Have You Thought About Watering?

Here it is: the end of June. Most people have established their gardens, lawns, and landscapes. We can sit back and enjoy the surroundings as they green and grow.  A little pruning, weeding, tending, and mowing is what is needed now. One aspect of gardening is often overlooked: watering.

Have you given much thought to the water requirements of your landscape? It is easy to overlook it, until the plants need it. By then some damage may have been done. Transplanting, during pollination, and fruit set are critical times for adequate water, poor plant health can result from neglected watering, whether it is a low cost annual, perennials, or trees.

How you water is crucial to your plant’s health. Always water early in the day. This will reduce loss through evaporation. Reduce foot traffic while watering as some diseases are spread through water transfer. It’s especially easy for a pet to brush against a vegetable plant, carry spores from one plant to another as they make their way around the yard. Avoid light watering. This will encourage deeper root development and help the plant endure drought conditions. As a general rule, one inch of water is all your landscape needs. This means the top six inches or so of the garden soil will be moist.

Water at the base of the plants. Overhead watering with a hose is a waste as much of the water is carried away through drifting. The common oscillating sprinklers can lose fifty percent of the water due to drift, and they deliver the water unevenly. Consider using a soaker hose for your garden instead. You can sit back and relax instead of standing there watching and waiting for the end of the water stream.

For small gardens and container-grown plants, a water can is fine. You can even use a clean milk jug for this. It would be a great family project to save and assemble the plastic gallon bottles and have this as a kid’s chore for the week. Fill and cap them so they are ready to use. Slow and steady is key to effective  watering, so take jug out to the garden, poke some pinholes near the bottom, and remove the cap. This will evenly water the plants so you don’t have to do it.

Look into adding a layer of mulch to the various areas of the garden to conserve soil moisture. Mulching reduces the rate of evaporation from the soil surface and also limits weed competition. Organic materials, such as grass clippings, straw, and shredded leaves are excellent mulches for the vegetable garden. Wood chips, bark, and ground corncobs are good choices for perennial beds, trees and shrubs.

Water is essential to the health and productivity of your garden and landscape. Give your plants what they need and they will reward you with a full and long life.

For more information on watering during the summer, the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County have the free factsheet “ Efficient Outdoor Watering.” Please contact us at 570-963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu for a copy.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension  Lackawanna County

Caring For Hanging Baskets

Here it is, the second Sunday in May. By a presidential proclamation in 1914, Woodrow Wilson made this day a national holiday to honor our moms. Out of respect and admiration, mothers all around the country have received many handmade or commercially produced cards and gifts. Fresh cut flowers are very popular too. If you gave or received a hanging basket today, here are some tips for making the potted plants last long.

Exposure: Your hanging basket should have a tag in it indicating whether it needs full sun, partial sun, or shade. Petunias, geraniums, and calibrachoa do well in full or afternoon light. Impatiens thrives in the morning sun. Begonias are one of the best shade tolerant annuals. For balanced growth, it is good to rotate the basket every week or so.

Watering:  Hanging baskets often have many closely-spaced plants to fill out the container and their roots overtake the light potting mix.  As a result, frequent watering is necessary. Check at least once a day. In the hotter months of summer watering may be necessary a couple times a day. Keep watering the basket until water runs out of the bottom. This ensures the roots have enough moisture.

Fertilizer: Because they are in a small space and do not have any additional sources of nutrients, it is recommended that hanging baskets be fertilized regularly.  You can add a slow release product or the kind mixed with water. Look for a balanced 10-10-10 ratio and follow the directions carefully. Container plants are prone to fertilizer burn.

Deadheading: In order to keep your hanging basket looking fresh and clean, it is important to “deadhead” or remove spent blooms.  This prevents the plant from going to seed and spurs the plant to make more flowers. While some plants are self-cleaning, it is good practice to check all baskets for good health.

