Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401240269
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I have been spreading wood ashes from my fireplace insert on my garden for several years. I know that ashes can help supply nutrients to a garden, but I have been told that too many ashes can cause soil to harden and to be hard to work. The soil in my garden has a lot of clay content and is hard to work if plowed too wet. Also it forms a hard crust after a rain. What is the true story about this situation? D.M.H., Wytheville
A: The Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech provided the information from "The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping" to answer your first question: The best crab apple varieties: Dolgo, which is a heavy bearer of red, tart fruits, delicious for spiced jelly; and Transcendent, which produces yellow fruits with red cheeks. Both are listed as good for the climatic zones in Southwest Virginia. You might find other excellent crab apples for jelly in catalogs or garden centers.
Jon Vest, horticulture agent in the Roanoke County Extension Office, mentioned that one crab apple variety alone should produce a crop, but for the highest crab apple production, two varieties should be planted. He did say that in most cases, crab apples can pick up pollen from a considerable distance away.
Repeated applications of wood ashes can lead to soil problems, but the situations you mentioned of soil crusting and difficult-to-work soil usually are the result of too little organic matter that forms humus in a soil that is predominantly clay.
It is risky for any of us to work wet soil, although an adequate amount of organic matter in the soil helps promote faster drainage. It also makes soil that crumbles sooner, allowing for plowing earlier after rains or watering. Even though wood ashes are "organic" in that they are derived from once-living things, they do not form humus and thus do not give the typical benefits you get from adding organic matter to soil.
Typical wood ashes contain a significant amount of potash, a small amount of phosphorus and no nitrogen. However, wood ashes act like lime in that they will raise the pH of the soil. So, because you have been spreading wood ashes on your garden for several years, you are likely making that soil alkaline unless your garden plot was very acidic to begin with.
Take a soil test to determine the garden soil pH and thus know if future vegetable growth might be affected. Also, work in humus-forming organic matter - compose, herbicide-free grass clippings or shredded leaves - each spring and fall.
I have heard that repeated applications of wood ashes can cause a soil to become greasy-feeling or slippery.
(The following letter was received this past summer:)
Q: I planted two gardenias in the spring of last year. They only had two blooms on them last year, and this year they have not flowered at all. They have lots of pretty, new leaves on them. Is there anything that I can do to make them flower? M.S., Goodview
A: This reply is based on the assumption that you planted your gardenias outside. That could be a problem around here. The gardenia, also known as Cape Jasmine, is a Southern evergreen garden shrub adapted to the climatic zones of the Coastal Plain region of Virginia and southward.
Because by nature most gardenia blooming occurs in late spring and early summer, injury from winter winds and cold in a mild winter for us likely would reduce the gardenia's ability to have flower buds, although the plant could make new leaves.
A cold winter in our area, with temperatures in the lowest single digits, likely would kill the gardenia branches, although new shoots could be produced in the spring. That would make flowering out of the question, because I understand that gardenia flower production occurs from growth produced on 2-year-old stems.
So, if my assumption that you planted your gardenias outdoors is correct and you want flowers, protection of all gardenia parts from winter winds and cold will be essential. The gardenia requires partial sun (with some shade) and acidic soil that is high in organic matter and moist but well-drained.
On the other hand, if you planted those two gardenias in pots and keep them indoors or in a greenhouse from fall through mid-spring but are not having successful blooming, contact the Bedford County Extension Office, 122 East Main St., Bedford, (703) 586-7675.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P. O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered each week. Personal replies cannot be given. Please do not send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples or pictures.
Symposium scheduled
The 48th annual Williamsburg Garden Symposium, sponsored by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in conjunction with the American Horticultural Society, will be conducted April 10-13 in Colonial Williamsburg. This year's theme will be "Making Gardens."
For information, contact Deborah Chapman at (804) 220-7255 or fax (804) 221-8921.
by CNB