Category: The Gardening Guy

Spring blooms I love

Spring has teased us this year. She comes, she goes; warm sunny days are followed by high winds, cold rain and even pellets of ice. But the spring flowers persist, starting with those dainty white snowdrops that appear reliably in early March for me. Let’s look at a few — bulbs, shrubs and trees. Perennials I will do on another day.

Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) bloom with white blossoms on short stems in early March, but seem a bit depressed, I think. They always turn their faces down to the ground. I have some “double” snowdrops that really are gorgeous, but I only see their extra petals when I bend down and turn their faces up. Probably not worth a dollar a bulb, which is what they cost. Snowdrops tend to naturalize, becoming more numerous each year and moving out from flower beds and into the lawn.

After the snowdrops come Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae). These are cheerful blue, pink or white flowers that look up to look at me. Sometimes I think they wink at me, saying, “Hey dude, look at us. We are spring.” I mainly grow the blue ones. These naturalize well, spreading quickly.

Related to Glory of the Snow, but more intense in color and attitude, are Siberian squill, most commonly referred to by their scientific name, Scilla (Scilla siberica).They are a deep purple, and their faces point down, looking at their sneakers.

Along with those flowers come a bright yellow one, Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis). These are low-growing, upward-facing flowers with five to eight petals (actually sepals, but who cares?). Like the others, they tend to spread and increase in number. Order some now, along with the others mentioned, and plant them in the fall.

You know crocus, but you might not know that there are 80 or more distinct species of crocus. Some are very early, others bigger and later. Go online and look at all the varieties. These are good for early pollinators hungry for pollen and nectar.

Daffodils are mildly poisonous to rodents and deer, so they avoid them. Mine are now in full bloom. There are 13 classes of daffies, each quite distinct. Tulips are flavor treats for deer, and rodents love the bulbs. So maybe you should grow them as potted flowers. Or take your chances. Having several cats will help tulip bulbs survive, and a dog will keep the deer away. My favorite is ‘Maureen,’ a 24- to 28-inch-tall late bloomer, but I love them all!

Most trees do not have showy blossoms. Why not? Most are wind-pollinated, so do not need to attract pollinators with flashy blossoms or great fragrances. You might never have noticed the blossoms of pines or oaks or maples. Actually, you must have seen red maples (Acer rubrum) bloom. They are early, one of the first trees to blossom. The blossoms are small and fuzzy in appearance. But there are so many blooming at once, you will notice them if you hike in the woods in April.

But of the showy trees, the best in my opinion is a hybrid magnolia called ‘Merrill’ or ‘Dr. Merrill’ (Magnolia x loebneri ‘Merrill’) named after the Director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard in 1952, but actually bred by Karl Sax. It blooms reliably for me in the last week of April and into May. The blossoms are double, fragrant, and 2 to 3 inches across.

This week my leatherwood bush (Dirca palustris) is in bloom with heart-stopping beauty. It is a small native shrub that blooms in dry shade for me. It has lovely gray bark much like beech trees and yellow blossoms that appear before the leaves. The blossoms are small and elegant, and almost seem to glow. It is not a common shrub for sale in nurseries. Mine has upward-growing branches in a vase-shaped arrangement. I love it and visit every day when in bloom.

Then there is February Daphne. Well, maybe it blooms in New Jersey or Virginia in February, but it blooms in April for me. It has lots of small pink-purplish stemless blossoms up its branches. It is highly fragrant. It is only 3 to 5 feet tall and wide, and rarely needs pruning. It is native to Europe and Asia, not here, and is said to spread by seed distributed by birds. But in 20 years I have never seen a volunteer on my property. Some people react poorly to the sap, and the berries are toxic if eaten by humans. It likes a part sun-part shade spot.

Perhaps a better shrub to choose would be a fothergilla, which is native and early. There are two species, Fothergilla major and F. gardenia, also known as dwarf fothergilla. It has wonderful white bottlebrush flowers in May and best of all, it has fabulous fall foliage color. Red, orange, purple and yellow leaves on one plant! It is not a fast-growing plant, and rarely needs pruning.

Another early bloomer and a great producer of berries for birds is small tree or large shrub called shadbush, serviceberry or by its scientific name, Amelanchier spp. I see them blooming along the roadsides in May, nice small white blossoms that remind me of wild apple blossoms. It has nice gray bark, and they often grow as multi-stemmed plants. I have a few, but the fruit is eaten by birds before I ever get to it.

Featured photo: Winter aconite blooms about the same time as snowdrops. Courtesy photo.

It may be time to rethink your outside space

It’s about the right time to do a little work on your lawn if it needs it. According to Paul Sachs, owner of North Country Organics and the author of several books on lawn care, if you want to fill in bare spots, wait until the lawn greens up after winter.

To fix bare spots I use a short-tined garden rake to scuff up the soil. Then I scatter some seed with my hand, just sprinkling it over the spot. Next I sprinkle a thin layer of compost or fine garden soil over the seed. Finally, pat it down with your foot, lightly, or with a metal tamper.

It’s important that the seed not dry out while it is getting ready to grow, so often people shade the seed with a fine layer of hay or straw. Of course hay has seeds, so straw is better, albeit more expensive. You can leave the straw and just let the seed grow through it.

