Category: The Gardening Guy

Early and carefully

By Henry Homeyer

listings@hippopress.com

I remember talking to a gardener some years ago who, when I mentioned that her tall pines were interrupting the view, waved a hand and said, dismissively, “Oh, yes, I’ll have someone move them.” I nearly choked. Moving shrubs is not difficult, but big trees? Though theoretically possible using a big machine called a tree spade, it’s a very expensive proposition.

I have moved several shrubs over the years. I bought a Carolina allspice or sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) which, according to the literature, can be planted in full sun or part shade. I planted it in full sun in rich, moist soil. The first year the leaves got sunburned and developed brown edges. Oh well, I thought, perhaps it had been grown in deep shade. If so, it will recover and next year it will be fine. But the next year it burned again.

So that fall I moved my shrub to a shady place that got just a little dappled sunshine. It did not burn, but it didn’t flower much the year or the year after. “Huh,” I thought. “Maybe it needs more sun.” I waited a few more years, and never got many blossoms.

Finally, like Goldilocks of Three Bears fame, I found just the right place. I moved it into dappled shade under a big pear tree. It has flowered magnificently ever since. Which shows, I suppose, that persistence is important in the gardening world. I was tempted to let it just muddle along, but was rewarded for my effort moving it.

It is much easier to move a shrub in the first year or two of its life in your garden. It takes a few years for roots to grow out and away from the root ball. Early in its life in your garden you will be able to see its original root ball when you dig it out.

When I plant a tree or shrub I generally facilitate root expansion in two ways. First, I dig a wide hole for the root ball, at least three times as wide as the root ball. If the soil is very compacted, I dig an even wider hole. All that digging is intended to leave the soil fluffier, and easier for tiny roots to penetrate.

Secondly, I loosen the roots, tugging them away from the root ball. I pull away any encircling roots. I use my CobraHead weeder to tug on bigger roots that are firmly tangled to get them loose and ready to spread out into the soil. And if I break some smaller roots? I don’t worry. It will stimulate the roots to grow.

The hole should only be as deep as the root ball, not deeper. Your tree should sit on un-excavated soil so that it will not settle in time. If soil or mulch covers the trunk flare, the trunk will rot. It is a slow process, but soil and bark mulch have fungi that will destroy the bark of a tree, slowly killing it — it takes six to 10 years.

What is the trunk flare? That is the area at the base of the tree that flares out and often sends out above-ground roots that gently descend into the soil. It is most obvious in large trees, but some swelling in small trees should be evident at the base of the tree. That area is often buried with soil when you buy a tree, and you need to expose it.

If the flare is buried after planting, you may notice tip die-back at the top of the tree, and early fall coloring. Both are signs of trouble. Check out trees you have planted, and pull back the mulch or soil that is covering the flare. Do it now, and your tree may recover (depending on how long the flare has been buried).

If you are planting trees this summer, remove the tree from its pot or burlap covering. Expose the trunk flare before you dig the hole so you will know how deep to dig. I put a rake handle or wood stake over the hole to help me measure how deep it is before placing the tree into the hole. It is better to have the hole a little shallow than a little too deep. You can always mound the soil to bring it up to the proper amount of coverage.

For moving shrubs, the best tool to use is a long narrow shovel called a drain spade. The blade on mine is about 6 inches wide and 15 inches long. I push the blade into the soil in four places around the shrub. Each time the blade goes into the soil at about a 45-degree angle, with the idea of getting under the center of the shrub itself. I push down on the handle, and it lifts the shrub a little. After loosening the shrub I push down hard on the shovel and the shrub is ready to lift out.

The best time to move a shrub is in the afternoon of a drizzly or cloudy day, not on a hot, sunny day. Move the shrub right into a prepared hole at its new home. I generally do not add fertilizer to the new hole as I don’t want to force rapid new growth. Slow-release organic fertilizer is safe to use, but not too much, and a little compost is good, too.

Be sure to press the shrub down firmly in the hole after you have filled in the space around the root ball with soil, and to pack the soil in around it firmly with your hands. Water well at planting time, and at least every other day during hot, sunny times.

Lastly, I recommend looking at where other people have planted shrubs of the same species as yours that are doing better. And if you need to move yours to a better location? Go for it!

Featured photo: This drain spade is good for transplanting perennials and shrubs. Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

How the caretakers of lawn and garden can help each other

In most households, one person is the gardener, and another takes care of the lawn. Or perhaps a hired service or teenager does the mowing and string trimming. But it is common that there is conflict between the two parties. There are ways to minimize the problems if both parties are willing to compromise — and perhaps do a little extra work.

The mower generally wants to get the job done quickly. There are other things to do in summer — other lawns to mow, ponds to swim in, or hammocks to doze in. What can the gardener do to help the mower?

First, create a nice mulch ring around trees and shrubs. This will accomplish a couple of things: It will protect the bark of a tree from damage by a string trimmer, and it will hold in moisture and keep down weeds, benefitting the tree. For the mower, it will speed up the process of mowing around the tree and may even obviate the need to use the string trimmer. But never let the mulch touch the tree — it can cause it to rot, eventually killing it.

What else can the gardener do to help the mower? Remove low hanging branches. Apple trees, among others, often have low branches that reach out way beyond the circumference of the mulch ring. And yes, it is nice to be able to pick apples of those low branches, but do you really need them at the 3 or 5-foot level?

Quite frankly, I think trees look better if the lower branches are removed and the bark of the trunk is on display. Many trees have nice-looking trunks with interesting bark. I like to see the “legs” of a shrub or tree.

