Happy Garden - August 21, 2008

This week Ellen Brown shares and article about the Critical Times To Water Your Vegetables. She also answers more of you questions.

If you have a gardening request feel free to submit it here:

• http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_request.ldml

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Photos:

• Path Garden Chairs
• Garden: King Pineapple
• Reusing Racks and Bins from Refrigerators
• Animals and Plants Together
• I Love Dandelions!

Tips and Articles:

• Growing a Sweet Gum Tree
• Saving My Weeping Cherry Tree
• Rooting Crape Myrtle Suckers
• Keeping Animals Out of Your Vegetable Garden
• How Do I Grow A Bonsai Tree?
• Critical Times To Water Your Vegetables
• Use Cow Manure For Growing Root Vegetables
• Finding Cheap Plants for Your Garden Landscape
• Freezing Produce In Paper Bags
• Saving Money on Houseplants

New Requests:

• Using Swimming Pool Water To Water Plants
• Colorful Perennials In Northern Texas
• Leaves Turning Brown On Dogwood Tree
• Tomatoes Are Not Getting Ripe
• Growing a Mango Tree
• Bugs Feeding on My Hibiscus
• Zucchini Rotting on the Vine
• Something Eating My Hibiscus
• Getting Rid Of Nut Grass
• Hibiscus Not Blooming
• Growing Vanilla Beans
• Leaves Dying on an Avocado Plant
• Getting Rid Of Gnats In Garden
• Buying A Venus Fly Trap
• Trimming A Maple Tree

Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Path Garden Chairs

By the way, the black "handle on the pipe is a diabetic test strip bottle wrapped in electrical tape. The bottom is a creamer container filled with soil and has mint planted in it. I tied the chair to the tree in hopes the kids wouldn't carry it off. I hope they don't disappear before someone gets to use them.

By Great Granny Vi from Moorpark, CA

Editor's Note: Here are several previous posts about Vi's Path Garden.

• Garden Gate and Path

• Pictures of the Path Garden

• Support for the Garden Path

• Spring on the "Path Garden"

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Garden: King Pineapple

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Reusing Racks and Bins from Refrigerators

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Animals and Plants Together

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I Love Dandelions!

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Growing a Sweet Gum Tree

Question:

I need advice on how to grow sweet gum trees. Do they grow fast?

Hardiness Zone: 7a

Pat from Lubbock, TX

Answer:

Pat,

Sweet Gum trees are considered to have a medium to fast growth rate. A medium growth rate indicates a tree that has a vertical growth of between 13 to 24" per year. A vertical growth rate of 25" or more a year is considered fast. These rates represent ideal conditions, of course, and don't take into account numerous variables such as soil fertility, drainage, moisture availability, light exposure, etc. With a mature height of 60' to 75' and a canopy spread of 40' to 50', they provide wonderful shade and diverse fall colors.

Sweet Gum trees prefer full sun and moist soil conditions, although they are considered somewhat drought tolerant. They seem to tolerate a wide variety of soil conditions.

One thing you may want to consider with these trees is the fact that after the first 12 to 20 years, they start to flower and produce prickly round "gumballs". Many homeowners find the gumballs a messy (and dangerous) tripping hazard and a real nuisance to clean up. Others use the gumballs for craft projects or as mulch (animals, especially rabbits, don't like stepping on them). If you are planning on planting a Sweet Gum in a high traffic area, you may want to consider the sterile, fruit-less cultivar called Liquidambar styraciflua ('Rotundiloba'), otherwise the fruiting varieties are best located in an area of the yard where the gumballs wont pose a problem.

Ellen

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Saving My Weeping Cherry Tree

Question:

My weeping cherry was blown over during one of our severe wind storms. It's a year old from planting. It still has some roots. I put it in a bucket of water & plan to add some cotton burr compost to beef up the very sandy soil before replanting. Does it have a chance of surviving? It has been a very healthy tree and I'd hate to lose it. Any suggestions?

Hardiness Zone: 7a

Marilyn from Sand Springs, OK

Answer:

Marilyn,

I don't want to be discouraging, but the chances of your cherry tree recovering from such severe trauma are slim to none. Many times after storms trees are left leaning in their planting holes. They rarely survive as the root damage is just too great. Since you put your tree in a bucket of water, I'm going to assume that is was completely ripped out of the ground. If it had only been leaning, at least you could have tried to pull it back into place vertically. Having only "some" roots left does not sound good either.