Why do places in your lawn need help? Most lawn grasses do not like to grow in compacted soil. So if you park cars on the lawn, or walk over it every day on your way to the mailbox, it will get compacted. Enter (drum roll) CRABGRASS. Crabgrass will grow in compacted soil, but it is an annual, so it dies each winter — or by late summer if it gets too dry. The solution is simple: Build a stone path to the mailbox and park cars only in designated parking areas.

Let’s rethink the concept of a lawn. Why do we need a large patch of short grass at an even height all around our house? Sure, people with kids and dogs need some place to play ball or Frisbee. And if you like to have friends over and sit around a barbecue grill, a little lawn is nice. But do you really like mowing an acre of lawn once a week, or paying someone else to do it? Maybe it’s time to reduce the size of your lawn and plant some more native trees and shrubs.

Entomologist Doug Tallamy is the author of a terrific book called Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard. He suggests that we can help birds and pollinators by growing native trees and shrubs — and by adding more to replace some lawn, especially in new subdivisions and in-town lots.

Birds depend on the caterpillars of moths and butterflies to feed their young. He determined that 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars are needed to feed a clutch of chickadees from hatching to fledging. That’s an amazing number of caterpillars, especially since most of us never even notice them.

Those butterflies and moths will mostly only lay their eggs on trees and shrubs they know: our natives. Even if your barberry or burning bush has been growing in your yard for 50 years, they probably will ignore it and look for an oak, a cherry or a willow — trees they evolved with over tens of thousands of years.

Dr. Tallamy makes a great suggestion about how to think about lawns: Think of lawn as you might throw rugs, not wall-to-wall carpeting. Bump out with trees planted along the edges of your property line, reducing the lawn with native trees. Create nice curves, then add some understory shrubs along the edge of the newly “forested” area.

In addition to the oaks, native cherry and willow trees, other “keystone” trees include birches, poplars (he calls them cottonwoods) and elm. He said just five percent of the genera of plants support 75 percent of the caterpillars. Great perennials include goldenrod (the absolute best), asters, and members of the sunflower family. There are many tame goldenrod species that will not take over your garden, so expand your plant palette to include “Fireworks” goldenrod and other nice varieties.

But back to lawns. My philosophy of lawns is this: If it is green and you can mow it, it’s a lawn. It need not be free of dandelions and Creeping Charlie. Yes, dig out thistles, or anything that hurts your bare feet. But violets? Sure, why not? Anything that blooms will provide nectar or pollen for bees and other pollinators.

Clover actually helps your lawn, despite being called a weed by the companies that promote using the “Weed-n-Feed” chemicals that kill it. Clover fixes nitrogen, taking it from the air and putting it into the soil, reducing a need for lawn fertilizer.

If you want a rich, lush lawn, don’t cut it too short. The longer the grass, the more food produced to grow grass roots.

When you add grass seed to fill in spots, I recommend a mix of seeds, not a pure Kentucky bluegrass, which is the neediest of all grasses. It needs fertilizer, and watering. A “conservation mix” will do better for you. And if you are planting in a shady area, get a mix made for shady places. Those sun/shade mixes are not as good for shady areas as those designed for them.

Soil pH is a measure of soil acidity. If you are serious about your lawn, buy a kit at the local feed-and-grain store or garden center to test the pH. If you have chlorinated water, buy some distilled water to use with the kit. If the soil pH is lower than 6.2, add some lime (ground limestone) to your soil to bring up the number. Lawns don’t do so well in highly acidic soil.

When I see a weed-free lawn, I know it’s been treated with chemicals, and so I won’t walk on it. You, your kids and dogs shouldn’t either.

Featured photo: Volunteers built this greenhouse that was paid for by a grant. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Gardening for a community

I recently went to Brattleboro, Vermont, to meet with the organizers of Edible Brattleboro. It is an informal group of people who believe that “access to fresh healthy food is a right for all, regardless of means. This serves as the basis of the work we are doing, and we do our best to eliminate barriers to benefitting from our work, and thus everything we offer is free.”

The prime movers behind this movement are Tom Green and Marilyn Chiarello, who have been working to turn empty spaces and lawns into places for food production. Both are retired school teachers. Marilyn saw a TED talk by Pam Warhurst in 2015 and decided that something similar could be done in Brattleboro.

That first year Edible Brattleboro approached the local food cooperative and asked for a strip of land between the parking lot and the Whetstone Brook. The Coop agreed, and volunteers built a 4- by 8-foot raised bed. They have since expanded this space, growing strawberries, tomatoes, herbs and more. Volunteers plant, weed and water as needed. Anyone can help themselves to the free food; there are no questions asked.

By now there are gardens and fruit trees all over town that were started by Edible Brattleboro. I went around with Tom and Marilyn and looked at some of their projects. Three cherry trees are planted in front of the town hall, and other fruit trees are planted on school property. Another garden is at an addiction recovery center, Turning Point, where there are raised beds in the front lawn.

Another garden is at the Root Social Justice Center, at the edge of their parking lot. Volunteers made container gardens using food-grade plastic 55-gallon drums using designs Tom found online. They have water reservoirs so that water wicks up into the soil in the drums, and daily watering is not needed. Tom also got some one-cubic-meter “intermediate beverage containers” that originally held sugar syrup. Again, he fitted them with water reservoirs to avoid daily watering.

Edible Brattleboro has had good luck getting small grants to support their activities. Although not a 501(c)3 themselves, they work under the auspices of Post Oil Solutions, a local nonprofit that sponsors them. But they will work with any organization that will help in their efforts.

Often low-income residents do not have the tools they need to garden. Fortunately, in Brattleboro that is not a big issue as the town library has a “lending library” of tools and kitchen equipment that they furnished with a grant from the Vermont Foodbank. The library’s grant included money to purchase a simple wooden structure in their parking lot to house the tools, and a part-time librarian to check out tools at specified times. For beginning gardeners, having a source for the basic tools can be an important saving.

We also visited a large greenhouse for extending the season and growing things like tomatoes and peppers in a controlled environment. Tom Green and volunteers put it up this winter, and they look forward to using it shortly. It sits on space offered by the Brattleboro Retreat Farm, a nonprofit.

There is a weekly farmers market in Brattleboro and Tom and Marilyn couldn’t say enough good things about the generosity of the farmers. At the close of the market each week volunteers from Edible Brattleboro visit the market and collect produce donated by farmers. They got a grant to buy a large refrigerator to hold perishables, and have an outdoor “Share the Harvest” table the next day at Turning Point.

So what can you do? All communities have both gardeners and people in need. What is needed in most towns are people like Tom and Marilyn. People with a commitment to helping, time, and organizational skills. Except for Tom’s work building the green house and large self-watering containers, no special skills were needed for what they have done.

Some sort of organizational structure is needed. I like the idea of joining up with an existing nonprofit so that grants and donations can be made to a certified 501(c)3, allowing donors to take tax deductions. That also lets people know that their money will be used properly.

There are organizations you could link up with, perhaps. You probably already know about soup kitchens and food banks in your town or a nearby town. So you could plant a little extra this year with the idea of sharing. Or you could help to organize others in your area to join with you.

Churches are another good place to start gardens. They generally have lawns in full sun, and people who want to help others. The soil in any lawn generally needs improving, but I bet most farmers would be delighted to donate some compost or composted cow manure to add to the soil. Garden centers are generally willing to donate some seeds or seedlings when the time comes, or perhaps a few bags of compost. So all you need is people power. I bet you will be gratified at how willing others will be to help.

Featured photo: Volunteers built this greenhouse that was paid for by a grant. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Early-in-the-season gardening chores

I’ve finally had a few days of dry weather with temperature in the 50s, so I have been able to start some spring cleanup. Some of my beds are still too wet, so I will wait on working there until my feet don’t sink in. Walking on wet soil compacts it, ruining soil structure.

My first chore is always to rake up the sand and gravel that the snowplows leave on my lawn. I use a straight-edged shovel that is made of aluminum and is sold for barn cleanup. I rake the sand into the broad shovel, and dump it into a wheelbarrow. If I see that the grass is being pulled up, I wait until later, when the grass has fully woken up.

Next on my list is to pick up any downed branches. Winter always does some “pruning” of dead branches. If I can reach any jagged tears where branches have broken off, I snip or saw them back to the trunk or the branch where it originated. And this is a good time to take off those plastic wraps that protect young trees from mice and voles.

I don’t generally rake leaves out of my flower beds in the fall, as I like the extra protection against erosion and cold temperatures they provide. But that means that bulb plants are covered now, and the ground is insulated from the spring sun. I want the soil to warm up. So I try to clean up places where I know there are spring bulbs as early as possible.

If the daffodils are poking through, I use my fingers to pull back the leaves. I fear that a rake will damage the tender stems and flower buds. In other places where bulbs are not up yet, I use a rake and gently rake off the leaves. Sometimes I will bring along a scrap of plywood or a 6-inch plank to stand on as I work, minimizing compaction.

This is when I prune blueberry bushes. By now it is easy to identify the fat, round fruit buds as opposed to the skinny little leaf buds. I remove branches that aren’t producing fruit, allowing for more sunshine to get into my plants.

For the past few years a foreign fruit fly has badly damaged blueberry crops. The spotted-winged drosophila (SWD) infests ripening fruit, causing it to get mushy and unpleasant. This is in contrast to ordinary, native fruit flies that only lay eggs in over-ripe or rotting fruit.

At present the only way I know that organic growers can prevent damage is to cover bushes with row cover or a very fine mesh. But that is a big bother when it is time to start picking. The SWD appears fairly late in summer, so early-ripening varieties can sometimes avoid them.

Of course if you haven’t cut back all your perennials, spring is a good time to do that. I like to wait until spring to cut back some perennial flowers with seeds. Finches and other seed-eaters enjoy the seeds, particularly when bigger, greedy and aggressive birds or squirrels are hogging the seeds at the feeder.

In the fall I usually do a good job of weeding and mulching the vegetable garden with fallen leaves or straw. In the spring I rake the mulch of my wide raised beds so that the sun can help to dry out and warm up the beds. I leave the mulch in the walkways to inhibit weeds, and later I will add new mulch around my tomatoes and other plants.

My roses haven’t woken up yet, or not by the time I wrote this, but will soon. I have a dozen or more roses and most are very hardy. I particularly like the Knockout rose series. They are very resistant to diseases, do not seem to attract Japanese beetles or rose chafers, and are very vigorous. But each spring I need to cut back the canes to a point where the tissue has not been winter damaged.

You can easily tell if the stems of your roses are alive by rubbing a stem gently with your thumbnail. If it shows green, it is alive. If it is not green, it is dead. Cut back any stem to a place where there is a bud on tissue that is alive. Or you can wait until they leaf out, and cut back the dead parts. If you have a few shoots that got much taller than the rest of the plant, you should cut those back for aesthetic reasons.

