Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 2, 1992 TAG: 9201010021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Joe Hunnings
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
GARDENERS PLANTING `YUKON GOLD' MIGHT EVEN STRIKE IT RICH
Gardeners interested in obtaining "Yukon Gold" seed potatoes for trial planting this coming season should call the Virginia Tech Extension Office to place their orders."Yukon Gold" is a golden-fleshed Irish potato being sold as a gourmet item. It has an excellent flavor and stores well. The potato has received high praise from Tech vegetable specialists and is being promoted as a highly marketable novelty crop for Southwest Virginia market gardeners.
If you think back over the yard work of past year and suspect it took too much time and effort, an analysis of your site and the suitability of your plantings is in order. Landscaping looks best and is most easily maintained where a site has been analyzed for its natural characteristics, including soil texture and pH, drainage, slopes, sun and shade patterns, wind direction and intensity, exposure to salt or air pollution, and so on.
With such an analysis in hand, you can select plants that work with your site, rather than in spite of it. The result will be reduced maintenance and a better-looking landscape.
Try forcing branches of some shrubs during the drab days of late winter and early spring. Winter honeysuckle produces fragrant, pink to white flowers. Japanese andromeda has white, urn-shaped flowers in sprays like lily-of-the-valley. Mountain andromeda has white flowers in upright open panicles. Buds of native trees, such as dogwood, spice brush, serviceberry and redbud, will blossom indoors, as will azalea, forsythia, quince, rhododendron and mountain laurel.
Next year, plan to have a special section in your yard or garden for holiday gift giving. Plant everlastings for wreaths, baskets and potpourris as well as flowers for pressing to create original pictures and stationery.
Grow herbs for drying or adding to vinegars or baked goods. Plant loufa gourds to be given as back scratchers or sponges. Include giant sunflowers and millet sprays for bird-loving friends who will welcome the seeds. Relatives who live in the city will appreciate canned relishes and preserves.
Check guy wires on trees planted in the fall. Stakes may need to be rescued if they have been heaved out of the soil by frost. Remember to remove the wires in spring after root growth has started. Trees allowed to move with the wind grow stronger than those supported for too long.
During winter thaws, water evergreens that were planted in the fall, especially those on the south and west sides of the house.
Save cardboard cylinders from holiday wrapping paper for making biodegradable cutworm collars. Cut cylinders into 3-inch tubes to fit over transplants.
Don't store your lawn seeder or fertilizer spreader. Use it to spread sand or sawdust on drives and walkways.
Try coating your snow shovel with a "no-stick" cooking spray; the snow slides right off. Recoat as needed.
Joe Hunnings is the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service agent for agriculture in Christiansburg. If you have questions call the Montgomery County extension office at 382-5790.