The fact that your tree is young increases its chance for survival-however remote that is. You can try replanting it, just make sure you stake the tree while its roots are recovering in order to prevent it from blowing over again.

If your tree was doing well before the storm, I would not advise amending the soil in any way when replanting. The tree has already suffered the severest of traumas (being uprooted), the addition of fertilizer or soil amendments now will only add more stress. Fertilizer is an especially bad idea, because it promotes rapid growth that a compromised roots system is probably not going to be able to support.

Watch water levels closely after replanting. Make sure it receives 1/2 to 1" of water a week, but avoid over watering.

Ellen

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Question:

Hardiness Zone: 9a

Abigail from Orlando, FL

Answer:

Yes. Crepe myrtles are easily propagated from semi-hardwood cuttings or young suckers. There is no need to tear them from the tree, though, that's generally a technique reserved for folks trying to eliminate suckers, as it is thought to limit their chances of re-sprouting.

Summer is a great time for rooting cuttings. Young, semi-hardwood suckers work best. Remove them cleanly from the base of the parent plant, leaving three to four nodes per cutting and several leaves. Dip the cut ends into some rooting hormone and insert the cuttings several inches deep into a pot filled with a 50/50 mix of sand and peat or a similar type of lightweight mix. The cuttings should be kept moist for the next three to four weeks while they develop roots. I would recommend placing the pots in the shade, misting them regularly, and adding a few inches of mulch around the base of the cuttings to help conserve moisture.

If you prefer to root the cuttings directly in the ground, prepare your cutting beds (preferably in the shade) by loosening up the soil to a depth of 10 to 12 inches, and mixing in a bit of well-rotted compost or peat moss into the soil. Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone and insert them into the soil in the same way you would if you were using pots.

After four to five weeks (maybe even sooner), the cuttings should have developed sufficient roots and can be transplanted to a permanent location in the garden. You can test the cuttings for roots by pulling on them gently. If you feel a bit of resistance, it is probably the result of roots.

Good luck!

Ellen

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Keeping Animals Out of Your Vegetable Garden

Question:

How do I keep animals from eating my garden?

Gary

Answer:

Gary,

Erecting a fence is the most effective strategy for keeping the widest variety of animals out of your vegetable garden. If you are trying to keep out deer, you will need a fence that is at least 7 feet high to prevent them from jumping over it. A 2-foot high fence should be sufficient to keep rabbits out. Regardless of the height, fences should be dug 12 to 15 inches underground to deter groundhogs and keep other "diggers" out.

If you have a large garden, surrounding it with a fence can be a bit costly, but it is well worth the one-time investment if you can afford it. Once erected, you will free yourself of the frustration of losing a large portion of your hard work to animal thieves. Make sure you check local building codes and use materials that are durable and long lasting.

If birds are the main problem, vulnerable plants can be covered with a lightweight netting for protection.

Ellen

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How Do I Grow A Bonsai Tree?

Question:

How can I grow a Bonsai Tree? I need info about the tree, soil and container.

Hardiness Zone: 8a

Betty from San Antonio, TX

Answer:

Betty,

Bonsai is the art of growing and training normal-sized plants to look like large, aged trees, only in miniature. Because there is a wide variety of plants that can be grown using bonsai techniques, there isn't a simple answer to your question. Containers and soils will vary depending on the age and type of bonsai specimen you grow, aesthetic preferences, and whether or not you grow your specimen inside or outdoors.

In terns of care, bonsai plants are given the same water, air, sun and nutrients they would need to grow into full-sized trees. The trees are kept small by pruning (both the branches and roots), repotting, pinching back new growth, and training the branches to takes shape using wire.

There are a lot of great books, websites, and videos available on bonsai basics. I would recommend reading all you can before jumping into buying a bonsai specimen. Here is an article I wrote a few years ago that will give you a quick overview of the art of bonsai:

• http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf93425060.tip.html

And here is a great website called The Bonsai Primer. It contains great information on suitable plants for beginners, pot selection, care and feeding, and the basics on pruning and training.