Spring is also a good time to pay attention to the “volunteer” shrubs and trees that show up uninvited. There are several invasive species that birds plant seemingly “willy-nilly” anywhere they perch. Seeds pass through them and start growing without your help. But you should pull these shrubs and trees before they get so big you need a backhoe!

Here are some to look for: bush honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), barberry (Berberis thunbergii), burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), blunt-leaved privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium) and the vine Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) are trees that are also common and invasive.

Why worry about invasives now? They are more obvious in the landscape. Most get a jump on the growing season by putting on leaves while our native plants are still asleep. Plus, you have time now. So go dig them out if you can. Cutting them down usually just stimulates them to set up many new plants from their roots.

Later, when spring warms up, we will be planting our veggies and annual flowers so we won’t have time for many of these activities. So get out there on the next nice day.

Featured photo: This aluminum shovel is lightweight and good for cleanup. Courtesy photo.

Plant summer-blooming flowers now

I like dahlias. They are bright and come in many colors with blossoms from the size of daisies to the size of dinner plates. My wife, Cindy, loves dahlias. Every year we have discussions about how many we should plant and where they might go. I believe there is such a thing as too many dahlias. Cindy does not.

Each fall we dig up our dahlias a week or so after the first hard frost but before the ground freezes. We store them in a cool basement in boxes filled with sphagnum moss or sawdust that is lightly moist. The problem is, each plant produces a dozen or more tubers, and each and every one will produce a new plant the next summer.

If you have purchased dahlia plants at a greenhouse in the past, maybe this year you would like to try planting some tubers. They tend to be less expensive, and there is definitely more variety. Go to your local garden center or go online and order tubers.

Choose a 6-inch pot and fill it three quarters full with potting soil. Place the tuber so that it is lying flat on the surface, and cover with a few inches of potting soil. Pat it down, water lightly, and let it be. When it is ready, it will send up shoots and then it will need some bright lights. They have tiny “eyes” or growing points, and if you can spot one, be sure to plant it on the top side. But eyes are not always easily identified.

I grow ours on a plant stand with fluorescent lights and have never tried them on a bright windowsill, but I guess that would work, too. If you find your plants on a windowsill are floppy or pale, switch to artificial lights if you have them.

I love calla lilies. These beauties are not true lilies at all, but members of the Arum family (which includes Jack-in-the-pulpit, skunk cabbage and the house plants dieffenbachia and philodendron). Calla lilies are perennial in warm climates but, like dahlias and gladiolas, must be dug and brought inside before the winter here. Now is the time to start some calla rhizomes (a bulb-like modified stem) indoors. Plant them with the smooth side down.

One of the advantages of growing calla lilies is that they are not true lilies, hence not bothered by that dastardly red bug, the lily-leaf beetle. The lily-leaf beetle attacks Oriental and Asiatic lilies that I do so love but have given up growing. Calla lilies also bloom for a much longer time than true lilies, though they lack the fragrance of Oriental lilies.

To start calla lilies indoors now, buy rhizomes now at your local garden center or from a reputable supplier. The rhizomes need to be planted about 3 inches deep, then covered with potting mix. It is a good plant for people who tend to overwater their houseplants, as they thrive in moist soil. (By the way, start doubling the water to your rosemary plants if you over-wintered any. Otherwise they will dry out and die).

Once summer is here you can either transplant your potted calla to a nice sunny spot, or keep it in the pot and move it outside. Come fall, you will need to bring them inside, as temperatures around 20 will kill them. Callas need to go dormant in winter.

When buying some calla lily rhizomes at my local garden center, I also bought some gladiolus corms (commonly called bulbs). My gardening grandfather loved growing gladioli, and won ribbons at the Worcester, Massachusetts, county fair most years.

Gladiolus corms are relatively inexpensive so most gardeners don’t bother saving them. Classic colors are red, yellow, pink and purple. I recently bought bulbs that will produce flowers with pink, white, and white with pink designs at my local garden center. I will wait and plant them directly in the soil in my garden in June.

Another summer beauty is the canna lily. We grew some that were 6 feet tall last summer and they bloomed from mid-summer till fall. Buy rhizomes now and start them indoors to get a good jump on the season. They come in various sizes, and with green or purple foliage.

My favorite summer bulb plant is called a variety of common names: peacock orchid, sword lily, or fragrant gladiolus (even though this plant is not an orchid, a lily or a gladiolus). That’s why I like Latin names. If you ask for acidanthera murielae, plant-knowledgeable people around the world will know what you mean. But for now, I’ll refer to it as sword lily.

The sword lily has long, narrow leaves — like swords — that stand 18 inches or more tall. The blossoms are white with deep purple markings in the center of the six-petaled flower, along with a little yellow at the very center. You get two or three blossoms per stem, and they are enticingly fragrant, particularly in the evening. I’ll plant them now, eight to 12 bulbs 3 inches deep in a 12-inch pot, and grow them on the deck this summer.

I don’t know about you, but I need all the green growing things around me I can get as mud season lingers on. So get your summer bulbs now, before they are all sold out, and start a few indoors.

Featured photo: Sword lilies are highly fragrant in the evening. Courtesy photo.