And what can the mower do to help the gardener? Blow the grass away from the flower or vegetable beds. There are few things more annoying than weeding and mulching a flower bed, only to have a person with a mower blow grass and perhaps dandelion seeds into the bed. And yes, I have seen professionals then blow the grass off the bed, but it is so much easier (and quieter) to just point the mower so that it blows the grass away from the beds.

Then there is the issue of hoses. Mowers generally do not want to be bothered disconnecting hoses that cross the lawn. They say that a mower with blades set at 3 inches should clear the hose, running right over it safely. But sometimes the front wheels of the mower will somehow push the hose up. And then the hose can be damaged.

So what can you do? If you are depending on a hose for regular watering of new trees or perennials, you probably need the hose to cross the lawn so it can be used every day or two. Think about burying the hose. If you are crossing a section of lawn that is heavily traveled, you may wish to dig a 6-inch-deep trench and slide the hose inside a section of plastic pipe.

To avoid having to re-seed the trench, use an edging tool to slice through the grass and lift strips if sod out carefully and set them aside. Dig a shallow trench and after pushing the hose through the pipe and placing it in the ground, cover the pipe with some good top soil. Then take the sod and fit it back where it was before.

The advantage of the pipe system is that you can pull the hose out of the pipe if it develops a leak, or if you want to put it in the barn for the winter. Quite frankly, I don’t think you need to bother with a pipe — or even burying it completely. Just take your edging tool or a straight-bladed shovel and slice into the lawn. Pull the handle back and forth, creating a “V” in the grass. Push the hose into the “V” and step on it. Push hard enough so that the top of the hose is not sticking up into the grass, but is right on the soil line. As the grass grows, you will not see the hose. I have done this, and left hoses in the ground for years with no ill effects.

People who mow, generally, also like to string trim the edges of beds and around trees. A common mistake is to trim the edges too close to the ground, “scalping” the grass near the flower beds. I have no suggestions on how to avoid this, except to politely ask the mower not to trim so darn close. Maybe growl a little.

Then there is the question of how often to mow. People who mow commercially like to have a regular schedule, and as often as possible. But if your spouse or child is the mower, point out to them that you want to let the grass get a little taller before mowing. Explain that the Dutch white clover that only blooms when the lawn is a little long is much loved by the bees and pollinators. Get them to think of the lawn as the lunch buffet for bees.

If you set the mower at 3 or 4 inches, your lawn will thank you. Yes, I know that the infield of Fenway Park is cut at less than an inch, but your half acre of lawn need not be. Grass plants need to feed their roots so they can grow deep into the soil — where the moisture is in dry times. The longer each blade of grass, the more food it can make by the miracle of photosynthesis.

If you keep your lawn longer, it will compete better with crabgrass and weeds. And you will get used to seeing it longer, and like it — or at least I do. You should not think it is a sign of indolence to have a lawn that doesn’t look like a green buzz cut.

Featured photo: Keep hoses off the lawn where you can. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Veggies for the lackadaisical gardener

My father, may he rest in peace, always told me that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Wrong, Dad. I grow at least three tasty vegetables that require no work to speak of: I just plant, mulch and harvest. If you are a lackadaisical gardener and like garlic, rhubarb and horseradish, you are in luck.

Let’s start with horseradish: It’s in the broccoli family, and once planted, it will never ask anything of you. Yes, it does slowly expand the patch of ground it claims as its own, so you may want to dig some up each year and make horseradish sauce. But if you plant it bordering a lawn on one side and a barn, house or path on the other, it won’t travel far.

The roots of a mature horseradish plant will grow deep, probably all the way to China. So when you dig it, some will always be left in the ground to come back. I have extracted roots longer than 18 inches. The plant is tall, easily 3 or 4 feet, and the leaves are wide and a bit coarse-looking. Not a particularly pretty plant. And although it produces little white flowers, it doesn’t produce viable seed. You can start it from a scrap of root you get from a friend at harvest time.

The sauce can be very powerful or more mild, depending on how you make it. Wash the roots with a scrub brush, then peel with a potato peeler. Chop into chunks under an inch in size, and put in a food processor or blender. A cup of chunks will make all I need for a year. I blend the chunks with half a cup of water or so. It takes a few minutes of blending to get it to the right consistency as this stuff is fibrous and tough to break down. Don’t overheat your blender, so stop and start.

If you want mild horseradish add a third of a cup of vinegar pretty much right away. If you want it hot (which I do), wait a few minutes after blending, then add it. The mix should be spreadable with a butter knife and juicy. Store it in a glass jar, preferably with a plastic lid. Metal lids rust and dissolve from the fumes in less than a year.

The fumes when blending are powerful, so don’t get your eyes and nose by looking into the blender. You may even want to do the job outside on the deck.

Rhubarb is a wonderful vegetable, even if old-fashioned. Like horseradish, it is a forever plant that once planted should provide you with treats for the rest of your life. You can buy a plant or get a friend to divide and share some roots. Some rhubarb has red stems, others green stems. They taste the same, but I like the red color. The leaves contain oxalic acid and are not edible.

Since rhubarb is going to live forever, I recommend adding lots of compost and some slow-release organic fertilizer at planting time. If dividing rhubarb, early spring is the best time to do it, but anytime is all right. It grows best in full sun, but as a leafy green it will thrive in part sun, too.

