ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604300046
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Dear John
SOURCE: JOHN ARBOGAST
In the weeks ahead, you will find there are many organic items produced in your yard that can easily be turned into compost to improve garden and landscape soil rather than being hauled to the dump.
Grass clippings, which are filling up landfills across the country, actually make an excellent fuel for cooking compost in almost no time at all. To assist new composters, I will give a demonstration on backyard composting behind the Fine Arts Building at Virginia Western Community College on Colonial Avenue in Roanoke May 11 at 9 a.m. In the event of heavy rain, the demonstration will be given on May 15 at 5:30 p.m.
Participation will be limited to 30. This workshop is being offered by the Clean Valley Council. Registration is required. Call the CVC at 345- 5523 or fax 345-5422. A $5 fee will cover the cost of one portable compost bin and accompanying instructional booklet.
It is easy to understand that compost occurs naturally over time. However, to make that process occur quickly and without odor, gardeners utilize the basic layering process in making a "pile," which consists of a 2- to 3-inch thick "green" layer of high-nitrogen material such as fresh, weed killer-free grass clippings, then a 6-inch "brown" layer of high carbon matter like leaves or chopped-up woody prunings and then about a 1-inch-thick layer of garden soil. These ingredients are mixed with a garden fork and dampened to be like a wet, wrung-out sponge. For quick composting-pile maintenance work consists of checking for that damp sponge-like condition weekly and stirring the pile with a garden fork every two weeks.
Q: What could be the trouble with my boxwoods? They have patches of brown dead-looking branches all over them. This must be an epidemic because other boxwoods in my neighborhood also look bad.
A: Many boxwoods in this area looked bad at the end of the past winter as the result of adverse weather, both the harsh winter and the summer and fall drought of '95. Even adverse weather conditions in prior years have affected boxwoods. We are not having a disease or pest epidemic affecting either American or English boxwoods.
Actually, the list of potential boxwood diseases is not very long. Without further information, particularly when the symptoms first showed up, how long the browning has been occurring and the care your boxwoods receive, I can't diagnose your problem precisely. My first guess, especially because you've observed boxwood browning in other yards, would be adverse natural causes. Look for life in the branches with the brown leaves by scratching the bark in small, scattered areas to see if the wood is green and moist or dry and brown. Prune out the obviously dead ones now.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered during the weeks that the subject is timely. Personal replies cannot be given.
Please don't send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples, or pictures.
Gardener's checklist
Jobs for late April and early May:
Prune forsythia informally now by cutting out about one-third of the oldest branches and then cutting back the remaining growth to varying heights.
Remove winter-killed portions of trees and shrubs by pruning back to parts where the wood under the bark is green.
Resist the urge to fertilize bluegrass and fescue lawns now.
Protect newly transplanted flower and vegetable plants from cutworms with collars.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB