Welcome to spring! And with spring comes my first e-book. I wrote a 26 page report on How to Grow Lavender that describes how to grow it from seed, how to grow it from cuttings, how to grow (and overwinter it) in containers. All the details that don't fit onto a webpage. If you've wanted to grow Lavender - and you don't have clay soils, this e-book will cost less than the price of a gallon pot of lavender.

And it comes guaranteed. If you don't like it after you download it, you ask for a refund within 90 days of the download and I give you one - no questions asked.

It was fun doing it. I hope you find it useful.

Doug

New Articles for You

All my new articles are listed here. Click on the archives link at the site to see others.

Want to ask a question? Click here to ask a gardening question.http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/askagardeningquestion.html

Your Questions Answered

There have been several questions about planting lotus lately so I wrote a short page about how to treat the tubers before they go out in the garden. You can find it here at http://www.water-gardens-information.com/plantinglotus.html

* * * * * * *

I have been gardening at our home for over five yrs now and it appears I have inspired our neighbor to also flower garden. And due to our massive bee population, my neighbor's husband told me the bee problem was all my fault as well as his wife's. I have two small children and last year it was at times dangerous for them to be outside. We have done the bee traps as well as keeping up on the hornets nests...nothing seems to be enough. I love all my flowering plants but I also love my children, do you have any advice? I love your newsletter, its always a good day when I receive it. Thanks. Sincerely, Leesa

A: With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I suggested that Leesa's neighbour get a new husband. Bees are pretty amiable critters when the pollen is thick and fast. They're more interested in harvesting that stuff and making honey than they are with bothering humans. Now WASPS on the other hand are a royal pain in the anatomy and many folks get them confused. (they see something whizzing by and decide if it flies it must be a bee) Wasps come in all shapes and sizes and a few resemble bees very closely. (well, not that closely but at a superficial glance you might think they are bees)

So the problem is NOT in the gardening but more likely in a population of wasps that have moved in. Likely a small ground wasp (nests in the ground) and I have stories of having to abandon my tractor when I plowed up a nest of those things. I had to wait until after dark to retrieve the machine from the field - they were not for quitting and they were highly annoyed.

Put wasp traps slightly away from where you're eating - and this will deter them a bit but not much. The real solution is to find the nest.

* * * * * * *

I've heard that cornmeal spread around the base of newly planted plants are a good deterrent for slugs. What do you see as pros and cons to this? thanks, Suzanne

A: As I said to Suzanne, the con is that you'll have big, fat happy slugs. The pro's are you had better enjoy having fat, happy slugs 'cause maybe they won't eat your plants. Cornmeal or more precisely corn gluten is only good for preventing small seeds from germinating. It surely won't repel or kill slugs. :-)

* * * * * * * * * *

I read somewhere about using lime on older lawns. My hubby says he's never heard of it. I do believe it helps break down thatch. Do you know of this?? Or can you tell us the amount of lime you should use??? Thanks

A: What's with husbands this week? Has every guy out there taken leave of his mind? Lime is used to balance pH - to reduce acidity caused by overfertilizing. Thatch is caused by overfeeding, overwatering and really poor lawn management practices like cutting too infrequently and too low one time, too high the next. So, if you have thatch - don't put lime on it. Cure your feeding and watering and management first. It would be like putting a bandaid on a broken leg; it might make you feel a little better but it isn't going to do much for the leg. And unless you live in a very warm part of the country where the grass grows almost year round, you really have to work to get thatch. And if you do abuse your lawn this badly, a bit of lime is the least of your solutions.

* * * * * * * * *

Last year our tomato plants (the fruit) were ravaged by chipmunks. We tried everything from placing fox urine around the garden area, hanging it from the cages in small plastic canisters, placing jingle bells and strips soaked in some sort of smelly stuff around the cages, whirly gigs and you name it!! we set up have-a-heart traps and caged at least 12 of the offenders and deposited them in a wild area about 12 miles away and then discovered that it is against the law to "relocate" the critters!!

HELP! We love our tomatoes, but as the season approaches, we're afraid it will be a lost cause again. We probabaly only got about a dozen tomatoes all season last year...

Any advice is very appreciated!