For more information on caring for hanging baskets, the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County have a free publication to help you. For a copy, please contact us at 570-963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu . Also, if you would like to talk with us in person, we will be at Bill’s Ace Hardware, 921 Drinker Turnpike Covington TWP, PA 18444, every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through June 7. Come visit us.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension - Lackawanna County

Container Gardening

It’s been cold, then warm, then cold. Intermittent rain, snow, harsh winds, what is a gardener to do now? It is too early for most annuals and vegetables to be planted outside. We recommend after Memorial Day to formally plant around the home. But, we need signs of better days ahead. It would be so nice to see color and variety for a change. You should consider container gardening.

Using containers has been an alternative for the small scale gardeners and renters. Anyone can use a container though, even if it is just temporary. Things like left over Easter hyacinths, pansies, and some vegetables can be potted up and set out. The advantage to container gardening is that it is mobile. When the night temperatures dip too low, they can be set in a garage or enclosed porch. Container gardening can be fun, creative, and easy.

There are three things to keep in mind for container gardening, the plant container itself, the plant material, and the plant location.  Not one of these three is more important than the other, but you should choose your starting point. For example, instead of throwing out old work boots, think about reusing them, or maybe as an impulse you brought home a pack of perky pansies, and now need to plant them so they don’t go to waste. In your comings and goings, you see an empty, but sunny spot on the porch just waiting to be filled.

Just about anything that will hold dirt can be used to plant. More than anything else though, it must provide good drainage. If it doesn’t already have a means of letting water out, drilling or cutting holes in the container is imperative. Keep this in mind if you are using something other than a gardening pot. Weathered metal containers, water cans, wheel barrows, and rubber boots are excellent choices, but need drainage holes added. Keep in mind too, that these should be portable this time of year, to protect from frost damage. If it is light now, once it is full of soil, water, and plants, it can become quite cumbersome. In addition, the container should not rest flat on any surface. Some kind of “feet” should be devised to keep water from standing under the container. Be creative and imaginative when it comes to the plant container.

The plant material chosen is as broad as the container choices as well. First decide if this will remain in the container through the entire growing season, herbs are a good choice; a temporary fix, like pansies or holiday flowers and later discarded, or plants waiting to be transplanted to a more permanent location. Each week, your local greenhouse has more and more from which you can choose for a container garden.

Alyssum, ageratum, snapdragons, and verbena will grow throughout the season in containers. Pansies and dianthus do well in cooler temperatures, but whither when it is hot, so they are good for now. Please select good, top quality potting mix, or soilless soil. These are formulated for containers and have a mix of peat, vermiculite, and pearlite usually, and some even have fertilizers as well. Do not use regular soil found in your yard, as this is too heavy and will not promote good growth.

Besides the container and plants material, the plant location needs to be considered. Look at the amount of sun it gets. Is it a high traffic area? It may become a trip hazard, especially at night. Porches are good locations, but will rain water inundate it? Proximity to care is a factor. Container gardening requires more attention and care than plants in the home landscape.  It is easy to forget these plants may need more attention or protection if they are out of sight.

The Penn State Masters Gardeners in Lackawanna County will be having a spring workshops series beginning April 24 through May 10, 2014. One of the topics will be on container gardening, among other timely topics. These will be held at the McNulty Greenhouse at Nay Aug Park. For more information on these sessions, to register, or if you would like help with container gardening, please contact us 570 - 963 - 6842 or email:  LackawannaMG@psu.edu

 Steve Ward

Master Gardener Coordinator

Penn State Extension - Lackawanna County 

Dianthus

Is winter over? We have had record lows, high temperatures that were record lows, and record snow fall this season. It has been a long one. Even with spring finally here, the yard is looking worn out, and even the harbingers of early color, crocus, tulips, and daffodils are taking their time poking their little heads up from the soil. Most of us are yearning for some fresh color.

Early spring can be unpredictable; we can have very warm days and chilly nights. It is too soon to do any serious gardening, especially if you want to spruce up your flower beds. There are options for you, though. You should be seeing cold-hardy annuals at the local garden centers soon.

While pansies are old favorites, and come in a nice variety of colors and blossoms, there is an alternative: dianthus. There are many perennial kinds of dianthus, and are generally called “pinks”.  Even though dianthus do some in shades of pink, the name really comes from the old English “pynken” meaning pinking shears, referencing  the notched edges of the flowers.

