THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407080098
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
MORE THAN 90 percent of gardens in the United States require some form of irrigation, according to the National Gardening Association.
With dry, hot weather accompanied by water restrictions, it's a good time to consider installing an irrigation system that uses minimum amounts of water.
You can install your own system, or have a garden center do it for you. A good drip-irrigation kit to cover about 500 square feet and including filtration, hoses and self-cleaning emitters costs $40 to $100.
Soaker hoses, another option, come in different lengths, from 25 to 500 feet. They can be snaked or cut and reconnected to accommodate different spaces and typically cost less than 50 cents a running foot.
A good soaker hose will water a 1 1/2-foot area on either side of the hose. A flow regulator, which is needed with better soaker hoses, costs about $25. Computerized timers cost about $30 to $60. TREE CARE
You're invited to a free tree-care demonstration at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research Center, 1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia Beach.
On the lawn of the main building, will be three types of tree pruning. Experts will include Nuckols Tree Care, Colonial Tree Care and Arbor Tree Experts.
At 11:30 a.m., Robert Gallant of Colonial Tree Care will demonstrate an aerial rescue of a climber, from a magnolia tree at the center. Gallant is mid-Atlantic chapter champion of the International Society of Arboriculture and has developed a new type of rescue. Call 363-3906 for more information. ON THE BOOKSHELF
There's a garden book on every subject under the sun.
One of the newest is ``Variegated Leaves: an Encyclopedia of Patterned Foliage'' by Susan Conder (Macmillan, $25 hardcover).
Leaf color lasts six weeks to six months - longer than any flower lasts.
With the number of variegated plants increasing as breeders respond to demand, ``Variegated Leaves'' may be of interest to novices and professionals. If you don't see it in your bookstore, ask them to order it for you. NEW MAGAZINE
There's a new gardening magazine, Garden Design, and it's excellent. Look for the first issue on newsstands now. REPLANT VEGGIES
If you want to keep your garden productive into fall, replant many vegetables soon.
Cabbage, broccoli, spinach and other salad greens will make a good fall harvest if you sow seed in mid-July and keep it watered. The alternative is to buy and set out plants in mid-August.
A second and even third planting of warm-weather vegetables such as snap beans, cucumbers and summer squash can be made up until Aug. 1. Use the space where you grew radishes, lettuce and green onions in spring. They're finished now.
Plant a quick-maturing, short-season variety so they'll produce before frost. Thoroughly water new plantings. An old farm way to get seed to germinate is to cover rows with burlap bags and keep them damp. PRUNING TIPS
Prune older canes on climbing roses now to encourage growth of younger wood for next year.
Also prune shrubs whose branches encroach sidewalks or impede visibility at your driveway or street. Prune dead, broken, crossing or rubbing branches, as well.
Don't forget wild shoots that violate the natural shape of trees and shrubs.
July also is an excellent time to prune hedges. Doing so allows time for growth for a less formal look before summer's end.
Cut back suckers and water sprouts from crab apples, flowering cherries, ornamental pears and crape myrtles. ZAPPING BUGS
Insects bothering you outdoors? Three-M has introduced Ultrathon Insect Repellent for garden use, in both a spray and cream.
It contains moderate levels of DEET, according to the company, and protects against mosquitoes for up to 12 hours. And it carries a money-back guarantee. I tried a sample, and it worked longer than other repellents I'd tried. Ultrathon costs $3.49 to $3.99 at drugstores and other outlets. BEETLE-MANIA
Japanese beetles are here. Annabel Josephs, chairwoman of the Garden Club of Virginia Rose test committee, writes in its bulletin that we can be thankful the beetles only stay around six weeks.
``Over the years, I have tried many solutions,'' she says. ``But I continue to use the simplest method of all: a jam jar filled with some gasoline, and persistence. I find it best to wait until about 11 a.m. before doing my first `round.'
``I flick them into the gasoline and they obligingly sink and die. I tried using bleach, but this proved to be most annoying because the beetles float. My second round is usually about 5 p.m. - and always seems to produce even more than the morning.
``When the jar is full, I save the remaining gasoline into another jar and add a little more gas. I throw the dead beetles into the trash . . . This method may not be practical for everyone, but I have 150 rose bushes and it works fairly well for me.''
Robert Stiffler ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Cabbage will make a good fall harvest if you sow seed now.
by CNB