Author: Henry Homeyer

Save trees from bark mulch and rodents

If you have cleaned up the vegetable garden and cut back your perennials, you might be feeling just a little smug — especially since this gardening guy admits he is behind you in completing those tasks. But there may still be tasks for you to do, and important ones for the trees on your property.

Are you one of those gardeners who has fallen in love with bark mulch? Do you use it not only in flower gardens but also around trees planted in the lawn to keep down weeds, hold in moisture, and keep the deadly string trimmer at bay? If you do, take a few moments to walk around and check out your trees and shrubs.

Bark mulch should never touch the stems of woody plants. You need a doughnut hole around your trees: a 4- to 6-inch area bare of mulch on all sides of your beloved trees. Why? Tree bark protects the tree from rain and snow, but it will eventually rot if it is covered with soil or bark mulch. And if the rot extends into the cambium layer — the layer beneath the bark — it will, eventually, kill the tree. But mulch is not the only culprit. Many trees are planted too deeply and the flare is covered with soil, which is just as lethal.

If you look at a tree that Mother Nature planted – or perhaps it was a forgetful squirrel — you will see that tree flares or widens at its base. That part of the tree needs to be planted above ground at planting time. Unfortunately, trees sold in pots often have the trunk flare covered with soil and get planted just the way they were in the pot. I have seen trees in large pots with the trunk flare covered by 4 inches of soil or more.

Mulch or soil over the trunk flare does not kill your tree right away. It often takes from six to 10 years to see signs of decline. Look at the tips of branches at the top of the tree. Leaf loss there is a definite sign of decline. Early color change in the fall is another sign. That maple that turns color before others on the property? It may be stressed by bark rot caused by damage to the trunk flare.

So examine your trees. If the trunk flare is covered with mulch or soil, you have work to do. If a tree is straight (like a telephone pole) at the soil surface, you need to pull the mulch away. And if you still don’t see a flared area, you need to re-grade the soil around your tree.

Use gloved hands or work gently with a hand tool to remove the soil around the tree until you see the trunk flare. You may notice fine roots in the soil or mulch as you remove it, but these roots can be cut away. You are looking for big roots headed away from the trunk. Keep your hand tool away from the trunk as the bark will be tender, and easily damaged. But the good news is that most trees will recover if you remove the soil or bark mulch and let the bark dry out.

If you have planted a tree on a hillside, I assume you planted it to be vertical. But to do that you had to cut back into the uphill side of the planting area to create a flat spot. If, after planting, erosion has moved soil downhill to cover one side of the trunk, remove that. People with excavators working on your property presumably know not to pile soil against the bark of trees, but check anyway. Remove soil as needed.

Another fall task involves protecting young trees from damage by rodents. The worst is the meadow vole. These are little rodents that look a lot like mice but stockier, with short tails. Think of mice as ballerinas and voles as hockey players. They often leave tunnels in the lawn during the winter.

Voles can reach sexual maturity in just 5 weeks after birth, so they can increase in numbers exponentially, given the right conditions. If hungry enough, they will chew the bark off young trees, killing them by damaging the tender cambium layer and eating the phloem all around a tree, girdling it.

Young fruit trees are the most susceptible to girdling. Older trees have thicker bark and are generally less interesting to rodents. If you planted an apple tree within the last five years, you should protect the bark. Even if they did not damage the tree in the past, you cannot assume they will not this year. If there are high numbers of voles this year, and a deep snow cover to hide them from predators, they may attack.

The best way to protect trees against damage by voles is to surround the trunk with a ring of wire mesh called hardware cloth. Get some with quarter-inch spacing of the wires, and create a ring 24 inches tall. Make the ring of wire big enough to leave a couple of inches of space between the mesh and the trunk. That will allow the tree to get fatter without meeting the hardware cloth. If you have low branches (within 24 inches of the ground), you can prune them off to accommodate the wire mesh.

Hardware cloth comes in 24-inch rolls. You will need tin snips to cut it and leather gloves to protect your fingers. The stuff is like razor wire once cut. But, having seen what rodents can do, I recommend protecting new trees. There are plastic wraps and special cloth wraps that claim to protect against rodents, and may, but I have not tried them. They are definitely easier to use. So check out your trees, and get busy if need be.

Featured photo: Hardware cloth will keep rodents from chewing the bark and killing this young cherry tree. Courtesy photo.

