Posted on 04/18/2008 8:31:09 AM PDT by Gabz
Taking an early morning walk this time of year is a singular treat, like Dorothy stepping out of Auntie Em’s house into the color and sound of Oz. The same things that are always there, only instead of Winter‘s drabness, Spring’s full and glorious color. Each walk is accompanied by a symphony of birdsong, a riot of color bursting everywhere. Fallen jasmine blossoms scatter themselves on the ground like the famed yellow brick road, and blooming things pop up everywhere like the fabled Munchkins.
And then, as if the colors and sounds aren’t enough, just to add a little spice, spider webs and silk threads abound. A nice, soothing walk interrupted by a moment of terror as an invisible spider web smacks you across the face. Frenzied panic as you claw at the strands, trying to get them off, as if each strand is composed of skin eating acid. Your heart is pumping, your adrenaline is flowing, because some spider, somewhere, manufactured those invisible strands. It’s not the spider webs themselves we object to—it’s every human’s fear of the monster in the closet. If there’s a spider web, then it stands to reason that somewhere close by, possibly on the very strand stuck to your face, is the spider that spun it.
To top it all off is the humiliating thought that a fellow human is watching you do the spider dance, snickering while they sympathize, glad it‘s not them. Your dogs are laughing themselves silly, watching their human leap and scratch at an invisible assailant. Heads cocked to one side, they seem to be asking the canine equivalent of—“Do you have fleas? You need a bath?” Isn’t it wonderfully amazing how our clothes reflect the changing seasons? My youngest son, even at four years old, was a very opinionated clothes horse. He told me in no uncertain terms what he wanted his Easter outfit to be. Since I was going to be the one making the outfit, we had a little more leniency in choices. He wanted Peter Rabbit grass green pants, and a matching vest and tie, so off to Wal-Mart we went. He was very specific about what he wanted on his vest and tie. If I remember correctly, we found the perfect print, a V.I.P. print by Cranston Print Works. Either someone at Cranston had been listening to a child describe Easter, and April, or they were very much in touch with their inner child.
My son informed me that the fabric for his vest and tie had to have green grass, daffodils, Easter eggs, bunnies, chickies, robins, and other assorted critters and Spring flowers. That’s about the most inclusive summation of Spring I can think of. The colors were matchless, too. Peter Rabbit grass green, sunshine yellow, browns and pinks and blues and whites—all the colors that best describe Spring, printed on a single piece of exactly right fabric. We couldn’t have custom designed a more fitting tribute. Needless to say, my son’s fourth Easter was a great success. Hope your Spring is as happy and colorful and perfect as that one was!
April isn’t just colors—it’s sounds. The earliest spring peepers croaking from every ditch—if frogs are a measure of health, then our area should be winning awards! Some nights you can barely hear yourself think for their welcome racket. Whippoorwills—their distinctive cries are never so loud as right now. The Great Horned owls are sending out their mournful hoo-hoo’s, serenading us late into the night. The sounds of tillers and tractors, and the first strains of lawn mowers add their hum and buzz during the day like a well orchestrated symphony.
Time to get ready for some serious gardening! A few start earlier, and some wait. If your ground is ready and the temperature is right—go for it! The very worst that will happen is another cold snap and you’ll have to start over. If not, then you’ve got an excellent head start!
Many good reports came back on the Crista tomatoes, the ones resistant to Tomato Spotted Wilt. Keep in mind, this is not the wilt that lives in the soil and causes a perfectly healthy plant to look as if it’s had boiling water poured on it just as it starts to bear. TSW is the one that stunts the plant, or kills it outright. There is another variety that some people had success with last year, one called Amelia.
Good reports back also on the straw bale gardening! Many people tried it and seemed very pleased. Less weeding, less disease and insects. Keeping the straw bales watered seemed to be the biggest challenge! Whether you’re doing plants for squash and cukes or starting your own from seed, remember to keep the stems dusted with some kind of pesticide. It will help keep the squash vine borers from getting a toehold.
A few other reminders for this month: Don’t forget to fertilize your lawn and shrubs, but do remember to wait until the end of April or first of May. Done too early, fertilizer can cause the grass to be too tender and green. If we get another cold snap, the tender shoots will be harmed worse. If you’re going to put out warm season grass seed, end of April is a good time to do it. Bermuda and Centipede won’t germinate until the soil temperature is around seventy.
