It's finally time to garden
Patience, gardeners. It isn’t easy waiting until that imaginary “clear” frost-free date to plant tender green material in Nebraska.
Usually May 10 is the magic calendar number. Some folks prefer to use Mother’s Day as the time for planting.
And usually you can hedge your bets, plant some containers, or maybe a tomato or two, and cover them if the temperature dips to freezing.
Not this year.
This year, the patient gardener was rewarded.
We waited through a particularly cold and snowy winter. Then waited some more through a wet and cold spring.
But those who jumped on the first nice day to plant were unpleasantly surprised when cold struck again.
Hopefully, everyone took the extra time to rake their yards, clearing away leftovers from last year and throwing them into the compost heap.
Or reworked their topsoil, adding peat or “cooked” compost to enrich their dirt with nutrients.
Or cleaned out last year’s pots, getting rid of any disease that may have been in the lingering soil.
But finally, its OK to get your annuals out of the house and into the ground.
Right now, the coast seems clear. (But keep your sheets ready for an overnight cooldown, just in case.) Ready, set, plant.
10 gardening tips
By following these quick, easy and helpful tips, your garden is sure to be healthier and more beautiful this year.
THE DOS:
1. Prune roses. Remove blackened and weak stems, but don’t prune too hard. Leave healthy canes of floribundas and hybrid teas at least 1 foot above the ground.
2. Prune wisteria before it leafs out to promote flowering.
3. Remove old foliage around the new growth of perennials. Keep mulch several inches away from the stems. This will help prevent disease or rotting.
4. Plan to grow tomatoes in containers this year. It’s easy, fun, and you’ll get great tomatoes. Try Celebrity tomato, which grows well in containers.
5. Plant Geranium Rozanne, the 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year. It’s supposed to be a long bloomer and will do well in partial shade.
THE DON’TS:
1. Prune your flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed.
2. Plant shrubs too close to your home’s foundation — read plant labels and allow for growth.
3. Forget how much rabbits love tender plants. Try some of the organic sprays (like Liquid Fence) to discourage their nibbling without hurting pets.
4. Forget to use compost and organic mulches. They reuse natural materials and are safer for the living organisms in your garden.
5. Use full-strength liquid fertilizers every time you water annuals — you will burn the roots of your plants. Remember, less is more.
Source: White Flower Farm
Plant buying checklist
So many plants. Tall ones, short ones, blooming ones and the ones with multicolored foliage. Which ones to buy?
Only you can decide the specific plants that you want in your garden, but here are some general guidelines.
-- Make sure the plant has a label. These tell the basics: sunny or shade; how big it will get; how far apart to plant it; and how cold it can get before your plant dies (aka which zone it works best in).
-- Pick buds over blooms. This shows new growth is coming and the bloom period will be extended.
-- When buying annuals, look for new growth at the base of leggy plants and no (or at least few) roots growing out of the pot base.
-- When buying perennials, look for multiple stems or crowns, fuller, not taller, growth — and remember, they don’t have to be blooming.
-- When buying shrubs, check out pleasing branch structure, no insect damage and full growth.
-- Keep the receipts for perennials, shrubs and trees.
Most nurseries have a one-year guarantee on those plants.
Gardens don't have to cost a mint
Times are tough. Many of us will make our trips to the nursery with less to spend this year. But that need not mean less gardening — in fact, home gardening can be the essence of thrift. Here are some ways to get as much enjoyment out of gardening as ever on a lower budget.
1. Do it yourself. Cancel the lawn service and mow your own lawn (or make the teenager do it). Rake your own leaves. Do your own spring yard cleanup. You’ll get some healthy exercise, pay more attention to your plants and what they need, and reduce the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions from your yard — as long as you resist buying any new power tools and do the raking by hand.
2. Sow from seed. Seeds are cheap. Many annuals, such as cosmos, sunflowers and marigolds, can be sown directly in the garden in mid-May, though they won’t bloom right away like bedding plants purchased in flats. Try parsley as an edging. Perennials sown this season mostly won’t bloom until next year, but you will be able to make a big splash for a fraction of the cost of a single 1-gallon plant.
3. Make compost. Don’t pay to remove bags of plant waste that could break down into the best of soil amendments. Go to www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/compost to see how to get started. Use lots of compost in the soil of your vegetable beds, and you’ll need to apply much less fertilizer. Instead of bagging leaf clippings, let them stay on the lawn and break down. It’s good for the grass and, contrary to myth, does not cause thatch.
