Garden Questions of the Week

“Where do we rent core aerators and slice seeders?” Check with your local tool rentals.  In the Mason area, we use Econowise Tool Rental!  As a matter of fact they’re easy to get to no matter where you live in the Cincy area.  www.econowiserental.com There are a lot of thinned out lawns this fall.  If your neighborhood has several lawns in need of rejuvenation, think about renting a core aerator and slice seeder to be shared with your neighbors.  You could have a lawn rejuvenation weekend party on your street, and share in the equipment costs (and maybe some of the labor as well!).

“Can I spray the crabgrass first, and then seed later this week?” -Nope, unless you’re using Roundup or Kleenup (which kills everything you spray it on).  Most weed killers have a waiting period of 4-6 weeks before you can seed.  Bonide’s Weed Beater Ultra is 2 weeks.  Nevertheless, in many cases, crabgrass juts laughs at weed killers this time of year.  You may be better off raking or pulling it out (shallow rooted), or just slice seeding right thru it.  The blades usually cut a lot of it off at ground level.  If not, the new grass will start to grow up thru the crabgrass clumps, and the crabgrass clumps will die after the first frost or two (while the grass keeps growing).  Make sure you use a pre emergent next spring.  Thick lawns and pre emergent herbicides – your best two defenses against crabgrass.

“What type of grass seed do you suggest we use in our lawn?” -Unless you’re doing a new lawn (or total renovation), you’ll need to match the type of seed you use with the type of grass already growing in the lawn (or something compatible with the existing lawn).  If you’re not sure what you have, take a 12 inch square of the sod to the garden stores and see if the grass types can be identified.  OR, visit www.scotts.com and go to the “Indentify your lawn” section.  They have great pictures of the different cool season grasses (and descriptions) for you to compare and make the call.  Personally, I like the turf type tall fescue blends, but these must be sown by themselves.  TLC (with Titan Limited), Turner 5 Way, and Scott’s Tall Fescue Blend are all good blends to consider.

And don’t forget to apply a starter fertilizer when you sow new seed.  It’s a must!

“I’m going to spot seed a few small bare areas in the lawn.  Do I need to out straw over the new seed?” Nope.  That’s one of the good things about seeding in the fall.  In most cases you can get away from using straw and lower the chances of dealing with wheat or weed seeds from the straw, as long as you keep the soil evenly moist.  I might suggest you look at the Scott’s EZ seed.  Seed (with water absorber), fertilizer and mulch all in one shaker can.  Perfect for spot seeding in the lawn!

“I see spring bulbs are available in the stores.  Can I plant them now?” I wouldn’t.  I’d suggest waiting until October.  Let the temps cool down and then plant.  Buy your bulbs now so you’ll get the selections and colors you wanted, but wait to plant.  By the way, use an actual bulb food like Espoma’s Bulb Tone, versus just bone meal.

“I have been killing poison ivy all summer and still have it.  You said a couple years ago it would get worse and you were right!  Anyway, the vines on a chain link fence have been killed – leaves browned and falling – also has shriveling berries.  Can the plants I have killed still give me a rash?  Do new plants grow from the berries?” -Poison ivy does continue to get worse every year!  And yes, those vines are very toxic!  So are the dead leaves and the berries (berries are eaten and carried by birds and other critters and distributed around for new poison ivy to grow!).  Studies have shown the dead vines to remain toxic for many years.  So protect yourself when pulling them out of the fence.

Garden Questions of the Week

“What plants can I still be planting in my veggie garden?” -Buying transplants this time of the year may be hard to find, but many are sown from seed.  Consider veggies that take 60 days or so to mature, or that enjoy cooler weather.  Examples include cilantro, dill, beets, most greens, peas, garlic (for next year), turnips, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, kale, radishes, onions, herbs you can pot up and take inside for the winter, etc.  And with a quick addition of a low hoop house or straw bale walls with plastic across the top, you can extend the fall growing season even longer.