• http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/main.html

Good luck!
Ellen

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Critical Times To Water Your Vegetables
By Ellen Brown

Like people, plants are composed mainly of water, for some, as much as 95%.

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Use Cow Manure For Growing Root Vegetables

For root vegetables like potatoes in new ground, you will sometimes get bugs that eat the root vegetables. Simple solution is cow manure, it kills them dead.

Always works like a charm on any new ground I break.

A few times over the years, I forgot to add the cow manure and I always lost a big percentage of my root vegs to the bugs. Taught me to never forget to add the cow manure first.

By Martha from Nova Scotia

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Finding Cheap Plants for Your Garden Landscape

Without plants, the landscape becomes rather boring. No interesting places for the eye to dwell, nor any soothing scenery, not much for the soul,either. However, plants can be expensive, certainly if you are trying to establish your entire garden in one hit. Cheap plants are readily available all over the place, whether they be very young, or for that matter, very old and passed their sellability.

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Freezing Produce In Paper Bags

I learned this freezing method from a friend who puts up produce from a very large garden every year. She freezes Okra, green beans, bell peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, Purple hull peas, and more this way. Use brown paper lunch bags.

Take three bags, open and insert one inside the other for a triple thick bag. Wash your veggies, and lay on a towel to dry. When dry, prepare appropriately: snap the beans, shell the peas, slice the squash, etc. Put them into the prepared paper bags. Then fold down the tops and either clip them or staple them. Label and date the bags with a sharpie, and put them in the freezer.

They will not freeze together into a lump, and very little, if any, frost will accumulate in the bag. Also, no freezer burn. Blanching is not necessary. I have even started transferring the frozen veggies that I buy from the store to the paper bags. They keep better. You can open a bag and use what you need, then re-fold and re-staple the bag.

By Harlean from Hot Springs, Arkansas

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Saving Money on Houseplants

Tips and advice for saving money on houseplants shared by the ThriftyFun community.

Grow And Give Cuttings

Cuttings are an easy way to save money. I plant the clipped pieces directly in soil, then water really frequently every 3-4 days for about 3 weeks. The plants are kept in a south window in my classroom, which adds atmosphere, plus ideal growing light.

People love to receive a flourishing plant as a gift. I've even given cuttings of bamboo to those who don't have classrooms with a natural light source.

By negardener

Save "Distressed" Plants From Stores

My favorite way to save on houseplants is to develop friendships with people who have plants I want! :-) Actually, I use clippings from my own plants and do sometimes get clippings from friends. I also buy "distressed" plants at stores where people don't seem to know how to care for them. I bought 3 African Violets this spring that were almost gone. I've fed, watered, and cared for them and they are blooming their little hearts out right now! I had no idea what colors they were but they're all a deep purple, my favorite!

By Glenn'sMom

Swap Your Houseplant Seeds

I live in Florida, down on the southwest gulf coast, so my houseplants live outside almost year 'round. My spider plant, Christmas cactus, Moses in the cradle, pregnant onion (also known as sea onion) have all made seeds. I plant the seeds in newspaper pots inserted into plastic bags for humidity. When the seeds have sprouted and are a good size, I give the plant away. I have also shared and swapped seeds.

By lovethosehounds

Yard Sales

I see a lot of houseplants at yard sales, especially if it is a moving or estate sale. This is also a good resource for pots and other houseplant supplies.

By Jess

Feel free to post your ideas below.

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Using Swimming Pool Water To Water Plants

I have a shortage of water at present and want to use my treated swimming pool water to water plants and trees. I am concerned that it may harm them. What thoughts do you have on this?

Amanda from Granada, Espana

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Colorful Perennials In Northern Texas

I live in North, TX (DFW) and was wondering if there are any colorful fall/winter perennials that I can plant in my flower garden?

Hardiness Zone: 8a


Samantha from Dallas, TX

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Leaves Turning Brown On Dogwood Tree

I have planted a dogwood tree and it was doing splendidly but now the leaves have all turned brown and I believe it is dying. This is the second tree that has done this. Any suggestion?

Hardiness Zone: 5b


az2010 from East Hampton, MA

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Tomatoes Are Not Getting Ripe

My tomato plants look great, and they are loaded with blossoms. The plants themselves are growing higher by the day, but I have some tomatoes on the plants that seem to have stopped growing. The tomatoes are not turning red and they look hard. What have I done wrong?