I like making rhubarb punch as an early-summer refreshing drink. Pick a few stems, and cut into one-inch chunks. Add an equal amount of water, and boil until the rhubarb is falling apart. Sieve through a colander or sieve. The add water — a cup of fruit will easily make a quart of punch, or even two, depending how you like it. Add sugar to taste and serve cold.

Garlic should be planted in October, and it is ready to harvest in July. This year mine started to blossom in late June, sending up curly stalks called scapes that are edible and decorative. I will resist picking any bulbs of garlic until mid-July or later so it can reach maximum size. But don’t wait too long; if you do, the outer layers of leafy material that cover each bulb will start to break down, and it will not store as well.

OK, I looked at mine today and did see a few weeds I should pull. But it really is essentially a work-free crop. I plant cloves 3 inches apart and 3 inches deep in rich, compost-containing soil. Full sun is best. Once planted, I mulch it heavily — up to a foot of fluffy mulch hay or straw. Over the winter it will pack down to just 3 or 4 inches. In the spring the leaves will grow right through the straw, but weeds do not.

Garlic stores well in a cool, dry place. By now, some of last year’s garlic is starting to sprout in the kitchen. I have made garlic powder by drying it in a food dehydrator, then grinding in a coffee or spice grinder, but normally I just store it. I have read that one can freeze it, too, but haven’t done so yet. Don’t store it at room temperature in oil — as a root crop there is always the possibility of getting botulism.

Whatever you plant in the garden will reward you well beyond the work it involves to grow. To get good results do these things: prepare the soil well, and add compost. Provide plenty of sunshine, even if it means planting in the front lawn. Water regularly in hot times, especially early in the season. Pick your veggies when they are small and tender — that’s when they will taste best. And lastly, don’t let the weeds get ahead of you. Never let weeds blossom and distribute their seeds. Mulch is an easy way to keep weeds at bay, particularly if you put down a few sheets of newspaper under the straw or hay.

Featured photo: Garlic scapes can be sauteed and eaten, or put in a vase like flowers. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Weeding the garden is only the beginning

With the advent of summer, it is time to buckle down and get a few jobs done in the garden. In the vegetable garden it’s time to thin out extra plants that are crowding each other. In addition to carrots and beets, others like rutabagas, kohlrabi and parsnips that are started by seed in the ground may need thinning.

Carrot seeds are tiny, so we don’t often plant them one by one. Instead we tend to sprinkle them and, by gum, most of them grow. I maintain that thinning carrots needs to happen by the Fourth of July, so get to work. If they are really close together, you may want to use scissors to cut off the extras at the soil line to avoid pulling up carrots you are trying to save.

I like to be efficient at whatever I do, and that includes keeping a relatively weed-free garden. Many weeds quickly mature, flower, and produce seeds. Your job is to keep them from producing seeds or crowding out your plants.

One way to control weeds is to keep them from getting the sunlight they need to grow. You can do this by mulching. I spread out newspapers over the soil and cover them with straw, hay or leaves. Four to six pages of newspaper keeps out light, inhibiting weeds. Three or four inches of straw will keep the papers in place. Earthworms eat the paper over the summer, and newsprint is done with soy-based inks, so you are not adding heavy metals to your soil (which was the case years ago).

This method works well on walkways and around big plants in the vegetable garden but is more problematic for onions and carrots, which are small and closer together. I use grass clippings or chopped leaves, without the newspaper, around small plants.

Mulching in the flower garden is good, too. It keeps down weeds and holds in moisture. But beware: Too much mulch can keep rain from reaching the roots of your perennials. An inch or two of ground bark helps a lot, but 3 or 4 inches will keep quick showers from getting water to your plants.

Some gardeners use landscape fabric under bark mulch, but I generally do not. I find pernicious weeds eventually send roots through the woven fabric and this makes weeding very difficult. Landscape fabric can also constrict perennials as they expand over time, choking them.

What about plain old black plastic? I don’t use it. Sunshine breaks it down over time and makes a mess. It also keeps air and water from getting to the soil, which must affect soil microorganisms. Additionally, the plastic ends up in the waste stream, which I want to avoid.

This is the time to prune lilacs, forsythia and other spring- and early summer-blooming trees and shrubs. They set their buds for next spring in the summer, so if you wait until fall to prune, you will reduce the number of blossoms. But don’t take a hedge trimmer and just buzz off a foot or two. Make each cut thoughtfully.

I start by deciding the perfect height and shape for the shrub. I recently reduced the height of some lilacs from 12 feet or more to a more manageable 8 feet or so. I cut back each stem to a place where two branches meet. If you cut any branch to a random spot, the branch may not heal well. It heals best where two branches meet. Try to hide your cuts by cutting bigger branches in places where foliage from other branches will obscure your surgery.

You can also cut back tall fall-blooming perennial flowers by a third to delay blooming and create shorter plants. This is best done in mid-May, but it’s not too late. Sometimes I will cut back the outer stems of a big clump and leave the center stems at full length. That gives me a longer bloom time, and the lower stems help support the taller stems.

Be forewarned: Not all perennials will bloom if you cut them back. I wouldn’t do it for peonies or iris, for example, but anything like an aster will respond well. Experiment with just a few plants at first. Better yet, read Tracy DiSabato Aust’s book, The Well Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques. It has detailed advice for most common garden plants.