Easy to grow and trouble-free

Every year you probably plant tomatoes. Wouldn’t it be great if they would come back every year without the bother of preparing the soil, starting seedlings in April and setting them out? Well, that’s what nut and fruit trees and berry bushes do: Once planted (and mature), they produce food every year. To me, there is a definite allure to plants requiring less work.

I recently was sent a review copy of a wonderful book by Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano: Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape printed by Chelsea Green Publishing. When I got it I could barely pull myself away from it because it has so much to teach me.

Each of the species included has five or six pages devoted to it and at least five excellent photos. The information starts with “Growth Difficulty Rating” — how hard is it to grow? Most are easy. It includes taste profile and uses, pollination requirements (is it self-pollinating?), site and soil conditions, zone hardiness, good cultivars to look for, and a paragraph on pests and problems, and more.

I called the authors and asked about their experience growing this diverse group of plants. They live in Stone Ridge, New York, a town about 100 miles north of NYC and 10 miles or so from the Hudson River. They are in Zone 6, where winter temperatures only go a little below zero most winters.

They are both artists, and originally started growing plants to use in their art. About 20 years ago they bought 8 acres across the street from them and started their own arboretum, later adding another 10 acres. Their arboretum is Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden and is a Level II arboretum according to the Morton Arboretum.

I asked them what they would recommend for fruit if someone had none and wanted to start with winners. Scott suggested blueberries and blackberries. Both are easy and tasty. Elderberries are good, too, they said, although you need to cook the berries to make them palatable. Elderberries, honey and lemon juice make a nice syrup, which I use to help prevent colds in winter.

We talked about honeyberries. It’s a fruit I will definitely plant this year. Although the fruit looks a little like a big oblong blueberry, it is actually in the genus with honeysuckle. It is native to the northern U.S., Canada and Siberia. A friend gave us a few to taste last summer, and I like the flavor.

According to the book, honeyberry is the first fruit to ripen here, a couple of weeks before strawberries. But it is a couple of weeks after they turn blue and look ripe that they actually lose their astringency and turn sweet. This is the kind of information that most books or plant tags don’t have, and only comes from someone who grows and knows the plant. Allyson said she discovered that lots of berries are hidden under the leaves. The fruit gets better every year, apparently.

Another fruit in the book is pawpaw, a somewhat tropical-flavored tree fruit (banana crossed with mango flavor?). As the book explains, you need two different trees (not clones) to get pollination and fruit. I am growing it, but started out with only clones, so I have not gotten fruit yet.

Of the nuts, they recommend hazelnuts. These produce nuts as much younger plants than things like black walnut or pecans, which are tall trees that require years to produce nuts. You need to have two or more hazelnuts as they are not self-fertile. Scott pointed out that the native species has smaller nuts than some of the named varieties.

Pecans are discussed in the book. The biggest difficulty is not growing the tree, but having a growing season long enough for the nuts to ripen. They need 150 to 180 days. But as the climate changes, perhaps this will not be a problem in 25 years. They note that you must have two compatible grafted varieties to get nuts, as the trees are not self-fertile. These are big, handsome trees and should be grown in full sun and rich soil if possible.

A tree that is not native but produces a lot of food for deer is the Korean stone pine. The pine nuts we use for pesto are most often from these trees grown in Asia. The cones open up in winter and drop their seeds, which are rich in oil and high in calories. Scott said in Siberia tigers indirectly depend on the stone pine because they feed the deer and boar the tigers need to survive.

The Hortus Arboretum and Garden is open from Mother’s Day in May until the end of October, Friday to Sunday. Admission is by donation. Because of Covid, they have been scheduling visitors online during the season at their website, hortusgardens.org.

This book is terrifically useful to anyone interested in growing fruit and nuts. I should note that it does not cover apples, plums and peaches because those fruits are well-covered by other writers, and, as they say, much prone to pests and diseases. The plants discussed are generally easy to grow and trouble-free. Just what we all want!

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

A key step toward successful gardening

This is a good time to beat the rush and get your soil tested so that you can improve your soil before you begin planting.

Most New England states have soil testing labs available to gardeners. Finding one is as simple as searching for “Soil testing lab near me” in your browser. Your first choice should probably be one run by the state university extension service. Most offer a variety of options as to what is tested, and their websites will explain your options, what each costs, and how to collect a sample. Most tests require one or two cups of air-dried soil free of roots and rocks.

Most state labs are very busy in spring, and a 14- to 21-day wait is typical. If you are in a rush to get your soil test results, you might try Logan Labs, a commercial lab in Ohio. They can usually email test results in a few days and also have a soil scientist available to talk to you (for a fee) to make recommendations.

Unless you live where there are natural limestone or marble deposits — parts of Vermont, for example — your soil is probably acidic. Why? Coal-fired power plants send sulfur into the air, and it reacts with water to form sulfuric acid that is dropped by the rain. Most plants do best with a soil pH between 6.0 and 6.8. A pH of 7.0 is neutral, and above that is alkaline. Soils rich in organic matter and microorganisms tend to buffer the soil pH, making it less acidic.

Soils are composed of three things, basically: ground up rock is about 45 percent, air is about 50 percent and organic matter about 5 percent. The particle size of the rock component is what determines soil texture: big particles are in sand, medium particles in silt, and very fine particles make up clay. A good soil has particles of all three sizes, but is mostly silt.