“Is it too late to treat the lawn with a weed and feed?” -I wouldn’t.  As a matter of fact, I’m not a big one to use a weed and feed period.  With the September seeding season coming up, I’d concentrate on getting the grass recovered from the summer, getting new grass growing, and then possibly look at a weed killer to be applied in mid to late October if needed.  That’s a great time to go after many weeds in the lawn.  If you do seed in early September, make sure the new grass has been mowed 3 times before applying a weed killer to the lawn.  Again, mid to late October is one of the best times for broadleaf weed control – and use a water soluble weed killer to spot treat the weeds!  Be sure to check out our Success Tip of the Week on evaluating your lawn.

“When is the best time to lime my lawn?”  -Spring or fall and make sure that it’s not hot weather.  Now, the real question here is whether or not your lawn needs to be limed?  Personally I would never add lime to the lawn or garden (unless around tomatoes to add calcium) unless the soil was tested and required lime.  There are a lot of soils out there that do not need to be limed.  Was once an old habit to ‘sweeten the soil’, but now we know to ‘sweeten the soil’ if the soil test says we need sweetening. J

“Is it too late to plant things like roses, azaleas, and spruce trees?” -Actually, our landscape crews are planting new plants every day.  As long as you can water regularly, go ahead and plant.  Don’t forget that fall is the best time to plant just about everything, but if it’s available now and you can water, go for it.

“Do you have a cure for pesky raccoons?” -Not really.  If they get into the trash cans, pouring bleach on the cans has worked for me.  I have heard some folks soaking corncobs in vinegar, then placing those soaked cobs around the garden or where you don’t want the raccoons.  You may want to try that!   For corn patches, I have heard good results from growers who planted around the corn with squash, cucumbers, etc.  I guess the raccoons don’t like the sharp edges of the leaves and hesitate going through it to get to the corn.  And, of course, low electric fences or using the electronic motion detector of the ‘ScareCrow’ from ConTech may help.

“Ron, you mentioned getting several reports of in ground bee, wasp or yellow jacket nests.  What should we do if they are a problem?” Well, here’s a quote from our good friend The Bug Dog – “I’ve forced myself to be very unafraid of wasps buzzing around me or even landing on my arm or clothing. In most cases, they are simply inspecting me to determine if I’m food or not! On the other hand, if one strikes me or persists in buzzing loudly in front of me, I must assume that I may be close to a nest and this worker is giving me a warning to move away. Honey bees, bumble bees and many wasps do give “warnings” if you are willing to listen! Stinging is really the last resort and the behavior can be very risky for the bee or wasp. Honey bees actually die after stinging because their barbed stinger gets stuck and pulls off the tip of the abdomen when the bee departs.   My general recommendation about social bees and wasps is to try and avoid getting near their nests. They’ll be gone after the first hard frost. However, if you happen to find a nest that has been built under the mulch in a flower bed, a hole in the lawn, or other place where you may regularly need to perform maintenance, control may be necessary. There are all kinds of wasp and hornet aerosol sprays on the market, but these are generally inadequate for control of bees and wasps that nest in the ground or in wall voids. Only the umbrella wasps, Polistes, can be easily hit with these sprays. If you can locate, during the day, where the yellowjackets or bumble bees are entering their nests, try to determine where the wasps or bees land before crawling into the nest chamber. Make a mental note of this. Your strategy will be to dust this area with an insecticide, AT NIGHT, when the bees and wasps are unlikely to fly or be disturbed. My favorite insecticide to use is Sevin 5% or 10% garden dust, but you can find other garden dusts with pyrethroids. Thoroughly dust the landing spot with the dust so that the next day most of the bees or wasps will walk through the material. Once they walk through the insecticide dust, the insects will carry the material into the nest. There, the bees and wasps will groom themselves and each other, distributing the insecticide throughout the colony. I’ve been pretty successful at knocking out a colony with one application, but sometimes a rain or irrigation can wash away the insecticide dust, so another application may be necessary in a few days.”   –Dr. Dave Shetlar (The Bug Doc)

“Do you know of a recipe for making a leaf shine for indoor plants?” -Yes, many.  But they aren’t recommended any more.  The best thing for your plants is to wash them off in the shower or tub and wipe down the leaves.  Don’t use leaf shines.