How to plant bulbs for forcing indoors

I love the winter, but by March I am ready for spring. I usually have some snowdrops blooming in March on a south-facing hillside, but they are subtle, not bodacious blooms. So I plant lots of bulbs indoors in the fall and keep them cool until it is time to bring them into the warmth of the house, and I get indoor tulips, daffodils and more in March. That’s what forcing bulbs is all about. It’s simple, really, but there are a few tips I can share since I do this every year.

Most bulbs are described on their packages as early, mid-season or late. Go to your local garden center and look for bulbs that are labeled as early bloomers — they are the best for forcing. Buy daffodils, some tulips and maybe some small bulbs like crocus or grape hyacinths. You can plant these bulbs in large pots or even in your window box if you bring it in.

You will also need some potting soil and compost. I make a mix that is half compost, half potting soil for forcing bulbs. I don’t use garden soil because it can be heavy and often stays wet. Bulbs can rot if they are left in wet soil for too long. I often reuse the potting mix that I used for growing annual plants outdoors in summer. I just pull up the summer’s plants, fluff up the soil, add some compost as needed, and make sure it is damp to start. If it is dry, I water it before I plant my bulbs.

Each year I plant about 25 daffodils in a window box that is about 30 inches long, 6 inches wide and deep. I prefer to get all of one kind so that they all bloom at once.

I fill the window box a little more than half full with my mixture of compost and potting soil and place the bulbs, pointy end up, in the soil. Once I have them all in place I push them down more and fill up the box with more potting soil-compost mixture.

Be sure to label each pot with the date planted, and what is planted. Later that will tell you when you can bring it into the warmth. Daffodils take about 12 weeks of dormancy before they should be brought into the warmth of the house, and tulips do better with 4 full months. Little things like crocus can be forced in 8 to 10 weeks.

Often bulbs will send roots out through the holes in the bottom of the pot or send up green shoots telling you they are ready. But don’t rush the process. Tulips brought up early will have nice green leaves, but no flowers.

Ideally temperatures for bulbs used for forcing will be between 32 and 50 degrees, though colder temperatures should not be a problem (my basement often goes below freezing for a few days). Left in a warm location, the bulbs will grow green tops — but not blossoms. Bulbs left in a cold basement or garage will do just fine. Inside the bulkhead to your cellar might be the right temperature, too.

You need to be aware that rodents like eating bulbs (indoors or out) — especially tulips. My basement has, most years, harbored mice and sometimes even a resident red squirrel. Unlike tulips, daffodils are not of interest to rodents as they are mildly poisonous. I keep my pots of tulips covered with hardware cloth (a fine-mesh metal screening available at hardware stores). But wear gloves if you cut hardware cloth to size — the edges are as sharp as razor wire.

You can double your production of blooms by planting two layers of bulbs in a container. Plant big bulbs deep in the pots, add soil, and then plant a layer of crocus or other small bulbs above them.

It is important to check on the bulbs you are forcing at least once a month, particularly if you have put wire rodent-proofing over the containers. I’ve had shoots try to grow through the hardware cloth and get damaged. If the bulbs are sending up shoots, remove the wire mesh. I also don’t want the soil mix to get bone dry, so I check it and water a little if it’s dry. The bulbs will grow roots when first planted, and then go dormant if kept in a dark, cold location.

When it is time to bring up your potted bulbs into a warm place, let them wake up gently. My mudroom is good for starting them: there is some sunshine but it is cool. Then, once the shoots are up and green, I place the containers on my sunniest window sills, either east- or west-facing.

Most bulbs that have been forced are not likely to flower the following year, even if you keep the foliage alive until spring and plant them outside. I’ve done it, and some daffodils will build up the energy to blossom after a while, but tulips are not so cooperative.

I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, West Africa, many years ago. There I could have flowers blooming every day of the year. It spoiled me, perhaps, because I still want flowers every day. Forcing bulbs is one way to have lots of blossoms when there is snow on the ground. So don’t wait until mid-December to start your bulbs; get on this project now.

Featured photo: Forced tulips are my favorites. .Courtesy photo.

Work now, enjoy in the spring

Spring is all about planting, but many gardeners overlook fall planting. Now is the time to plant garlic and spring-blooming flowers planted as bulbs. For me, fall planting is a joy; the thought of bulbs nestled into the ground just awaiting spring fills me with hope. And if you pick a good spot and plant them well, you are sure to succeed.

