Posted on 02/01/2008 6:27:10 AM PST by Gabz
Aren’t you glad that February is our shortest month? Whoever designed the calendar knew well what they were doing. February is dark and drear, cold and melancholy. A time for staying indoors and hiding like a bear, dreaming of warmer weather and sunshine, of flowers and green, growing things. The sooner it’s over, the better. Maybe this February won’t be so bad. Can you believe that some of the trees still had leaves well into January? On the other hand, did you notice how heavy the hollies and pyracantha were loaded with berries this year? Wonder if that portends cold yet to come or just acknowledges the fact that we had an extremely wet summer and the plants took advantage of it? Although, we had almost as much rain the two previous years and they didn’t show fruit like they’re doing this year. We’ll just have to wait and see. Put some bird seed out and feed our feathered friends! Their bright colors and amusing antics are as good as any circus.
Did you ever wonder why the same plant can have so many different names? Plants can be named for place of origin or color (Texas Bluebonnets), growth habit (giant, dwarf, creeping, weeping), fragrance (Banana shrub), and many carry local names as well (myrkle bushes). It can be very confusing! The same common name may apply to dozens of different plants, depending on where you live and what plants are grown in your area. That’s why, if you want the true name of a plant, most horticulturists use the Latin names. The Latin names tell you a great deal about the plant, although they are not always the descriptive names we tend to love. Lupinus texensis is the Latin name for Texas Bluebonnets. Lupinus means the plant is a member of the lupines, plants which have pea-like blooms. Texensis means it comes from Texas. The common name, Bluebonnet is said to come from the fact that they resemble a woman’s sunbonnet, blue of course! While descriptive names are much prettier, and more beloved, Latin names don’t change from one area to another. So Acer rubrum is always red maple, no matter where you live. Acer meaning maple, rubrum describing the color. Quercus is always oak, with all its many different varieties . Japonica tells you where the plant originated, in this case, Japan, or Chinensis, China. Latin names are used to classify plants and to identify them. Don’t worry if you’re not sure how to pronounce the Latin names, no one else is either!
Asparagus is one of the oldest vegetables known to man, and you either love it or hate it. It’s also one of the few perennial vegetables. (Can you think of another? Hint: it’s more of a northern crop, not liking our heat and humidity. It is used to make pies and jams, among other things.) The Romans recorded methods for growing asparagus and recipes for cooking it, and Caesar Augustus described “haste” as being quicker than you can cook asparagus. Asparagus likes rich soil with lots of compost. Pick a sunny spot you don’t plan to use for anything else, as asparagus beds can last 15 to 25 years, sometimes even longer. Dig a trench in well composted soil, anywhere from four to ten inches deep and allowing about 18 inches of space between plants. Asparagus is usually planted from one year old crowns, or root masses. Cover the plants at first with a just a couple inches of soil, gradually adding more throughout the summer, until the trench is filled. Sadly, you don’t get to harvest the first year. Some sources say harvest the second year is fine, some say wait until the third year. Like growing anything else, theories abound. Go with whatever works best for you. Asparagus plants are beautiful, lacy looking additions to any garden or flowerbed. (Think asparagus fern.) Plant some now and see what happens next year!
There are lots of things that need doing this month, if you can dredge up the energy and enough daylight. Fruit trees and shrubs need to be sprayed with dormant oil to kill any over wintering pests. Remember to fertilize your pecan trees this month using a 10-10-10 with added zinc, one to two pounds of fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter at breast height. That means, if your pecan tree trunk, measured about four feet off the ground, is ten inches thick, then you would use ten to twenty pounds of fertilizer. Spread it out to the dripline, which encompasses the area beneath the tree’s branches. If you haven’t pruned your roses yet, it’s not too late, especially since some of them still carried leaves last month. Prune bush type roses back to about 18 inches. Climbers don’t need to be pruned unless they are dead, diseased, or in your way. Martin scouts will be showing back up in late February or early March, depending on the weather, so get your Martin houses cleaned and put back up. If you haven’t done so already, send soil samples to the state college so you know how much fertilizer and what kind you need. After all the rain last year, the soil is really depleted. Sample boxes can be picked up at local garden centers or at the Ag Extension office. This service is free, except for the postage.
If you’re going to plant an early garden, now is the time. Things you want to get planted this month include; cabbage, broccoli, onions, peas, Vidalia’s, potatoes, snow peas, beets, carrots, rutabagas, and turnips.
If the dreary weather is getting you down, take heart! Soon Daffodils, Forsythia, and Hyacinths will be blooming, the first of the spring birds will be showing back up, and warmer, greener days will be close at hand.
please add me to your ping list, Thanks.