“My lantana had flowers, but now has small purple berries and no flowers.  Any ideas?” -Yes, it went to seed.  Cut off those seed heads, and clip back tips of the plant.  Hopefully we’ll get it to re-grow and keep flowering.

“I have tomato hornworms on my tomatoes which are in planters up on a deck area.  How did the hornworms find my tomatoes?” The adult moth finds the plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes) and then lays eggs on the undersides of the leaves.  By the way, it could be tomato or tobacco hornworms, as they both feed on the same plants.  To tell the difference, the tobacco hornworm has 7 diagonal white stripes and a red horn / tomato has V-shaped markings and the horn is black).

“My Autumn Joy Sedum always flops over this time of the year.  What can I do to prevent this?” - Place a grow ring or peony ring over them before they start to grow in the spring (for support), or cut them in half late May/early June.  This delays flowering by a couple weeks, but keeps them shorter, stockier, and less apt to flop over.

“My magnolia has flies and bees and wasps all over it.  I do notice some bumps along the stems and the stems and leaves seem to be getting a darker color.  What’s going on and how to I get rid of bees and flies?”  -Sounds like a good case of magnolia scale – a sucking insect which is hiding underneath those bumps along the stems.  Long story short, magnolia scale is controlled with dormant sprays (oils) in late fall or early spring, as well as insecticidal sprays early to mid August thru mid September to kill the ‘crawlers’ as they hatch and move along the stems.  Soaps, Hort. Oils, Orthene, Malathion, Sevin, all can be used (2-3 applications). You may also try an application of systemic (Bayer or Bonide Tree and Shrub Insect Control) insecticide as a soil drench for added help.

“When is the best time to dig and divide iris?” -August is dig and divide iris month!

“Where can we find Naked Lady bulbs to plant?” -If you know someone growing them, they can be dug and divided after they finish flowering.  Natorp’s Garden Stores do have them ordered to be sold with their spring bulbs (September).

“I have webbing with caterpillars in it on the ends of some of my tree branches.  What is it and how do I get rid of it?” -Sounds like Fall Webworm.  They feed on the leaves inside that webbed area.  Usually not an issue this late in the season.  But you can blow them off the branch with a strong stream of water, or if spraying is needed, use BT.  Make sure they’re in the bag and make sure your spray penetrates the bag.

Garden Questions of the Week

“What is the difference between a sprig of dill and a head of dill?  I’m going to try and make pickles.” -Sprig of dill would be using the actual dill foliage, where the head of dill is the flower gone to seed – the dill flowers on top, and then produces seed – and you would use that whole thing.  If you want dill to come back in your garden, let it go to seed and it will reseed itself.

“My crabapple is loosing leaves like crazy.  They get spotty, turn yellow and drop.  Is the tree dying?  What should I do?” -Get a leaf sample into the garden stores for someone to see and identify the problem, but my guess is apple scab.  It’s very common, and we’re seeing it like crazy right now.  Some years are worse than others but this year seems to be a good year for scab.  Apple scab is a fungus that infects the leaves early in the season and by mid summer, the summer spores have your crabapple leaves turning yellow with brown to olive green spots.  And these leaves start dropping like crazy.  In some cases, trees may come close to total defoliation by the end of the summer. The good news here is that it’s a very common problem that is bad one year and not so bad the next, and usually doesn’t take a major toll on the tree.  Infected crabapples seem to bounce right back the following year.  So what can you do at this stage?  Not a whole lot, besides collect the fallen leaves and pitch, and prune your crabapple in the winter so it is more open to allow better air circulation and sun.  This helps the leaves to dry faster.  And you can spray a preventative fungicide starting early May thru mid June or so.  And if you’re looking to plant crabapples in the future, don’t forget there are many great scab resistant crabapples for you to plant so you won’t have to worry about any of this.

