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TRIED & TRUE GARDENING TIPS FROM A MASTER GARDENER
Each first-year Master Gardener, in addition to tallying 50 hours of volunteer work, has to complete a gardening project and report on it at a Carver/Scott Master Gardener meeting.
In November, Nancy Watschke of Eden Prairie gave each of us a fancy booklet she had prepared entitled "Tips! or Myths?" Her compilation of good ideas deserves a wider audience than just our group. Here are some of her helpful tips.
- Plant your vegetable or herb garden as close to your back door as possible. Your garden will be more convenient and easier to care for.
- Green peppers freeze beautifully without blanching. Remove seeds, chop peppers into medium sized chunks and slip into freezer containers. The technique works well for onions too.
- To control slugs and snails in your garden, spread sand, kitty litter, coffee grounds or crushed egg shells around plants. Protects your hostas, too.
- Tomatoes do their best in the right company. Preferred garden companions include asparagus, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, onions, peppers, marigolds, bee balm, basil, borage, parsley and sage.
- Strips of old nylon stocking work great for tying tomatoes and other vegetable plants to stakes because they stretch as the plant grows.
- Use spring-type clothespins to train vines and climbing plants to fences or trellises.
- Stretch woven wire fence along your cucumber row soon as plants begin to bloom. Cucumbers will climb the fence so fruit stays out of the mud and is easier to pick.
- Cooking rule of thumb: Vegetables that grow underground should be cooked covered, while vegetables that grow above ground should be cooked uncovered.
- To keep mint from spreading in a small space, plant it in a pot with the bottom cut out and bury the pot in the ground.
- To preserve basil for winter cooking, dry leaves and store in your cupboard in airtight containers. Don't crumble dry basil until you area ready to use it or it will release and lose much of its aromatic essence and flavor.
- Gather herbs in the morning soon as dew has evaporated from the leaves. The plants store up their essential oils during the night; they dissipate as the day goes on.
- Store gladiolas bulbs over the winter in old pantyhose. Hang them so air circulates around them.
- When planting bulbs, mix a tablespoon of bone meal in with each bulb. Bone meal provides phosphorous and helps plants develop a healthy root system.
- When planting small bulbs such as grape hyacinth, use an apple corer to dig the holes - it's the perfect size.
- After drying flowers, spray them with hair spray or shaping spray to keep the fragile petals, pistols and stamens intact.
- Placing a coffee filter at the bottom of pots permits water to drain through but keeps soil intact.
- When planting annuals in a very large pot or barrel with drain holes, fill the bottom half with packing peanuts and cover with landscaping cloth. Then fill container with potting soil. Planters will be lighter to move around and you'll spend less on potting soil.
- A simple $10 florescent shop light works best for starting seeds indoors. Hang the lights 2-3 inches above the seedlings. "Grow lights" are expensive and don't work any better.
- Two-thirds of all lawn fertilizer should be applied from mid-August to early November. The other one-third is best applied from mid-May to mid-June.
- Nitrogen fertilizer requirements of lawns are between 2 and 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet. A mulching mower can return as much as 2 pounds nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year.
- Time your pre-emergent crabgrass herbicide application as forsythia begin to drop their flowers and just before lilacs begin to bloom.
- Water your lawn when your steps leave "footprints" that don't spring back right away. Water lawn as early in the morning as possible to reduce evaporation. Morning watering reduces risk of disease compared with evening watering.
- Let ornamental grasses stand through the winter for healthier stands of grass and to provide an attractive contrast to the snowy landscape.
- If you see a tree trunk that is flat on one side, there's a good chance the tree is suffering from root girdling.
- Rid your house of mosquitoes, flies and spiders in the summer by hanging bouquets of dried tomato leaves in each room.
- Pests on houseplants can be controlled by mixing 1 tablespoon of dish washing liquid with 1 cup of cooking oil. Mix 1 teaspoon of mixture with 1 cup water and spray plants every 10 days.
- A pot of basil set on the back porch will keep flies away from the screen door.
- Keep cats out of your garden by sprinkling a mixture of ground citrus peels and cayenne pepper on the ground. The recipe for rabbits is equal parts flour, dry mustard and cayenne pepper.
- Paint the handles of your garden tools bright yellow so they're easier to find if misplaced in heavy foliage or tall grass.
- Avoid blisters from new wood-handle tools by sanding varnish and paint - smooth, natural wood handles reduce friction that causes blisters.
- Keep shovels, pitchforks and spades free of rust by storing in a 5-gallon bucket filled with oily sand.
- After the last mowing of the year (I should have told you in October!), scrape the underside of the mower deck and spray the cleaned surface with a light coating of WD-40 or CRC-56. This will prevent rusting and add years to mower life. Light coatings of these lubricants will also protect other lawn and garden tools from rust.
- Adding clean clay cat litter to your potting soil will loosen up the mixture a bit and add nutrients. It also helps retain moisture and is a good additive for compost piles. Never apply used cat litter to garden soil or compost.
- If you cut bittersweet before it pops open (while berries are still yellow), it will stay bright orange for at least a year.
- Attract hummingbirds to your yard by planting salvia, lobelia, monarda, trumpetvine and most other flowers that are tubular, brightly colored and bloom over a long season.
- To attract bees, plant hyssop, catnip, bee balm, lavender, lemon thyme, pineapple mint and lemon balm.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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