Weekly Gardening Thread -- April (again)

Garden Girl | April 2006 | Garden Girl

[Gabz]

April is a debutante’s ball for green and growing things! Young foliage garbs the trees in gauzy, pastel gowns of gold and green and russet, like a watercolor by an old master. Their subtle color is a poignant reminder and a future foretaste of the fall’s bold leaves of orange and yellow and rust. The wild azaleas will be blooming soon, their delicate apple blossom pink petals shining through here and there and their honey sweet fragrance filling the air. The violets, from the large purple ones with heart shaped leaves to the tiny, almost invisible white ones with lance shaped leaves, will be peeping through last year’s grass and fallen leaves. Miniature wild iris will be popping up in patches, ankle high splashes of lavender to bright blue marked with splotches of orange and white. The pine trees will be candling and shedding pollen everywhere, coating everything in yellow dust- as if some disgruntled fairy godmother, fed up with tedious sprinkling, pitched a giant hissy fit and upended her entire bag of magic dust all at once.

Easter falls during the middle of April this year. Things like potatoes and peas and cabbage should have already been planted and hopefully are doing well. While corn can usually be planted around the first of April, mid-April is time to plant the mid season stuff-tomatoes, peppers, cukes, squash, green beans. Keep a close eye on the weather, but there isn’t supposed to be any frost after Easter. Hopefully, the weather will be much better for gardening this year than it has been for the last several years.

Speaking of better, there are some new varieties of tomatoes on the market that are resistant to Tomato Spotted Wilt. Resistant is not the same thing as immune! TSW is the virus that causes tomato plants (along with many other vegetables and flowers) to die or be stunted. If the tomato plants survive, the tomatoes are small, mottled in color, and the taste is off. Christa is one of the new varieties-a nice round, red, juicy tomato that looks and tastes very good. When buying tomato plants, look for the letters after the variety name. Just like the letters after a doctor’s name, they all mean something. The more letters after a tomato name, the more diseases that variety is resistant to. F means the plant is resistant to fusarium wilt, V is for verticullum, N is for root knot nematode disease, T is for tobacco mosaic virus. TSW is for tomato spotted wilt. Most older varieties don’t have many letters, but generally the newer hybrids have lots. When buying tomato plants, also keep in mind that determinate means that variety has one big crop and it’s mostly done. Indeterminate means the plant will bear over a long season.

Fertilizing is an important part of having a great garden. Everyone used to open up their rows, put the fertilizer in, cover the rows back up, and plant on top of the fertilizer. That method doesn’t work anymore. Whether the composition of the fertilizer has changed, or whether it’s due to the weather being so hot and cold back and forth, or a combination of the two, who knows? The fertilizer rises to the top now, and it will burn the roots off your plants. It seems the best way to fertilize now is to go ahead and plant your plants, then come back and side dress. Side dress simply means to come out about eight inches away from your plants and spread fertilizer down the row. It needs to be worked in a little with your hoe.

Tunnels in your yard driving you crazy? The simple answer used to be moles. Moles eat crickets and grubs, so you could put out chemicals to kill the insects and the moles would go away because they didn’t have anything to eat. Back up just a minute. Moles eat crickets and grubs. We all know what crickets are, but did you ever think about what a grub is—besides an ugly piece of fish bait? Most grubs are the larval (immature) stage of some kind of beetle. Japanese beetles, for instance. Why do we expend so much effort to get rid of one of the few things that can control Japanese beetles? The answer, of course, is because we like smooth, flat lawns. Nice lawns look much better and are definitely easier to mow. There aren’t many moles anymore. So, why, you ask, are there still tunnels in my beautiful yard and garden?

The answer is voles. Sounds like a mole, tunnels like a mole. So, what is the difference? Moles are little, gray, blind creatures with webbed feet that seldom come out of their tunnels. Voles look more like hamsters. Light brown, they have eyes, clawed feet, and a short little tail. Oh, and voles eat plant roots and bulbs. Ever notice a tunnel right down the middle of one of your garden rows? Thank a vole. Southern Pine Voles like to live around the base or stump of—you guessed it—pine trees. Unlike moles, voles will come out of their tunnels and run around. They’re usually active at night or in the early morning, and they’re about the size of a mouse, so even if you saw one you’d probably think it was just a mouse. If you’ve noticed little volcano looking eruptions of dirt somewhere along the length of the tunnels in your yard, chances are you have a vole instead of a mole. Voles are a nuisance here, but farther toward the mountains, they can be serious pests because they can destroy an orchard in a hurry. They like to eat the bark off fruit trees at ground level, and can girdle and kill a tree in no time. They tend to live in colonies, so they can become major pests very quickly. Voles are hard to trap, but the state has okayed a rat poison called Rozol to kill them.

