Question:
My Peonies haven't bloomed. They are about three years old, and I think I might have planted them too deep. When is the best time to transplant and divide them?Answer:
- The most common reasons peonies fail to bloom are planting them in too much shade and or too deeply. The Peony tubers' 'eyes' should be just below the soil level about one or two inches.
- Peonies like a sunny location, and you transplant in late September and October to solve the problems. Peonies need the sun to produce blooms. It could be that the plant got enough sun in early spring to generate the buds, but a nearby tree grew back its leaves, and the sun is now blocked. The buds die because the plants no longer get enough sun to support the blossoms.
- You divide Peonies every few years as the flower production declines. Since yours are blooming, this would be the time to divide. This is best done in late October or early November. First, you cut off all the foliage at the ground, dig around the clump to loosen the roots.
- Using your shovel lift the plants out of the ground and cut off those still attached to the clump cluster. With a sharp knife, split the clumps, leaving three to five eyes on each division. Next, amend the new holes with organic matter and tamp it done firm. Replant so that eyes are about an inch deep and allow 3 feet between each plant.
Question:
My daughter planted some zucchini seeds a couple of months ago, and I bought four regular zucchini plants and one "Eight Ball" zucchini from our local hardware store. While the store-purchased plants flowered over a month ago, there have been no zucchini produced. The seeded plants have been flowering the past fortnight but also have produced no zucchini. A few small bees are buzzing around the lawn clover, and none seem to be interested in the vegetables. For the past six weeks or so, I have fastidiously been trying to fertilize them using a small paintbrush but no luck. What else should I be doing?Answer:
- This is a head-scratcher.
- It sure sounds like pollination, not a fertilization problem.
- There could be other reasons no fruit set like water stress, Blossom End Rot, Mildew, and nutrient deficiencies. But, I'm assuming that the plants are growing and having no other issues.
- Zucchini and other squash plants are monoecious, meaning they produce separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Be sure you are moving the pollen from a male flower to a female flower. Earlier, the plants produce an abundance of male flowers. Now it's more females. Only, the female plants' bare fruit. The best time of the day to pollinate is in the morning.
- I try to be more selective with the flowers you pollinate.