You can see what is in your soil by filling a quart jar half full of water, and adding a couple of cups of soil, and then shaking it well. Sand will drop to the bottom pretty much immediately, and silt will drop next. Finally, after 24 hours or so, your clay will form a layer. Each will probably be a different color and quite obvious. Organic matter often floats on the surface, but generally mixes with the silt layer.

Clay holds on to soil minerals and moisture the best, but it can stay soggy and also get compacted. Sand particles are not electrically charged, so they don’t hold on to minerals like clay or silty soils, but the sand helps with drainage. You can get a feel for your soil by rubbing it between your thumb and a finger after wetting it. Clay soil is sticky. You can feel the grains in a sandy soil.

If your soil has a pH of 6.0 or less, you should add some garden lime or wood ashes to “sweeten it.” If you get a soil test, it should tell you how many pounds of lime to add as expressed in pounds per 100 square feet — a 10 foot by 10 foot area. I weighed a quart of garden lime in a yogurt container and it weighs a little over 3 pounds. Wood ashes are about equivalent in what they do. But this isn’t rocket science — you don’t have to be precise.

Lime is ground limestone and is sold in bags at the garden center. It comes as powdered lime or pelletized lime, which is less messy. If you buy powdered lime, wear a mask when spreading it so you don’t inhale it.

All fertilizers add nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). The amount of each is expressed as a number that is the percentage of the active ingredient by weight. A 10-10-10 fertilizer has 10 percent of each, and 70 percent filler. The minerals in chemical fertilizers are in the form of salts, and using too much can damage roots. The salts in chemical fertilizer are water-soluble and can be dissolved and washed away in heavy rains.

Organic fertilizers, on the other hand, are made from natural ingredients and minerals from ground rocks. My favorite organic fertilizer, Pro-Gro, is made in Vermont and has things such as peanut meal, cottonseed meal, ground oyster shells, feather meal, crab meal, dried blood (for nitrogen) and rock phosphate. I like to compare it to a seven-course meal for plants.

The ingredients of an organic fertilizer mostly need to be digested by microorganisms found in the soil and then shared with green plants. They are gentler, and slow to release their goodies. The mineral content of Pro-Gro is listed as 5-3-4, which is lower than most chemical fertilizer, but offers all those micronutrients not found in chemical fertilizers.

Of course you can go the old-fashioned way and add animal manures to improve your soil. They work, but some may also introduce weed seeds. I don’t recommend using fresh horse or cow manure because of that, but manure that is a year or two old has fewer seeds. Rabbit, sheep and goat manure has fewer weed seeds, and they add plenty of organic matter that helps with texture and tilth.

If you add compost to your garden and work it in, it will become more biologically active — full of beneficial microorganisms. It will drain much better but hold moisture better, too.

Having good soil is one of the keys to being a good gardener. Perhaps testing and improving your soil will help you to have that elusive green thumb. It’s worth trying.

Featured photo: Add fertilizer and compost to hole, and stir in before planting. Courtesy photo.

How to not kill your fruit tree

Traditionally, farmers pruned their fruit trees and put wood ashes around their lilacs in March. And although this is a good time for both, you can do either earlier or later. I believe that because farmers couldn’t plant or work the soil in March, they did other tasks to fill up their days — such as pruning.

If you plan on pruning now, please be aware of the danger of compacting the soil. Compacted soil has few air spaces — and plants get their oxygen from their roots, not their leaves. Roots from trees can extend well beyond their dripline and can be damaged by your footsteps if the soil is soggy.

If the soil is still thawing and is wet, it’s better to stay off it for now. If you have light, sandy soil that drains well, then you are fine. Clay soils are most at risk for compaction. Once you compact the soil, it is less able to drain away excess water, too. Just remember that the soil can freeze deeply — two feet or more, depending on snow cover — and a layer of frozen soil is like a layer of concrete. If you leave footprints in the soil, don’t walk on it.

Don’t be afraid to prune, even if you have never done it before. Fruit trees grow vigorously when pruned, and even if you remove a branch and then wish you hadn’t, other branches will grow and fill in the space. You can safely remove about 25 percent of your branches and leaves; your tree will still have plenty left to grow fruit and feed the roots.

Use a sharp pruning saw. You will rarely have to remove anything more than a 2- or 3-inch branch, so a folding tri-cut saw will be fine and can be purchased for around $25. Bow saws are not able to get in tight places, so are not recommended. A chainsaw is rarely needed, and can easily remove too much wood too fast!

What should you remove? First, remove any dead branches. How do you know if the branch is dead, since there are no leaves? The bark will be flaky and a different color from healthy branches. For smaller branches, scrape the bark with your thumbnail. If it does not show green, it is dead.

Ideally, sunshine can reach every leaf of the tree. Leaves shaded by others do little to feed the tree. So if you have branches layered closely, one above the other, the lower branch is being shaded. Either remove it, or remove the one above it.

Often branches grow back toward the middle of the tree. These will create problems as they get larger, often rubbing existing branches and shading out others. So follow them back to their point of origin to remove them. Remove any branches that are rubbing or touching. Decide which is the better branch, and leave it.

Where should you make your cuts when removing a branch? Look carefully and you will see the “branch collar.” You will want to leave the collar as this is where the cut will heal. It is a swollen area where the branch and the trunk or a larger branch are joined. Often the collar has wrinkles in it. Cut just past the swollen, wrinkled area and remove the offending branch where it is circular in cross-section.