[Gabz]

Better late than never!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to GardenGirl for yet another wonderful article!!!!!

[Gabz]

It’s FRIDAY!!!!!!!

We actually have decent weather here today. I’ve got doors and windows open and I’ve been filling starter pots with soil out on the deck this morning!!!!!

[trisham]

I was just outside, and we have tiny leaves coming out everywhere on our bushes. :)

[AuntB]

It’s supposed to be over 70 the next few days here, but still in the high 20’s, low 30’s at night. I have several pots started in the house by a bright window....it might get warm enough to plant outside one day!

[EggsAckley]

“The pine trees will be candling and shedding pollen everywhere, coating everything in yellow dust-”

That’s the part that is my downfall. Really bad allergies this year.

[Gabz]

YIPPEE!!!!!!!! Spring is finally coming to the great northeast!

Access to our deck is from the attic, which is where my “office” is and I sit right now. It was one of the very first things we did after moving here.

I’m sitting here chuckling at my husband and our neighbor across the road sitting on their riding mowers/tractors chatting in the entrance to our property by the field. I should have taken a picture!

[whatshotandwhatsnot]

Love my garden!

Probably jumping the gun as I usually do this time of year, but put out tomato & sweet pepper plants today along with seeding onions, banana peppers and beans.

My existing roses have buds already and I’ve added 6 more to my rose garden. My tiller hasn’t had much of a break since mid March since I’m slowly ridding the front yard of all turf and installing bushes, perennials, bulbs and hardscape.

Good gardening everyone and great article!

[trisham]

It was beautiful yesterday. Today has been overcast, but not awful. 50 degrees or so.

[Gabz]

While we’re not supposed to dip into the 20s anymore, I hear what you’re saying. Way too early to put most things out yet, but I’m hoping to get bean seeds in the gound this weekend.

[tob2]

Know what you mean about the allergies. Had to have a breathing treatment. However, it’s a small price to pay for having my planters. The pansies are going all out with blooms; peas, lettuce, spinach and arugula very prolific right now. They love the rain and fog we have had lately. Temps going back down into the 40s and 50s over the weekend and more rain to ease our drought. Looking forward to warmer days so I can plant tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.

[Gabz]

Really bad allergies this year.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with that problem. They've already been wicked for me.

Growing up in NYC and spending my summers on the west coast of Florida I didn't have any of the allergies I've acquired since moving to the DelMarVa peninsula in 1982.

I'll never forget the first time I took a sudafed (or some similar OTC allergy stuff) I was still working in radio. After my 3pm newscast the station manager came into the newsroom and pulled me off the air and did the 3:30 newscast himself because the news director couldn't get there until almost 4. I was so "stoned" from the antihistamine I was practically incoherent on the air --- and I didn't even know it. I was still able to write and type, but could not speak coherently. The news director drove me home after the 6pm news.

25 years later he and I are still friends and we still laugh about that day.

[Gabz]

My tiller hasn’t had much of a break since mid March since I’m slowly ridding the front yard of all turf and installing bushes, perennials, bulbs and hardscape.

LOL!!!!!

You sound like my husband. The more he can till up and devote to something other than "lawn" the happier he is because it means less mowing!

Before we moved here, where we have just under 2 acres, we lived in an end unit townhouse with a 150'x35' lot. Every spring he borrowed a tiller from a friend to add more to my timbered in garden spaces, to him it meant less worrying about meeting the city ordinances for mowing!!!!

[Gabz]

Where in VA are you? I’m over on the Eastern Shore and believe I’ve missed the “hole” for getting in peas, but plan on getting beans started in the next couple of days.

[Red_Devil 232]

East Central Mississippi

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
85° F | 54° F 29° C | 12° C	70° F | 36° F 21° C | 2° C	59° F | 29° F 15° C | -2° C	56° F | 31° F 13° C | -1° C	65° F | 38° F 18° C | 3° C
T-storms 80% chance of precipitation	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	Clear

I can not believe the lows will be in the mid 30s and high 20s starting tomorrow. I will have to find a way to cover my tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and other plants!

[whatshotandwhatsnot]

LOL! Part of it is I just like tilling with the little Mantis. When I run out of yard, and it’s small, I’ll see if the neighbors have tilling needs.

Squirrels are my big problem here. The varmints dig up newly planted bulbs and chew shrubs. I saw one headed up to his nest with my peony that I had planted less than a hour earlier. I’ve tried mothballs, ammonia, fake owls-nothing has worked. Any tips or tricks on discouraging these furballs would be welcome.

