24 Nov Sat 2018
How to Handle Little Gardening Problems ©
How to Handle Little Gardening Problems ©
By Arlene Wright-Correll
I have a lot of clay around our home and in some place some sandy soil. However, I I have found some plants that do well in the sandy soil. I planted drought-tolerant plants and watered them several times a week to get them established. Once they were well-rooted, they tolerated the dry growing conditions associated with sandy soil.
For sunny areas, try some of the following annuals: sunflower, zinnia, blanket flower, cosmos, cockscomb, gazania (treasure flower), portulaca, dusty miller, Dahlberg daisy, verbena and Mexican sunflower. And if you prefer perennials, try these sun-lovers: purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, gayfeather, thyme, Artemisia, perennial sunflower, yucca, sedum, Russian sage, potentilla and ornamental grasses.
It’s harder to find shade plants that will tolerate dry soil. But you can try perennials like dead nettle (Lamium), variegated archangel (Lamiastrum), lily-of-the-valley and coral bells.
Annuals such as periwinkle and the biennial Chinese forget-me-nots will also grow in dry, partially shaded locations.
Now that it is fall here is my “to do” list and it should be considered yours. This is one of my favorite times of the years. Besides the colors of the changing leaves I can look forward to a bountiful fall and a beautiful spring. This is the time I order spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting and I divide irises and other spring-flowering perennials.
One can keep planting short-season vegetables like peas, lettuce, radishes and beats for a fall harvest. Of course one gets to harvest and preserve herbs for winter use and on the bird watching side this is the time to look for American goldfinches building nests as thistles produce down, their preferred nesting material and I get to try and watch as teenage birds begin to grow feathers that make them look more like their parents.
Do you have a hard time preventing weeds like I do? Try the following: mulch is a surface layer spread over the ground to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and maintain a good soil texture. Mulches may be organic, such as manure, compost, bark chips or cocoa shells, or non-organic, for example, stones, gravel or polythene sheeting.
Some people use weed killers and I basically stay away from them because we try to be completely organic at Home Farm Herbery. However, to save time and hard work weed killers are the answer to many people’s problems. Just make sure you read the manufacturer’s directions and warnings real well. Keep the weed killer off the plants you wish to keep. Dissolve and dilute the weed killer according to the manufacturer’s directions and use a fine rose sprinkler head on a watering can you use only for weed killers. Don’t apply on a windy day or it will drift or blow onto other plants. The best time to apply weed killer is when the weeds are leafy and actively growing which would be mid-spring to early summer. Remember, regardless of whatever the manufacturer touts many weeds do not die right off and need repeated treatments. Needless to say keep all chemicals away from your children and pets.
Most of us do not realize there are annual weeds and perennial weeds. An annual is
a plant that normally completes its full cycle of growth, flowering and seeding in a single season, and then dies. Some annuals may be sown in autumn to flower the following spring. Annual weeds such as chickweed, groundsel, purple dead nettle, annual nettle, fat hen, opium poppy, hairy bittercress, annual meadow grass, speedwell and yellow oxalis have the same kind of growing cycle.
The aim of annual weeds is to grow and set is to grow and set seed as quickly as possible. They grow from seed on any recently cultivated soil and sometimes will grow on top of the newly placed mulch you put down to stop the weeds from growing. A vicious cycle isn’t it? Seeds can survive for years in the soil, waiting for the perfect conditions to grow and then you wonder, “where the heck that one came from?” They germinate at lower temperatures than most garden plants, giving them a head start over their rivals! Once you recognize them at the seedling stage controlling annual weeds is relatively easy. Then you can keep from eliminating the vegetable or flower seedling that may be growing along side of them. Most hoe out easily or pull out when they get to be a pick able size. Just remember to eliminate the weed you must eliminate the root! Only put them on your compost heap if they do not have a seed head.
A perennial is any plant with an indefinite life span of more than two years. Some may be quite short-lived, whereas trees can easily survive for centuries. Likewise perennial weeds, such as dandelions, creeping thistle, brambles, dock, ragwort and stinging nettle have the same type of growing cycle. Yet they are more of a problem because they can live for several years. They survive winter by storing food in their roots. These roots make them harder to get rid of then annual weeds. Some are difficult to dig out and others spread underground so if you leave even the tiniest piece of root in the soil when you dig them out, be prepared to get a whole new plant.
The best way to control them is to dig out the whole plant as soon as you see them. So long as you do not let them produce leaves, they will use up their stored up food energy and eventually die. Never, never rotate soils with perennial weed infestation or you will have whole new colonies of weeds growing up in the new place. Always dig out every little bit as they grow and with twice the effort in order to control them. If you don’t mind using chemicals, treat them with a weed killer containing glyphosate.Last but not least, never put perennial weed roots or seed-heads on to the compost heap.
