Deer, rabbits, and moles, oh my! Deer and rabbits are so adorable. But, then they inch closer and closer and THEN, destroy your landscape. What do you do? Well, there are some measures you can take, or at least try, to keep them at a distance.
Let’s take deer first. Shortly I will give you a link to the best listing of deer and rabbit resistant plants that I have seen to date. But, of course, there is a kicker. Being deer resistant is only a relative term. If deer are not getting food from their usual sources, they will and do eat everything. Besides planting some of the plants that they don’t really prefer, try some other remedies as well. Outside dogs are good and will often scare away the deer and terrorize the rabbits. But, if they are like my dogs, they will lie on the porch and watch them graze…..so much for country living. If you elect to fence, then it should be 8’ high woven wire fencing or electric fence. Some homemade remedies are scarecrows, hanging pie tins, shreds of soap, human hairballs, and I recently read an article where someone used mirror and glass fragments in areas of their landscape (strategically placed around some of the more bothered plants) which worked. Also, repellents can work, but must be used regularly for the best results.
Link for plant listing: http://www.pinery.org/gardendeer.htm
Rabbits have a different story. They generally hang around because they feel protected nearby. So, you will want to remove all stone, brush, wood piles, mow regularly, and bush hog adjoining fields. Any area that you think mice might be setting up house, rabbits will, too. Woven wire fencing (low height-around 2 to 3 feet above ground) buried partially into the ground is quite helpful in keeping them out of the garden area. There are also some repellents on the market for rabbits and like deer repellents need to be used regularly to work their best.
Moles make homeowners just plain angry. You’re walking around your lawn and all of a sudden you take a step and your foot travels down another 4 to 6 inches. It’s enough to really do some serious ankle damage. I have not had moles around, until this year. My garden has its fair share of tunnels. It could be worse. I have outdoor cats that make their home in the (enclosed) garden and have caught some of these little critters. Every now and then they will leave one near the steps so I see that they are earning their keep. The first time I saw the kill, I thought it was a large mouse, but upon closer inspection, discovered it was a mole. I am including a link to the University of Missouri Extension site with an article on controlling moles. However, they go where the food is and being insectivores, they like earthworms and grubs. They occasionally eat a little vegetation, but it is not their mainstay. Meadow voles eat vegetation. Controlling the insects around your garden can be tricky as you want the worms there. The mole repellents that work best are those with caster oil (primary ingredient) which when used as directed coats the worms and roots (in the case of voles) causing them to not eat them as meals or regret that they did. One word of warning on repellents containing castor oil is to be cautious in their use around your outside pets.
Controlling Moles: http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/wildlife/g09440.htm
I hope this helps to gives you ideas on controlling some of the most annoying garden pests.
Until next week……Cheryl
To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at cherylsnotes@greenwoodnursery.com
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Flooding and Storms
After these natural disasters, I always receive emails from our members who are concerned about how to go about saving their trees or what to do about their lawn.
It seemed to me to be a good topic of conversation for this week’s notes.
In addition to preparing your dwelling for a hurricane or tropical storm, be sure to store lawn ornaments and all lawn furniture. Stake all young trees. Mow the lawn. Short grass doesn’t accumulate as much debris as tall grass lawns. In areas where there are regular storms, consider this article for preparing your trees to limit damage:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/BAF6E48D-7584-467B-B649-5472D4F5E10E/12740/minimizedamage1.pdf
This is short article is what everyone living in stormy areas should know about planning for storms:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/5BF03FAA-683F-4F9A-8997-73DA520DEBED/12736/prestorm1.pdf
When ready to deal with your outside area after any of these situations, the first thing you should do is to carefully check your lawn for all debris. Everything from nails to glass, branches and metal scraps can end up hiding in your lawn and landscape. Your next scheduled mowing could pick up more than you bargain for. With your garden hose, perennials, vegetables and lawn.
Broken branches, defoliation, leaning trees, and cracked trunks are normal. So, let’s discuss how to deal with them. One single piece of advice on caring for plants after such an event is that you should not apply fertilizer or other chemicals to trees, shrubs, grasses or perennials until they begin to come out of stress by putting on new growth.
