While most gardeners struggle to get their annuals and vegetables into the ground, visitors to local greenhouses, nurseries and pits have endless questions.
Some gardeners hope to "wait until Memorial Day" while others use Mother's Day to start planting. Of course, if you're planting perennials, shrubs, or trees, they can be planted as soon as the soil thaws (which was a while ago). As I continue to work as a nursery salesperson at a local farm and greenhouse, I continue to receive many questions about planting times, as well as the FAQs listed here.
Grab your garden trowel and let's dig.
Dear Doug, Like every year, my kids gave me the cutest hanging basket for Mother's Day. Last year, most of the plants died prematurely. What can I do to prolong the life of my plants and my beautiful basket? Caption: Long live my hanging basket.
Dear Ketzi, the first thing you need to decide is a sun or shade pot. Most shopping carts contain information on a shopping tag attached to the cart. The sun pot thrives in a location with at least six hours of direct sunlight per day, while the shade pot requires no more than three to four hours of direct sunlight per day.
Secondly, watering is important. Due to the limited size of the container and the fact that most litter mixes do not hold moisture well, the container can dry out quickly, especially if it is a sun-loving container. Work the bread mixture with your finger to a depth of about 1 inch. If your finger is wet, there is no need to wet it. When the toe dries out again, water well until the water runs out of the pot's drainage holes. On warm sunny days, you can water the pot twice a day.
Do not forget to feed the pot with a high-quality fertilizer. The combined fertilizer contains the macronutrients nitrogen (for growth of the upper part of the leaves and greening), phosphorus (for roots and flowering) and potassium (for disease resistance, cold resistance and general frost resistance). Choose fertilizers with a higher concentration of phosphorus for your flower pots (the average amount in the pot is the highest). Generally, fertilizing every 7-10 days will keep your hanging basket thriving throughout the growing season. And yes, removing or discarding dead flowers will result in better blooms for many types of flowers.
Hi Doug, I have noticed that in the spring I buy plants, especially the number of native plants that are sold at local nurseries. Can I expect better results than the plants I have traditionally collected over the years? Signed, mixed.
Dear Confused - The short answer is YES. Aboriginal plants are plants that grew here before Europeans arrived. Residents of our region are used to our environmental conditions (and clay). Native plants improve wildlife habitat and preserve regional plant diversity. Many bees, birds, and other pollinators rely primarily on native plants, and in most cases, planting non-native plants is not beneficial. By planting native plants, you are doing yourself and nature a great favor. If you want to attract pollinators to your garden, plant several native plants next to each other. This gives pollinators looking for pollen and nectar a bigger target.
Dear Doug! A few years ago I planted a beautiful hydrangea in front of my house. It grew and bloomed for the first year or two, but now it has stopped blooming and seems to be dying. I found a label on the hydrangea that said "part shade" but planted it in full sun. Did I ruin my plant by planting it in the wrong place? Signed, upset.
Dear Desperate! While it's hard to know for sure without seeing pictures of plant damage, it seems to me that you can diagnose your hydrangea problem pretty well. A gardener's mantra should always be, "Right plant, right place." While some hydrangeas thrive in full sun (at least six hours of direct sunlight per day), many require some protection from scorching. "Partial" means four to six hours of direct sunlight per day, but only in the morning or late afternoon. Shade-loving plants usually need to be protected from the hotter, more intense afternoon sun. Even plants labeled "part sun" need four to six hours of direct sunlight, but some of that time can be in the warmer, brighter days, which can help their foliage develop and bloom. My advice is to place the hydrangea in partial shade before leaving it. Much success!
Dear Doug, I have just finished planting my perennial garden and being the mess lover I am, I would like to cover it with a good mulch for the final touch. My neighbor uses small white boulders around her plants and stacks them around tree trunks. River rock makes good mulch, and if so, why put it on tree trunks? — Signed, neat and tidy.
Respected law enforcement agencies! One of the main reasons for mulching is to prevent weeds from growing in your garden. If your neighbor does not put landscape fabric under the stones, weeds will soon grow between the stones, which will be difficult to remove and spoil the beauty of his garden. Even with a plot of greening, weeds will still appear.
Good organic mulches are the best choice for mulch because they support nutrients and microorganisms. There are not enough stones. Examples of organic mulches include shredded leaves, compost, well-rotted manure, pine needles, or a combination thereof. According to the Penn State Extension Master Gardener's Guide, compost is the gold standard for mulching perennial beds. The most common and commercially available mulch is shredded or shredded bark mulch, which is what you probably think of when you hear the word mulch. Such mulch can stunt the growth and spread of perennials in the garden and should be avoided unless another organic mulch is available.
Piles of stones or mulch on the trunks of trees, shrubs or perennials should be avoided; Some landscapers and homeowners mistakenly mulch logs, shrubs, and perennials (at Master Gardener we call it "volcanic mulch") for aesthetic reasons. Where does the attack on the factory take place? Keep the mulch at least 3-4 inches away from the trunk.
Properly mulching your perennial garden with at least 2 to 3 inches of mulch will discourage weed growth, conserve moisture during the growing season, and add a layer of crop protection through the winter. Mulching is one of the best things you can do for your garden. Just be careful not to overdo it.
So, dear readers, today it's all from the Garden Center. Contact the Beaver County Master Gardener Hotline at beavermg@psu.edu for reliable, research-based answers to all your gardening questions. Check the upcoming weather forecast to determine the best time to harvest these vegetables. Once the threat of frost or frost has passed overnight, grab a garden trowel and start digging. Have fun gardening!
Doug Kanaan is a master landscaper with Penn State Extension in Beaver County.
This article was originally published on the USA TODAY NETWORK. Above the garden gate. Questions from the garden center