If we have a dry summer, you may need to water. Established perennials should not need added water, but your vegetable garden might. I don’t favor overhead sprinklers because they water everything: plants, walkways and weeds. I prefer a watering wand, which is a device I attach to my hose. It is a 30-inch aluminum wand with a sprinkler head and a valve. I can direct the water exactly where I want it. I like a brand called Dramm because the sprinkler head allows fast, gentle watering.

Watering cans are good, too. They allow you to see just how much water you are applying. This is important for new trees, which need 5 gallons a week or so. A sprinkler might seem like it is delivering a lot of water, but may not be.

A watering timer will deliver water while you are away on vacation. They attach to your spigot and allow you to use an overhead sprinkler or a soaker hose. So don’t let your garden dictate your vacation schedule. With mulch and a watering system you can come back from vacation with nothing worse than a lawn that needs cutting!

Featured photo: The first step of mulching as I do it is to put down newspaper. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Consider native shrubs for your yard

Many of the “cast iron” shrubs that no one can kill are now deemed invasive: barberry, burning bush, multiflora rose and bush honeysuckle. And many others, while not invasive, have been overused: lilacs, rhododendrons and spirea, for example, are nice but not too exciting. Today I’d like to share some nice native shrubs that support wildlife and add beauty to your landscape. These are arranged here roughly in order of season of interest (for flowers, bark, berries)

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin): I grew up chewing on the twigs and leaves of this small native with a distinctive flavor that I like. It grows in dry shade and has yellow flowers early in the spring, and red berries in the fall. But to get berries you have both males and female plants (and they are not sexed the way winterberries are). The leaves can be used to make a spicy tea. It tolerates some drought, but prefers moist rich soil.

Common sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus): This can be a fussy plant — I have moved mine twice to find just the right amount of sun. I have it growing under a tall, sparse pear tree and right now it is loaded with wine-red blossoms, each a bit like a miniature peony. Allegedly fragrant, but mine is not, so buy in bloom and sniff first if fragrance is important to you. Reference books generally say it does best in full sun with moist soil, but mine burned in the sun, even with wet soil. Native to the south, but hardy to Zone 4.

Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia): This is a native that often plants itself — with the help of birds — in semi-shaded places. Its structure is fabulous — it often has 2 feet of stem between horizontal branches arranged in tiers. It prefers part shade, but I do have it in full sun growing out of a high rock wall. It grows 15 to 25 feet tall. Birds love the berries (drupes, actually) in August. White, subtle flowers in June. Not often sold in nurseries, but try it if you can find it. Avoid the variegated-leafed variety; it is not nearly as tough a plant and often fails to thrive

Blueberries: So many gardeners avoid blueberries because “the birds will just eat them.” Well, why not plant some for them? They have lovely white blossoms in June, nice fruit for feeding the birds and lovely red foliage in the fall. The trick to success? Test your soil, and then add sulfur or a fertilizer-containing sulfur designed for hollies and such. You need the soil pH to be between 4.5 and 5.5 to get good fruit production. And who knows? You might get a few berries yourself — even without netting. (I avoid netting as birds get tangled in it and die).

Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica): New to me. I just bought one at Spring Ledge Farm in New London, New Hampshire, when I saw one in bloom. It was gorgeous, and although it’s rated as a Zone 5 plant and I’m a little colder than that some years, I had to try it. It has bottlebrush white flowers in June and red fall foliage. Best of all, for me, it does well alongside water or in wet places in full sun to part shade — and I have plenty of that. It stays 3 to 4 feet tall, but can spread by root. Full sun to full shade.

Smooth hydrangea (H. arborescens): Along with oak-leafed hydrangea, this is a native that grows wild in the forest as an understory shrub. It is stoloniferous (it spreads by roots) and only gets to be about 3 feet tall, but can form large clumps. I recently read an article about these on research done that cites a named variety called ‘Haas Halo’ that is said to be the best of all hydrangeas for pollinators. Fortunately, I had already purchased some last fall. It is, however, attractive to deer. They got eaten last fall, but came back from the roots vigorously this spring.

Rosebay rhododendron (R. maximum): This is another understory shrub, but can get quite large. I like it because it grows in shade or sun, and blooms (for me) in July. It is native to Appalachia, and large specimens dug in the wild are often sold in the nursery business. It can have either white or pink blossoms. Rhododendron State Park in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, is worth a visit in July — there are 16 acres of rhododendrons and mountain laurel.

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia): This is an August bloomer, fragrant and handsome. It blooms well in light to moderate shade, and thrives in moist soils (where full sun is tolerated). The bottlebrush flowers are upright and range from white to pink to red. Many selections are sold as named varieties.

Red-twigged dogwood (Cornus sericea): Common in the wet places in the wild and in roadside ditches. Its best attribute is the bright red bark in winter of first- or second-year stems. To keep it looking bright, cut back older stems each year. It can grow new stems up to 5 feet tall in one year!

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata): Common in nurseries, these bear bright red berries in winter that are great in wreaths — and for hungry birds. In the wild they grow in standing water, but once established they will do fine in most gardens. Buy a male cultivar for every five or so females.

So visit your local nursery, talk to someone knowledgeable, and buy some new shrubs. Ask for native shrubs that are good for our birds and pollinators. There are plenty of others not mentioned here that are nice, too!

Featured photo: Sweetspire grows alongside my stream and has nice fall color. Photo courtesy of Henry Homeyer.

Artichokes, tomatillos and other plants that still have time to thrive

It’s not too late to plant some more things in the vegetable garden. It’s only June, and there is still time. Here are some tips for some less commonly planted veggies — for growing and/or using. It’s way too late to start most things from seed, but you can sometimes buy started plants at a good local greenhouse or garden center.