“When are the best times to water the lawn?” -I think between 5 and 9am.  Next would be late afternoon / early evening.  Worst is during the middle of the day (evaporation / possible scorch).  Next is during the night, only because you may be setting the lawn up for disease problems.

“A friend gave me a sprig of mint. I have it rooting in water.  Sun or shade, and is it true that it spreads like crazy?”   -Sun to part shade is best, and yes, for most selections of mint, they can be, let’s say, somewhat aggressive and invasive.  Rita Heikenfeld always asks attendees of her classes who grows mint?  Then she asks who wishes they didn’t?  Usually, the same hands stay up, only because it is so hard to control.  BUT, that’s where container gardening can come in handy.  If you use in ground barriers, make sure some of the barrier also sticks up above the soil a couple inches to help prevent the mint from jumping out.  J

“We have little mounds of fine dirt underneath some of our plantings and noticed very large bees / wasps going in and out.  Not aggressive, but what can we do to get rid of it?” -Sounds like a cicada killer wasp, just in time to take care of those dog day cicadas.  Males have no stinger, and females not aggressive (will buzz to scare you but not to sting you – similar to the carpenter bee activity).  Holes in the ground are for the larvae and the female will go get a cicada and shove it in the hole for the larvae to feed on.  And no, the holes won’t hurt the surrounding plants.  Interesting to watch.  Extra mulch and keeping the soil moist will help move them on.

Garden Questions of the Week

“My cherry tomatoes have grown and grown and keep growing.  They’re growing past my supports.  Can I trim the top without killing the plants?” -Remember that if a tomato is an indeterminate, they just keep growing all year (and keep flowering and setting fruit) until they get frosted.  And cherry tomatoes are known for having vines 8-10 feet plus.  Yes, you can top them without killing them, but it also stops new growth and new flowers.  Hopefully you’ll get some lower side shoots that will come along and flower and set fruit.  I usually say once the cherry tomato outgrows the cage or support, just let it grow wherever it wants.  They usually just hang back down.  By the way, I am growing Husker Red Bush Cherry tomatoes in containers this year.  Will keep you posted how well they produce.

“Please tell me how to get rid of a yucca.  Little baby yuccas keep growing and some are huge all of a sudden!” -Let me just say that it took 3 years for me to get rid of a yucca, with the 4^th season sending up one scrawny sucker.  I pulled, dug, and sprayed with Roundup for 3 years until the roots finally gave up.  Be sure to get on them as soon as they appear.  Don’t let them get “huge all of a sudden”.  Our goal is to eliminate foliage and starve out the roots.  Stick with it – get it early and often, and eventually it will stop coming up.

“I planted daylilies for the first time this year.  After they bloom, a big green pod appears.  What do I do with it?” -That’s an attempted seed head.  Cut it off, stem and all.  Deadhead your daylilies and try to keep them from attempting to go to seed.  It makes for a much better plant, and helps re-bloomers to re-bloom!

“Now that the daylilies are finished blooming and looking yellow, should I trim them for a better appearance?” -Yep.  Get rid of that yellow and brown foliage.  If it gets to a point where its all yellow and brown, cut it all off.  They’ll re-grow and look nicer for the rest of the season.  Remember, although spring and fall are the best times to divide daylilies, it can be done anytime after they’re finished flowering, with exception to the re-bloomers, who I would leave alone so they’ll re-flower (deadhead, feed, and water to encourage the next flush of color).

Garden Questions of the Week

“My landscaper nicked the bottom of part of our tree trunk with the mower.  The tree stands 70 feet tall.  Will it be affected by this accident?” -Hard to say without seeing the tree and the wound, but let’s just say it’s not a good thing!  Yes, it can survive depending on the amount of damages.  If your landscaper is not comfortable making a suggestion on severity, I would possibly suggest having a certified arborist stop by and evaluate the damages.  In the meantime, not much you can do besides remove any loose bark, create smooth scar lines and let it start the process of sealing over.  Do not use tree would paint or dressing on the wound.  Let it seal by itself.  By the way, this is where I may suggest you consider mulching around the tree.  Mulching around trees helps to prevent the dreaded “lawnmower and string trimmer blight”, along with many other benefits.

“Suddenly some of my tomatoes have been cracking on the top!  What happened?” -Although some tomatoes are more susceptible to cracking than others, this is usually the result of the soil being dry, and then getting a hard rain or thorough soaking.  The water causes the insides to expand quicker than the skin, and they crack.  Keeping even moisture in the soil, as well as mulching around the plants really helps to reduce tomato cracking.  By the way, they are still edible when they crack – just won’t last very long.

“”I have lots of these little bugs (I call them roly-polys or little armadillos).  What are they called, are they doing damage, and how do I get rid of them?”  -Where do we start? Roly Polys, Armadillo Bugs, Slaters, Wood lice, Monkey peas, Bibblebugs, Pillbugs, Sowbugs – they have a bunch of names!  They’re actually crustaceans, and they’re just about everywhere.  They cannot control water evaporation from their bodies, so cannot stand the sun or dry conditions.  Which is why they feed at night, or you find them in debris, mulch, moist areas, soft spots in trees, rotting roots, etc.  They are debris eaters, but have been known to feed on roots, small seedlings, lettuce, and over ripe fruit.  Eliminate their hiding and feeding areas – Bonide’s Home and Garden Insect Control has them listed, but rarely sprayed for.  They’re eating the debris!

“We planted potatoes this year, they flowered which surprised us, and now they have these tiny green balls where the flowers were.  What can you tell me about this?” -Most folks don’t think about potatoes actually flowering, as they are a root crop.  But they do flower, and it can be somewhat attractive.  But in some cases, the flowers will then set fruit, which is what you’re seeing – small green cherry tomato like fruit, which actually has seeds inside.  Yes, you could grow potatoes from those seeds, but as with many plants, the new potato plants may not be like the potato plants they came from.  Which is why potatoes are propagated from seed potatoes.  By the way, that fruit is toxic, so be sure no one eats them!

[You know it’s hot when the trees are whistling for the dogs.]

Garden Questions of the Week

“You used to recommend ‘Over the Top’ by Fertilome for spraying grass growing in landscape plants.  Did I hear you say there are other products now?” -Yes!  I still recommend ‘Over the Top’, but now you will also find ‘Grass Beater’ by Bonide and ‘Grass B Gon’ by Ortho.  These products are used to help control weedy grasses that have invaded landscape plantings – kills the grasses but won’t harm desirable plants.  Remember, they kill weedy grasses only, and be sure to read the label before use.  There are many landscape plants not listed on the label.  If not, you may want to experiment first on a small part of the desirable plants to make sure you can spray over those plants without harming them.

Lot’s of questions about deadheading, including:

“Is it necessary to deadhead daylilies, and if so, where do I cut them?” -It does help the overall health of the daylilies if you have the time and can deadhead them.  Wait until all flower buds have opened on the flower stem, then remove stem and all back to where it comes out of the plant.

“How do I deadhead my garden lilies when they’re finished blooming?” -When the flowers are finished, remove the entire spent flower head right back into the existing foliage.  Let the garden lily foliage stay green until it starts to yellow and brown, and then remove it just above the ground – similar to the way we handle the foliage on spring flowering bulbs.

“Should I deadhead the spent flowers on hydrangeas?” -Depends on the hydrangea and the look you’d like, as some flowers can be fairly attractive as they age.  If the hydrangea flowers all summer like the Endless Summer Series, remove spent flowers to help promote new growth and more flowers.  If the hydrangeas flower once in the season, then either enjoy the flowers as they age, or you can deadhead by clipping out the flower just above the leafy growth below the flower.

“Should I deadhead my Knock Out roses?” -One of the beauties about the Knock Out roses is that they are self deadheading.  But, if you have the time, clipping out those spent flowers just above a lower set of leaves may help speed up the re-flowering process.  But it isn’t needed if you don’t have the time.  Don’t forget to deadhead annuals as their flowers are spent as well.  Keeps them cleaner looking, fuller, producing more foliage and that means more flowers.   Be a deadheader in your garden and your plants will reward you for it.

