home, lawn & garden 2013
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Home, Lawn & Garden 2013TRANSCRIPT
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How to succeed at gardeningTIM ROHWER
Growing a healthy garden can be fun, a local expert said, but there is some work involved.
Ken Cohrs, a Master Gardener from Underwood, said there are two ways to get going. One of them is to simply buy young plants at a retail store then proceed to plant them in the yard. The other option is to grow the seeds indoors.
“It’s much cheaper than buying plants,” Cohrs said of the latter. “And, you can make your own choices to suit your needs.”
Just buy a planter box, place the seeds into the soil, add a little water and place the container where there is sunlight, he said. Or, purchase a grow light, Cohrs said.
Many people are growing gardens in this fashion, he said, including himself.
“It’s a good hobby and lots of fun.”He recommends having eight
hours of light daily on these seeds to help them grow.
It’s takes about four to six weeks for seeds to mature for planting, so now is the time to start growing those seeds if gardeners are taking that approach, Cohrs said.
Vegetables can be classified into two groups: Early or ground crops and above ground crops, he said. And, the time to plant them is different.
Ground crops like radishes, peas, onions and potatoes should be planted by the middle of April. Above ground crops like tomatoes, melons and cucumbers can wait until the
first part of May before planting, Cohrs said.
After planting, one inch of water weekly should be applied to the ground, he added. Obviously, if it rains during the week, then less manual watering would be needed. If there isn’t rain, then manual water-
ing to one inch would be required, he said.
Currently, the ground in this area is dry for lack of moisture dating back to last summer, but recent snows have helped, he added.
Water isn’t the only thing needed for healthy plants. They need fertil-
izer, also, Cohrs said.“It doesn’t take that much for a
vegetable garden, but only use gar-den-type fertilizer. Don’t use farm-type fertilizer because that is too strong.”
Fertilizer made up of a nitrogen/potash/potassium mix is good for gar-
dens, he said. If unsure on what may be needed, people should take a soil sample and take it to their near-est Iowa State University Extension office for professional guidance, Cohrs said. Those offices also have do-it-yourself kits available.
Gardeners need to prepare the ground by spading or using a rotor til-ler. Gardens should be placed where the plants will get maximum sun, Cohrs said. There should also be adequate drainage.
“Stay away from walnut trees,” he warned.
These trees emit a toxic substance, harmless to humans, but potentially deadly to plants grown too close to the tree, Cohrs said.
Use mulch to control weeds, he added.
“If you’re a beginner gardener, I would start small. I would even use window boxes.”
The public is invited to a Master Gardener seminar on March 30 at The Center, 714 S. Main St. in Coun-cil Bluffs, where he and other experts will provide helpful tips on growing healthy gardens.
Submitted photo
Ken Cohrs, a Master Gardener from Underwood, said growing seeds indoors before planting outside is much cheaper than buying plants. Just buy a planter box, place the seeds into the soil, add a little water and place the container where there is sunlight, he said. Or, purchase a grow light, Cohrs said.
When to plant:
• Ground crops like rad-ishes, peas, onions and potatoes should be planted by the middle of April.
• Above ground crops like tomatoes, melons and cucum-bers can wait until the first part of May before planting.
Ashlee [email protected]
With spring beginning March 20, many people are anxious to get out into their yards and get planting.
For those looking to plant colorful spring flowers, here’s a list of the perfect bloomers that will do well so early in the season.
Blake Jensen, director of green goods at Earl May Nursery & Garden Centers in Shenandoah, said garden-ers will want to wait until the ground is thawed and “work-able” before planting anything.
One type of plant that does well in the early coolness of spring is forsythia, a shrub with vibrant yellow flowers. Because it blooms really early, it’s usually one of the first signs of spring, Jensen said.
At Earl May, they have two different kinds of “dwarf” for-sythia shrubs that will only grow about 3 feet tall – the sugar baby and the starlet.
