DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708160089

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: GARDENING REMINDERS

SOURCE: Robert Stiffler

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

VISIT LOVELY ELIZABETHAN GARDENS IN MANTEO

WHEN YOU'RE celebrating a 410th birthday, it's time for a blow-out. The Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo is admitting all visitors free on Monday in celebration of Virginia Dare's 410th birthday.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. This wonderful and often overlooked garden is one of the best public gardens in the area and should be on every vacationer's ``must-see'' list. It's worth it any day, but go Monday and enjoy a free visit. CUT TOPS OFF TOMATOES

By now, most tomatoes are 8 feet tall and growing out of their cages. Extension specialist Doug Sanders of North Carolina State University says it doesn't hurt to cut the tops off. He says it could improve the crop, because the plant will produce more branches and flowers below the cut. ``You'll probably get larger fruits overall,'' he said.

Mine need cutting, but I'm timid. I'll cut off half the plants at the top of their cages and leave the other half alone and see what happens. SOURCE FOR ROSES

If you like English and shrub roses, probably the best source is Pickering Nurseries, a Canadian organization. It ships in the fall, with bare-root plants. The selection is great, but it cannot ship some varieties into the United States because of patent rights.

Its minimum order is three plants. They're inexpensive, usually $8.95 each. Pickering's catalog costs $5. For a catalog, write to Pickering Nurseries Inc., 670 Kingston Road, Pickering, Ont. L1V 1A6. Call (905) 839-2111 or fax (905) 839-4807. BACK TO SCHOOL

Fall is the time to get re-educated. Here's a preview of some coming events:

Virginia Tech Turf and Landscape Field Days happen Sept. 16-18 in Blacksburg. Included is recertification for ornamentals and turf. For details, contact your county or city extension office or call Virginia Tech at (540) 231-5897.

The Hampton Roads Research Center's 22nd Annual Field Day will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 24. Cost is $12, which includes a barbecue lunch. Events begin with an International Society of Arboriculture tree-care demonstration. There also will be demonstrations of landscape equipment, a trade show, tours of research projects, a silent auction of plants and an insect identification clinic. This field day has been approved by the ISA and the Virginia Nurserymen's Association for recertification credits. To register, send your check before Sept. 12. to HRARE Center, 1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia Beach, Va. 23455-3363. Call 363-3900. SUMMER POINSETTIAS TO SHARE

Frances Pike of Virginia Beach wrote that she has many, many summer poinsettias. She's willing to give away seeds as soon as the seed heads develop and dry, which should be in a couple of weeks.

She enclosed a picture, and her plants are beautiful. If interested, call 497-7965. ALL ABOUT CAMELLIAS

For larger and earlier camellia blooms, you need to ``gib'' them. The Virginia Camellia Society will hold a free workshop telling you how to do this at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Hofheimer Camellia Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden.

Giberellic acid is used to promote early blooms, before the freezes of winter. Proper planting techniques, how to check for roots on air-layerings and how to pot air-layered plants will be included in the workshop.

Garden admission is free if you're attending the workshop. Call 625-0374 or 855-7907. ORGANIC PEST SPRAY

The Green Thumb Plant Doctors have a recipe for an organic spray that is a combination fungicide, insecticide and miticide. It can be used on roses and shrubs to combat leaf-spot diseases, powdery mildew, mites and aphids.

Combine the following ingredients in one gallon of water:

1/4 cup Crisco (blue label) vegetable oil to kill insects and spider mites.

1 tablespoon Palmolive dish-washing soap as a spreader sticker.

1 tablespoon 8-8-8 fish emulsion/seaweed as a foliar fertilizer.

1 to 2 drops ``Superthrive'' vitamin concentrate. This is supposed to boost growth.

1 tablespoon baking soda to control black spot and mildew.

Shake well and use immediately; do not store for future use.

Caution: Spray only in the early morning or evening, when sunlight is not intense. Use a pressure-tank sprayer to provide uniform coverage of upper and lower surfaces of foliage.

The Green Thumb people would like to hear from those who try this homemade remedy. Send comments to Green Thumb EXTRA, P.O. Box 17614, Denver, Colo. 80217-2450. PROTECT RIPENING FIGS

If you grow figs, it's time to hang up those silver and red strips of mylar to scare away the birds. I'm told the strips are hard to find this year, but that Southern States on South Military Highway in Norfolk has them as well as all locations of Virginia Beach Feed & Seed. SOLVING SLUG PROBLEMS

Last week the first reader question asked how to solve slug problems. I listed chemical and organic controls but failed to mention that the first action is to eliminate damp places where they hide such as under mulch, boards, bricks. They spend daylight hours in any place that's damp and dark. Eliminating hiding places will do much to solve the problem. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

FRANCES PIKE

Frances Pike of Virginia Beach has summer poinsettia seeds that she

will share.

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