Let’s start with garlic. I like to say that garlic is, essentially, a no-work crop: plant it, mulch it to keep the weeds down, and then harvest it. Right now, the hardest part will be to find “seed garlic” — nice fat garlic bulbs that you can divide into cloves and plant. Many suppliers have sold out, but try your local garden center or feed and grain store. Don’t buy conventional garlic at the grocery store to plant. It is usually treated with a chemical to keep it from sprouting, and is the wrong kind for New England. Hard-neck garlic is what you want.

When should you plant garlic? Late October is when I plant, but it is fine to plant earlier or later. It’s best to plant after the soil has cooled down, but you will want the plants to establish roots before the soil freezes.

Pick a bed in your vegetable or flower garden that is in full sun, and that has nice, rich soil that retains water but does not stay soggy in rainy times. If you have heavy clay, work in plenty of good compost — either your own or some you purchase in a bag.

I plant garlic cloves in rows about 8 inches apart. Each clove I plant 3 inches deep and 3 or 4 inches apart. I run my CobraHead weeder down the bed to create a furrow and to loosen the soil. I sprinkle some Pro-Gro or other organic bagged fertilizer into the furrow and run my hand tool through it again. Then I push in the cloves, pointy end up, cover it with soil, and pat it lightly.

Finally I take mulch hay or straw and cover the bed with about 12 inches of loose straw. I know that seems like a lot, but by winter’s end it will be just 4 to 6 inches of cover. That should prevent most weeds from growing all summer — or until you harvest in late July. I always save my best bulbs of garlic for planting.

This is also the time to plant daffodils, tulips and all the small bulbs that bloom early. If you have a fenced yard, that will keep the deer from eating tulip blossoms when in bud — a real treat for them. If you have a problem with deer, you might want to avoid tulips, or plant them in pots for forcing.

Tulips and daffodils are generally labeled as early-season, mid-season or late-season. Plant plenty of each. Early ones are generally shorter, and I plant some, but I love the tall ones best. Maureen is my favorite tulip: She is 22 to 24 inches tall, and ivory to white. Fabulous in a vase. Menton is another nice tall one, pink petals outside with orange and white inside.

Although I have daffodils that still bloom after more than 50 years, tulips are less perennial. My rule of thumb is that if I plant 50, all will bloom the first year, half of that the second year, and half again the third year. So I often plant them as annuals, and pull them or cut off the foliage when I plant annual flowers over them in June.

Bulb planting tools are sold that you can plunge into the soil and pull out a core of soil three inches wide. I don’t like them. Soil sticks to the tool, and I find it much more time-consuming to plant bulbs one at a time. I prefer to excavate a big hole in the ground and plant 25 or 50 at once. Soil augers for your cordless drill are sold for planting bulbs, but most drills are not strong enough to do the job.

Here’s what I do: I select a nice sunny spot that drains well and is not soggy in winter. Then I dig an oval hole about 3 feet long and 2 feet from front to back, which will serve well for 25 bulbs. For daffodils and tulips I want the hole at least 6 inches deep. I put the soil into a wheelbarrow or onto a blue tarp so it won’t make a mess of my lawn or garden bed.

Next I add some good compost and either “Bulb Booster” or slow-release organic fertilizer, and work it into the soil with my CobraHead weeder, a single-tined hand tool. Then I arrange the bulbs in the loosened soil in the bottom of the hole, with fat bottom down, and the pointy head up. I mix some compost into the soil I removed, and carefully fill the hole.

If space is at a premium, you can plant two layers of bulbs in the same hole. Plant the big bulbs in the bottom of your hole and add soil up to 2 or 3 inches below the soil line. Then plant small bulbs like crocus, snowdrops, glory-of-the-snow or squill. The small, early bulbs will delight you, and then the daffodils or tulips will overwhelm you — particularly if you forget you double-planted the bed.

I’ve been planting bulbs around my 2-plus acres for decades because spring blossoms are the perfect antidote to a long New Hampshire winter. It is always a challenge to find a spot to squeeze bulbs in, but there is always someplace. This fall I am planting them between hostas I planted last year. The hosta foliage will hide the dying leaves of the daffodils after they bloom.