“People might be familiar with the big, older types that grow quite large – to 6 or 8 feet tall,” Jensen said. “The dwarf version still have the same classic yellow bloom but in a lot smaller package. What makes these nice is they fit into smaller yards and landscapes that a lot of people have now.”
The sugar baby and starlet shrubs should be planted in full sun and will last for several years. Because their flowers, which will bloom for a couple of weeks, precede their leaves, Jensen advises people to not prune the shrubs anytime
except right after it blooms.“Forsythia bloom on last
year’s growth,” he said. “So if you were to prune that plant, say, last fall, you’d be cutting off the upcoming spring’s flow-ers.”
Another flowering shrub Jensen recommends is the ramapo rhododendron. Earl May offers dwarf versions of these as well that only grow about 3 feet tall with small leaves and purple flowers. The ramapo rhododendron, which prefers partial shade, will bloom in early spring and will flower for about two weeks, Jensen said.
For those who like peren-nial flowers – meaning they come back every year – Jensen recommends planting the Col-umbine flower, candytuft and creeping phlox, which are an “older, classic type of perennial that a lot of people are familiar with.”
“They come in different col-ors, such as pink, blue and white,” he said. “Again, these are signs of spring when they start to bloom because they’re some of the very first things that bloom in the landscape.”
Candytufts and creeping phlox prefer sun, while Colum-bines prefer shade, he said.
Other types of good spring perennials include dianthus, alyssum, snapdragons and bulb flowers, such as tulips and daffodils, said Cheri Frain, head grower at Dallas Johnson Greenhouses in Council Bluffs. Bulb flowers, however, must be planted in the fall for them to bloom in the spring.
Annual flowers – those that
must be planted every year – that are good for early spring include cousins pansies and violas, which are more tradi-tional for this area.
“The reason we like these is because they tolerate the really cool spring temperatures and then the flowers fade once we get into consistent warm days and nights in summer,” Jen-sen said. “Most people enjoy pansies all of April and most of May.”
Frain said pansies and vio-las will take the cool nights but “if it gets down into the upper 20s, people should bring the decorative pots inside,” she said.
“If planted in the ground, try and cover them. They should have about a half a day of sun, too,” Frain said.
Earl May Nursery & Gar-den Centers in Shenandoah is located at 208 N. Elm St. Dallas Johnson Greenhouses is located at 2802 Twin City Drive in Council Bluffs.
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Colorful flowers to plant in early spring
Staff photos/Joe Shearer
The bright colors of pansies, like these found at Dallas Johnson Greenhouse in Council Bluffs, are one of the first signs of spring. The annual flowers – and their cousin, the viola – are more traditional flowers for this area. “The reason we like these is because they tolerate the really cool spring temperatures and then the flowers fade once we get into consistent warm days and nights in summer,” Blake Jensen, director of green goods at Earl May Nursery & Garden Centers in Shenandoah said. “Most people enjoy pansies all of April and most of May.”
Roses in a variety of shades can be found already at West Broadway Hy-Vee Food Store in Council Bluffs.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a gardening novice trying to supplement your dinner table with some home-grown veggies or an entrepreneur that earns a living off the land, composting is a simple way to go green and help save the environment.
You don’t have to be an environmentalist to com-post, either. Compost, which is organic matter that has been decomposed and recy-cled and used for fertilizing soil, is great for your garden and will help reduce landfill waste. In addition, compost-ing in your home garden will help you save money.
“Using compost means your garden will be more cost-effective because you will have to spend less on fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides for a given har-vest of any crop,” says Brett L. Markham, author of “The Mini Farming Guide to Com-posting,” the latest in his Mini Farming book series.
Across the country people are embracing the concept of self-sufficiency and pre-paredness, “mini farming” anywhere, from rooftop urban gardens to suburban backyards to larger land plots. Growing food is easier than ever and composting is a huge part of this move-ment.