Artichokes: These are big plants, so you need a 2-foot-wide square in good, rich, moist soil in full sun. You will get one good-sized “choke” on the top of the plant, and a few more as side shoots. Grow them because the foliage and chokes are beautiful, even if not much food. They are nice in the flower garden, too.

Brussels sprouts: I get many emails complaining that the little green globes that we eat never get big. But that’s easy to fix: On Labor Day weekend, go to the garden with a sharp knife. Then, as the Red Queen of Alice and Wonderland said, “Off with their heads!” That’s right; slice off the top 4 inches or so of the plant and it will plump up the sprouts and stop putting all its energy into getting taller. They are incredibly frost-hardy, so you can harvest as late as Christmas if you wish.

Cauliflower: These guys are fussy. If they get too cold, too hot, too wet or too dry they will only produce a ”button” of a head. But if you’re lucky, you’ll get a mouth-watering delight. And they come in purple, too! But cooked, the purple turns gray — so use them in a salad where the purple will amaze your guests.

Celeriac: These are root crops related to celery but easier to grow. My home-grown celery was always stringy and attracted slugs, so I stopped growing it. But celeriac is easy — if you have soil that stays moist. I usually start seeds indoors in March but forgot this year, so I just bought some plants in a four-pack at my local nursery. Harvest late in fall to let them get as big as possible.

Kale: A favorite of the Birkenstock crew it should be grown by everyone. Why? It’s a green vegetable that is easy to grow and, unlike lettuce or spinach, it freezes well. I blanch it, and freeze it in zipper bags to use in soups, stews and smoothies all winter. Your garden center may still have seedlings, but you could start some by direct seeding in the ground for a fall crop. Each plant needs about 16 inches of space, so if starting from seed, plant several seeds in a group at that spacing, and then thin out all but one after they germinate.

Kohlrabi: These are in the cabbage/broccoli family but are an above-ground root (actually an enlarged stem). The leaves pop out of the purple or light green above-ground sphere. Some should be harvested at the size of baseballs; others are still perfect when the size of a duckpin bowling ball. The seed packet will tell you which you have. They taste a bit like broccoli and can be used raw in salads or cooked in a stir-fry or soup. Some, like “Gigante,” will store for six months in a cool cellar or fridge. These grow fast, so you can plant seeds now.

Parsnips: I usually plant by seed around June 15 because they won’t germinate in cold soil. Seeds are good for only one year, so share the seed packet with your neighbor. We “older folks” love parsnips. Parsnips grow like carrots but get bigger. I leave them in the ground all winter and harvest them first thing in the spring. I steam them and serve them with butter and (real) maple syrup (of course).

Pole beans: Unlike bush beans, they keep on producing all summer if you keep on picking them. “Kentucky Wonder” is the classic, but the tastiest I’ve eaten in “Kwintus,” which is still good when picked big. Kwintus seeds are hard to find, but they are available from Fedco Seeds.

Rutabagas: Why do people never raise their hand when I ask a group, “Other than me, who has grown these gems?”? I admit, it’s an old-fashioned vegetable, one our grandparents grew. But it’s easy to start from seed, it’s tasty and it produces a lot of food. Use it just like potatoes in a stew. Its advantage is that it won’t crumble and fall apart after reheating the stew a few times. And potato beetles aren’t a problem. Just thin them to 4 inches apart and you will get roots bigger than any of your potatoes. Start by seed now.

Swiss chard: Swiss chard is actually the same species as beets, but has been selected for big leaves, not big roots. Plant by seed (or plants if you can find them) now. Bedrock Gardens in Lee, N.H. (one of New England’s quiet gems) used purple-leafed ones in their garden last year (or was that a purple-leafed beet?). “Bright Lights” Swiss chard offers stems in red, purple, yellow, orange and green. Plant them in the flower garden, eat them raw or steamed.

Tomatillos: These are used in Mexican dishes and can be grown here. But you need two plants to get proper pollination. I didn’t know that and only planted one the first time I tried it. It made fruit capsules, but with nothing inside! Look for plants at your local greenhouse.

Thank you, John Lenat (1888 to 1967), my maternal grandfather. You not only taught me how to make a good compost pile, you taught me the joy of eating fresh vegetables only minutes after picking them. I am eternally grateful.

Featured photo: Kohlrabi. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Buy less plastic, stay away from chemical fertilizers and compost

Do you want to be a better steward of the environment? If so, the first step is to be a gardener: Grow some of your own vegetables and plant some native trees, shrubs and flowers while using no chemicals. But there is even more to think about than what kind of tomatoes to plant, and how many.

First, what should you do with all those black plastic pots that come with the plants? Most recycling facilities do not accept black plastic pots, but some pots are numbered #2 or #5 and can be recycled. A few have no numbers. Plastic pots are made from oil in factories around the world. I imagine that these factories spew and spill a certain amount of chemicals, and create waste and byproducts that are bad for the environment.

My mantra for plastic is this: Refuse, Re-use, Recycle. So how do you refuse to buy plants in plastic pots? Start your own plants. If you save plastic pots and rinse them out, you can reuse them. Some for years. You can also buy peat pots and coir (palm fiber) pots. Some companies, like Gardener’s Supply, sell sturdy flats to use instead of those flimsy six-packs, strong enough to be used many times.

