Posted on 03/16/2012 7:55:02 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning FRiends and gardeners! During the rain this past week, I've had a chance to do some reading and found some articles that may be of interest to you. So this week I am sharing links, and I hope you enjoy them and find some useful information. I also hope that you'll check in and let us know how your garden/garden planning is coming along.
In Kitchen Garden Creation, you'll learn about growing culinary and visual delights in the same place.
The following links are for those interested in improving the structure of their soil. If you have rocks or clay, or otherwise good soil that has been compacted, you will find excellent information on planting cover crops and the benefits of no-till planting.
Improve Your Soil With Cover Crops
Cover crops: blanket your idle vegetable plot this winter with a soil-building cover crop
Plant Cover Crops is an entire website dedicated to improving your soil through cover cropping and drawing earthworms. Second column from the right is an extensive list of categories covered. This is a must bookmark for any gardener.
Grow Spectacular Spuds is a great guide to growing taters. Seems that lots of folks on our garden list are interested in growing potatoes.
Plant Pollination: A Bounty to Buzz About explains the art of attracting nature’s best pollinators to your garden.
And, speaking of pollinators, I found some of my girls working over the holly hedge that runs along my front sidewalk, but oddly enough they won't touch the wisteria, that is loaded with an assortment of large bees, including carpenters and bumblebees:
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
You are absolutely right about Diatomaceous earth. It is a super thing to have around. We had a shade garden near one side of the house that became infested with snails/slugs. Diatomaceous earth solved the problem. You DO have to reapply after significant rain, but it’s great.
And guess what SUGAR does? It’s great for increasing the microbial content of the lawn, which can make it more difficult for some types of weeds. I discovered this when I was researching how to get rid of wild strawberry (which spreads like crazy and can infest any area via both its flower seeds and runners. It took hours of hand weeding (one small area at a time) to get rid of it....until I found this article: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lawns-725/Wild-Strawberries-lawn.htm
My husband was chuckling when I decided to try a test patch of sugar on a VERY solid area of wild strawberry in a patch of lawn near the driveway. However, I am having the last laugh...and am fairly surprised as well. This really works! I have since used it on other areas and I have just about won my war with wild strawberry. And my husband is now a convert to sugar. :-D
I will read that and look into it. I’ve got some patches of weeds to deal with.
That reminds me.......I read that using a sugar solution for transplanting trees increases their survival rate.
I had to transplant a couple trees, one before I found out about the sugar and one after.
The first one has basically not grown in two years. The other one I used the sugar on never set back and is thriving.
Here’s a link to some information. IIRC the original research was done in England and I can’t find it now. Basically, sugar water provides the tree with enough sugar to promote root growth which the photosynthesis from the leaves does not do quickly enough. I seem to recall that it was only a few tablespoons per gallon of water. I did it several times with a weak solution rather than making a strong solution and overdoing it.
Sugar Helps Trees Survive
http://www.garden.org/subchannels/care/soil?q=show&id=2427
Some information from a garden forum....
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bonsai/msg0314445021240.html
Wow...thanks! I wish I had had that info yesterday. We planted a new Gala apple tree yesterday afternoon.
I’ve bookmarked those links in my Gardening folder. ;-)
I’m going to try the sugar-water feeding for 4 weeks per the article....for my newly planted apple tree. I may include another young apple nearby. I’m also going to try this on a maple tree that was not well planted by the people who owned this property before we did. We’ll see what happens...
I will definitely try the sugar. We have some really tenacious creeping crud that just takes over if not weeded constantly.
I wanted to share one more thing about my use of sugar. I was concerned that this would be attractive to ants...and thus result in an *unintended consequence.* That has not been the case at all. My favorite time to use this sugar is right before a good rain. Sometimes I will do it as it’s raining...if we have no severe storms.
Thank you SPV for the sugar information. I’m going to try it. I have a patch of johnson grass, about 2 feet tall next to one of my raised gardens. I’ve been loath to use Roundup, because of plants in the garden.
Cherry trees are in full bloom right now
This year marks the centennial that Japan gave Washington DC an incredible gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees.
I’m calling my daughter in ‘dead battery’. She has to be at work at 6 at the flattest part of Austin, and if I have to go kill that battery myself she’s not driving out into this at 5:30p.
I planted 2 pear trees, 3 blueberry bushes and 4 blackberry bushes today. Ordered 7 more fruit trees that will be here in a week. Still have 11 red raspberries and 8 gold raspberries to get in the ground.
Hope your peach trees are free from any cold snaps! I really think warmer weather is here to stay.
Such beauty in a such a spoiled city.
If I ruled the world, ev'ry day would be the first day of spring
Every heart would have a new song to sing
And we'd sing of the joy every morning would bring
A beautiful song by Tony Bennett. ENJOY!
You are way ahead of me with your veggies. Getting ready to direct sow some cukes, okra and sweet peas. Need to get the sweet corn planted, but the rain isn't letting the field dry out enough to get the tractor in there. The storm line you had is going to be here late today or early tonight.
Fox & Friends played “If I Ruled The World” last hour. :)
Thanks for the sugar info! With all the trees I’ll be putting in the next couple of weeks, I’ll give it a try. For the 2 Kieffer pears that I planted yesterday, I’ll sprinkle some sugar around the base before the rain later today.
My little local hardware store opened a garden center over the weedend. Finally got over there today, and it is so nice, I couldn’t believe the variety of roses ... walked up and down rows speechless. The had gorgeous blackberry and raspberry plants and I’ve never seen prettier veggie plants. Hope they keep it up the way it is now!
Big rains here in Marshall,Tx this morning. It is looking like an all day rain event or at least all morning.
Stormline is just getting here. Wife went into H early, at 4:30, for some OT. She is the only one there, she suspects everybody caught in traffic and storm at once. Out here in the neighborhood, we often loose power in storms for 6-14 hrs, plus there is a creek that overflows the banks about 600ft in front of the house in the Sam Houston forrest. Fortunately we are on a hilltop and not in the floodplane.
txhurl: I hope your daughter stayed safe and at home. I will investigate those Hill country sites that you recomended.
I wish the front and rain would move East a little faster. It just keeps streaming up from the Gulf and looks like it will continue into the afternoon for this area!
The day we got the rental truck unloaded here in our new digs a big T-Storm rolled through here in the evening and caused the power to go out for about an hour and a half. Luckily I always keep one of those six volt lanterns in my truck, easy to find. Lit up the whole kitchen when setup aimed at the ceiling.
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