Hardiness Zone: 8a

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Growing a Mango Tree

I am planning to grow a Mango tree in Athens, Greece. I have carefully read the instructions that you gave to other people regarding planting the seed. I would like to ask you two questions:

1. If I eat the mango fruit, take the seed and plant it after 5-7 days is it ok? or should I plant right after consuming it?

2. In Greece we have a relative warm climate. Sometimes during winter may be for one month is relatively cold below 10 degrees Celsius. I would like to ask you. Do you think is a good idea to plant it in a big pot and keep it their until next spring that might be strong enough and to replant it to my garden?

Konstantina

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Bugs Feeding on My Hibiscus

Some type of bug is chewing big holes in the leaves of my hibiscus plants. I have seen a few white flies, but I don't think that they are the culprit. This morning I saw the bug but have no idea what it is. It looks like a tiny mosquito. It has wings and maybe a green or yellow middle section. They fly very fast and about 5 to 10 were on some of the leaves. Please help. Thanks!

Hardiness Zone: 9a

Donna from Lafayette, LA

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Zucchini Rotting on the Vine

I would like to know why my zucchini plants look great with lots of flowers and fruit but when the zucchini get about 3-4 inches they start to rot or go soft. The first fruit I picked was great but since then they have not been good! Thank you.

Hardiness Zone: 6a

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Something Eating My Hibiscus

What is eating my hibiscus buds during the night? Avril from Malaga, Spain

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Getting Rid Of Nut Grass

Does anybody out there have a home remedy solution for nut grass? Thanks.

MaryAnn from Parma Heights, OH

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Hibiscus Not Blooming

A friend just gave me a Hibiscus tree and although it looks very healthy there are no blooms. She said it only had a few flowers on it all season. It's about 6 foot tall counting the branches and I'm wondering if I can prune it back a bit to encourage it to bloom. Also, it needs to come inside for the winter. Would it do okay wintering over in a garage or does it need to be in the house? Thanks everyone. Hardiness Zone: 6a Sandy from Pittsburgh, Pa

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Growing Vanilla Beans

I live in Coffs Harbour, NSW and have been told that I would have to move further North if I want to grow Vaniila. We have a sub tropical climate and most tropical fruits grow really well here. I would love to hear your thoughts regarding this matter. Kylie

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Leaves Dying on an Avocado Plant

I am growing an avocado tree in my kitchen. All appeared to be going well but in the last week and a half my plant hasn't been looking too healthy. The lower leaves are curling inwards, becoming almost crispy in texture and they are turning an extremely dark brown, seeming black before closer inspection. During this time my plant's condition has spread to nearly half of its leaves. My kitchen is fairly cool in temperature and I have absolutely no idea in which region of the world this variety originates, or how to find out. I keep it in a sunny spot but not in what I'd describe as direct sunlight. I water it regularly, just enough to keep the soil damp, a deep brown color. I re-potted my avocado tree about six weeks ago and it seemed to improve in health directly after that, growing very quickly once again, before this problem emerged. Could you possibly give me any advice to help improve its health? I'm rather fond of my avocado tree, eccentric as that may appear! I'd at least like to give it a fighting chance at survival. Many thanks, in anticipation. Hardiness Zone: 9b C from England, UK

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Getting Rid Of Gnats In Garden

I have tons of gnats in my garden. I have used the soap pesticide to no avail. Please help, I have tomatoes, peppers, flowering plants these are all in pots on my patio.

Maria from Columbus, Ohio

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Buying A Venus Fly Trap

I would like to buy a Venus fly trap. I saw one in a magazine. It's a small plant and it eats small insects that sit on it. Is it too late to buy it because I would set it outside. I can't leave it in the house, my husband has terrible allergies.

Hardiness Zone: 6b


Jamish from Leoti, Kansas

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Trimming A Maple Tree

We need to trim a maple tree which is three years old. We want to keep it from getting too tall because of nearby wires. Where can we find instructions? Thank you for your help.

Donna from Cherry Hill, NJ

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Crafting for Fun and Money!

If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish.

More Information:
Click Here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_craft.ldml