Many fruit trees send up water sprouts — vigorous new shoots. In their first year they grow straight up and are the thickness of pencils. They should be removed every year. If you cut a bigger branch, you might get several water sprouts surrounding the cut that year — but remove them all next year. Water sprouts are a tree’s attempt to increase food production by making more leaves. Some trees do it vigorously each year, others respond to heavy pruning this spring by growing many this summer. Water sprouts rarely produce fruit — ever.

When I prune fruit trees, I pay attention to the fruit spurs that actually produce the fruit. When choosing which of two branches to remove, I leave the one that will be producing the most fruit. Fruit spurs are 2- to 5-inch branches that have buds on them. Fruit spurs produce both leaves and flowers, and need to be at least two years old for the trees to produce fruit, sometimes longer.

I often get complaints from readers about the fact that their young apple tree has not produced any fruit. Be patient, I say. Each variety of tree has its own schedule — dwarf or semi-dwarf trees produce fruit sooner than full-size trees. A newly planted tree can take two to six years before the first fruits grow. I once had a plum tree that took 20 years to flower and produce fruit, and only did so when I threatened to cut it down if it didn’t produce fruit the next year!

Lastly, know that pruning your tree well will increase the size and improve the flavor of the fruit. It takes a lot of energy to produce fruit, so a tree that only grows 100 apples is better able to feed the fruit and grow the sugars that make it tasty than a tree that grows 1,000 apples. And really, how many apples can you eat?

As to that other March chore, improving the pH of the soil around your lilacs? Two dry quarts of wood ashes or garden lime will sweeten the soil if spread around your lilac. Lilacs do not flower as well in acidic soil, which is what most New Englanders have. It won’t affect this year’s blossoming, but should by next year.

So get outside on a sunny day and get to work. I always find something to do, and pruning is one of my favorite March activities.

Featured photo: Apples are worth pruning and do not need pesticides to grow well. Courtesy photo.

Skunk cabbage, witch hazel and more

Here in Cornish Flat, New Hampshire, we recently had our first day that shouted, “Spring is here!” After a night of cool rain, the sun came out and temperatures climbed into the 50s. Now all we need are spring flowers. Me? I solved that problem by potting up bulbs last November and storing them in my cool basement. They rested, grew roots, and now my windowsills are crammed with pots of daffodils and crocus, some blooming, others on the way. They will help to keep my spirits up when we get, as I know we will, day after day of gray drizzle before summer gets here.

Of the outdoor bulbs, the first to bloom are snowdrops. They push up through frozen earth on south-facing hillsides starting in late February. I imagine they can do this by the process of “thermogenesis.” That’s a process whereby a plant can produce a chemical reaction that produces heat. Few can do it, but those that do can get pollinated before anything else.

The poster child for thermogenesis is skunk cabbage. This is a plant I remember well from my boyhood home in Woodbridge, Connecticut. We had a small brook behind the house, and some wet areas along the banks in a woody area. Aside from being the first green plant to sprout, skunk cabbage had the ability to produce a noxious odor that was endlessly fascinating to young boys. I discovered that if I disturbed them they produced a skunky odor that my sister did not like.

Skunk cabbage is related to the common Jack-in-the-pulpit we all know and love. Like Jack, its flower is hidden inside a spathe, or outer leafy jacket. I bought a skunk cabbage plant at Garden in the Woods, a native plant sanctuary in Framingham, Mass., about 25 years ago.

What I did not know was that skunk cabbage is very slow growing and does not spread at all quickly, at least this far north. Only in recent years has it bloomed, though every year the leaves have gotten bigger. Now I know when buying plants to buy at least three in order to make a statement in a reasonable amount of time. Skunk cabbage produces big green leaves and a barely noticeable flower.

Of the native woody plants, spring witch hazel is the earliest that I know. In southern New England it can bloom in January, and here in New Hampshire it can bloom in March. I bought one last summer, and look forward to seeing the blossoms soon. I have several fall witch hazel that bloom in October and November. The blossoms vary from yellow to brownish red and are spidery in form. Small, but plentiful right near the stems.

Forsythia is a nice yellow-blossomed shrub originally from Asia and eastern Europe. Michael Dirr, my woody plant guru, describes it this way: “Rank-growing, deciduous shrub, differentially developing upright and arching canes which give it the appearance that the roots were stuck in an electric socket; always needs grooming, one of the most overrated and overused shrubs; will sucker (slowly) to form large colonies.” That from his “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants,” my favorite text on trees and shrubs.

His remarks notwithstanding, I grew up with it and like it. It is a burst of yellow at a time of the year — April, here — when not much else has bloomed or even leafed out. My gardening Grampy had a large patch of it that had suckered and created a bed 10 feet wide, 50 feet long and 8 feet high or more. My sister Ruth Anne and I would crawl inside the patch of forsythia in the heat of summer for a cool respite — and to hide from grownups.

The trick to managing forsythia is to prune it hard and often. Keep the tips of branches off the ground as they will root in if touching the soil. One can keep it as a nice vase-shaped shrub, and it really does not take much work to do so. Cold-hardy varieties that will bloom in Zone 4 include New Hampshire Gold, Vermont Sun and Meadowlark, among others. Ask at your local independent nursery.

Forsythia forces easily. Cut some stems with flower buds now and place them in a vase, and place it in a sunny window. I shall cut some today and get them blooming in a couple of weeks or less. The key is to recognize the flower buds: they are pointy and often appear on clusters without stalks, right on the stems. Straight young stems that grew last year rarely have flower buds.