A: Put your husband out in the garden with a bb gun 24/7. Keep trapping. Use rat bait next to their holes (ensure it is in pet/proof containers). They can indeed be a scourge.
Moving them is only a sentence of death as they will likely be picked off by predators before they can establish a safe haven. I wasn't aware that it was against the law - likely a moral law at the very least (if you need to kill them - take the responsibility for killing them).

There is no fencing that will control them and sprays that make the tomatoes taste terrible to chipmunks make the tomatoes taste terrible to you too. Funny that! ;-)

Get a cat.

* * * * * * * * *

I have a very small vegetable garden where I basically grow tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, green & red peppers. Last year I had a problem that no one seemed to be able to identify. It started on my peppers as a white powdery substance and caused the leaves to draw up like something was sucking on then. It then moved to my cucumbers, squash and finally the tomatoes, in that order. It started on the leaves as a whiteish powdery appearance and then turned brownish. (Only the pepper leaves acted like something was sucking on them.) The leaves then got very dry and withered and died. It didn't bother the fruit other than destroying the plant to where it stopped producing. I thought that it might be powdery mildew, but the extension service said that it did not fit all of the criteria. I sprayed it with baking soda, water and oil mixture as well as over the counter organic fungicide. I also sprayed with insecticidal soap thinking that maybe it was a bug. I sprayed weekly. I was wondering if you might know what it was, and what I might do to discourage it's reappearance this year. Since my garden is so small, it is hard to be very efficient in crop rotation. Is there something that I can work into the soil, or maybe spray on the new plants as they mature? I appreciate any help or suggestion that you can offer. I might also add that we had a very wet summer last year. Thank you very much!

A: Sounds like a mildew or fungal infestation. It also might be more than one kind. There has been some serious squash and cucumber fungal infestations around here lately because of the wet weather. They would not cross to the peppers but if you have several different problems, it could look like one.

One of the main causes of fungal problems - besides the obvious wet weather - is an overcrowding in the garden. If I was having that problem, I'd tend to space my crops out even further this year to increase the air circulation in the crop. I'd also use a preventative weekly sprays of compost tea (I have a web page on how to do this on my to-do list) to keep the beneficial bacteria and fungi count high. Once I saw it starting to form, I'd go right after it with spot sprays of organic fungicide (Bordeaux mixture) sprayed directly on the problems.

And I wouldn't rule out powdery mildew - it takes different forms (the twisting leaves is a good symptom) even if it didn't meet all the criteria.

* * * * * * * * *

Hi Doug, my question concerns spider mites (I think). It also concerns my indoor plants. I have a great number of tropical plants inside and ever since I brought an azelea in, which was riddled with these little red/black web spinning mites, a number of other plants have been affected, like my ivy. I also have another type of bug on my palm fronds (another web spinner) and I have something on these cool little tropical trees I have, which I can't remember the name of. The pests on the trees seem to sew up the leaves so they can nest and reproduce in there. Hope I've not been too vague. Thanx, Anthony

A: The spider mites can be controlled with insecticidal soap. I've sprayed my banana tree so much there's not a chance of any other bug infesting my office. The cocooner can be dealt with easily by pinching it. (do it with a rubber glove on if you're squeamish) as no sprays will reach inside the leaf to kill it (that's why they cocoon and pull the leaf around themselves)

* ** * * * * *

Re: campsis radicans in Southern Catskills zone 3-4 5 -6yr. old plant, grows to 8 ft., full sun,acid soil, fertilized, coddled, watered, refuses to bloom EVER, losing patience; any suggestions? Thank you. S.

A: STOP coddling this weed. Don't feed it because it is getting too much nitrogen and water so it is putting energy into growth instead of flowers. Treat it rough and it will respond by flowering.

* * * * *

would boiling water be the most earth friendly way to kill fire ants? i thought that the nest was so deep that the queen would not be touched? thanks, eric

A: Boiling water will not kill off fire ants (although they will be clean fire ants from the shower). The queen is indeed too far down to kill and unless you're killing her, you are wasting your time. There's some promising work being done with predators and ants. Being in Canada, I confess this isn't something I have a first-hand experience with. Other than seeing them and watching a partner get bitten.

* * * * * * *

Great site, what would be the best and fastest way to get rid of grass with the roots, in order to expand my garden, say around 1400 square feet but without using mechanic way, due to being too expensive. Thanks for your help, Phil

A: Ah, best and fastest. The best and fastest is to lay newspaper down in alternating sheets (like building a brick wall) so there is no gap between them. Put about 20 layers down. Mulch on top of this with an attractive organic mulch. Poke holes to plant. Do not dig. Do not till. Do not spray. The newspaper will last a surprisingly long time (several years at the least) and by then the grass will be history.