Featured photo: Tulips are ephemeral, but worth trying. Courtesy photo.

It’s time to get started

Those big yellow school buses have been lumbering along for well over a month now, so you know it is time to start getting your gardens ready for winter. This is a good time to work outside; the bugs are fewer and it’s not so cold that you’ll be miserable in an hour.

I recently did some pruning on my Japanese red maple trees. We all know that sugar maples pump sweet sap up from the ground in spring, but did you know that all maples send lots of liquid up in spring, even if not the sweet stuff? Because of that, spring is not a good time to prune. Now is a much better time.

I attended a pruning workshop in 2019 at Shin Boku Nursery in Wentworth. Palmer Koelb has been growing, pruning and selling trees trained in the Japanese tradition for over 50 years. Some of his nursery stock is several decades old, and all of it is beautiful.

One of the things I learned at that workshop is that Japanese red maples are best trained over time. It is better to do a little pruning every year or two than to wait 10 years and need to cut big branches. I was told that I should never use a saw on a Japanese red maple; apparently they don’t react well to removing big branches. Hand pruners are best.

So what did I do? I reined in the height of my trees. I like them to top out at around 8 feet, so I looked for skyward-growing branches and cut each back to a lower fork, one hidden in the foliage. I also removed extraneous foliage and small branches in the interior of the trees, opening up the center of the tree so that the interesting branch shapes are visible. These trees, by their very nature, are not dominated by a single straight trunk, and I want to see the structure of a tree. I remove clutter and rubbing branches.

This is also a good time to shape all your hydrangeas and prune them to keep them to the size you like. If you want to develop a new hydrangea to be upright, this is a good time to prune out downward-growing branches, and even to stake up a central branch to be the “leader” growing upward.

I like to collect some flowers for drying indoors. Most of us cannot afford to buy flowers from a florist for the table each week, so picking blossoms now that look good in a dry vase is a good alternative. All the hydrangeas will provide lovely blossoms now, so long as you pick them before frost, which causes them to turn brown.

My favorite hydrangea is one called Pink Diamond. It produces lots of big pointy flower panicles that start out white and turn to pink. In a dry vase the pink will fade a little but stay quite pink all winter, as will other hydrangeas. The stems on Pink Diamond are stiff and upright on the bush and don’t flop the way some others like Annabelle do when rained on.

Unlike lilacs and forsythia, hydrangeas are late-season bloomers so you do not lose any blossoms next year if you prune now. They bloom on stems that grow in the spring. I like to leave some blossoms on all winter to remind me that summer will get here eventually.

Grasses and grains are blooming now and can look good in a dry vase too. I grew an annual grain this year called black millet and I recently picked some stems and put them in a dry vase. Millet produces small seeds on narrow “cobs” much like corn, but without the outer leaves. It is found in bird seed mixes, and I ate it as a gruel when serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa. This year I bought some plants at a nursery, but I will start plenty from seed next year. Purple Majesty is probably the name of the variety I planted.

I’ve been potting up annual plants I want to bring in before winter, rather than waiting until the afternoon before the first hard frost. I potted up some Diamond Frost euphorbia that I bought in small pots last spring and planted in the ground. This is a delightful plant that has tiny white blossoms all summer. As a “Proven Winner” plant, it is trademarked and is not sold by seed.

Diamond Frost makes a nice house plant that continues to bloom indoors all winter. It prefers a bright windowsill but will survive most anywhere so long as you remember to water it regularly. Then in the spring it can go outdoors again — and at no expense.

Each fall I dig up at least one rosemary plant and bring it indoors. I like to do this early in the fall so that it can get used to being in a pot while sitting in the garden in just the same place it was in the ground. This lets it have fewer changes in its environment at a time. Later I will wash it well with a hose in order to get rid of any aphids or other pests before bringing it indoors.

Don’t use any fertilizer now for any houseplants coming inside. A plastic pot or an enameled one will keep moisture in better than an unglazed clay pot, so if you are a lazy waterer, select them.

Raking the leaves can wait till later, after all the leaves have fallen. But go outside and start chipping away at the chores on nice days, even if it means playing hooky from work.

Featured photo: This Japanese red maple was full of clutter before pruning. Courtesy photo.

Tips for putting away veggies

Like any industrious squirrel, I am getting food stored and ready for winter. Even if your vegetable garden is depleted, you can buy things in bulk from your local farm stand now to save for winter.