One can try what is called root-proof barriers, which is a vertical barrier that will often stop rampant roots invading from next door. Just dig a 1 foot or 30 cm deep trench and bury the barrier. The best material to use is damp-proof course (DPC), available from all builders' supply store.
I keep getting asked a lot of questions about compost. One year I bought a Mantis Composter and I never did get the hang of it for the two years I played with it. I finally sold it on eBay and a guy came down Ohio to pick it up. Now composting is probably easy with one of those, but it was a real mystery for me. I guess I will stick to the old way of making a compost pile and turning it over every couple of days. When one talks about making a garden compost it usually means a garden compost made from waste materials rotted down in a compost heap, but it usually refers to the special soil or peat mixtures used for sowing and potting plants. There are two main kinds. Soil-less compost is made from peat or a substitute such as bark or coir. Soil-based composts are a mixture of sterilized soil, peat or an alternative, and sand. They all have added fertilizers.
A universal, soil-less compost is suitable for all normal sowing and potting needs, but there are different grades of soil-based compost. You can also buy special composts for rooting cuttings or for growing ericaceous (lime-hating) plants, orchids, and water plants.
Growing roses is really not a big problem and I have grown all kinds from the cheap $1.98 ones to the finer ones that cost a lot more. One of the lovelies climbing roses I have here in Kentucky is one I bought at a Publix’s market in Vero Beach, FL. I brought it home from a vacation I was on in the winter of 1998 and proceeded to “kill” it off about 3 or 4 times over the next 2 years, but it is still growing strong as I write this in September of 2006 and produces lovely red roses year after year two or three times a season. I cannot even remember the name of it.
I have a hard time keeping the Rosie O’Donnell rose alive and have managed to have 3 of them over 3 seasons fail to make it through my zone 6 area. I do not think it is the zone, I think it is the soil even though the last one I planted in 2005 had a whole new area of dirt brought in just for it. The other one I love and have no luck with is Joseph’s Coat.
One of the best ones I ever bought was an Albertine rose from The Antique Rose Emporium about 7 years ago for $14.95. It was a small root and now it looks the a huge stump with pink roses all up the side of our gift shop and across a wide rose arbor and all over half the roof of our Avalon Stained Glass School. It comes back and delivers the loveliest, most fragrant pink roses each June. All the others I bought from them that year have done well. But the nine I bought in 2005 from them at $17.95 each plus shipping have all died through this past winter which was a mild one here. I am heartily disappointed with them as they only warrant their roses for 90 days whereas Lowes’ garden center, providing I keep the sales slip, will guarantee them for 12 months.
I try to find disease-resistant roses and in recent years I find in plant breeding they have created a number of roses that are resistant to black spot. In a bad year they will get it, but only a minor dose, thus the rest of the time they are usually trouble free. Here are a couple of my favorites.
This one is Rosa Golden Showers. It is a yellow climbing rose with dark glossy green leaves. The height is about 6.5 ft with a spread of 7 feet. Just as there are many shrubby roses so there are many climbing roses, but this is one of the best. It is an upright climber and can be pruned to be a shrub. It produces a profusion of double flowers that are 10cm (4in) across. 
Another favorite is Rosa gallica, “Versicolor” or Rosa Mundi as many might know it by its common name. This red rose with a white stripe is a hardy shrub growing about 2.5 ft with a 3 ft spread with glossy green leaves. It is a lovely old and well-loved rose, neat and bushy. Particularly charming is the semi-double, slightly scented, flat flowers 5cm (2in) in diameter. This rose prefers full sun.
Rosa rugosa is a hedgehog rose that is a hardy shrub bearing Purplish-red and white blossoms with glossy green leaves. This rose grows to 3 ft to 6.6ft x 3ft to 6.6ft and is a dense, vigorous species rose with attractively wrinkled leaves. It bears a succession of flowers, 9cm (3.5in) in diameter. These are followed in late autumn by large tomato-shapes and colored fruit (hips.)
Rosa “Iceberg” is another favorite shrub rose with a pure white flower and glossy green leaves. It is a good compact plant about 2.5 ft by 2.1 ft. This bush rose produces many sprays of graceful double, cupped-shaped flowers up to 7 cm (3in) in diameter that look fantastic against the dark leaves. It also responds well to heavy pruning.
I hope this little article will help you keep abreast of the many challenges that any gardener faces. In the event I can help you with anything else just send an email to askarlene@scrtc.com and I will try my best to help you.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with….Peace, light and love,
Arlene Wright-Correll