You can also lay a *clear* plastic sheet down for the entire summer and the sunshine will solarize the soil. Effectively pasteurizing it and killing off weed seeds as well as the grass. Looks ugly and is slow but darned effective.

There's the two best and easiest methods.

* * * * *

From My Garden To Yours

The wonders of a new gardening season have almost caused me to wax poetic about the possibilities of a new beginning for my gardening. A chance to throw off the shackles of past gardening habits and try something new in '05 looms large in my options. I even thought about taking a year off gardening but as the former British Prime Minister Sir Benjamin Disraeli said, "How fair is a garden amid the toils and passions of existence." Taking a year off from gardening amidst the toils of existence really isn't an option when the love of gardening is rekindled. And, if famous author Emily Bronte could love "The garden walk with weeds o'ergrown, I love them - How I love them all!" then it is not for me to pass on the chance to have a few weeds here and there in my garden and wax poetically about them.

In fact, author Frank Waugh put it quite well when he wrote, "It is well and sadly known, of course, that tens of thousands of individual house lots have not been planted. In other words these houses have not been converted into homes." I have clearly decided that even if I'm renting for the moment, I want to convert my house into a home and the easiest way to do this is to plant a garden. It might be a container garden with my perennials but an annual garden is clearly called for to reduce the costs. Several packets of seeds will go a very long way toward creating a summer's oasis. And it is this oasis that actor Helen Hayes wrote about when she said, appropriately enough for this wintery time of year, "All through the long winter I dream of my garden. On the first warm day of spring I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth, I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar."

In fact, my spirits have indeed soared as I contemplate next year's garden. And in designing it, I'm quite likely to follow author Robert Louis Stevenson's advice, "It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves." Ah, yes I do believe my garden will have to have fragrance as its main theme next year. I'll choose fragrant perennials as well as fragrant annuals. There's a worthy challenge. Plant nothing but fragrant plants this coming spring to keep a garden fully alive and vibrant all season long. The Song of Solomon (4:16) puts it nicely. "Awake, O north wind; and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Le my beloved come to his garden, And eat its choicest fruits."

For while fragrance might be the theme for lovers, a garden is also a restorative place. As author Hanna Rion wrote, "The greatest gift of a garden is the restoration of the five senses." She expanded this thought, "Garden making is creative work, just as much as painting or writing a poem. It is a personal expression of self, an individual conception of beauty." I find myself thinking of this new year as one of being creative again. Of putting a new garden together, of designing for fragrance and of looking at this entire exercise as a creative process. Freud put this in perspective when he was quoted as saying, "Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts."

Freud never visited my garden when the monarda tried to eat the rose bushes for lunch or the nepeta grew right over the nearby iris. Freud was wrong. Of course flowers have conflicts, and these conflicts point us to the essence of being a gardener. Reflecting our own conflicts, gardeners manage their plants, putting them into perspective and focusing energy on what can be done, what can be achieved by individual plants. Poor gardeners never learn from their mistakes or having avoided a mistake one year, simply repeat the same combination year after boring year. Good gardeners work with new plants, new combinations and new thoughts on a yearly basis. Good gardeners make lots of mistakes but they learn from them and absorb this learning into their very souls. A good gardener rarely makes the same mistake twice in a row.

This is not to say gardening in this new year will be without challenges. Gardening is the second most challenging thing I've done in my life. Decorating guru Martha Stewart plainly agrees, "Gardening is a humbling experience." and this may be "a good thing". Weeds abound and challenge our creativity and our patience. Humourist Dave Barry noted, "Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it that does not involve nuclear weapons." This might be overstated but cultivating a tolerance for weeds and a certain proportion of disorder in your life and garden is a requisite for being a great gardener. For as Robert Pyle said, "But make no mistake: the weeds will win: nature bats last."

And nature does indeed bat last but in the meantime, the coming year will be a great gardening year. All of my containers are empty in the basement awaiting new plants and designs. The garden out my kitchen window is surrounded by trees and fragrant shade gardens beckon in my imagination. 2005 will indeed by a good year for creative gardening and soul restoration here in my world. I can only wish the same for each of you.