THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100087
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Gardening
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
My husband and I recently bought a house that is over 20 years old. Apparently the first owner planted the wrong plants, and the previous owners decided that if they cut the trees and shrubs back, buyers could see the house better. Now we have 4- to 5-inch high stumps, 5 inches across, all around the house. We pulled a few up with a chain, lots of digging and our truck. We got an estimate on a stump grinder, but it would cost $350 to grind out the stumps. We thought of covering them with soil, mulching, putting down garden ties and replanting. Any suggestions?
Stumped in Parksley, Tia L. Toth
Your idea is a good one. To make sure the stumps don't sprout new growth, I would paint full strength Roundup on the cut ends or use a mixture of Weed-B-Gon and motor oil. Place your garden timbers high enough that you can provide 8 to 10 inches of new soil for the roots of newly planted shrubs. I'm not sure you won't spend as much as you would to have the stumps ground out, but that's your decision. Fall is an excellent time to do the project.
What can you use or do to keep birds from pecking/eating your ripe tomatoes before you can harvest them? I am using aluminum pie plates on a string, but the birds keep coming back.
Peter T. Koehler Pfotenhauer, Virginia Beach
The best solution is Agri-tape which is mylar foil in a 1/2-inch roll that is silver on one side and bright red on the other. Garden centers sell it. Tie it in loose, 3-foot strips over your tomatoes, so it will blow like ribbons in the breeze.
I am trying to find where I can purchase the ``Paul McCartney Rose.'' It came out about four years ago from a French company with a name starting with ``M.'' That's all I can tell you about it, except that it's not available at several local garden centers.
Esther Piskorski, Virginia Beach
Bill Milner, past president of the Tidewater Rose Society, came to my rescue, but you'll have to go to England or another European country to buy this rose. It's a medium-pink hybrid tea rose and goes under several names but primarily ``The McCartney Rose.'' It was introduced by Meideland of France but is not sold in this country.
For a rose source book, the one most used is Bev Dobson's ``The Combined Rose List - 1995,'' edited by Peter Schneider. Cost is $18, mailed to P.O. Box 677, Mantua, Ohio 44255.
I love capers. In reading about them, I've learned they are pickled blossoms. I would like to grow my own. Do you have any information on where to get seeds and how to grow them?
Marilyn Mitchell, Virginia Beach
Capers are pickled buds of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, including Cleome and Capparis Spinosa, the plant that gives the taste for capers used in salads and as a garnish with meat and fish dishes. Hampton Roads Research Center specialists say the plant for capers is grown in the Mediterranean area and seeds are not available for growing in this country. If any reader has further knowledge, please write.
During a recent trip to Massachusetts, I read an article about recycled, dyed wood mulch made from oak shipping pallets which lasts for two seasons. What a terrific recycled product! I would like to have this colored mulch to enhance my landscaping. I have seen it in the Ocean View area.
Catherine Weagle, Toano
As far as I can determine, the mulch you have seen is not available in this area. Perhaps a reader knows where it can be purchased. Pallets are a problem and using them as mulch is certainly recycling. Hampton Roads Research Center experts, however, don't recommend wood pallets as mulch for several reasons. Pallets are made of hardwood, which breaks down fast, releasing excessive manganese. Plants may show signs of iron deficiency where such mulch is used, but it really is an overdose of manganese from the hardwood mulch. The experts recommend pine bark mulch because it's more stable.
I am enclosing leaves from our pecan and sugar maple trees. They have yellowed around the edges and then turned brown. My parents live a mile from me, and their trees and shrubbery, including azaleas and grape vines, look the same way. A friend who lives three miles away is having the same problem. Please tell me the reason and what we can do about it.
Mrs. William L. Seldon, Gates, N.C.
Virginia Tech authorities are baffled by your problem. Many possibilities exist including the summer drought or unknown impacts from nearby agricultural areas. Why don't you contact the North Carolina State Cooperative Extension Service agent for your county. Ask that office to follow up with a visit to your place and your neighbors. There may be a correlation with your problem and that of your neighbor, or they might be totally unrelated but with similar symptoms.
Last month you published a recipe for homemade weed killer, but the paper was thrown out before I could cut out the article. The mixture contained liquid detergent, salt and vinegar plus water. Several friends are also interested in trying it. Also will that concoction kill ivy?
Joan Kail, Chesapeake
I am mailing you the organic soil sterilant formula but am not reprinting it for a couple of reasons. It has appeared several times, and, unfortunately, I have found it does not work.
For ivy, the only control known is to mow it short with a lawn mower. Then spray with full strength Roundup when it starts to sprout new leaves. Several sprayings will be required. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va.
23510. Answers will be published on a space-available basis. For an
earlier reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by CNB