Meet Mike in Leesburg on Sunday …
Mike will appear at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 19 at the Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival.
… and at Greenstreet Gardens
Mike will appear at Greenstreet Gardens in Lothian, Maryland, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, and at the store’s Old Town Alexandria location (Braddock Road) on Sunday, April 26, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. More information is here.
Nice young girl wants your garbage
Sarah Perry is a charming young lady who gave up years of fun roaming around France to return to the States and become our region’s compost queen. The organization she co-founded, The Good Turn Earth Company, not only makes a fine compost, but gives people without compost piles or worm bins at home a way to recycle their kitchen waste.
Every Saturday through the end of summer, Good Turn will have a booth at the Fredericksburg Farmer’s Market where you can drop off fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds and even unbleached (brown) coffee filters. (Same as the rules for your personal compost — no meat, bones, fish, dairy or other non-veggie waste.)
A little bit later in the season, the organization plans to make those scraps re-available — as fine finished compost for your garden.
Missed the weed and feed window? Then just feed
John in Fairfax writes: “Work and family commitments caused me to miss the timing for the application of corn gluten meal to my lawn as a pre-emergent this year. What can I do now to control weeds and provide that fertilizing spring boost?”
Relax, John — you are legion. A lot of people miss the deadline for applying pre-emergent weed control. And whether it’s a nasty chemical weed-and-feed or a natural product, such as corn gluten meal, a pre-emergent can only prevent weeds that haven’t yet sprouted — so a change of products won’t change the results. Like Elvis, those seeds have already left the building.
But we are just now entering what is actually a better time period for the feeding part of the deal. To get the crabgrass-prevention timing right, pre-emergents have to be applied before our lawns fully wake up, which is not the ideal time for feeding. So apply the corn gluten anytime over the next month and well-fed will be your fescue.
Then, be sure to never cut the grass lower than 3 inches or with a dull blade. And always return your clippings to the turf. A clean cut at the correct height, and the natural nitrogen (10 percent by weight) in those clippings is the best protection against weeds.
Does not want to Meet the Beetles
Lisa in Sterling writes: “Is it time to apply grub-destroying beneficial nematodes yet? I want to eradicate the vicious little buggers before they can turn into the adult Japanese beetles that ravaged my plants last year. I already spread milky spore in the fall.”
Good for you, Lisa. If there were grubs in your yard when you applied the milky spore powder, it should have wiped them out for this season and for many years to come. Milky spore is a naturally occurring soil organism that infects and destroys grubs without harming anything else. But to be effective, it has to be applied in the late summer to early fall. So your timing sounds great.
And if you want to be sure that they’re really most sincerely dead, yes — you can also release beneficial nematodes into the soil. But not quite yet — wait until it warms up some more; about a month from now should be perfect. (Nematodes don’t like cold soil — and any surviving grubs are still down pretty deep right now.)
What are beneficial nematodes? Microscopic predators that don’t bother earthworms and other good soil dwellers, but seek out and destroy grimy grubs — as long as the soil you water them into is moist and warm.
Practice crepe myrtle patience
Sandy in Alexandria writes: “I have a small crepe myrtle — about 8 feet tall — that is not showing any signs of life. Could the severe winter have killed it?”
The last two winters have been very hard on some of our perennials, Sandy — but in almost all cases, the actual plants have survived and regrown from the roots. Hydrangeas are the best example; most did not bloom last summer, but the plants did finally leaf out very late in the game.
Judging by my own plants, things look better for summer bloomers this season. (My hydrangeas already have hopeful green where last year there was just dead wood.) And crepe myrtle is generally one of the last plants in our area to show signs of life, no matter what the winter weather was.
So be patient, then prune it back by a foot or so when it does wake up; a gentle pruning produces more summer flowers and can help keep the plants at a reasonable height.
Caution: This Lily can easily escape the Valley!
Paula in Silver Spring writes: “I am moving to Charles County and the purchaser of my home is allowing me to take some very old Lily of the Valley plants that my grandmother originally grew quite a long time ago. How do I ensure that they survive?”
First — good for you for making that official agreement, Paula. In general, landscape plants are considered part of the home and can’t be removed without the new owners’ express permission.
And don’t worry; I’m pretty certain that they will survive — perhaps too nicely. Lily of the Valley has an extensive underground root system and a well-deserved reputation for invasiveness. In fact, these extremely hardy plants spread tenaciously and should never be planted where they can grow into unwanted areas — especially onto a neighbor’s property, as they can be close to impossible to eradicate. So be sure to install deep edging around the new planting to keep the little beasts in bounds.
And a warning to all: keep these plants away from children and pets. Lily of the Valley is extremely poisonous, and unlike most dangerous plants, produces berries that are enticingly sweet. That’s a dangerous combination.
Now to answer the question (finally!): The easiest way to move this sort of clumping plants is to dig up a couple of sections about a square foot each. Do this first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day. (The bare spots you leave will fill in quickly.) Then install the clumps as though you were laying chunks of sod — into an area with some soil removed and the rest roughed up at the bottom, ideally at the very end of the day, so they can acclimate before they’re hit by the sun. Water deeply with a just-dripping hose for about an hour immediately after planting.
And again, be sure to install deep edging to keep the Lily IN the Valley!