Markham, who also has written the bestselling “Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre” as well as mini farming guides to ferment-ing and vegetable gardening, offers these gardening tips to get started on composting:
• Composting is a natural form of recycling, so use food waste, grass clippings, cof-fee grounds and even paper as compost. Just be sure to shred the paper first to speed up the process.
• Start your compost pile in a convenient spot, and make sure it is semi-shaded and well-drained.
• Add bulking agents
such as wood chips to accel-erate the breakdown of organic materials, allow-ing the finished material to fully stabilize and mature through a curing process. Add leaves, straw, or hay along with grass clippings or green manures for plenty of bulk.
Each layer should be no more than two inches so that the grass clippings or leaves don’t get matted down to form a layer impermeable to air.
• Keep the compost moist. Either water it yourself or let rain take care of it. The com-post should be moist, but not soaked.
• Cover the compost pile to help retain moisture and heat. This will also help pre-vent the compost from being over-watered by the rain.
• Turn the compost pile with a shovel or a fork to aer-ate the pile. It is important to water the pile as you turn it as well. Turning the pile adds oxygen to the compost which is necessary to get the most out of your pile.
• Once you add the com-post to your garden, you’ll be ready to start planting in two to five weeks.
You can learn more about composting, mini farm-ing, and self-sufficiency at MarkhamFarm.com/main-site.
– StatePoint Media
If it feels as though your entire weekends are spent mowing, trimming and water-ing your lawn, there are steps you can take to speed up your lawn care routine.
AutomateHow many times have you
forgotten to water your lawn – or worse yet, over-watered it? You can eliminate the guess-work (and the grunt work of dragging hoses around your yard) by installing an auto-matic sprinkler and drip irri-gation system that is based on your specific landscape, char-acteristics and geographical region.
A well-designed system ensures peak efficiency, which means you’re only watering your lawn when necessary. This is great for your grass and plants נand for your pock-etbook.
New technologies are mak-ing it even easier to optimize a watering plan for your lawn, as they can be controlled from the comfort of your computer or from a handheld remote you can take into your backyard. For example, the Irritrol PCW Control system is a software system that allows you to set up an irrigation calendar for different areas of your prop-erty. This smart technology can even connect to the Internet and retrieve the day’s weather for your zip code, and change watering time and frequency accordingly. Homeowners can visit irritrol.com to learn more.Maintain Your Equipment
Keeping your mower prop-erly maintained will save you time all season long. For walk-ing mowers, a good mainte-nance routine is as follows:
• Carefully check blades for sharpness.
• Make sure the cutting deck is clear of clippings. Cook-ing spray on the underside of the deck will make a new mower easier to clean.
• Check pull cords to ensure they aren’t frayed.
• Check that attachments are connected and working properly.
• If you use your mower infrequently, fill the tank with a fuel stabilizer.
• Periodically change the oil and perform air filter main-tenance.
Less is MoreIt’s tempting to cut the
grass as frequently as do your neighbors. But where mowing is concerned, less is more. You can prevent weeds from taking over your lawn by letting your grass grow out a bit, as longer grass supports a deeper root system. If you cut more than one-third of the grass length,
you will have clumps of clip-pings that lie on top of the lawn, slower decomposition, and a less attractive, bristly appearing lawn
Keeping grass longer also allows it greater surface area to carry out photosynthesis, which results in healthier plants. In addition, taller grass grows slower than shorter grass. You can use this fact to eliminate up to 20 percent of the mowing you do annually, an average savings of about eight hours a year, not to men-tion the savings of gasoline and wear on equipment.
When you do cut the grass,
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With all that time saved working on your lawn, you’ll have more time to kick back, relax and simply enjoy your lawn instead.
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Save time on lawn maintenance
Submitted photo
New technology allows users to control their irrigation and lighting from the conve-nience of their computer.
Submitted photo
Composting can help improve the quality of your garden.
Composting for beginners