Category: Uncategorized

Amending Soils—Why??

I think the blog and garden professors web page is pretty full of research and benefit descriptions of mulching, particularly with arborist chips. A little less clear is the role of amendments in garden soils. I always like to ask the “why” questions for gardening practices. Like “why” prune trees? Why fertilize, etc? Ideally gardening practices should be founded on a basis of science and inquiry as to their necessity. Poor structure early structural training or a damaged canopy may prompt tree pruning, mineral nutrient deficiency symptoms may suggest

fertilization.… Continue reading this article “Amending Soils—Why??”

Plant Control to Major Tom(ato): The Art of Spacing Out Your Plants

“Why don’t you just plant it up against the house,” piped my mother-in-law.  She was talking about a run-of-the-mill “old fashioned lilac” that we had received in the mail for our donation to Arbor Day.  While I don’t necessarily think of the organized tn as a source of high-quality or novel plants, I felt beholden to  make a donation since it was founded and is still located in Nebraska (and we have visited the Arbor Lodge, home to founder J.… Continue reading this article “Plant Control to Major Tom(ato): The Art of Spacing Out Your Plants”

Problems with Planting Trees

 

Ok. I admit this blog is going to turn into a rant pretty quick because there seems to be a lot of ways to screw up a fairly simple horticultural practice—tree planting.  Since Arbor days are happening/happened everywhere around now, its a good time to talk about how to plant trees.   First let me state some simple and useful guidelines for a successful tree planting.

-When at all possible, plant trees bare-root. Even washing the container media away.… Continue reading this article “Problems with Planting Trees”

Understanding the mysteries of plant diseases: Prevention, Control and Cure (Part 3 of 3 in this blog series)

Understanding the mysteries of plant diseases: Prevention, Control and Cure (Part 3 of 3 in this blog series)

What next?
You’ve done your research and made a diagnosis—now what? Sometimes the plant has to be removed and never planted there again. Start over, do something else.

Controlling plant pathogens or abiotic disorders can be daunting, frustrating, even impossible. As I mentioned in the last blog early detection gives more options for control because the disease has not advanced to a degree where it can not be controlled.… Continue reading this article “Understanding the mysteries of plant diseases: Prevention, Control and Cure (Part 3 of 3 in this blog series)”

Feel the Heat: Temperature and Germination

 

In most parts of the country it is time to dust off the seed starting trays, pick out your favorite seeds, and get a little plant propagation going on.  There’s definitely a lot of science (and perhaps a bit of art) to successful seed starting.  While the process starts (and relies on) the imbibition of water, one of the biggest factors that affects the success, efficiency, and speed of seed germination and propagation is temperature. … Continue reading this article “Feel the Heat: Temperature and Germination”

Understanding mysteries of plant diseases: Diagnosis and Detection (Part 2 of 3 in this blog series)

Something is wrong?

Do you ever have a feeling that there is something wrong with a plant? It’s just not healthy looking, or it has not grown for awhile? As we discussed in the last blog, disease is a process–it occurs over time. When in the disease time-line you notice the process, can be quite varied. Some astute gardeners may know something is wrong before there are symptoms, others may not take notice of the process until the plant is dead.… Continue reading this article “Understanding mysteries of plant diseases: Diagnosis and Detection (Part 2 of 3 in this blog series)”

Tuning up for Pruning Up–Care, Maintenance and Utilization of Hand Pruning Tools

A. J. Downer

Fall is passing into winter and the bare sticks in my deciduous fruit orchard are calling to my annual fruit tree pruning chores.  I can prune my entire orchard with very few tools: a good pair of bypass clippers, a similar set of loppers

(optional) and a high quality “razor” or “tri edge” saw.  Most hand tools require some maintenance especially the clippers and loppers.   Clippers are easily sharpened but modern saw blades can not be sharpened by gardeners.… Continue reading this article “Tuning up for Pruning Up–Care, Maintenance and Utilization of Hand Pruning Tools”

Grow Garlic – Keep the Neighborhood Vampires at Bay

While most of those gardening tasks are coming to an end, in most parts of the US it’s time to think about planting a few things in the veggie garden to bring a flavorful bounty next year – garlic (and a few related alliums).

I often reference Halloween and vampires when I talk about garlic, not just because traditional lore says that garlic repels vampires, but because it is a good reminder of when to plant garlic in the garden.… Continue reading this article “Grow Garlic – Keep the Neighborhood Vampires at Bay”

Root washed perennials – 3 months later

You’ll recall that in July I posted about root-washing perennials before planting them in the middle of our typically hot and dry summer in the Pacific Northwest.  I wanted to update everyone on how they performed now that we’re heading into our cooler and wetter fall months.

Just to remind you, here’s a photo of the garden right after planting:

And here is the same garden, 3 months later:

No plants died; in fact, as you can tell, they all thrived.… Continue reading this article “Root washed perennials – 3 months later”

My cucurbits won’t stop having sex.

Not really a botanically-correct statement, but you know what I mean. John Porter’s previous blog post did a great job of explaining cucurbit reproduction (loved the Pucchini). Though I was surprised to learn “not getting any fruit” is actually a problem. Can’t say I’ve had an issue with that, ever. We have a really vibrant bee population and they’ve been super busy.

I love growing squash of all sorts, despite not being a terribly gifted vegetable garder.… Continue reading this article “My cucurbits won’t stop having sex.”