Posts tagged plant care

Strawberries may be planted at various times. Home gardeners often plant in August, but this is not the best time. Commercial growers, who must obtain high yields, usually plant in early spring, as soon as the soil is workable. Early planting is very important, as the plants then get off to a good start under favorable moisture conditions during the cool weather of early spring and produce early runners, which are more productive than those growing in late summer and fall.

Late fall planting also has something in its favor. For several years I have compared late fall (October 20 to November 10) planting with spring planting, and in most cases the fall-planted beds have outyielded the spring-set beds. Plants set out in the fall get off to an earlier start and produce more early runners that bear the heavier crop a year later.

Fall-set plants must be mulched the first winter. In the spring the mulch is raked off and the planting managed the same as one set in the spring. The blossoms should be picked off and the bed allowed to fruit the following spring.

There are many good varieties of strawberries. Generally speaking, the high-quality sorts do not produce the highest yields, but they do produce enough to be satisfactory for the home garden. Dessert quality and reliability are most important in a home garden variety.

Strawberry plants should be purchased from a specialist, preferably one nearby. Although plants shipped early from growers usually arrive safely, plants ordered late and shipped long distances during a hot spell may overheat, with disastrous results.

If the plants arrive before the ground is ready for planting, the bundle should be opened and the plants heeled-in in a moist, shady place in the garden. Each bundle of plants should be opened and the roots spread out so they are in contact with the soil.

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The secret of success with strawberries comes in planting and getting the crown (the solid center portion from which the leaves arise) even with the surface of the soil, and the soil packed firmly about the roots. This is done by pushing a spade or large flat trowel vertically into the soil and inserting the roots in the bole behind the tool with a downward flip so that they are spread out in a fan shape. The tool is then withdrawn carefully and the soil pressed firmly against the roots with the foot. If the soil is dry at planting time, each plant should be watered with a half pint of water.

The rows in a strawberry bed are usually set about 3⅓ feet apart and the plants set 18 inches apart in each row. The runners soon fill in the space between the plants to make a matted row. Home gardeners sometimes grow strawberries in hills by eliminating all the runners. Spacing within the row fot the hill system is about 15 inches. Some times beds of three or four rows 15 inches apart are grown in the hill systen with an alley between each bed.

Summer care consists mainly of con. trolling weeds. Cultivation and frequent use of the hoe are essential; however care must he taken not to injure the runners after they have started to grow The flower stems should be removed am they appear to prevent fruiting the first year, for if they are allowed to bear, fewer runners will be produced and the crop the following year will be lighter.

Spacing Runners

Vigorous varieties in fertile soil produce far more runners than can be utilized efficiently on the allotted space. Overcrowding of the fruiting row can reduce yields substantially. so it is desirable to arrange the runners about the mother plant to use the available space efficiently without overcrowding the fruiting row. To do this, place the runners as they develop around the mother plant about 6 inches apart until the row is filled out to a width of about 18 inches. All runners developing after this should be removed.

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Do you know what the pH of your soil is? Checking a soil’s pH has become so much easier today with new tools.

Above all, don’t guess at pH. Use an electric bridge device if possible. We tend to assume that all peat, oak leaf mold, etc., is acid. This is not true. The brown runoff from newly fallen oak leaves is acid, but once the soluble tannin has been leached away, the residue is alkaline. The same is true of certain peats. German, Swedish, and Canadian peats are usually acid, but domestic brands may be highly alkaline. Always check your peat for pH before using it. Use a soil test kit, or have the peat tested in a soil laboratory.

Note the comment on tannic acid. There are good and bad soil acids. Tannic acid is good, but aluminum acidity, from the commonly-used aluminum sulfate is bad. The stuff is often recommended because it is used commonly to acidify the soil in greenhouse plants. It works, but at the expense of roots, which are eventually killed by aluminum acidity. This is not important in finishing a hydrangea pot plant for Easter sales, but is fatal to rhododendrons after a year or two.

For acidifying, use sulfur, ammonium sulfate, ferrous ammonium sulfate (see above) or potassium sulfate. Very light doses of magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) will supply the small amount of magnesium needed for good growth. However, don’t overdo this. Speaking of magnesium, its role in plant nutrition is only recently coming to light. Apparently chlorophyll is actually a magnesium chelate which keeps other elements in photosynthesis moving properly.

We never see calcium deficiencies in the Midwest. Our waters supply lime, often too much. Test the pH of the water as it comes out of the hose, and reduce the alkalinity as necessary.

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Strictly speaking, this is for the birds. It is not for those among us who are forever searching out a new (and easier) diet! Neither is it for all the birds – it’s just for the winter midgets, who bless us with their daily calls, if we so much as leave them a crumb in the snow.

If you have tried all the tricks to entice them – cages of suet, peanut butter, ears of corn, bright berries, sunflower seeds, sand – probably you have observed, with disappointment, that the hairy woodpeckers crowd out the little downier, and the blue jays seem to take care of driving away most of the others.

Despite all we know of the survival of the fittest, there surely must be a right place in the winter scene for the little birds, without having to wait their turn, and eat the leavings.

No doubt the bright eyes of the tufted titmice, the jerky flight of the downy woodpeckers, the lowly ways of the snowbirds, the upside-down eating habits of the nuthatches, the cheery chatter of the chickadees, who scold you while you are refilling the feeding station, plus the cuteness and beauty of them all, have endeared the wee birds to you far beyond any affinity you may have for the doves, the owls, the rusty blackbirds, the cardinals, the quail and pheasant, and certainly the jays.