“I thought I heard you say something about using Rolaids on vegetable plants.  Can you help me here?” -I did!  We were talking about preventing Blossom End Rot on tomatoes, by keeping good even soil moisture and adding calcium to the soil.  Lime, gypsum and Espoma’s TomatoTone all add calcium, but for a quick shot, grind up a few Rolaids or Tums and work in around the plant’s roots.

“I have two Euonymus plants and they are becoming covered with a white flaky substance on stems and lower leaves.  Powdery mildew or scale?” -Best guess is Euonymus scale, especially if it’s flaky.  Dormant sprays (late fall / early spring), spraying the active crawlers late May thru June, and pruning out heavily infected areas and pitching it away help get this scale under control.  Systemics may help, but these methods are most effective.  I’ve seen some cases (heavy infestation) where it is best to just remove the plant and replace with another.

“I have a very large river birch in my front yard.  It has four trunks and is twice as tall as my ranch style house.  The problem is that it seems to have a bad case of bugs or something.  The leaves turn yellow and fall constantly.  I treated it with Di-Syston twice and twice more with a product called Bayer Advanced.  Either I’m using the wrong stuff or I’m not applying it right.  I sprinkled the granules around the base of the tree and watered it in.  On one application, I even scratched it more into the soil before watering.Do you have any ideas?” -Unless you see or are aware of an insect issue, let’s stop the use the systemic insecticides. (Or any insecticides if you don’t see anything or not sure what you’re treating for.)  River birch will naturally shed yellow leaves from the inside of the tree, and usually do it worst going from spring to summer.  But we are seeing it lasting longer in the season, and at different levels of severity, and believe there are many factors that will increase or decrease the levels of leaf drop including soil moisture, soil compaction, lack of oxygen in the soil, low nutrients, insects / disease could be an additional factor, temperatures, chlorosis / soil pH, location, and the individual tree itself.  Interesting thing is, assuming it’s just a natural leaf drop, they do it almost every year and come right back the following season strong as ever.  Get leaf samples and picture of trees to a local garden store for someone to see – also look for chlorosis.  Or, contact a certified arborist to stop by and look at the trees on site, just to be sure.

Garden Questions of the Week

“I read where I should water my container plantings until water runs out the bottom of the pot.  I do that, but they seem to dry out really quick.  Am I watering the right way?”  -Great question, as I read that bit of watering information in gardening information all the time!  If I just watered my containers until water came out the bottom, it doesn’t take very long for the water to run out of the bottom, especially if they’re close to being dry!  Water will come out of the bottoms pretty fast, and there’s a real good chance that I did not thoroughly soak all of the potting soil!  I water until I feel that I have totally saturated the soil and more.  Water will run out of the bottom right away, then slow down as the dry soils expand, then start back up again.  And once I’m finished soaking them, the water usually drains out for another several minutes which is exactly what we want.  By the way, as we get into the heat of the summer, watering will increase naturally.  You can help reduce your watering by mulching the tops of the pots (just like the landscape beds), and by adding Soil Moist to the soil (if you didn’t when you first planted).  Simply create several small channels down into the soil (down deep into the potting soil) and sprinkle in a few Soil Moist crystals, then back fill.  Now you’ve created channels of water storing polymers that will help reduce your watering. 

“Do soaker hoses really work?”  Yes, they “really work” if you leave them on long enough to do what you want them to do, and that’s slow drip deep watering.  But many folks don’t let them run long enough to deep water.  We can’t tell you how long the hose needs to be on for a deep watering.  You’ll have to physically dig down and see how deep it has watered during the amount of time it’s been watering.  Then calculate times needed.  But for a slow drip watering (with little to no runoff or evaporation) in annual, perennial and landscape beds, a soaker hose does a nice job – assuming you let it ‘soak’ long enough.

