HOT HOT HOT

 

from https://weather.com/  7/27/21

Dear Central Virginians,

That recent reprieve from the hot weather was great, but, sadly, it is not going to last. More days in the 90's are ahead, plus limited chance for rain.  

This is a "do what I say..." post. For a number of years, I have occasionally used soaker hoses.  But, because I was leaving a fairly newly planted vegetable garden for over 3 weeks in June (what was I thinking!??!?) I set up a series of soaker hoses on a timer and I am glad I did! For shorter vacations, I often asked kind neighbors and friends to water my garden by turning on sprinklers for a couple hours every few days.  I was never gone for long, so did not worry about the water wastage and inefficiency of this watering. I just needed a way for friends to do this easily and it was sort of ok.  And I was too lazy to set up soakers and timers. BUT I KNEW BETTER!  High, overhead sprinkling wastes up to 90% of the water to evaporation. The higher the arc of the spray and the more fine the spray, the greater the waste. Try an experiment: set up an overhead sprinkler for an hour, then dig into the soil after it turns off.  You will see that the water did not penetrate far.  This encourages shallow roots which cannot support healthy plants.

My setup is not the greatest. I have hoses that cross the brick paths between the beds, that wasted water partly reclaimed by buckets to be used later.  I need a better solution.  But my plants are lush and healthier than usual, despite the hot, dry conditions. Typically by this time of year my tomatoes have leaf spot diseases, caused by overhead watering splashing fungal spores from the soil to the leaves, but not this year so far (compost mulch helps with this, too).

I am going to find a solution to the lost water, and really set up a great system next spring!

Mulch Volcanoes

Just the topic I was going to post on!  Thank you, LGBG!

http://www.lewisginter.org/volcanoes-vs-doughnuts/

LGBG blog mulching trees

Pine Straw

Like many of you, I have been buying wood chips/mulch for the paths in my flower garden.  This is despite the various concerns about mulch: it breeds artillery fungus that can permanently stain houses, it robs the soil of nitrogen as it breaks down (not such a problem in paths), it can encourage voles and it costs money!  So, I have started doing what I should have been doing all along: using the free mulch that drops from my pine tree and the trees of neighbors.

At first, the pine straw (some call it pine tags) is fluffy, but it soon packs down (I walked over it a few times).  Like wood chips, it might encourage voles and take up nitrogen, but it is free and I don't have to drive somewhere to get it, load it, unload it and spread it.  Plus, I already rake it up every fall.  Win Win! And, after it packs down, it looks pretty good,  It likely will not last as long as wood chips, but I easily renew it every year.

Happy Gardening!

Drought

We are again in a near-drought and many communities in Central VA and the region are asking for voluntary water restrictions, and perhaps some are mandatory. The best defense against drought (other than rain!) is good soil, one that is high in organic matter, and mulch. The best mulch is compost, and that is also the best organic matter to mix into your soil. You can also mulch with aged grass clippings (too new and they might burn your plants as they break down), pine straw or shredded leaves. Water at the root zone, either using a soaker hose or watering spike (the kind you stick in the ground with an attached a soda bottle that has its end cut off ). Also, hold off fertilizing- that causes plants to grow and growing plants need more water. And remember to do your rain dance!
Happy gardening...I hope!

Gardening versus parenting advice

How gardening advice is like parenting advice

I am a voracious reader and never met a problem or circumstance that could not be enhanced by a book, or so I thought. When I was pregnant, I got my hands on all kinds of parenting and child-rearing books and read and read... The end result is that I was completely baffled by what I read (and, eventually, amused by the whole idea of other people telling me how to reproduce and raise my kid!). There was so much contradictory advice out there! Sleep with your baby, never sleep with your baby…use corporal punishment, never use it…never let your baby cry itself to sleep versus let your baby cry it out…introduce solids early to get them to sleep, exclusively breast feed for the first six months, formula is terrible, it is OK to supplement with formula! ARGH!

In some regards, though to a lesser extent, gardening advice shares this quality. For years I have read about the great benefits of wood chip mulch- it looks nice, keeps the weeds down, keeps moisture in the soil, eventually aid soils fertility when it breaks down. Now I read (and hear on garden podcasts) that wood chip mulch is positively evil- it harbors mold spores, diverts water from the soil, and ties up soil nitrogen when it breaks down. Did I mention voles love to tunnel under it? But I like wood chips! What to do? Compromise. I mulch walking paths with wood chips and mulch flower, fruit, and of course, veggie beds with compost or other organic matter (until I read this is wrong!).

Another bit of questionable advice: manure is a great soil amendment, and heats up your compost pile, encouraging decomposition and increasing fertility. What do I read now? Manure should be used as a specialty fertilizer, it can unbalance the soil (too much phosphorous I think), can harbor diseases and weeds seeds and, if the farm animal owner uses a certain type of weed killer (cyopralid and aminiopryalid sold as Forefront, Reclaim, Stinger, Hornet, Transline, Confront, Lontrel, Curtail and Millenium Ultra) in grazing fields or buys hay contaminated with it, the manure from horses who eat that hay or grass can kill your garden (by preventing seeds from sprouting for years, even killing mature plants). I am avoiding manure for now, until I can either find some from organically-raised animals or tested manure. Back to regular old compost!

Pruning? I have always read to prune only when a tree is dormant, but I have recently heard from a respected source “the best time to prune is when you have the time and the tools” (Don Schmidt on “The Dean of Green” podcast). I still would highly advise against late summer or fall pruning, as it can stimulate new growth which will just get killed by winter cold in our temperate climate, thereby weakening the tree or shrub.

Last one: it is OK to keep the burlap on the root ball of a balled-n-burlapped tree or shrub. It was thought that the burlap will help keep that all important root ball together and will eventually decompose. New advice? Cut away and remove that burlap, along with any twine or wires you can. Leaving these materials on will only encourage the tree roots to continue to grow in a circular pattern, eventually choking the roots (also more recent advice- don’t amend the soil in a planting hole for a tree or shrub- it just encourages the roots to stay and in that nice, amended environment and choke).

So, if you hear of any more contradictions in garden advice (even from me!) Let me know!

Happy Gardening!