That is why it is worthwhile making special places for the small birds to get their food, places for them exclusively, beyond the reach of their larger neighbors, the birds, squirrels, dogs, cats.

Have you ever offered them their food in a grapefruit shell? If not, try it, and they will love you for it. Just remove the white membranes from several grapefruit half shells after the fruit has been used, and place the shells upright in a shallow pan. Fill each one level full of wild bird seed. Melt, slowly, one-fourth pound of suet for each shell you are preparing, and then pour the hot liquid over the seeds until you can see it around them. Place shells in the refrigerator to set. Add more melted suet several times as it cools and shrinks, until the shells are filled solidly to the top.

Next make four holes in the shell with an ice pick, 1/2-inch from the top, and continue upward through the contents until the point of the ice pick comes out through the top of the suet. For each hole, cut a piece of small waxed twine 18 inches in length. Tie one end of a separate length of twine carefully through each of the holes. Now bring the four pieces of twine evenly together about ten inches above the grapefruit shell and tie them together. Finally, tie the remaining twine at the top, securely around the lower branch of a tree near your feeding station and within view of your window. Several shells can be placed on the same branch within three feet of each other, although it is wise to put up just one, in the beginning, until the birds have made its acquaintance.

If the weather is severe and the snow deep, the shells will need replenishing in two or three weeks. You will know it is time, when the birds go down into the shell, rather than staying on the rim. The same shells may be used again and again although you will prefer using fresh ones each time, as they do shrink in size, and in extreme weather the bright yellow coloring darkens some.

When our littlest child brought home our first shell from her club meeting some years ago, we did not dream that any bird would ever visit it. The next day the first chickadee stopped by, which was the beginning of a tradition in our garden that will continue on as long as there are snowdrifts, and grapefruit, and winter midgets.

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Have you ever come home from work dog-tired on a cool evening and smelled fried potatoes and onions? In my book, they belong alongside freshly baked bread as a “welcome-homer.”

If you, too, are a confirmed onion eater, no matter what anyone says then you might like to know what varieties are best suited to the many. different uses of onion.

There are hundreds of varieties of onions, but we seldom use more than four or five.

Here are some facts that will help you “know your onions.”

“Bunch” onions are those which are used green. They may be used in salads and relishes.

There are many varieties of the “dry” onion type. Any of these can also be used green. Some are better winter keepers than others.

Some are excellent keepers and good for general use.

A small, mild variety is good for creaming and for glace onions. They are best when used before fully mature.

Spanish onions are a good all-around variety but cannot be kept too long. They are good fried or creamed.

Of course, if you are a real, honest-to-goodness onion eater, you’ll want to grow a few red ones. Now, there’s a real onion!

Leeks are a less-known member of the onion family. They are used mainly in Vichyssoise and are sometimes used in a casserole with a cheese sauce. Leeks may be stored like celery.

We should not fail to mention our old friends, the chives. There are few garden plants as adaptable and useful as chives. If your family doe knot care for an overpowering onion flavor, chives are for you. A very few seeds will give you all you can use for years plus a share for all your friends. An occasional trimming with the power mower will keep young, fresh, new tops at their flavorful best.

In the fall, you can bring a small clump into the house for your kitchen window. They will provide plenty for the winter.

Chives are excellent in potato salad and cottage cheese if added just before serving.

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Many gardeners like to plant living Christmas trees in their yards. From the standpoint of good landscape design these trees are too often misplaced. Frequently, they are placed in the exact center of the front lawn on each side of the front sidewalk.

Too many do not realize that many of the evergreens chosen eventually grow much too large for the size of the property and eventually the homeowner has to make the heartbreaking decision of either removing the tree or allowing it to grow and monopolize the front yard. It is difficult to grow lawns under many species of evergreens. Careful pruning will help to restrain growth but this should be started a few years before the tree grows out of balance, with an annual maintenance program followed after that time.

Personally, I prefer to place the tree in a spot where it will have freedom to grow without much pruning over a long period of time. In studying the average home grounds we usually find a location somewhere near the front corners of the yard, diagonally out from the front corners of the house, or towards the side or back of the yard are good places for the large evergreen. In the latter plantings, these trees will serve as excellent backgrounds for the home.

Try not to locate the low branching types of evergreens like spruce and fir too near sidewalks, where they might eventually spread over the walks making it necessary to remove lower limbs to allow use of the walk. It hurts my esthetic sense to see such trees spoiled by having lower limbs removed unless it is a very large specimen. Spruce and fir appear most beautiful to me if the lowest limbs start close to the ground level and carry good fullness right up the tree.

One should consider ultimate spread and height of the tree in considering its placing in order to show it of to best advantage. When a tree is small the use of temporary small or medium shrub plantings around it will help fill in space left for the expansion of the evergreen limbs.

For smaller growing types, the many varieties of red cedar, Rocky Mountain juniper, and arbor-vitae serve as excellent accent plants for corners or on either side of the doorway of the dwelling. Hardy, lower growing evergreens especially useful for the low ranch style homes of today include Pfitzer and Savin juniper and the Mugo pine. Some excellent very low ground cover types include such varieties of creeping junipers.

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