4. Swap for plants. In spring, experienced gardeners in the neighborhood may be dividing their perennials or digging up surplus seedlings. Find something you can swap for them. It doesn’t have to be plants; maybe it’s home-baked cookies or errand-running. But be sure that the plants are appropriate for your site and soil. A plant that doesn’t thrive because it’s in the wrong place — or turns out to be an aggressive thug — can soak up a lot of fuss, bother and money.
5. Water wisely. Keep water bills low by watering only as much as your garden needs. Get a rain gauge and watch it. Water a lawn long and deep once a week, but only if there hasn’t been about an inch of rain. Deep, infrequent watering encourages roots to go deep, where they can find water and resist drought without a lot of watering in August. If you have an irrigation system, learn to set the controls and set them intelligently. You could be wasting a lot of money by mindlessly letting the sprinklers come on too often.
Chicago Tribune
Making deck gardens work
Sometimes the deck is the only place you have for a garden. Here’s how to make it work.
-- Pick plants for your exposure, whether shady, partly sunny or full afternoon sun. Each requires different choices.
-- Group pots in varying sizes and uneven numbers for a more interesting display.
-- Use a bowl as a centerpiece with a potted plant set into it.
-- Saucers set under pots will keep moisture out of wood. Be sure to pour off excess water after heavy rainfall.
-- Use hanging baskets to raise your garden.
-- Use fresh soil every year.
-- Fertilize when you water the plants.
-- Pay attention to watering. In hot weather, that can mean daily.
— McClatchy Newspapers
‘Backyard Farmer’ offers advice on gardening
Kim Todd, horticulture educator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and NETV “Backyard Farmer” moderator, shared some of the most asked gardening questions this time of year.
-- When do I put down my pre-emergence, and can I overseed or seed at the same time?
-- What do I use to kill creeping charlie and when? How about henbit? (Same questions.)
-- When do I prune (fill in the blank). The question is usually for lilacs, and the answer is: After they bloom and includes the caning out.
There is not much for pathology questions this time of year, with the exception of the brown needles on pines. This is both environmental (drought stress, dry soils, wind and cold) in the case especially of white pines, and pathological for spruce and Austrian pines — several needle blights.
Insect questions are typically the avoidance of worms in apples — when to spray for what — and people are wanting organic options.
Horticulture questions are huge right now — mostly about what to plant where, she said.
“Backyard Farmer” airs Thursdays at 7 p.m. on NET. For more information, go to byf.unl.edu/.
— Lincoln Journal Star
Usually May 10 is the magic calendar number. Some folks prefer to use Mother’s Day as the time for planting.
And usually you can hedge your bets, plant some containers, or maybe a tomato or two, and cover them if the temperature dips to freezing.
Not this year.
This year, the patient gardener was rewarded.
We waited through a particularly cold and snowy winter. Then waited some more through a wet and cold spring.
But those who jumped on the first nice day to plant were unpleasantly surprised when cold struck again.
Hopefully, everyone took the extra time to rake their yards, clearing away leftovers from last year and throwing them into the compost heap.
Or reworked their topsoil, adding peat or “cooked” compost to enrich their dirt with nutrients.
Or cleaned out last year’s pots, getting rid of any disease that may have been in the lingering soil.
But finally, its OK to get your annuals out of the house and into the ground.
Right now, the coast seems clear. (But keep your sheets ready for an overnight cooldown, just in case.) Ready, set, plant.
10 gardening tips
By following these quick, easy and helpful tips, your garden is sure to be healthier and more beautiful this year.
THE DOS:
1. Prune roses. Remove blackened and weak stems, but don’t prune too hard. Leave healthy canes of floribundas and hybrid teas at least 1 foot above the ground.
2. Prune wisteria before it leafs out to promote flowering.
3. Remove old foliage around the new growth of perennials. Keep mulch several inches away from the stems. This will help prevent disease or rotting.
4. Plan to grow tomatoes in containers this year. It’s easy, fun, and you’ll get great tomatoes. Try Celebrity tomato, which grows well in containers.
5. Plant Geranium Rozanne, the 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year. It’s supposed to be a long bloomer and will do well in partial shade.
THE DON’TS:
1. Prune your flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed.
2. Plant shrubs too close to your home’s foundation — read plant labels and allow for growth.
3. Forget how much rabbits love tender plants. Try some of the organic sprays (like Liquid Fence) to discourage their nibbling without hurting pets.
4. Forget to use compost and organic mulches. They reuse natural materials and are safer for the living organisms in your garden.
5. Use full-strength liquid fertilizers every time you water annuals — you will burn the roots of your plants. Remember, less is more.
Source: White Flower Farm
Plant buying checklist
So many plants. Tall ones, short ones, blooming ones and the ones with multicolored foliage. Which ones to buy?