“I was wanting to plant tomatoes in pots this year, rather than bother with a big garden. How big in diameter and how deep do the pots have to be? Can I just use 5 gallon buckets??”   -You sure can!  Just make sure you drill holes in the bottom and or lower sides to allow for good drainage.  5 gallon buckets or larger is the perfect size for tomatoes.  I’ll even go larger – bigger the better!  Good luck with them.

“Is it okay that my tomatoes lower leaves are turning yellow?”  -Not really.  Yes, they will do that naturally as the vines grow, but they can also get a few soil borne diseases that start on the lower limbs and work up the plant.  Might suggest you pick off the lower leaves about 12-14 inches above the ground, and mulch around the tomato plants.  Removing the lower leaves takes away surface areas for soil borne diseases to splash up onto, and the mulch helps create a barrier between the soil and the plant to reduce diseases splashing up onto the plant.  By the way, with heavy rainfalls, the rains can actually beat the oxygen out of the soil, as well as leaching out many of the nutrients.  As the soil dries, a little hand cultivating (stay away from the plants roots) and a light side dressing of an all purpose garden food may be needed. 

“I removed an invasive trumpet vine last year (cut it down, dug up what I could, and sprayed with Roundup), but nothing has kept this plant from re-growing all over the place, including the grass.  Help!”  -It will take patience and continuing to do what you’re doing.  They try to re-establish thru existing roots and seeds.  So it usually takes a couple years to get rid of the plant.  Keep removing seedlings as they pop up, either by hand digging or spot treating with Roundup.  In the lawn, you can spot treat with a turf weed killer.  Over time, the seeds stop germinating and the roots decline and stop trying to re-grow.  But in the meantime, you have to keep after the seedlings so they cannot replenish energy back to the old roots.  Good luck – you’ll get it eventually.

“I want to grow hosta and Japanese maples at my home in Florida.  Will they grow there?”  -This is where two things come in handy: hardiness zones and local independent garden stores / nurseries.  Both plants are listed hardy zones (3 and 5) thru zone 8, which is as far south as Georgia.  The zone numbers go higher as you progress into Florida.  Also, check with your local independent garden store or nursery to see if they sell them or recommend trying to grow them in your zone.  And, look around the neighborhood.  Do you see anyone growing them in the area?  First blush I would say no.

“Are there any good all purpose insecticides for me to use on our vegetable garden?”  -Yes, there are many good choices out there, including those that are a bit more eco-friendly.  But not all the sprays cover every bug you may experience in the vegetable garden.  Again, make sure you know what it is that you’re spraying to control, and then make sure that insect is listed on the label.  NO spray covers everything!  There’s the big gun like Sevin (which is actually very low in toxicity to humans, pets, livestock, etc, but extremely toxic to bees) that covers a multitude of insects, Eight from Bonide that covers a multitude of pests, Captain Jacks Deadbug Brew (certified organic), Bt for caterpillars, Ortho’s new Max Fruit and Veg. insect control (covers over 150 bugs) – it just goes on and on.  So make sure you know what you’re trying to control, make sure it’s on the label, use it only as needed, and no matter what you use, try to avoid spraying when bees are active.  By the way, now that we’re into the summer, be sure to read the label for temperature restrictions when applying any insect, disease, or weed controls.  And never apply to plants that are drought stressed.  And also read the label for how soon you can harvest after spraying.  They may range from same day to 2-3 weeks. 

“What would you suggest to use to help get rid of several large patches of weeds in my lawn?”   -Once again, let’s first determine what the weeds are before we recommend any types of weed killers.  Get a sample to the garden stores or email pictures to us so we can try to determine what they are.  Second, let me ask this – if we successfully killed the patches of weeds now, what would be left in those areas?  If nothing, then you’re faced with bare ground in the middle of the summer.  And not exactly the best time of the year to be messing with watering and nurturing along new grass seed (as weed seeds will probably out grow the grass seed).  It may be best to let those weeds grow for now (they’re green), and then address the situation come early August, as we approach the best time for seeding and sodding – late summer / early fall.  By the way, October is one of the best times to spot treat with weed killers in the lawn!