Meet Mike in person this weekend!
Saturday, May 7, at the K & B Hardware Lawn and Garden Palooza, 912 Forest Drive, Annapolis. Mike will speak on chemical-free lawn care at 11 a.m. and prizewinning tomato tips at 1 p.m. Info here.
Mother’s Day plant picks
Looking for a live plant for that special someone for Mother’s Day? (And if you didn’t know Sunday was Mother’s Day, you’re welcome.)
The easy care Phalaenopsis, or moth orchid, makes a great indoor plant gift, and nice ones are widely available. Just be sure to pick one that still has lots of unopened buds on the stem. Such a plant will bloom continuously for months to come. Pick one with nothing but open flowers and it will be leaves and a stick by Memorial Day.
Roses are great to plant this time of year, but first, make sure Mom has outdoor space that gets six to eight hours of sun a day, beginning in the morning. Be a mensch and buy a bag of premium compost (not composted manure) to use as a disease-suppressing mulch around the rose after you plant it.
Speaking of which, don’t buy anything that needs to be planted in the ground unless: a) you’re going to bring a little shovel and plant it, or b) you’ve tried that before and Mom always says “give that to me before you kill it.”
Cutting a wet lawn = Need for a new lawn in fall
Wet enough for you? Despite the technical drought we endured a few weeks back, the last week’s worth of water from the sky has turned my personal landscape into a darned good imitation of a rain forest. But I know there’s nothing I can do about it except pull out weeds like I have a weed-pulling superpower (because weeds pull out easiest from soaking wet soil, not because I was bitten by that radioactive dandelion back in high school science class).
Cut the grass? No way. Mowing a soaking wet lawn can end only in misery and sadness later in the season. You’ll shred the poor grass blades into ragged pieces even if your mower blade is super-sharp: Hello, weeds and bare spots!
Same with trying to plant or otherwise work in soaking wet soil — don’t do it. I don’t care how long the grass is, or how intent you are on planting those tomatoes, you must wait until things dry out. That’s not a should; that’s a must.
Compost pile no place for wood chips
Kevin in D.C. writes: “What are your thoughts on incorporating wood chips into some of my compost? I have a pile of chipped limbs and twigs from a utility crew, and I’d like to use it to increase the lignin in my compost for use as a soil amendment and for mulching. My plan is to mix it with finished compost at a 1:1 ratio and let it sit for a year to get the issues with woody material in balance.”
Well, Kev, you win a prize for using the secret word “lignin.” Otherwise, your plan is full of lignin. The high carbon content of those fresh chips would shut your compost down cold. The best use for fresh, uncontaminated, non-dyed* wood chips is to pile them up separately and mix them with all the coffee grounds you can get. They’ll become excellent compost in a year or so — faster if you turn the pile frequently.
(*The best use for dyed wood mulch is for you to avoid that nasty batch of insecticide-soaked chipped-up pallets from China.)
Don’t waste good seed on bad sod
Ziggie in Alexandria writes: “My front lawn is pathetic. I had it replaced with new sod two years ago, but the contractor started with a bare, hard surface and didn’t break it up. I’m thinking of covering the whole thing with a layer of topsoil and seeding. What do you think?”
Well, Zig, I think it’s a fine plan that’s badly timed. Sodding works best in the spring, but as you suggest, it requires good soil prep to succeed. Seeding a new cool-season lawn works best after the worst of the summer heat is over — mid-August to mid-September. And if somebody tries to convince you otherwise, get a guarantee that they’ll do it over in late summer after the May-sown seed fizzles in July.
Use BTI to deter bloodthirsty biters
Leslie in Frederick writes: “Will you please remind your listeners and readers about the great work Mosquito Bits and Dunks do to rid yards of mosquitoes? Hopefully, a reminder will help limit the number of people who go the sprayed chemical route.”
Thanks, Les! You are correct: Treating standing water with BTI — the all-natural ingredient in those dunks and granules — prevents mosquito eggs from maturing into biting adults without harming bees, butterflies, birds, toads, frogs, pets or people.
The best path to a mosquito-free summer is to put out buckets of BTI-treated water now — while the first run of mosquitoes are laying their eggs. They’ll lay those eggs in the treated water, but the eggs will not hatch.
You’ll find BTI for sale in most home centers, hardware stores and garden centers in the form of doughnut-shaped dunks, briquettes and granules. The biggest brand name at retail is “Summit.”