Each type of veggie has its own requirements. Some like a cool space with high humidity. Others want it cool and dry. Then there are a few, like sweet potatoes, that require a warm space and suffer in the cold. Let’s take a look.

Storing is the easiest and cheapest way of keeping veggies for a few months. Winter squash store well in a cool dry location such as under the bed in a spare, unheated bedroom. Drafty old farmhouses have plenty of good places to store them, along with cardboard boxes of onions and garlic. I’ve stored a blue Hubbard squash (which has a very thick skin) for up to a year without any problems. But they will rot in a high-humidity area.

Potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, rutabagas, celeriac or celery root, turnips and parsnips will store for months at 35 to 50 degrees with high humidity. You can do that in a spare fridge, preferably in a drawer that keeps humidity in it. Or put them in zipper bags and punch a few breathing holes in the bags. You can put an inch of moist sand in a bucket, and store carrots in the garage if it stays cold but not frigid. Keep a lid on the bucket, and check from time to time. Rodents love carrots and potatoes, so you can’t store them in an open container.

I built a “cold cellar” for storing potatoes in my cold basement that often has temperatures below freezing. I made a bin of cement blocks, two layers high, and covered it with an insulated plywood lid. I weighted the lid to be sure mice could not sneak in. I put a heat mat in the bottom to use if temperatures neared freezing in the box.

A full-sized freezer is a good investment. Among other things, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, beans, peppers, kale and fruit store well in a freezer. I freeze them in freezer-grade zipper bags. You can suck the excess air out of the bag with a drinking straw by closing the seal up to the straw, then pulling it out quickly and snapping shut while still sucking on the straw.

Freezing is a time-honored process for storing food. Some veggies need to be blanched before freezing to keep them tasty. Blanching is a quick immersion in boiling water before freezing. It kills the aging enzymes in your vegetables, keeping them fresh-tasting longer. If you know you will eat your frozen things within 3 months, don’t bother with it. I recommend blanching beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, corn, kale, peaches, squash and Swiss chard. I freeze apples, peppers and tomatoes without blanching.

If you blanch, just do it for 60 seconds, which is often even before the water has come back to a full boil. Use lots of water in a big pot, and not too many veggies. There are special pots sold for blanching. They have an inner pot with holes that help you lift the veggies out of the water quickly.

If you blanch veggies too long they will be mushy. Drop the blanched veggies in a sink of cold water, spin dry in a salad spinner, and blot with a cloth dish towel. Then bag and freeze.

I also dehydrate foods, notably tomatoes, hot peppers, apples and pears. You can buy a good dehydrator like the ones made by Nesco American Harvest for somewhere under $150. Or you can buy the Cadillac of dryers and get an Excalibur for $300 or more. Those use less energy and dry the food evenly without having to rotate the trays.

Dehydrating is great for hot peppers: I dry them until they are brittle, then grind them in my coffee bean grinder. That way I have a powder I can add to soups or stews a little at a time and that is well-distributed. And I dry cherry tomatoes cut in half; I use them in soups and stews. They offer a bite of summer.

I also make tomato paste and freeze it in ice cube trays. I often do this with imperfect tomatoes: I cut out the bad parts and put the rest in a Cuisinart to blend them into a loose “soup” that I then cook down slowly in a big enameled cast iron pot. When I can literally stand a spoon up in the mix, it is done. Having a supply of tomato paste is essential for cooking, and I like that I don’t have to open a can when I need just a little.

If you have an apple tree you probably have already made some applesauce this year. It freezes well and is always tasty. But have you made cider? You don’t need to buy a cider press. I bring apples to my local orchard and ask them to press and bottle the juice. Be sure to tell your orchardist that you are freezing it and to leave an inch of space for expansion. They will charge you a fee, but it is well worth it for the satisfaction of having your own cider in winter.

Lastly, have you thought of making sauerkraut? Cabbages are easy to grow — or inexpensive to buy at your local farm stand. If you want to learn the basics just Google my name and “sauerkraut.” I wrote a full article on it in 2015 and it is available online along with book recommendations for in-depth learning.

One last bit of advice: Don’t freeze or store any veggies or fruit that are not perfect. Freezing rotten food does not make it better! And you will not want to eat it later if you don’t want to eat it now!

