Archive for the ‘HOW TO GARDEN’ Category

There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute!

April 13th, 2009

Suckers waiting to be trimmed off a main branch

Suckers waiting to be trimmed off a main branch

 

More correctly, suckers “sprout” every minute.

You may think your tree is filling out quite nicely, but on closer examination, most of the new branches are shooting straight towards the sun. Those are suckers, also referred to as water sprouts. You may even find suckers appearing on the lawn, some several feet away from the main trunk. And they are not good.

Suckers grow rapidly and are rather weak compared to the rest of the branches. You will find them on limbs, around the base of the tree or on the main trunk. Because of their tendency to grow quickly, they rob the rest of the tree of valuable nutrients, weakening the entire tree in the process. Water sprouts that are left to on the tree, put a great deal of weight and pressure on the limb it sprouted from. That weakens the entire limb, inviting cracked bark or breakage. The cracked bark is an open invitation to insects and disease, and a broken limb is a safety hazard. Therefore suckers and water sprouts must be removed while they are still small.

To remove suckers, simply cut them off with sharp pruners or a pruning saw at the base of the sucker. Try a cut as close to the main branch as possible without cutting into that branch. Keep the cut as straight and as small as possible. The larger the cut, the more inner bark is exposed. The more inner bark exposed, the easier it is for diseases and insects to attack your tree.

Removing suckers can actually stimulate the production of even more suckers or water sprouts. Then it becomes a something you will need to do two or three times a year. An application of pruning paste helps curb the appearance of new suckers.

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Five Common Gardening Errors

March 13th, 2009

Silver Leaf Dogwood planted correct distance from building

Silver Leaf Dogwood planted correct distance from building

 

  • We’ve all seen them – shrubs that grow against a house, twisting the plant into a grotesque monster that hides windows and damages siding. Often, people only consider the mature height of a shrub or tree when the mature width should also be considered. Plant shrubs far enough away from building foundations to allow the shrub to reach its mature width without being crammed against a wall. Not only do the shrubs benefit, but you won’t have to worry about the roots of the shrub damaging drainage tiles buried underground.

 

  • Planting in too shallow a hole. Container grown shrubs should be planted so the top of the soil ball is at the same height as the ground. The soil ball should not stick up above the soil level. That exposes the roots to air causing them to dry out, which leads to a plant that struggles. Read the rest of this entry »

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Springing Forward

March 7th, 2009

New Dawn preparing to flower

New Dawn preparing to flower

 

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful here! Sunny, warm (over 50F), a few clouds now and then, a good breeze to help dry the soil. Amazing for early March!

 

A tour of our garden revealed many surprises. Tulips, daffodils, narcissus and Siberian irises are all peaking through the soil. Under the mulch of leaves, perennials were greening up in anticipation of more warm days ahead. The buds on the trees, especially the maple, are beginning to swell. All signs of what’s to come.

 

A very nice surprise came when the roses and chestnut showed no signs of being winter pruned by our resident rabbits. I think we can in part, thank the large bird population in our garden who, are very messy eaters. They spill as much bird feed on the ground as they eat, I swear! And the rabbits eat the spillings.

 

Not so nice is all the litter that has been buried under the snow. Why people cannot throw their garbage into a trash can is beyond me! Pop cans, drink cups, chip bags, papers all scattered around the property.  The other nasty, we found are the land mines left by dogs. Poop and scoop is a foreign concept to some of the dog owners here. But, I’m not getting into all of that!

 

Since it is just the first week of March, I resisted the temptation to begin the garden clean up. The mulch was left in place and shrubs were left un-pruned as I know more cold weather, and snow, will come. One thing I did do, and it broke my heart to do it, was cut back our “New Dawn” climbing rose. Yes, my pretty climber that reached over the porch roof, is now a mere ten inches high. Why you ask? Read on! Read the rest of this entry »

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