Question:
I plan to plant a small vegetable garden in April or May. Should I add compost to the soil a month before planting, two weeks before, or right before? Also, I want to remove the nearby weeds using a natural herbicide. Which one should I choose?Answer:
- Vegetable gardens can be amended at any of the suggested times.
- Some gardeners add a layer of animal manure in the fall or early winter and then rototill it in the spring. Others amend the soil and plant all on the same day, while some, like myself, spread it out over a couple of weekends. This choice depends on the size of the garden and your personal schedule.
- Amendments or compost should be mixed into the existing soil using a rototiller or shovel. Simply placing organic matter on the surface doesn't effectively replenish nutrients; instead, it acts more like mulch, helping to control weeds and conserve moisture.
- For new and older vegetable gardens, you should be generous with the amount of amendment you apply. This also includes a sufficient amount of vegetable food. A healthy soil results in vigorous, productive plants.
- Regarding the nearby weeds, I’m unsure which types are growing there, so managing unwanted vegetation can be challenging. The simplest solution is to till the area before they go to seed. Several organic herbicides can target actively growing weeds or dormant seeds, but not both at the same time.
- For example, a nonselective, natural citrus oil product works on active weeds, while corn gluten serves as an organic pre-emergent herbicide. These are effective against shallow-rooted grasses and weeds but may be unreliable for deep-rooted perennials like Bermuda Grass.
- During the growing season, hand cultivation and mulching are very effective for weed control, especially when weeds are tiny.
Question:
One of my rose bushes produces very long canes that often grow over seven feet tall. They tend to bend and sometimes break because of the weight of the blooms and the wind. I’ve been unsuccessful in correcting the problem by pruning. What steps can I take to fix it?Answer:
- Hybrid Tea and Grandiflora roses are grafted onto common rootstocks.
- The rootstock naturally produces tall, fast-growing arching canes that reach seven to eight feet. These rogue shoots, also known as suckers, emerge below the bud union of the desired variety and from the roots
- . Often, this vigorous growth is allowed to overtake the plant, while the desired variety is pruned away or significantly reduced.
- The problem is that there is no practical way to eliminate or eradicate the sucker growth. You have two options: prune them out as they appear and reappear. You prune the sucker off at the point of origin.
- Better yet, grasp the sucker low and snap or tear it off the rootstock with a firm downward pull, so that the growth point (growth bud) of the new shoot is removed. Unfortunately, this is not always possible.
- The second option is to replace the plant.