Featured photo: Buy potatoes now and save for a winter meal. Courtesy photo.

Asian jumping worms take over

After decades of improving my garden soil, I have an infestation of Asian jumping worms. They can eat all the organic material in the soil, depleting it terribly. These foreign invaders multiply more quickly than our common worms, outcompeting them. Everything I have read about them says they are bad news for gardeners.

Scientists are working on organic solutions to the Asian jumping worm problem. I was able to phone Brad Herrick, a researcher at University of Wisconsin who has been studying them for years. He explained that although they came to the United States nearly 100 years ago, the worms are spreading rapidly, now infesting 37 states. Their worst impact may be in the forest: they eat dead leaves and forest duff, potentially creating a soil devoid of the organic matter that nourishes native wildflowers and trees. The soil can become sterile.

To see if you have them, start at a shady, mulched bed — that is where they like it best. Pull back leaves or mulch on your soil. The worms are surface feeders, living in the top inch or two of the soil, and readily seen on the soil surface. Touch one and it moves fast, wiggling and moving — quite a contrast to our relatively sluggish ordinary worms. The soil in infested areas often looks like it has coffee grounds spilled on the soil — which are their castings or excrement.

The clitellum that produces the egg sacs or cocoons is a whitish band near the head end of the worm. This contrasts with our common worms, which have a reddish-brown clitellum that is usually a bit raised.

Brad Herrick explained that unlike the earthworms we know and love, these guys can reproduce asexually, so even one worm can start an infestation. But they also spread when the cocoons, which sit on the soil surface, are washed away by rains. This allows them to expand their territory quickly, especially on hillsides.

How did I get them? I don’t know. They may have arrived when I bought plants for a new flower bed. I know my source of compost and know it has been heated sufficiently to kill all the weed seeds, so that would have killed any cocoons, too. And I see none of the worms in my purchased compost pile. But I had work done on my septic system, and soil was brought in.

According to Brad, freezing temperatures kill all the adult worms each winter. Unfortunately, it does not kill the eggs, which over-winter and start the cycle again. The eggs hatch once the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees, perhaps in April or May. He said it takes 70 to 90 days to reach maturity, at which point they start producing eggs; they continue to produce eggs from late June until frost.

So what can you do? If you have a new infestation you can try removing them by hand. Scientists often use a solution of yellow mustard powder in water to get worms to come to the surface. One third cup per gallon of water. But if you have a large area, that might not be practical. The best time to do this is in early summer before new worms have reached maturity.

Brad said you can heat the soil to kill the worms by solarizing it with clear plastic. Worms — and castings — will self-destruct at 104 degrees for three days, perhaps less. Unfortunately, that will not work in forests or shady beds, which is where I have them.

The worms can live in sunny beds if they are mulched. In fact, Brad told me, the worms have an enzyme that allows them to eat wood mulch. I wonder if mulching with peastone or small gravel instead of bark mulch or leaves might help to reduce the problem. If they run out of food, they may well die out. That theory has not been tested, and you may not like the look of a stone mulch. If you do this, please let me know if it helps.

My worm problem so far exists only in one large shady area. Here’s my plan: After frost I will rake off leaves and mulch (and collect and destroy any worms I see). Worms are usually within an inch or two of the surface. I will treat those leaves as toxic waste as they probably will have cocoons in them, which I don’t want to get into my compost pile

Hopefully I can burn my rakings in the driveway to destroy the leaves and cocoons. Then I will cut back all my perennials and go over the area with a flame weeder. This is a torch attached to an 8-gallon propane tank that sends out a big flame. That should burn up the cocoons on the soil surface. Flame weeders are available from Johnny’s Selected Seeds or Fedco seeds.

Brad told me of a product, BotaniGard, that contains a fungus that is listed for use to kill the worms. However, according to a University of Vermont study I read, it is only about 70 percent effective in a lab setting. That is not good enough for me, especially since even a solitary worm can produce viable eggs. And it sells for $90 a pound.

When buying nursery stock, look for coffee grounds on the surface of the pot, and when removing the root ball, look for worms. If you see either, do not plant it, and report the problem to the seller. Check purchased compost for worms, too. Clean your tools and shoes if working in beds with worms — the egg cocoons are tiny and not visible to the naked eye.

Featured photo: Jumping worms usually have a white clitellum and move fast when disturbed. Courtesy photo.