Trees and shrubs are most often sold in big black plastic pots. But they are also sold “balled and burlapped.” Those are usually bigger trees that are dug up and wrapped in burlap after years growing in the ground. Some local nurseries still dig their own plants, and I recommend supporting them. When you plant, be sure to take off any burlap and wires that may be holding the root ball together. And beware of any “fake” burlap made of plastic. Don’t buy it.

For years we have been offering sturdy plastic pots to our local, family-owned garden centers. Most just want them cleaned before you drop them off. I find it easiest to do that right after planting, before the soil bakes on. Reusing pots saves the garden centers money, assuming they have the time to sort and store them. Tell those that do how happy you are with them.

Recycling is really not the answer: Many loads of plastic at the recycling center are contaminated and end up in the landfill or incinerator. Too much dirt, food or items of the wrong number can condemn a whole Dumpster of plastic.

I was pleased to learn that most Home Depot stores now accept all kinds of plastic pots. I went to the one near me in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, and there was a rack outside with the plants just for returned pots. The pots don’t even need to have come from them.

We recently took a big step forward toward being “green.” We bought an electric lawn mower. I’ve read that the EPA estimates that using a lawn mower is 11 times more polluting than driving a new car. One hour of mowing, apparently, is equal to driving 93 miles. Of course, these statistics are not perfect, as they do not indicate what kind of mower or car is being compared. Older, bigger mowers are worse.

We bought a 21-inch, self-propelled battery-powered lawn mower on sale for $500 at our local True Value Hardware store. It has a quick-charge battery charger that takes an hour or less to recharge the 54-volt battery, which is good for an hour of mowing. The mower has plenty of power and is so much quieter than our old gas mower. Our lawn takes more than an hour to mow, but so what? I have plenty of other garden chores to do while the battery recharges. The technology in batteries in electric mowers really has improved just in the last few years.

Being green also means using no chemicals in the garden. That’s an easy one. I don’t use herbicides, insecticides or chemical fertilizers. I don’t want something to kill dandelions or moss, neither of which I consider a problem.

There are perfectly wonderful organic fertilizers that offer so much more than the chemical ones. Instead of just offering three plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), they offer calcium, magnesium and many more nutrients plants use. They do this because they are manufactured using natural ingredients like seaweed, cottonseed meal, ground oyster shells and ground peanut hulls.

Organic fertilizers are also slow-release fertilizers. Pro-Gro, made in Vermont, has about 25 percent soluble nitrogen that is ready right away. The rest is released slowly as microorganisms break it down and make it usable by plants. And it will not damage root hairs the way some of the chemical fertilizers can if too much is applied.

Compost is one of the best things you can add to your soil. It helps sandy soils hold moisture and loosens up heavy clay-based soils. You can buy it by the bag or, better yet, by the truck load. Even though my soil is terrific, I add compost every year. It is not a fertilizer, but it feeds the microorganisms that work with our plants. And if you get a good grade of compost, it will improve the texture of your soil, no matter what it is.

Lastly, speak up. If your suppliers are trying to reduce use of plastic, or are taking it back to reuse it, tell them that is why you are buying from them. If they’re not? Ask them to! Every voice counts. We gardeners should be on the cutting edge of reducing plastic and chemical use.

Featured photo: Electric mowers have improved greatly in the past few years. They are quiet and non-polluting. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Plants that thrive in wet or moist places

I like to say that plants can be as fussy as a 2-year-old facing a plate of overcooked broccoli. Plants know what they want, and will not behave the way you want them to unless you accommodate their wishes. Today let’s look at a few that love wet feet.

First, please understand that plants need oxygen but do not get it from their leaves. No; they get oxygen from their roots. Some plants have evolved ways to get their oxygen despite sitting in water-logged soil while others quickly drown or develop root rot. If you have heavy clay soil that holds water, be sure to pick plants that can tolerate wetness.

I have a small stream running through my property, so much of my land stays quite moist, even in dry summers. In spring I often have standing water between raised beds in the vegetable garden. Yet I have plenty of wonderful flowers that thrive here. Here are a dozen I like, arranged roughly according to bloom time, from early spring to late fall.

1. The drumstick primrose (Primula denticulata) blooms in early spring in hues of blue to red or white. Then comes P. kisoana, which spreads by root in either wet or dry places. Last, starting now, there is the candelabra primrose (P. japonica) which sets out a series of blossoms on an increasingly tall stem over a month of bloom time. All love growing under old apple trees in dappled shade.

2. Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica). I have these blooming now by the hundred everywhere I look, sun or shade. These lovely low-growing blue (or sometimes pink or white) flowers self-sow bountifully. They prefer rich moist soil and will do well in sun or shade. Because they come back from seeds so easily we let them bloom, then often pull them out like weeds to plant something else.

3. ‘Thalia’ daffodil. Most bulbs require good drainage, but ‘Thalia’ does fine in soggy soil. She is nearly white, and each bulb can produce three flowers at once. She blooms with the forget-me-nots. Order now for fall planting.

4. Globeflower (Trollius spp.). An early summer bloomer, it does best in part sun and moist soil, but will also grow in ordinary garden soil and in full shade. The blossoms are an inch or so across and bright yellow. Blooms in late May to June, but may sometimes re-bloom in the fall.

5. Japanese iris (Iris ensata). These beauties will bloom in standing water or in damp soil. They are like the Siberian iris, but their falls (petals) lay back almost flat. Blues and purples. Early summer.

6. Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). These flowers are native plants that bloom on 3-foot stalks in fire engine red! I’ve seen them growing on the banks of the Connecticut River, but they do well in moist soil and full sun in my garden. Will tolerate some dryness, but prefer wet. I avoid modern hybrids that are other colors but not as hardy.

7. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). Related to ordinary milkweed, this likes moist soil and full sun. Unlike the wild one, this does not send runners out and spread by root. Mine get 3 to 5 feet tall and come in pink or white. Readily available at garden centers.

8. Astilbe (Astilbe spp.) These flowers come in red, pink and white and various heights. They can survive in drier soil in shade, but really love moist, rich soil and full sun. Good cut flower with an almost woody stem.

9. Goldenrod (Solidago spp.). There are many species, some of which spread by root while others do not. It is the very best perennial for supporting pollinators. Mid-summer to fall. ‘Fireworks’ is my favorite.

10. Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum). This is a native plant that thrives on stream beds and swampy areas that has been domesticated. A cultivar known as ‘Gateway’ is the best but gets to be over 6 feet tall. ‘Baby Joe’ is supposed to be a smaller version, but I haven’t tried it yet. Pollinators love this plant, which blooms in fall with pinky-purple blossoms.

11. Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii). Gorgeous tall stems loaded with pink flowers shaped like helmets – or turtle heads. Will do sun or shade, loves moisture but will grow in ordinary gardens, too. Bumblebees force themselves inside, and seem to growl in there at times. Great cut flower. Fall.

12. ‘Henry Eiler’ rudbeckia. One of the latest flowers I grow. Petals are distinctive: They have space between each one, like missing teeth. Tall, often 6 feet or more. Needs to be staked early, or perhaps cut back in early June to reduce height. Blooms past frost. Full sun, rich moist soil.

If you have a clay-based soil that is sticky when you rub it, wet, between your fingers, you would do well to add compost to the soil before planting any of these lovely flowers. Yes, they like the moisture clay holds, but compost — a shovel or more mixed into the planting hole — will improve their performance.

I’m pleased to report that our new young dog, Rowan, is learning to stay out of garden beds. He’s an 18-month-old golden/Irish setter mix with lots of energy. But so far, he hasn’t dug up any plants.

Featured photo: Pollinators are attracted to Swamp milkweed by color and scent. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

How to rebalance your plant life

Well-intentioned people of the past century imported many handsome plants. Unfortunately, some of them, absent the predators of their homeland, became pests here in America. These “invasives” generally spread quickly by seed and root, and can take over our gardens and adjoining wild places. Many will grow in sun or shade in wet or dry soil — in other words, anywhere!

This is a good time to work on removing as many invasives as you can. You can obtain the entire list online as each state keeps a list of plants that are considered invasive and are prohibited from sale, propagation or transportation. But let’s look at a few that are common and important to remove, no matter where you live.

For me, those include bush honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). I recently organized a work day on a hiking trail in Cornish that focused on honeysuckle and barberry. We tried to pull these shrubs by hand, but also used a device called a weed wrench for bigger specimens.

Although “weed wrench” is used generically, it was in fact a trade name, but the company has gone out of business. Similar tools can be found under the names “Pullerbear,” “Uprooter” and perhaps others. I have used Weed Wrenches, but not other brands. These are steel tools with sturdy handles and a gripping mouthpiece that bites onto the stem of a shrub up to 2 or 3 inches in diameter, depending on the model. You pull back, and with great leverage you pull out the culprit, roots and all. Some brands come in different sizes.

Many invasive plants are hard to eradicate because if you leave a part of the root in the ground when pulling it out, it will re-sprout. And simply cutting down an invasive tree or shrub usually will often not work: The roots will send up new shoots, and may respond by sending up many, many new shoots.

But don’t be discouraged if you can’t get all the roots out. You are severely setting back the plant you pulled and it will be several years before the plant can produce seeds for birds to distribute elsewhere.

Buckthorn is one of those that responds to cutting by sending up many new plants. Instead of one buckthorn or a clump of buckthorn, you get dozens of buckthorn. But you can kill buckthorn by girdling the trunk. Take a small pruning saw and cut through the bark all the way around the trunk. Don’t cut into the hardwood, just cut the bark. Then go 12 inches higher up, and do it again.

Girdling a buckthorn is a slow death: you are interrupting the flow of sugars from the leaves to the roots, which slowly starve to death. I have done this in winter, and the tree leafed out and seemed normal that spring and the next spring. The third spring it never leafed out — it was dead, and did not send up any new sprouts around the tree.

That said, it is not always easy to girdle buckthorn. They often grow with several trunks that merge near the base and grow tightly together. So a folding saw with a pointed tip is the best way to get into the cluster of stems. Or try to cut the clump twice down low, near the base.

During the recent work day in Cornish, I spoke with someone who explained a theory of invasive plant control that made a lot of sense to me. It was a theory proposed by Dr. Steve Dewey of Utah State University, and was based on the way firefighters approach wildfires. When a fire is raging, sometimes all you can do is try to contain it, and look for places where the wind has sent sparks that are just starting a new fire.

Likewise, when there is a bad infestation of an invasive plant like honeysuckle or barberry on a property, look around for spots where a single small plant is growing. It will be easier to pull than a big one. And within a few years, a small plant will be a big plant producing seeds for birds, wind or water to move to a new location — and to produce a big patch. So put out the glowing ember first, then work on the big fire — or infestation — next.

