THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604200063
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
MONDAY IS EARTH DAY, a day of national environmental awareness. How we nurture the soil, control pests and fertilize plants affects the Earth. Home lawns and gardens and how they are cared for is part of the biggest pollution problem in the country.
If you'd like a source book of organic solutions, Gardeners Supply offers ``Gardener's Best Solutions'' for every home gardening need. Call (800) 955-3370 for a free copy.
Those rascally rabbits
A Scottish woman named Patricia Lamond handed me a copy of an article from the English garden magazine Country Life at last month's Tidewater Horticultural Symposium. The article was about how to keep rabbits out of your garden.
British farmers have found a hybrid cereal crop called triticale. Rabbits do not like it and are refusing to eat it. Farmers use it to ``fence off'' their fields. They suggest that keen gardeners could sow an annual hedge of triticale around the perimeter of their vegetable patch.
I called Thompson & Morgan, the large British seed firm, to ask if they carried it, but they'd never heard of it. Their horticulturist promised to investigate and try to get it in the catalog by the 1997 season.
For fast help
This is the time of year when many gardeners have problems for which they want an immediate answer. Solaris, makers of Ortho and Roundup, provides a helpline at (800) 225-2883. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
If you have a question on the weekend and have a computer, go online for an answer at http://www.ortho.com. \ The problem with heirlooms
It's almost tomato planting time, and many gardeners think heirloom varieties are the tastiest. But most have not been bred for disease resistance and often succumb to diseases much earlier than the newer, more resistant varieties. So if wilt gets your tomatoes almost every August, don't try the heirloom varieties, because they'll hit the dust even faster.
Collector's item
As gardeners become more sophisticated, collecting plants has become a hobby with many. Popular author Ken Druse explores this trend in his new book, ``The Collector's Garden: Designing with Extraordinary Plants,'' (Clarkson Potter, hardcover, $45). Druse started his career as a phographer, so the book is filled with 400 color photos.
All kinds of iris
Farrell Braun lives ``way down in the country'' where he grows perennials, including all kinds of iris, which he sells for $2.50 or less. For directions, call him before 8:30 a.m. or after 2 p.m. The rest of the time he's in his garden. Call 427-6380.
All about planting
Special issues of ``The Avant Gardener'' are really helpful. I use mine over and over. The latest, ``Planting Power,'' is written by Alan D. Cook, who for many years was the highly respected horticulturist of The Dawes Arboretum in Ohio.
Cook presents a detailed checklist of modern planting techniques. A vital new finding is that planting holes must be at least twice as wide but absolutely no deeper than the root mass of the plant.
Some of his good advice includes: ``Don't plant thorny plants beside the sandbox, front walk or the hammock. A tall fat evergreen shrub where the drive meets the boulevard can hide an oncoming truck for a moment too long.''
For your copy of ``Planting Power,'' mail $3 to The Avant Gardener, P.O. Box 489, New York, N.Y. 10028.
Free mulch available
Debris from the winter storms is being ground into mulch for use by Norfolk residents. From 8 a.m. until dusk, this free mulch is available at a Northside Park parking lot, 8445 Tidewater Drive. Bring your own containers and forks or shovels. Call 441-2435.
Lilac planting time
If you're determined to try to grow lilacs, it's not too late to plant. Some recommended for the South include Chinese lilac (S. x chinensis), Lavender Lady, Littleleaf lilac (S. microphylla), Dwarf Korean lilac (S. Meyeri Palibin), Miss Kim, (S. patula), Cutleaf lilac (S. laciniata) and Persian lilac, (S. x persica). Lavender Lady and the Dwarf Korean lilac are said to be the most fragrant. Persian lilac is said to be very heat tolerant and mildew resistant, a good choice for Zone 8, which is where most of us live. Several nurseries keep one or two of the varieties listed.
Get rid of bittercress
A woman brought a weed to me for identification at the FlowerMart at the Virginia Beach Pavilion on April 11. Its proper name is hairy bittercress. There are three bittercresses, and all are annuals, 3 to 9 inches tall. Leaves are wedge-shaped with tiny white flowers at the top of multiple stems. They are common winter weeds, blooming in April in this area.
After I came home from the Pavilion, I took out the Roundup, because to my dismay, I found I had dozens of these weeds everywhere, many more than I thought. It's important to kill them now, because their blooms soon form seeds, which fall to the ground to pester you next spring. by CNB