a
series of groundcover roses, zone 5 hardy, reaching 2 feet
by 2-3 feet wide, show good disease resistance, low
maintenance, flower all season long, and are perfect for
mass plantings, rock gardens, foundations - even work well
in containers and hanging baskets. Coral, peach, pink and
red are the colors - look for Drift roses this spring!
[Why did the Easter egg hide? -He was a little chicken.]
A Little
Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
-Cut back ornamental grasses.
-Rakes beds and fluff mulch (after soil dries a bit).
-Rake and remove chickweed and henbit growing in beds. Dig
and remove wild onions growing. In the lawn, try using
Bonide's Weed Beater Ultra for the wild onions.
-Check houseplants for bugs - treat the plants to a nice
luke warm shower. As the days begin to increase, you may
also begin to lightly feed indoor plants. Check the roots
for possible repotting - never increase the pot size more
than 2-3 inches.
-Check stored bulbs for possible rotting. Remove rotten
bulbs.
-Start growing greens and potatoes in containers. Also
consider rhubarb and horseradish in pots. How about
blueberries in containers? Works great!
-Get ready to mow the grass. Once this rain moves out,
trust me, the grass will green start to green quickly. So
its important to get that first mowing in to remove those
dead tips, dead clippings, pick up debris, and get those
grass blades standing up and ready to get growing.
REMEMBER - IF YOU HAVE AN EASTER LILY FOR THE HOLIDAY, THEY
ARE TOXIC TO CATS. Also remember that those lilies can be
replanted in the garden. After the flower is finished, clip
off the flower head and grow the lily indoors for another
couple weeks until the weather warms. Then, plant it in
a sunny location, cut it back again, and watch what
happens. It will regrow!
[It was Easter Sunday. As the children were on their way to
the church service, the Sunday school teacher asked them,
"Do you know why we all need to be quiet once we get in the
church?" One bright little girl replied, "I think it's
because some people are sleeping."]
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