There are about 300 species of dianthus, and are in the Caryophyllaceae family. This derived from the Greek word for clove, because some dianthus have a clove scent to their leaves. The very popular cut flower, carnation, is a member of the same family. Strong resemblance can be seen in the foliage, and double blossoms of annual dianthus.

Dianthuses hybridize very easily, so there are many choices available. There are perennial, biennial, and hardy annual from which to choose. In our area, the most common types are sold as annuals, even though they are perennials in warmer zones. They are relatively cold tolerant like pansies. But, they range in height from six inches to two foot tall plants. Dianthus make a nice change as an early color options because they have strong upright stems, ranging in color from  bright green to a greyish hue. You can find single colors of white to a velvety-red, two tone picotees, and others with dark centers and splashes of colors. Dianthus fill out better than pansies and can handle warmer full sun exposures better too.

Dianthus make excellent border or edge plants. If you like containers, they are well suited for that. Consider using them in a cutting garden. Look for plants that have a nice compact growth, ones that are not leggy. Avoid any with yellowed leaves; this may indicate malnourishment or root problems. Use some dianthus this spring, these clove scent hardy plants will spice up your garden.

For more information on dianthus, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at 570-963-6842 and request our free fact sheet on this annual.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator

Limitless Gardening

Sooner or later, winter will be over. It has been a long one, but the weather will be better. Certainly you have already thought of getting outside and working on your garden or other parts of your yard. As the seasons change, so do your gardening practices and expectations. Your home landscape can easily be adapted to suit your budget, spare time, tastes, and trends.

There are other ways your garden can change, and it is often overlooked: accessibility. Have spent too much time bending over, only to find yourself sore and stiff? Maybe you have mobility issues which could be a hindrance from enjoying nature. The size and age of your family can have an impact on gardening. Consider making some changes to the way you garden and the type of gardening to keep pace with the changes in life.

Most often people turn to raised beds because of soil issues, like poor quality, bad drainage, or even space problems. Raised beds can be a way of opening the hobby of gardening to anyone with physical limitations. Kneeling, bending, and hoeing can be a barrier for some people. However, if designed with your needs in mind, raised beds can become an enabling garden.

There are all different kinds of raised beds, so if this interests you, think outside the box. You can use landscape blocks in a circular shape. Try using top blocks wide enough to serve as a seat, to make working in the area much more comfortable. Choosing securely-stacked fieldstone can tie the raised bed into the rest of your landscape. Utilizing a slope for a garden can help with accessibility too.  A wide collection of pots spread around the yard integrate a raised bed into the landscape. Once your raised bed is complete, make sure you fill it with good quality soil and compost.

Raised beds offer a different way of gardening, and there is different kind of gardening you can pursuit, a sensory garden. Maybe you are at a point in your life where you don’t have the time to devote to a full-fledged vegetable garden. Or it could be age is a factor, the youngest ones in your life do not possess the dexterity to gently plant a garden. Do you think poor eyesight or joint pain will limit your gardening enjoyment? Adding plants and features that not only offer a crop to feed your body but also feed you mind can give new life to your yard.

Instead of just thinking a plant will offer a harvest, many choices can give you an experience. Think of using plants with texture, like lambs ear and moss and cockscomb. Children especially will like a fun-to-feel garden. Hearing a garden can enrich the experience nature offers you. You can add plants that rustle in the wind, like Chinese lantern and many ornamental grasses. Adding a water feature can give you a relaxing time as you are working around the yard. It’s been a long time since anyone in our area has cut their grass, but we all know how nice fresh-cut grass smells, and the memories it triggers. A big part of a garden can use the sense of smell, and this can be a very rewarding experience, regardless of your limitations. Chamomile or creeping thyme can be planted around walkways, and when crushed give off a wonderful scent. Scented geraniums are a carefree addition to any garden. Culinary herbs are low maintenance but useful plants making a good choice for a sensory garden. Wind chimes and birdfeeders will make your garden even better for all your senses.

As we wait for the nicer weather, think about a different way of gardening and a different way the garden can enhance your life. Raised beds and sensory gardens are ways the home landscape can be a limitless experience. For more information on this topic, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at 570-963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu.


Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension
Lackawanna County