Craig
Wow. I envy you. :)
Which reminds me-anyone else have a problem with yellow-jackets last summer? I had to stay inside for weeks!
You’ve got it!!!!
I agree with you about the destructiveness of the deer. But I’m doing my part to deal with the problem. Venison for dinner tonight!!!!
As to the yellowjackets, I have a problem with ANY stinging insects, even mosquito bites are a problem for me. Yellowjackets, wasps, and bees are particularly scary to me because of the reaction I have. Deep Woods Off is an absolute staple in this house.
Don’t get me started on deer flies and greenheads.........sheesh.
If there is a stinging insect within 100 miles, it is going to find me.
Yep, I’ve done something similar with paper towel and TP rolls as well. I cut them up, water the soil, and push the roll segments 3/4 of the way into the soil. Then I sow seeds, cover with potting mix, and label. It seemed to help keep seeds/plants separate.
I planted some tomato seeds that way last year. I just transplanted them once they seemed too big for the container, and had success with this. This year, I’ve decided to try this with flowers as well. I still plan to make bigger newspaper pots for squash and melons though, as they seem to grow large so quickly.
trisham—check your shrubs for cottony cushion scale. The yjs are after something. CCS lloks like mealy bugs, jsut bigger. They esp like pitts, nandinas, and a couple other popular shrubs.
Side note—here goes my cat side again—yjs die each winter. The only one to survive is the fertilized queen. She overwinters in a rotten log or something similiar. When the weather warms up, she goes out, selects her site for this year’s nest, and starts laying eggs. Good thing they do die off or we’d be in a world of hurt!
you left out the sandgnats! Grin! If you have ashortage of any of them, just let me know—I’d be glad to contribute to your cause! Deer, too!
Thanks, but no thanks....I’ve got more than my fair share of ALL of the above.........and I haven’t even gotten into the fleas, ticks, and lice :)
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Thanks-I'll look for that. The yellow-jackets and wasps seem to be particularly interested in me.
Soory! I’ve always heard they go for sweet stuff!
Wasps can be a pain, but they realy do lots of good stuff. Those cabbage loopers on your collards and cabbage? Wasps feed on them. They stun the loopers, carry them back to their nest and entomb them so that when the baby wasps hatch, they’ve got a ready to go buffet right there.
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I keep telling myself that. Last summer was the first year we've ever had a problem with them. A wasp came after me into the house and stung/bit me. I had to go on antibiotics for almost a month to get rid of the resulting infection.
I love “gardening on the cheap” and I work in a Garden Center where we sell all sorts of useful (but not really necessary) supplies. ;)
Ouch! Sounds like you better keep a good dose of benadryl close!
Wasps will also eat the sulfur moths that lay the loopers. If you kill the moths, next month there won’t be as many. Evidently they come back to where they were hatched. They run on about a month cycle, and they’re worse on a full moon.
I was doing something with our collards one fall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a sulfur moth. I held my position, whipped my hand out when it got close enough and snagged him so I could squish him. Unbeknownst to me, a wasp already had the moth. He wasn’t very happy, and I definitely wasn’t after he stung me. On my ring finger, no less. I didn’t even think about it—came in the store and put some ice on it, took some ibuprofen.
What a maroon! I thought I was going to have to have my wedding ring cut off.
My husband was mowing the lawn late last summer, when a wasp flew out of the woods, landed on his mouth and bit him.
I do keep benadryl on hand. Also, an inhaler.
Watch the color of your clothes, as well. I think yellow is an attractant.
Sorry for your husband. Talk about ouch!
The worst I ever got scared over a sting—my youngest was about 6 months old, nothing but a diaper on. I stepped out the front door at my inlaws with him laid back in my arm. A wasp dropped from the overhang, landed on his chest directly over his heart and stung him. We live 20 mins from the hosp. If he’d been allergic, I wouldn’t have made it to the end of the driveway. Thank God he wasn’t. He was not a happy camper.
Wow. You must have been terrified. Poor baby! What an experience for a six month old.
[sigh]
I am thinking of dumping all the seed packets on one 3x3-foot square of ground, to see what (if anything) comes up. On second thought, I'll probably just write the whole lot off as a loss. (I mean, trying to use four-year-old seed... how cheap is that?)
He’s tough. Good thing.
If the seeds didn’t get wet, they should still come up—the germination will probably be very poor. Depends on what they are. Don’t you hate it when you do that?! Try keeping your seeds in the frig or freezer—they’ll last a lot longer.
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