THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409160069
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
FOR FOLKS with fescue lawns, Suffolk extension agent Cliff Slade has prepared a guide on what to do each month from now through next August. It gives complete information on watering, seeding, fertilizing and weed control. To get a free copy, call 925-6409 and ask for the fescue lawn maintenance calendar. Even postage is free, a service of Virginia Cooperative Extension. PRUNE WISTERIA ROOTS
Root prune wisteria that has failed to bloom or that you plan to move. Cut through the roots with a spade in a circle 30 to 40 inches from the main trunk or stem. INTO THE COMPOST PILE
In case you haven't noticed, leaves are already falling. Use them, plus grass clippings and vegetable garden remains, in a compost pile. PLANT BUT DON'T OVERPLANT
October is the best month for planting in this area. But don't overplant. Simplicity is the key to all good art, including landscape design. Overplanting results in continual and and difficult maintenance as well as poor garden design.
Planting size and proper spacing allow for maximum plant size. This is important for proper development and attractive arrangement of plants. Group plants of the same kind in informal groupings, lines or other formations to achieve unity and organization of space.
Plants that don't fit your landscaping design should be eliminated or relocated. Make the landscape functional as well as decorative. Know what maintenance will be required and provide when needed. TOO BIG FOR THEIR POTS
As a general rule, houseplants benefit from repotting every three years. You know its time to repot when roots are visible circling the top of the root ball and it becomes difficult to stick your finger into the soil, says Cypress Gardens chief horticulturist Joe Freeman. Other clues are masses of roots emerging from the drainage holes of the container or plants that are top-heavy or otherwise out of proportion with their containers. An ideal time to repot is before you move houseplants indoors before a frost. END THE OUCH OF SANDBURS
This advice is for readers who live near the beach. Sandburs are a common weed in sandy, acidic soils with poor fertility. First check the soil pH to see if it would benefit from an application of lime. Next, sow turf seed or legumes (alfalfa, soybeans, etc.) to thicken the lawn. Fertilize with an organic, water-insoluble fertilizer. If the existing grass is more competitive, the problem with sandburs diminishes.
Mowing is one of the best controls for this annual weed, because it decreases seed set. Unfortunately, some stems grow so low they won't be cut by the mower. Although it sounds impractical, dragging an old blanket or sack over the area to collect fallen seed will help. Spot-treat with a herbicide (Roundup or a fatty-acid soap) to kill young plants.
Even if you stop all seed from setting, you'll need to watch next spring for sandburs to return, because the seeds are long-lived. BITTER CUCUMBERS?
If your cucumbers have been bitter, blame it on the weather or the variety. They become bitter when vines are severely stressed by drought, unusually hot weather or low soil fertility. Here are four to plant next season that are resistant to bitterness: County Fair '83, Spartan Salad, Sweet Success and Sweet Slice. WEED WARS
Newly sprouting weeds are everywhere now. In every bed or lawn, I spy tiny leaves of chickweed. It germinates now to really hassle you next spring. Also lots of crabgrass and weeds of every shape and size germinate in fall. Make sure they don't mature and drop their seed by pulling, hoeing or spraying them now. Hoeing or pulling and destroying them makes for more assurance they won't drop their seed to haunt you next spring. As for chickweed, retired director Ed Borchers of the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research Center always said spraying for weeds or using weed and feed in the fall, (usually mid-October) was at least two times more effective than waiting until spring.A ON CASTLES AND GARDENS
Mark your calendar now for Oct. 14, 15 and 16 when the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo and the Garden Club of North Carolina presents, ``Olde World Charm - New World Elegance.'' This event on Roanoke Island features lectures on old English gardens and castles and on the Gilded Age castles and gardens in historic Newport, R.I.
Speakers include Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall of Wotten-under-Edge, Gloucester, England, Valerie Arelt of Kent, England, and Janice and Rogers Whistener of Boone, N.C.
Registration is $80 per person, mailed to The Elizabethan Gardens Symposium, P.O. Box 943, Buxton, N.C. 27920. Call 919-995-6029. PLANTS WITH A PURPOSE
Plants with a Purpose will hold a yard sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Del Park Avenue near Virginia Wesleyan College, in Virginia Beach. Herbs, perennials, shrubs for song birds and plants for butterflies will be sold. Call 497-6974 or 482-4796. MAGNIFICENT MUMS
Fall means chrysanthemums. Yoder, the world's largest propagators of mums, are filling Florida's Cypress Gardens with more than 2 million mums beginning Nov. 2. This Chrysanthemum Festival is the most elaborate and widely attended display in North America. The festival features more than 750 mum cascades, 32 poodle baskets, magnificent mum arches, gazebos and 18,500 potted mums.
Cypress Gardens is 40 minutes southwest of Sea World of Orlando and includes world-famous water-ski shows and other attractions. If you're in the area, be sure to go. If you're staying home, you'll find mums in garden centers, ready for planting now. CATERPILLAR CULPRIT
If you spotted upper branches of your azaleas stripped of leaves, it was the azalea caterpillar, reports entomologist Pete Schultz of the Hampton Roads Research Center. They're gone now, says Schultz, so don't spray. Next season, watch for them during August and take necessary prevention measures. IN MEMORY OF HENRY MITCHELL
``Readings in Memory of Henry Mitchell,'' a longtime garden columnist for the Washington Post, will take place Saturday at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Allen Lacy and Washington Post garden writers will be present, reading from Mitchell's writings from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Cost is $15 per person. Call (202) 544-8733. by CNB