Only you can decide the specific plants that you want in your garden, but here are some general guidelines.
-- Make sure the plant has a label. These tell the basics: sunny or shade; how big it will get; how far apart to plant it; and how cold it can get before your plant dies (aka which zone it works best in).
-- Pick buds over blooms. This shows new growth is coming and the bloom period will be extended.
-- When buying annuals, look for new growth at the base of leggy plants and no (or at least few) roots growing out of the pot base.
-- When buying perennials, look for multiple stems or crowns, fuller, not taller, growth — and remember, they don’t have to be blooming.
-- When buying shrubs, check out pleasing branch structure, no insect damage and full growth.
-- Keep the receipts for perennials, shrubs and trees.
Most nurseries have a one-year guarantee on those plants.
Gardens don't have to cost a mint
Times are tough. Many of us will make our trips to the nursery with less to spend this year. But that need not mean less gardening — in fact, home gardening can be the essence of thrift. Here are some ways to get as much enjoyment out of gardening as ever on a lower budget.
1. Do it yourself. Cancel the lawn service and mow your own lawn (or make the teenager do it). Rake your own leaves. Do your own spring yard cleanup. You’ll get some healthy exercise, pay more attention to your plants and what they need, and reduce the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions from your yard — as long as you resist buying any new power tools and do the raking by hand.
2. Sow from seed. Seeds are cheap. Many annuals, such as cosmos, sunflowers and marigolds, can be sown directly in the garden in mid-May, though they won’t bloom right away like bedding plants purchased in flats. Try parsley as an edging. Perennials sown this season mostly won’t bloom until next year, but you will be able to make a big splash for a fraction of the cost of a single 1-gallon plant.
3. Make compost. Don’t pay to remove bags of plant waste that could break down into the best of soil amendments. Go to www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/compost to see how to get started. Use lots of compost in the soil of your vegetable beds, and you’ll need to apply much less fertilizer. Instead of bagging leaf clippings, let them stay on the lawn and break down. It’s good for the grass and, contrary to myth, does not cause thatch.
4. Swap for plants. In spring, experienced gardeners in the neighborhood may be dividing their perennials or digging up surplus seedlings. Find something you can swap for them. It doesn’t have to be plants; maybe it’s home-baked cookies or errand-running. But be sure that the plants are appropriate for your site and soil. A plant that doesn’t thrive because it’s in the wrong place — or turns out to be an aggressive thug — can soak up a lot of fuss, bother and money.
5. Water wisely. Keep water bills low by watering only as much as your garden needs. Get a rain gauge and watch it. Water a lawn long and deep once a week, but only if there hasn’t been about an inch of rain. Deep, infrequent watering encourages roots to go deep, where they can find water and resist drought without a lot of watering in August. If you have an irrigation system, learn to set the controls and set them intelligently. You could be wasting a lot of money by mindlessly letting the sprinklers come on too often.
Chicago Tribune
Making deck gardens work
Sometimes the deck is the only place you have for a garden. Here’s how to make it work.
-- Pick plants for your exposure, whether shady, partly sunny or full afternoon sun. Each requires different choices.
-- Group pots in varying sizes and uneven numbers for a more interesting display.
-- Use a bowl as a centerpiece with a potted plant set into it.
-- Saucers set under pots will keep moisture out of wood. Be sure to pour off excess water after heavy rainfall.
-- Use hanging baskets to raise your garden.
-- Use fresh soil every year.
-- Fertilize when you water the plants.
-- Pay attention to watering. In hot weather, that can mean daily.
— McClatchy Newspapers
‘Backyard Farmer’ offers advice on gardening
Kim Todd, horticulture educator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and NETV “Backyard Farmer” moderator, shared some of the most asked gardening questions this time of year.
-- When do I put down my pre-emergence, and can I overseed or seed at the same time?
-- What do I use to kill creeping charlie and when? How about henbit? (Same questions.)
-- When do I prune (fill in the blank). The question is usually for lilacs, and the answer is: After they bloom and includes the caning out.
There is not much for pathology questions this time of year, with the exception of the brown needles on pines. This is both environmental (drought stress, dry soils, wind and cold) in the case especially of white pines, and pathological for spruce and Austrian pines — several needle blights.
Insect questions are typically the avoidance of worms in apples — when to spray for what — and people are wanting organic options.
Horticulture questions are huge right now — mostly about what to plant where, she said.
“Backyard Farmer” airs Thursdays at 7 p.m. on NET. For more information, go to byf.unl.edu/.
— Lincoln Journal Star
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