What's Up summary of this week's news
Janet Macunovich and Steven Nikkila help you grow
Issue #182, May 27, 2012
Scroll this Summary of the What's Up news.
Each title takes you to a fully illustrated article.
This week: 20 new articles with 101 new images
What's coming up this week
Top stories of plants and procedures.
For peonies in a vase: Snip them in bud -- no ants taken in,
none required.
Bonus: Peony plant stays healthier when it's deadheaded, and
why.
Tips for better cut flowers: Clean water, separation from bananas,
no one-sided light and leaving the best to seed your garden.
A primer for planting well and tending container gardens so they
just keep getting better right into fall. Start with a light, airy
soilless potting mix, water well, and then fertilize like a pro and
deadhead ruthlessly.
Fallen behind, or just overwhelmed on a regular basis? Track
your work in a small, important area, use that to make a realistic
estimate of what-all you can do, then apply. Examples in a small
garden, large project and regarding individual plants. With tips
for finding garden help.
What's going on in Janet & Steven's gardens
Redbud wants to be 30 feet tall, we can allow 15-20. Illustrated
how-to.
Gold Mop false cypresses reclaimed from being too tall,
foliage-thin and awkwardly shaped.
Many Japanese maples and other frost damaged trees now have all
new foliage. Most are still in the process of pushing new growth
from bare wood. Give plants yet another week before pruning as more
bare wood may revive.
We are keeping a chronological report and damage lists on
GardenAtoZ.com and on our Forum.
We feel very sad for those who thought the earlier frost damage
was death and removed a tree before it could re-leaf.
You plant the tomato only a few inches deep but it performs
based on an 18-inch root run. How we perforated a buried rocky hard
pan to make a grand new vegetable bed.
Some big trees lost all their leaves to frost, produced another
set... and used double the water. A tree draws heavily, from a big
area. Look now at which understory plants need supplements.
Green thumbs up and down
Can the joy of spare clean gloves cancel out the burden of
heavy, sticky mulch and a wimpy low-tire garden cart?
Tip cuttings: What's of special interest on the Forum
Have you battled quack grass in a lawn? Have ideas for others
waging that war, or want ideas for your own fight? Other than to
tear up the lawn and start with new sod, that is...
We're listing, and gathering, ideas for effective Search of ours
and others' sites.
These insects leave squiggle patterns in the leaves, but they
don't kill the plant. In fact, it's pretty tough to kill columbine!
So we have options, including a quick, drastic cut.
No frost in the ground this past winter, so the runners ran
further around. On the other hand, climbing hydrangea's flowers may
have fizzled forlackof cold. In our news and
on our Forum.
Our Mentors say...
We are never alone in the garden, for the gardening advice that
came to us from a parent, neighbor or other veteran gardener grows
on.
Mom's voice comes back to Janet with every tomato set in deep
and on an angle. You can net a few extra tomato roots, too, and a
stronger plant, if you like she taught.
More stories below, we simply pause for this plea:
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and other good stuff at our Market.
The 45 mph garden: It's catching driver's eyes and raising
questions this week.
Enough said! They must be seen to be known, sniffed to be
rated.
Aiming for answers: Hit or Miss
"What happened next" from previous articles. Celebrating the
hits, updating the misses.
To clean a blade in case of disease, dip or wipe with 10% bleach
or 70% alcohol for 30 seconds. However, experts now say that it's
more important to work dry and clean ourhands.
We haven't meant to "cut you out." We have more Garden by Janet
& Steven sessions and talks planned. Bookmark our calendar! For
pruning, don't miss Conifer College July 12.
Big mistake, Big lessonWhere big blunders become great
treasures.
Under
the fence, an edge overlooked
Gardening along a fence? Don't forget to plant a root barrier to
stop the low level creeps that will try to invade your yard.
Stumper: Laughing together to salve problems that have no
solution.
Once again, we see the flowers, then right away the wilt and
dead vines. Let's make it the last year for such disappointment,
and look into resistant replacements.
Once in a great while, all the gloves come home to roost. For a
chance at a new pair of great gloves, want to guess how many
flocked at our last gathering?