Most of the time when heading out to the garden, you have a specific project in mind. Often the little chores that need to be done--thinning, transplanting, potting up, planting and weeding--get put off till later. Master gardener Paul James offers these tips for taking care of those chores:
- Millions of Americans maintain bird feeders, and I've found as long as seeds are available year-round, birds are far less likely to dine in my garden. By supporting healthy populations of birds, I've also noticed a significant reduction in the number of bugs that attack my crops. Birdhouses provide shelter and nesting sites, and though different species have different housing requirements, you can find houses for everything from orioles to owls. Make sure the house is weather-resistant and well-ventilated , and place it with the entrance hole facing away from prevailing winds.Clean it out after each nesting season.
- Take the time to thin seedlings so plants don't become overcrowded. Start by pulling up weaker seedlings until you achieve proper spacing between healthy plants. Then soak the bed with compost tea (a handful of compost steeped in water for an hour or two).
- To transplant tomato seedlings into larger pots, use a small spade and gently lift each seedling out of its flat. Be careful not to disturb the roots. Transfer seedlings into four-inch pots. Hold the plants by their leaves if necessary so the stems will not be damaged, then tuck the plants into their new homes. Give each transplant a drink of compost tea, and in just a few weeks they will be ready to go outside .
- Repot young dendrobium orchids so they will continue to grow nicely. To make sure they will develop into larger plants, use a potting medium made especially for this type of orchid. The medium usually contains coarse fir bark, and in most cases a chunky mix works best. Place the mix in a larger pot up to the halfway mark. Then gently remove the plant from its old container, put it in the new one and fill the pot with the special medium. Fertilize these orchids at every other watering with a formula that has a nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium ratio of 1:2:3 (such as a 4-8-12 product, for example).
- Even when temperatures are below 50 degrees, it's not too early to begin planting many cool-season crops, and potatoes top the list. Plant the tubers about four inches deep and roughly one foot apart. Top each bed of potatoes with a light layer of straw to insulate the soil. Peas can also be planted early: just stick a few prunings in the ground for the pea vines to grow on, then plant the seeds. Spinach is another crop that loves cool weather and will germinate in the cold. Broadcast seeds rather than plant in rows, then cover them with a little sifted compost .
- You can use preemergent herbicides to control weeds that have not yet germinated, including dandelions, crabgrass, henbit and chickweed. I prefer to weed the old-fashioned way, however: just pull up the weeds when they appear.
- Trim ivy away from the wood surfaces of the house routinely. Use small pruners to cut away runners. When the clinging roots of the ivy stick to the wood, use a pot scrubber to get rid of the roots without removing the paint.