[Gabz]

Yikes -— and I thought we had freaky weather!!!!

[Gabz]

I’ve consulted my gardening guru’s bible (Jerry Baker’s Terrific Garden Tonics) and he’s got 2 simple tonics...

The first one he says is for bulbs.

Spicy Squirrel Stopper

1 teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
1 pint of water

Mix together and put in a squirt bottle, like a ketchup bottle (not a spray bottle) after you plant the bulbs spray into the soil and then mix another batch and spray again in the spring when you expect them to start sprouting.

This one he says is for fruit and nut trees, but I imagine it will work for just about anything.

Squirrel Beater Tonic

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Murphy’s Oil Soap
1 quart warm water

Mix all of these ingredients together and put in a handheld sprayer (squirt bottle) Shake well and coat all fruit/nut bearing plants from top to bottom to let bothersome critters know they are unwelcome.

[Red_Devil 232]

It is a cold front and probably headed your way also. We are under a tornado watch but the rain and T-storms are patchy. Temp is 86 right now but will start cooling off fast in the next hour.

Just wondering about my fig trees, two are doing wonderful and have budded and have some very immature leaves developing, should I cover them at night during this cold snap?

[tob2]

Virginia Beach. Our temps have been up and down. The peas were planted during a warm period earlier this year, Purchased the spinach from a nursery. They are in a hanging planter where there is more sunshine and seem to love it there. Have one planter where there is sunshine the rest are under the outside steps to the apartment above me. Not much direct sunshine there except for late afternoon. The lettuce and arugula are doing wonderfully there, as well as oregano, basil (when warm enough) and parsley. The rest of the plants are getting enough light to blossom, even geraniums!

[Gabz]

You’re probably right, the weather we’re enjoying today is not expected to last -— but I can pretend :)

Covering your fig trees can’t hurt and just might help.

[Coldwater Creek]

Bookmark!

[Red_Devil 232]

I wonder how this short cold snap will affect my newly planted pear trees? Both are about 6 ft. high and have wonderful full tender new leaf structure.

[Gabz]

It is so weird. I’m only 90 miles north of you, but the Bay makes such a difference in your weather compared to mine.

The difference a body of water can make never ceases to amaze me. When school was cancelled yesterday morning because of fog I couldn’t see 1/10th of a mile out the back door, yet my husband was over on Chincoteague Island (15 miles from here) and the sky was blue and there was no fog. Of course within an hour after they cancelled school most of the fog was gone.

[sandyeggo]

Fertilizing is an important part of having a great garden. Everyone used to open up their rows, put the fertilizer in, cover the rows back up, and plant on top of the fertilizer. That method doesn’t work anymore. Whether the composition of the fertilizer has changed, or whether it’s due to the weather being so hot and cold back and forth, or a combination of the two, who knows? The fertilizer rises to the top now, and it will burn the roots off your plants.

Uh-oh...that's exactly how we planted, using steer manure. I hope we don't end up killing everything. We put in our first little garden in about 15 years, it's a raised-bed garden. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Gabz]

We’ve had a couple of nasty cold snaps since our across the road neighbor planted his pear trees (about a dozen) and they seem none the worse for wear.

[Old Professer]

Well, you tell him not to plant anymore until next month.

[Gabz]

OOPS, I missed that part of the article, I guess.

We’ll have to hope GG or Diana get a break from their greenhouse work to respond to your concern because I have NO idea!!!!

[Red_Devil 232]

I am guessing you will not have a problem if it was aged composted manure.

[sandyeggo]

I am guessing you will not have a problem if it was aged composted manure

You give me hope. Thanks. :)

[sandyeggo]

I have NO idea!!!!

That makes two of us, LOL. Thanks for pinging them.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!

Telling that man to stop planting is like telling the sun not to rise!

[Red_Devil 232]

I think Gardengirl's article was talking about the new types of comercial fert. If your manure was good and aged and you mixed it in good with the soil ... I hope I am right also.

Just a note to all when buying what you might think is aged composted manure in a bag from the big chain stores. Read how it is labled. I bought some that said "Compost & Manure" which I assumed meant composted manure. What was in the bag was a mix of compost and manure and it was not meant to be used like an "aged composted" manure. I mixed it with some of my natural soil and a little sand and used it to plant a cherry tomato plant in a container ... the plant died.

I mixed the rest into my compost pile.

[whatshotandwhatsnot]

Thank you so much! I just printed this and will post the results.