In contrast to the flamboyant forsythia is a nice native, leatherwood. This understated plant blooms just as it leafs out in March, April or early May, depending on where you are. It does best in full shade. Although Dirr’s book says it prefers a moist, dark soil, I have it in a dry location and it does just fine. The blossoms are pale to bright yellow, small, but plentiful. The bark is a handsome gray. But it is hard to find in a plant nursery. I bought one several years ago and have looked for others, but have not found another nicely shaped specimen. Look for it. Slow growing, it requires little or no care.

T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem “The Wasteland” that April is the cruelest month. I disagree; I think March is. Muddy roads and gray skies predominate. Flowers are scarce. We have April to look forward to, but if you pot up some daffodils next November for forcing, you can at least have some indoor blossoms now, in March.

Featured photo: Skunk cabbage has big leaves and grows in moist shade. Courtesy photo.

Everyone I know is thinking about spring — despite the fact that we could still see snow and sub-zero temperatures before we see tulips. This might be a good time to take an inventory of your tools to see if you have everything you need, and buy the ones you need. This is also a good time to clean up, sharpen and oil the tools you have.

First, a list of the basic tools all gardeners need:

1. Garden fork. This is a straight-handled tool with four flat tines that can be used to loosen the soil for planting, or to dig out things like a clump of daylilies. These come with either fiberglass or wood handles, and I always choose wood. Both handles can splinter over time, but an oiled and well-maintained wood handle will outlast fiberglass. I have some wood-handled tools still in great shape after over 50 years of regular use.

2. Pointed shovel. I like the short D-handle shovel better than those with a long straight handle, but that is for you to decide. The short-handle model is lighter weight and has a nice grip. A pointed shovel digs into the soil more easily than a straight-blade spade.

3. Garden rake. This is the rake that has short tines spaced an inch or so apart. It is good for smoothing the soil or forming raised beds.

4. Lawn rake. There are a dozen different styles, and all will do the job. The old-fashioned bamboo rake is nice, but the tines do break after a while. Plastic rakes are lightweight but also break after a few years. I prefer those with metal tines.

5. Drain spade. This is a shovel that has a blade that is long and narrow (16 inches long, 5 inches wide). Great for transplanting, it can get all the way under a plant to help you pop it out of the ground.

6. Hand tool for weeding. There are plenty, but I like the CobraHead Weeder best. It is a hand tool shaped like a curved finger, and can loosen roots from below while you give a gentle tug from above. I use it to loosen the soil for planting, too. They are available at garden centers or online at cobrahead.com.

Tools require some maintenance, and this is the time to sharpen, clean and oil them if you didn’t do it last fall. Fiberglass handles generally require no maintenance, though I suppose you could take off any rough spots with steel wool or sandpaper.

Wood-handled tools should never be left outdoors, but most of us forget occasionally; strong sun or rain will damage them and give them a rough surface. If the handle is very rough, use a piece of sandpaper and lightly sand the handle, tip to stern. Wipe it well with a rag before applying oil. For less damaged handles, rub with fine steel wool. Don’t sand a handle that has a urethane finish unless you intend to take it all off — but you can use steel wool on it.

Next apply a coat of boiled linseed oil. I like to heat the oil until hot before applying, as this is a fairly thick oil, and heating it will help it to penetrate the wood. I use a paintbrush or a rag to apply the oil.

Let the oil sink into the wood, which might take overnight or just a few minutes, depending on the grain and how dry the wood is. Never try to oil a wet handle. Apply a second coat and let dry. Then rub it down with a fine steel wool, labeled 000 or 0000. This will take off any bits that are raised up by oiling and burnish the wood.

Next look at the steel of your tool. If it has crusted soil on it, clean it first with a stiff brush — either a wire brush or even a stiff bristle brush. If it is rusty, clean off the rust with your steel wool.

If you have a well-used shovel, it is probably dull. It is easy to sharpen it, but you will need a good 8- to 12-inch file, either a rough or medium file, often called a mill bastard. Be sure to get one with a handle, as some only come with a short pointy part and require you to add a handle.

Shovels should only be sharpened on one side, the side that faces into the hole as you dig. The back side will stay flat. Push your file across the shovel blade in only one direction, away from you. You may wish to clamp the shovel to a saw horse or bench so it stays in place as you work, or push it down on the bench and file with one hand.

Go from the edge of the curve to the middle in one long stroke of your file, and repeat, keeping count of your strokes. Turn the shovel around and do the opposing edge, using the same number of strokes. Keep your file at the angle set by the manufacturer if that is evident. If not, an angle of about 45 degrees is good. That will make a sharp cutting edge, but not be so thin that it will get dull quickly. You don’t need to sharpen the sides. And don’t worry: You can’t ruin your shovel even if you have never done this before. Just keep at it, and stay consistent.

When you have the shovel sharp, turn it over and you probably will be able to feel burrs on the back side — little bits of sharp metal. Clean those off with a few flat strokes of your file.

Finally I take a rag with linseed oil and wipe the shovel blade. Some people use machine oil to oil their tools, but I don’t want petroleum products in my soil, even a little bit.

Every gardener has her own favorite tools. If you’re a rookie, visit a good gardener and ask for a tour of tools. Then go buy what you need. And remember: Sharp tools work better than dull ones.

Featured photo: I like shovels with a D-handle for a good grip. Photo by Henry Homeyer.