Garden Questions of the Week

“Do you know of a way to kill mushrooms that keep growing in the moist spots in our mulch in one of our beds, preferably a natural way if possible?”  -Yes I do.  Kick them, stomp them, hand pick them, mow them (in the lawn), or get out your 9 iron and practice your golf swings.  Hey, they’re already teed up for you!  All ‘natural’ controls.  Sorry, but no actual controls for mushrooms besides physical removal.  They’re all a part of the decomposing process.

“When do I prune my lilacs?”  -Try to prune them (if needed) within 2-3 weeks after they finish flowering, to help ensure flowers again next year. Remember, prune plants that bloom in the spring after they finish flowering.  And with the lilacs, it’s ’soon’ after they finish flowering!

“I had a large stump ground out and now have a large pile of wood chips.  Can I use those for mulch around my flowers, shrubs and trees?”   – I wouldn’t.  They need to be composted first, for several months, and then use them.  Add some grass clippings, manures, coffee grounds, natural fertilizers, etc to the pile and let them cook.  Should be good to go for late fall.  (Fresh wood chips will deplete the soil of nitrogen and other nutrients as they decompose, causing damages to the existing plants.  Under larger mature trees it may not be much of an issue, but for smaller plants – definitely.) 

“You have been talking about the 2010 AARS winning rose called “Easy Does It”.  Is it a Knock Out rose?”  -Nope, it’s a floribunda rose and was the only 2010 award winners.  It is showing extremely good disease resistance (the growers have informed me that its disease resistance is very close to that of the Knock Out, and so far, it looks good), but will require some deadheading, unlike the Knock Out.  But that makes it a lower maintenance rose and that’s what I like – and the flowers on this one are unbelievably gorgeous!  You have to see it to believe it.

Garden Questions of the Week

“I haven’t gotten any vegetables planted yet and it’s the middle of May.  Am I getting too late?”  -Are you kidding?!  J   I’ve just barely started planting my container gardens, and usually don’t finish until sometime in June!  And although I see a few gardens starting to fill with veggie plants, we have plenty of time for planting most veggie plants.  Especially tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, etc, as well as direct sown seed veggies.  HAVE AT IT!  (Same for fruit trees, grapes, berries, etc.)

“What is the name of the houseplant that you are always talking about that anyone can grow indoors?”  -It’s Zamioculcus zamiifolia, or commonly known as the ZZ plant.  Grows like a bush – gets 3-4 feet tall, and as wide as the pot its growing in.  Glossy green leaves, nice looking plant, and about the only way to kill a ZZ plant is to try and grow it in complete darkness, or keep it too wet.  If you can’t grow a plant indoors, guaranteed this one will work for you.  Tolerates medium low to bright light, and only needs watering when totally dry, thanks to their tuberous roots.  The ZZ plant – expensive, but guaranteed it’s worth it.

“I have small trees growing up around the trunk of our crabapple we planted last year.  Should we let those grow or what do we do with them?”   -Those are ’sucker’s trying to sprout up from the root system.  More than likely, your crabapple is grafted onto another apple root stock, and those roots are also trying to grow – very common, as many select trees are grafted.  Clip the suckers off.  Do not let them grow.  To help keep them growing, use a product called “Sucker Stopper”. This product will keep them from re-growing for most of the season.  Really saves a lot of time.

“The ends of my white pines are covered with beige colored finger like structures and I can’t tell if it’s a bug or disease or the tree is dying.  Have you seen this?”  Sure have!  Those beige colored structures are the male flowers of the pine.  And the beige colored dust that flies off is the pollen.  On many pines, the beige structures are the male flowers and the purple structures at the tips are the female flowers, which once pollinated, begin to develop the cones.  All a part of the plant’s processes – but definitely seeing more this year than I’ve seen in a long time!

“I’m seeing a lot of commercials about the Topsy Turvy upside down tomato hanger.  Is that a good way to grow tomatoes?”  -Well, let’s just say that it’s not the best way to grow tomatoes, but it does work, and it does afford us the opportunity for vertical gardening where only something can be hung up rather than placed on the ground or patio. Lot’s of folks have been successful using them, they’re a great conversation piece seeing a tomato grow upside down, and usually do best growing the smaller tomatoes like cherry, grape, and yellow pear.  But any tomato will work.  By the way, my dad was the pioneer of growing the first upside down tomato right here in Cincinnati Ohio.  He grew the first one out of the bottom of a 10 inch hanging basket (had to water it 2-3 times a day!) and eventually went to a 5 gallon pickle bucket.  Too bad he didn’t invent the Topsy Turvy!

“I believe someone was mentioning a product to help cut my time back on watering the container plantings?  Do you know what that was?”  – Sure do and it’s a product that is about the size of a large grain of sand.  It’s called Soil Moist, and the small polymers really are the size of a large grain of sand.  When mixed into the potting soil, the crystals soften and swell as water is added and absorbed.  When your potting mix dries out, the polymers will release their water back into the soil to help water the plants.  They act sort of as a reservoir.  And, the expansion and retraction of the polymers during this process helps soil aeration, which is another benefit for using Soil Moist!  By the way, when adding Soil Moist, make sure it’s incorporated into the soil at root level of the plants, not at the top or on the soil surface.  Now, if you have a container that is already planted and want to add Soil Moist, you can!  Simply take a pencil or dowel and poke several holes down into the soil mix.  Sprinkle a few crystals into each hole, and then backfill with the potting mix.  Now you’ll have water channels of Soil Moist for your already potted containers.  One last thing – make sure you read the label and follow the instructions.  The first time I used Soil Moist (many years ago), I didn’t read how much to add, over did it, and after I watered my planter, the extra polymers swelled up and pushed my plants right out of the pot!