[sandyeggo]

What was in the bag was a mix of compost and manure and it was not meant to be used like an "aged composted" manure. I mixed it with some of my natural soil and a little sand and used it to plant a cherry tomato plant in a container ... the plant died.

I think I'll go look at the bag now.....

[Red_Devil 232]

If you used a product like “Black Kow” this is a composted manure mixed with sand and it clearly states that it is “composted manure”. This stuff is good.

[Kviteseid]

Is anyone else doing container tomatoe plant gardening?

I use Miracle-Gro (approx 8 Ounces) once per week... How does one check for adequate fertilizer?

software guys should never develop a gardening habit...

Help!

[Gabz]

Hi again, All. I try not to abuse this list but there are 2 things I would like to let everyone know -- so feel free to beat up for abusing the list for personal reasons, but please take a minute to read why I'm doing it.

First, I have to brag about my kids -- well actually my daughter and her best friend -- and their science fair project which was based upon the old stand by lemon battery experiment.

Their conclusion read in part:

Using crops can and does produce a certain amount of energy.

But too much has to be used to make enough energy to be useful. Using too much food crops means wasting food.

The lemons and potatoes we have been using for this project can no longer be used to eat, but we are not going to be wasting them. When we are finished with the project we will put them in the compost pile. The compost will later be used as food for the garden for growing more crops, like the potatoes we used.

They won 2nd place for their school's 4th & 5th grade division and now go to the district level. We're really proud of them.

Now that I've finished my bragging, on to my second thing. No bragging in this, but rather I wish to issue a public thank you to Diana in Wisconsin. I rarely go out to the mailbox because even at almost 10 our daughter still considers it a "big girl" thing to go to the mailbox and then sort it out and 'deliver' it.

In today's mail was a package addressed to Gabz and Jax (last name) from Diana. After getting over her initial excitement of the package and that I told her she could open it she commented, "Miss Diana really likes packing tape. Daddy can I have your pocket knife?"

I've met a lot of my FReeper friends in person over the years, alas I can not include Diana in that list, yet I consider her a true friend.

Thank you Diana, your package truly lifted my spirits today!!!!!

[P.O.E.]

I've got maple trees growing out of places I didn't even know were places. I'll probably just rake off the lawn and toss some "just in case" grass seed around.

My hyacinths and daffodils are just coming up now.

[Red_Devil 232]

You can’t do that! We are all wanting to know what was in the package? LOL

[gardengirl]

Thank you, Gabz! I have so much fun writing it! I thought I deleted the line about Easter being in the middle of April this year! Guess not! LOL

[gardengirl]

We’ve already had our bout, and not even 2 weeks of rain has rid us of all the pine pollen! Better than it was, tho!

[gardengirl]

Sorry, Red! Our temps are supposed to dip into the mid 40’s Mon and Tues night. You might want to cover your figs. They’ll take right much cold without damage, but 15 and 20 are pushing it.

[Gabz]

I can’t speak for it doing anything about squirrels because, to be honest, I haven’t seen a squirrel on our property in the 5 years we’ve lived here.

The hot pepper mixes do seem to keep the critters away without hurting the plants themselves.

We can’t stand the taste of Tabasco sauce and only buy it put into the mixes from Baker’s book. We figure he has a reason for naming that brand because he generally suggests using dollar store genrics for many of his other ingredients.

[gardengirl]

As long as it's not fresh, it shouldn't hurt. I was talking more about commercial fertilizers. :)

[gardengirl]

**Miracle-Gro (approx 8 Ounces) once per week...**

That’s fine—add a tablespoon of Epsom salt per gallon of water. You can mix it with the miracle gro. Most plants really like it, esp geraniums and roses.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!

OOPS, I hit post too soon, didn’t I?

SEEDS!!!!!!!!

Jax has already sorted out the seeds and determined which are hers and which are mine. I get the veggies and herbs, she gets the flowers!

There was also a fabulously inspirational book and some “make a kid happy” stuff. Diana is a wonderful friend.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!!

That’s why I posted this as April of 2006 — last year Easter was the beginning of April and this year it was in March!

[tob2]

I can believe just how heavy the fog was because one of our local channels showed footage from their web cam by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Could not make out a shape or see any movement at all. Scary! But, of course, the plants loved all the moisture.

[Red_Devil 232]

I think my “Brown Turkey” fig is not going to make it. It has yet to bud out like the “Celestial” and “Black Jack” figs. Those both have buds every where with tiny leaves developing. I will keep watering it and cross my fingers.

[Gabz]

software guys should never develop a gardening habit...

LOL!!!! My husband did construction before he went IT!!! He finds the gardening relaxing (except for cutting the grass)