Gardener’s Corner

I am sure everyone reading this will already be aware of the term going green.  I am also sure that everyone realizes that we are in a bad economic situation in Michigan and in the country.  Today I would like to discuss vegetable gardening, because it is one way to go green and save some green at the same time.

Facts about vegetables:  Vegetables like sun.  They will do best if planted in the full sun.  If you are like me and have very little full sun in your garden, you can put them in partial shade, just be aware that they will take longer to mature and you may not get as much produce.  One way to combat this problem is to plant early and keep things covered in cold weather.  Another way to increas production is to build a raised garden so you are not competing with the surrounding trees and shrubs.  Raised gardens are also easier to work with especially if you make them no larger than 4′ wide so you can reach from one side to the other.  One more way to combat a partially shaded garden is to buy plants rather than seed.  These will mature quicker and produce sooner.  Another method for early ripening is to pick plants that have a shorter maturity date.  There are tomatoes for example that will mature in a shorter amount of time.

Preparing the space.  It is best to encorporate compost in the garden especially if your soil is clay or sand.  If you have the perfect silty loam soil you probably wouldn’t need compost but 99.9% of us do not have that kind of soil.  If you do not have your own compost bin (shame on you) you can purchase compost at your local nursery (Reder Landscaping) by the yard.  Rototill the compost into the area and then grade it smooth to make a nice bed for sowing or planting your vegetables.  One way to plant your veggies is to build hummocks for them.  By this I mean your rows will be a little higher than the space in between.  This is especially usefull if you have a wettish soil.  If you have a dry area I would not recommend it.

Planting: plant your seeds or seedlings according to label requirements.  Keep in mind that they will grow and they will do this quickly.  Some veggies take up a large amount of space.  Some veggies need a trellace or something to climb on.  Some veggies need a cage, like tomatoes.  Put the trellaces and cages around the plants as soon as you plant them so you can train the plant on the structure and not struggle to get it on or in there once it has grown 2 feet.  Some people think that you have to plant your veggies in straight rows.  This is not true.  In Europe they plant their veggies among their perennials and it adds another dimension to the perennial garden.  It is not advised to plant them with shrubs or trees as there is too much root competition and shade.

Care: Watering and fertilizing are the two main things you will have to do.  Unless you have a huge garden, you will probably not have to worry about too many bugs.  In Midland since we spray for mosquitoes, a lot of other pests are affected too.  None the less, keep your eye out for bugs and if you see some, get them identified before you spray any chemicals, they may be beneficial insects.  Make sure you read the label on any pesticide you use and make sure it is safe for the veggies you are spraying it on.

What to plant:  This depends on your space, but if you have a small area it is usefull to plant an entire salad.  Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrot, and maybe some salad burnet to give it a little extra punch.  Leaf lettuce is easier to grow than head lettuce.  Leaf lettuce can be harvested numerous times if you simply cut off what you need and let it re-grow. Remember the bunnies in your garden like these same vegetables so you may need to put a small fence around your garden.

Don’t be afraid to try new varieties, its fun to experiment. Some of the most fun things to try are actually what we call heritage vegetables.  They are old varieties that have been forgotten.  There are seed sources that specialize in this type of plant.   Enjoy going green.

Just a short note to remind all my faithful readers, it is now time in Michigan to apply preventative herbicide to your lawn to prevent crabgrass for the season.  For future reference, the homeowner can time this application with the blooming of the forsythia.  This is an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tool that is useful for accurate timting  of application.  If you want to learn more about IPM you can read the article I wrote titled  Phenology.  Phenology is the science of comparing natural occurences like the forsythia in bloom, with the emergence of certain pests.  If you would like the whole phenology chart you can visit the Dow Gardens website listed in my links.  Using IPM practices, reduces the amounts of pesticides used and increases the effectiveness of those pesticides.  It also protects our beneficial insects that help to control the pests that cause damage.  If you do not want to apply these pesticides yourself Reder Landscaping has a complete lawn care program.  Call and ask for Brian.

     The weather lately has been beautiful.  Cool, no humidity, plenty of rain.  It has been wonderful.  In my opinion it could stay this way the rest of the summer.  Unfortunately as we all know, it won’t last.  Soon the humidity, and hot dry weather of summer will be here.  That’s good for those who want to go swimming, but for those of us who work outside it’s not so fun.  It is also not so fun for those of us who want to have a nice lush lawn.  In June between the 23 through July 5 the European Chafer Beetles will be emerging.  If you had any damage last year or this spring in your dryish lawn, you will be a prime target.  The females love to lay their eggs in dry lawn.  The adults emerge from the soil at night, mate and lay eggs.  One way to avoid damage from Chafer Beetles is to water your lawn with 1″ of water per week for the next 4 weeks.  If it stays moist and mother nature gives us 1″ of water per week you probably won’t have to irrigate.  If watering your lawn that much is not an option, you can always treat your lawn with GrubEx.  If you have a professional apply the insecticide, we have many more options of chemicals to use.

Spring cleanup, what does that mean exactly?  Let’s examine that question.  Spring brings us not only warmer weather and good amounts of rain, but also leftover leaves, branches that have fallen out of the trees over winter,  trash that has blown into the yard etc.  So spring cleanup means getting rid of everything that will damage your garden or look bad aesthetically.

Let’s start the process off by talking about timing.  The earlier you can get out there and do some cleanup the better.  The grass is still dormant so a vigorous raking will not hurt the crown of the plant.  It is also easier to rake at this time of the year because the grass is not growing so its shorter and easier to rake.  The first thing I do is pick up all the big branches that have fallen and then give the grass a good raking.  Raking not only removes debris from the grass, but also removes the dead blades of grass that have died over winter.  Raking also loosens up the soil somewhat and increases air circulation.  The next thing I do is prune down all of the perennials that I may have left up over the winter.  I leave up some of my perennials up because they have winter interest, or the birds like to eat the seeds out of the seed heads. I also mulch my beds with leaves in the fall so after I have cut  all of the perennials down I rake the beds out.  Next I prune any shrubs or trees that need it.  Early spring is good for this because the shrubs and trees are still dormant. Because they are dormant there are no leaves to get in your way and you can see what you are doing.   I don’t prune my spring blooming shrubs like lilacs, spirea, or clethra at this time because it will remove the flower buds and I won’t get a good showing.  After the spring blooming shrubs are done blooming, I do the pruning on those.  This way they will set there buds for the next season and I will have a great show the next year as well.  The last thing I do is empty my pond (its a small one), clean out the muck and debris, and refill it.  Its still too early for my aquatic plants but I get everything ready and then place them in the pond when it warms up.

After all the clean up is done.  I look around for any weeds that may have already cropped up, pull them out, and then apply a pre-emergent weed control to keep new seeds  from germinating.  Pre-emergent herbicides will only kill seeds so you don’t have to worry about your existing plants, but you should always check the label to make sure you are applying it correctly.  Also, you can not use this type of herbicide in an area that you want to plant a vegetable garden unless you are going to use plants.  If you are going to direct seed your vegetables they will be killed by the herbicide.  Once the herbicide is applied you can not disturb the soil or it won’t work.  It acts as a chemical weed barrier.

The last thing I do in my list of spring clean up to do’s is to bring out all of the pots and decorative items that I keep in the garden that can not be out over winter.  I dress my picnic table with a nice table cloth and I am ready for spring, summer and fall barbeques.  Have a good spring.  Next week we will address vegetable gardens.