Azaleas don’t need to be fertilized until after they’re done blooming, but other shrubs will benefit from some liquid fertilizer— both regular and acid kind, mixed with some Epsom salts, equal parts of each. Then when you do your lawn, they’ll be ready for the granular fertilizer. The liquid fertilizers and the Epsom salts give them a little bit of a jump start and help to correct the soil ph, especially if the shrubs are close to the foundation of your house.
Get out there and go have some gardening fun!
“Is it the same with a tomato plant?”
As far as pinching off the first blossoms, I do it if the plant is still small (under 6”) and was stressed from being in a 4-pack and I’ve rescued it from negligent owners at a ‘garden center discount bin.’ ;)
Otherwise, for me, it depends upon the type of tomato and the length of your growing season.
How far ahead are you? My tomatoes go into the garden May 31st, at 8-10 weeks old. Are your tomatoes already in the ground? How many days is your growing season, or are your plants still in starter pots and are “tall” because they’re starved for light?
I need these facts to give you an ‘educated guess-timate,’ LOL!
These guys are well established and doing great, so far, about a foot tall right now with nice strong stems about as big as a little finger. They have been in the ground for about 3 weeks.
I would take those first blooms off, then. You have plenty of growing season ahead of you and taking off the blooms will give you stronger, bushier plants. They’ll put their energy into roots, versus fruit. (And yes, a Tomato is a FRUIT! So is a Pepper.) Did you know that the “fruit” on a Strawberry is actually each of the annoying little seeds and NOT the juicy berry? That’s just the “host.” It’s true!
Leave the cherry tomato alone, because you’ll be old and gray before you get all the blooms off of a cherry tomato plant, LOL!
I will leave my Cherry tomato alone.
Thanks for that info. How long should I continue to nip the buds off?
My wife and I can not believe how wonderful and freash these home canned tomatoes have been! Just nothing like them!
I haven’t grown tomatoes in 15 years but I think the first blossoms are male and do not produce fruit. I forget how you tell but I think the female flowers have tiny fruit already.
Just take the buds off this once and then let the tomato plant continue on in its growth cycle.
Thanks Diana.
I removed the buds on all except the cherry this morning, turns out after careful inspection every one of my plants had buds in different stages.
Things are moving fast. My zucchini and cucumbers are blooming also, all male right now.
I also have two eggplants that are doing well. Nice large leaves and about 8 inches tall with new growth. I have never grown eggplants, any advice would be welcome.
Most stores don’t have much of a selection on garden insecticide, but I found some garden dust at Lowe’s. It has rotenone and copper as well. I don’t know if the copper is good, but it was the only one with rotenone I could find. I also found some neem oil concentrate. I will probably rotate applications of these and see how that works.
Thanks for the info.
My grandmother, who was from the old country, could garden like no one else I knew. It never got passed on and now I’m in a position of having to relearn all that lost knowledge.
I think it is in my genes. My mother loved anything to do with gardening. I remember when I was in the sixth grade and a neighbor had just done a lot of work in his yard to plant a lawn. I went to over to watch. He dug up and leveld his back yard and I watched. I can't remember what he did but he exposed a rabbit's den, is that what they are called? Four very small baby rabbits, eyes still closed, were exposed. I pick them up and brought them home. I put them in a box with some grass. I showed her what I had and she was very upset that I had disturbed them. I told her where I found them. She and, I with coaching, nursed them until they were very healthy and could no longer stay. She took me to a field and we released them.
Anything she touched seemed to just grow!
It’s amazing that they survived. Good job.
Only that wild things don’t do well being hand raised. It’s hard to do it just right. Not any reflection of your ability, because obviously it was good.
“I have never grown eggplants, any advice would be welcome.”
They are a little more “fussy” than peppers. Don’t let them get a chill, and keep an eagle-eye out for Flea Beetles, which are the bane of anyone who grows eggplant.
Personally? I can’t stand the stuff, so I don’t use garden space for it. They’re a VERY pretty plant, as is Okra, but neither trips my taste bud trigger, LOL!
A quick note to all. Every state has a Cooperative Extension staffed with people who can answer your questions about when to plant, prune, feed, etc. for your Zone. Most counties also have Master Gardener Volunteers to help you, too. They are a great resource for home gardeners.
Actually I’m trying to get a couple of boxwood shaped azaleas to look at little more natural, but I can’t seem to get them to fill in at the bottom.
The trick is to make cuts at various spots along the branches. Make some cuts deep inside the bush, others midway, and some just tip cuts. Don’t ever cut more than 1/3 of the bush. So, it will take a few years to get squared off shrubs to look natural.
We need our weekly fix!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.