Miscellaneous

• To determine if soil is ready to work, squeeze a handful into a tight ball, then, break the ball apart with your fingers. If the ball of soil readily crumbles in your fingers, the soil is ready to be worked. If the soil stays balled, however, it is still too wet to work. Use this test in another week to determine if the soil is ready to be worked.

• It is best to cut a vine off at its base if it covers a wall that needs repointing (repair of old mortar). Consider building a trellis to keep the vine from further damaging the wall. New, vigorous growth from the base of the old vines will recover the wall or trellis in time.

• Keep a calendar close to the door going to the garden. Use it to track when and what you plant, fertilize, apply pesticides to, and harvest. Also note the weather. You'll refer back to these notes each year.

• Discourage nibbling deer in your garden this year by using plants that most deer don't find tasty. Less tasteful annuals appear to include ageratum, dusty miller, french marigold, periwinkle, snapdragon, sweet alyssum, wax begonia, and zinnia. Perennials include bleeding-heart, foxglove, lily-of-the-valley, peony, and yarrow. (According to Landscape Memo, January-February 1994, by The Brickman Group Ltd.)

• Bark, wood chips, or wood shavings are suitable mulches for flower beds of perennials or for walkways. Sawdust is good for walkways, but until it begins to decompose, it can stop water penetration.

• If peat and soilless mixes are hard to moisten, use warm water because it soaks in easier than cold water.

• Replace plant lights yearly. They gradually lose their strength, causing plants to stretch up (etiolate) and stop blooming.

• If you like birds and small animals in your yard, build sloping, rock-faced mounds. Birds will probe for food, and chipmunks may take up residence in the rock crevices.

• Due to the cost of cut flowers, a flower garden grown from seed is a wise investment for fresh flowers all summer. Nasturtiums, zinnias, sweet peas and snapdragons are a few of the many old- fashioned, easy-to-grow annuals finding their way back into home gardens for informal, fresh bouquets.

• When tiny seedlings are transplanted into individual containers, water by placing pots in a shallow pan of water. Do not pour water into pots as this disturbs the roots. When the media is moist, remove the pots from the water and place them in a shady spot for a day or two before returning plants to a sunny place.

• Birds consume hundreds of insects each day, and wise gardeners encourage them to take up residence in orchards and gardens by installing bird houses, feeders and water sources.

• The sound of dripping water attracts birds. You can create an audio, water feature in your garden with a plastic milk jug. Punch a tiny hole in the jug with a sewing needle. Fill the jug with water and adjust the size of the hole so the water drips very slowly, approximately 1 drop every 10 seconds. Hang the jug from a tree and put a clay or plastic saucer or birdbath underneath. If using a saucer, raise it on bricks or stones since many birds are not comfortable on the ground. Painting the milk jug green will make it less noticeable or you could find a more attractive reservoir. At 8 to 10 seconds between drops, a milk jug takes about 2 days to empty.

• At this time of year, honey bees swarm, leave their hives and seek new hives. New swarms are not aggressive and should be left alone.

• While sighing over any problems insects may cause in the garden, take a moment to wonder over some of their amazing feats as well. Grasshoppers can jump over 20 times their length. Fleas can jump 8 feet; we could leap the length of a football field, if we had the same skill proportionate to our size.

• Agronomists at Virginia Tech have experimented with portable metronomes to time their paces during the spinner-spreading of seed, fertilizer or granulated pesticide. They've found that metronome timing helps significantly in maintaining accurate walking speed while spreading the materials.

• Moles are tunnelling, insect eaters particularly attracted to grubs. When bulbs are missing or shrubs have root damage, look for voles or field mice to be the culprits. These rodents often use mole tunnels as their runs.

• Over- or under-fertilization can weaken or kill plants. Nitrogen deficiency is characterized by stunted, yellowing leaves near the bottom of the plant and slow, stunted growth. Over application of nitrogen may cause leaf tip burn or all vegetative growth (no flowers or fruit).

• Have you taken soil tests of your garden, lawn, orchard and berry patch in the past year? Don't guess about fertilization. Soil analysis will help you base fertilizer and lime applications on the present condition of the soil and the nutrients needed by your plants. Contact your local Extension agent for instructions for sampling soil.

• Control insect pests before they become unmanageable. Spray or dust tent caterpillars while they are still small.

Gardening is an exercise in optimism. Sometimes, it is a triumph of hope over experience. - Marina Schinz

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