An easy invasive plant to pull is garlic mustard. This is a biennial weedy plant and might not be thought to be so bad. But its roots produce a toxin that kills beneficial soil fungi that will, in time, reduce tree viability. It can grow in deep shade in our forests. The toxin it produces will eliminate the mycorrhizal fungi that live in symbiotic relationship with our trees, gradually weakening the trees — and killing them. Not only that, garlic mustard inhibits the germination of seeds of many species of native plants, including many spring wildflowers.

As a biennial weed, garlic mustard has two forms. In the first year it produces a low rosette of rounded leaves. The second year it sends up 18- to 36-inch flower spikes with pointy, heart-shaped leaves with jagged edges. The small white flowers have four petals and bloom in clusters about an inch or more in diameter. One plant can produce about 4,000 seeds. And although about 70 percent of the seeds will germinate the next year, some will remain viable in the soil for up to 10 years.

So organize a work party in your town — it’s more fun than taking on invasives on your own. Try to remove any one of the invasives that threaten our woodlands and wetlands. Your grandkids will thank you one day.

Featured photo: Honeysuckle leaves are oval and opposite each other on the stem. Courtesy photo.

Every gardener has an opinion about when to start planting the vegetable garden. Frost-hardy plants like spinach, onions and peas should already be in the ground for most everyone, but tomatoes and peppers? I believe that waiting until June is right for my garden, even if we get no more frost.

Why do I plant later than many others? Tomatoes and peppers like warm soil. In fact, they’d rather be growing in Mexico than Cornish Flat. Yes, you can plant them early, but they won’t grow much. They’ll sit there and sulk. If you can get your hands on a little soil thermometer, check your soil down 3 or 4 inches. If it is 60 degrees or more, fine. Have at it.

Another way to decide when to plant is to ask an “old timer.” Ask someone in your neighborhood when it is safe to plant various crops. If she has been gardening in your neighborhood for the last 25 years or more, her advice is probably excellent.

If you started seeds indoors, your tomatoes or broccoli may be tall and lanky. So tall that they will fall over when planted. The solution? Plant much of the stem in the ground, either in a deep hole for the root ball, or sideways in a shallow trench. Remove any low leaves to make it look like a little palm tree. Then make a hole for the root ball with a 6-inch trench next to it. Lay the tomato seedling in the ground, and gently turn up the top while covering the stem with soil. All the buried stem will produce roots. Broccoli or other brassicas I just plant deep if they are too tall.

Potatoes can go in the ground now unless your garden is still soggy. In fact, don’t plant anything in soggy soil. I have a somewhat soggy place for my garden, but I make raised beds, which helps with drainage. I have made two kinds of raised beds: raised mounds (30 to 36 inches wide) or wood-sided raised beds. I use rough-sawn hemlock planks that are a full inch thick and 8 inches wide. Pressure-treated wood is now said to be safe to use in the vegetable garden, but I prefer untreated hemlock, which I find lasts about 10 years.

Potatoes are started from chunks of sprouted potatoes, or from whole, small potatoes. Buy “seed potatoes” at your local feed-n-grain store, hardware store or garden center. Grocery store potatoes are likely treated to avoid sprouting, although organic potatoes are probably fine. Seed potatoes are sold as disease-free, which is important. If you cut large potatoes into chunks, make sure each has a couple of “eyes,” where they will sprout stems. Leave them in a shady, breezy place for a day or two to heal the cuts.

Loosen the soil well and dig a hole with a hand tool. You want the spud to be at least 3 inches deep when planted as the new potatoes need space to grow above the seed potato. Cover with just an inch of soil at first, but then fill the hole with more soil after the leaves and stems are up above the soil level.

Peppers and eggplants I plant as small plants in mid-June. To give them even more warmth at night I sometimes cover them with row cover (a thin agricultural fabric sold at garden centers). And I’ve been known to place dark-colored rocks near some special French hot peppers I grow to store heat during the day and kick it back at night. Peppers and eggplants can be wind-pollinated, but bees help too, so don’t leave row covers on once they start blooming.

Parsnips I plant by seed in mid-June, and they generally take two weeks or more to germinate. Most seeds are good for three years, but you must buy parsnip seeds every year. Like all root crops, parsnips benefit from having loose soil with few rocks (oh, sorry, Vermonters).

Be sure to thin all root crops in early July once they are big enough to grab onto. Give the carrots an inch to start, then a month later thin to 2 inches. You can eat the thinnings. Beets, same thing. And beet greens are delicious.

What about unusual veggies? I like to buy an artichoke plant at my local greenhouse. I have started them from seed, but it is a long process starting in February. Give your artichoke a 2-foot square of space, add lots of compost and a little organic fertilizer, and place it in full sun. Make sure it does not dry out. It will produce one good-sized artichoke at the top of the plant, and smaller ones as side shoots. The foliage is lovely, so you can plant one in your flower garden!

Swiss chard is pretty enough to sneak into your flower beds. Get Bright Lights chard, which has red, yellow and green stems.

Beans come as bush beans or pole beans. Bush beans all ripen over a three-week period and are then done. Pole beans, if you keep on picking them, will keep producing until frost. Kentucky Wonder is the classic pole bean, though Kwintus is my favorite. It’s good eating, even when large.

A word of caution about fertilizers: More is not better. Chemical fertilizers can burn fine roots. And too much organic fertilizer can push growth too fast. Compost is always a good addition to your planting hole.

I never use insecticides in the garden. Their side effects can be awful for you, your kids or pets. Just hand-pick bugs, or spray off little things like aphids with a stream of water.

Featured photo: Beans. Photo by Henry Homeyer.