Gardener’s Corner

     We have all heard the nursery rhyme, April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?  Pilgrims of course.  This year we did not get much rain in April to bring out our May flowers (even though a lot of them were beautiful this year) and we are not getting much rain in May.  My lawn and perennials at my house are so dry they are almost crunchy.  I think its safe to say we are in a drought condition here in Mid Michigan.

     If you are one of the lucky ones to have put in a new landscape last fall or this spring watch out!  Your’e plants can dry up and die pretty easy with this weather.  On the other hand however, don’t go overboard with the automatic irrigation especially on clay soil.  You could end up drounding the poor things.  The best way to tell if your plants need water is to look at them everyday.  I used to have a 55 gal. fish tank.  The best piece of advise I ever got was to look at the fish everyday.  If you get to know your fish, you know when they are getting sick and you can add medicine to the tank.  It is the same idea with the plants in our gardens.  If you take a nightly stroll with your glass of wine, coffee, or beverage of your choice, and just look at your garden, you will get to know your plants and you will see when they are suffering.  If they look limp, yellow, or lacklustre it could be because they need water.  Unfortunately it could also mean they have too much water, the symptoms are the same.  That’s why you have to get to know them and their routine.  If you know you just watered last night for example, and they look limp, it could be because they are too wet.  Stick your finger in the soil and see if the soil feels moist or dry.  Moist don’t water, dry water.  It is really not that hard to figure out if you look at your plants everyday.

     In the nursery we have lots of bloomin goin on.  If you want to get into the spring spirit and you are not there already come on in and have a gander.  The Rhododendrons are in bloom and we have some specials on plants from last year.  We also have a nice batch of roses in numerous colors brightening up the nursery. 

     Keep gardening.

     I once was involved with a television program called “Ask the Professional”.  It appeared on public television through Delta College.  My husband Chuck, a horticulturist at Dow Gardens, was one of the moderators and I was behind the scenes answering the phone.  Homeowners would call in and ask a question and the phone answerers (there were three of us) would write down the questions and  a runner would take them to the studio where the professionals would answer them on live T.V.  I can say without a doubt the question most asked was, ” how do I get rid of moles?”     You have all probably mowed your lawn at least once this season.  It’s usually that first mowing that gets us groaning about the damage done by those tiny but destructive creatures the moles.  Every time I hear the word mole, I think of Austin Powers, but I digress. 

     Anyway, we received so many phone calls about moles, the phone answerers would just start answering people ourselves.  In this article we are going to discuss the best way to get rid of the cute little beasts.  The best way, according to Christopher Solomon of MSN Lawns and Landscapes, the three Reder brothers, and the mole trapping guy from the Midland Country Club is to trap them.  In other words, use some sort of mechanical device that kills the moles.  Moles are solitary creatures who don’t like other moles around. Usually this means that all the damage done to your lawn has been done by one or two moles.  If you trap and kill one or two you have solved your problem….almost.  The problem remains that if you kill one mole, another one will sniff out the empty tunnels and take them over.  You will have to keep killing them until they stop moving in.  You will probably have to kill several moles.  The most efficient way to trap them is to put the trap in an active tunnel.  You will have to squish down the tunnels and see which ones pop back up.  Place your traps in those passages. 

     The downside to this is dealing with a dead mammal.  I personally do not like to kill anything so I am glad I don’t have moles in my yard. The up-side to leaving the moles in your lawn is that their diet of worms and grubs causes their excrement to be a valuable soil additive.  Great huh? If you tramp the tunnels down often enough the moles will burrow deeper and you can live in harmony with them because you won’t see the tunnels anymore.  So if your a non-killer like me you can reach a compromise.

     In the nursery, we have finally filled the nursery with many beautiful plants.  We have quite a nice assortment of unusual specialty plants and the greenhouse is full of wonderful perennials.  Stop out and see us.  We have had some beautiful, warm days great for strolling through the nursery.