Broken branches:
Get your pruners and small saws out. Prune all damaged branches back to the main trunk. Rather than clipping it flush with the trunk, clip the branch back to the point where you are leaving a ¼ to ½ inch nub on the trunk. Cutting the branch flush leaves a larger wound and the plant is already stressed as it is. Most wounds will heal on their own and not need to be painted or wrapped.
Defoliation:
With temperature changes, wind, rain, and hail, expect leaves to be torn from the plants. It if is early enough in the growing season, the plants may generate new growth. In the late summer to early fall period, don’t expect to see any new leaves unless you are in zone 9 and warmer. Just like people, plants experience stress and they may not produce new growth until the following year. On plants, which set their bloom buds in summer for the following year, you can expect those plants to be limited in their blooming the following spring as the bloom buds may have been knocked off during the storm.
Leaning trees:
Young trees and shrubs can be easily straightened and secured to grow straight. Here is a link from the University of Hawaii that will explain about staking and securing trees:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/L-7.pdf
Older, larger trees may require heavy machinery to straighten. You might consider calling in an arborist to see if the tree has a good chance for survival if straightened.
For plants that have been completely uprooted, you should read over this article from the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/34E04CC5-B29F-440C-B81E-DDA40715A5FE/12729/uprooted1.pdf
Cracked trees:
If the (main) trunk of a tree is cracked, it is likely that the tree will not survive. Here are questions that you can answer to help you determine whether or not a tree is salvageable:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/C46C9EC3-C45A-4F94-85DC-C6102EAC2322/13545/CanTheybeSaved2.pdf
Young trees, shrubs, perennials, gardens and lawns are most affected by the saline dropped by rainfall from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Let’s address lawns first. The dried sediment accumulation on your lawn and around your landscape should not be tilled into the soil until you are certain that it does not contain high levels of saline. For large accumulations (more than a couple of inches) of sediment, scrape or otherwise remove it. High levels of salt in the soil will kill plants. Initially, the plants will appear as though they have been burned, but when replanting in the same spot, future plants will react the same way. If you are near the coast, you may want to have your soil tested for salinity.
Remove all trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses that appear to be dead. If the sediment doesn’t have saline, you can now till the sediment into the soil. At this time, it would be a good idea to also add in aged compost or other organic matter and if your soil compacts easily, add in coarse sand. Till well, level and reseed.
With a light layer of silt, it may be necessary to aerate several times to break up the hardened sediment, while lawns that have been completely eroded may find it easier to completely re-establish their lawns.
Fruits and vegetables aren’t always at the top of the list to be concerned about. However, if your area experienced a hurricane, tropical storm or heavy flooding be cautious in eating from your garden as well as any locally grown produce as it could be contaminated with bacteria. Fruits and vegetables that were mature at the time of the disaster, should be disinfected, peeled and thoroughly cooked before eating. Leafy vegetables and fruits, such as berries, tomatoes, squash, are highly susceptible to bacteria contamination, while root crops such as beets, onions, and potatoes, are less susceptible but still should be disinfected, peeled and cooked.
Immerse produce for 15 to 20 minutes in a chlorine solution, rise thoroughly with safe drinking water, peel and cook before eating.
Household bleach contains 2 to 6% chlorine. One chart that I came across breaks it down as this:
If your bleach contains 2% chlorine bleach, add ¾ tablespoon to one quart/water
If your bleach contains 4% chlorine bleach, add 1 teaspoon to one quart/water
If your bleach contains 6% chlorine bleach, add ½ teaspoon to one quart/water
Again, rinse thoroughly with safe drinking water, peel and cook before eating.
For future disasters, the University of Florida Extension site as a wonderful handbook on what to do. http://disaster.ifas.ufl.edu/
Keep it on your favorites as a referral. You never know when you will need it.
Take care and until next week……Cheryl
To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at cherylsnotes@greenwoodnursery.com
It seemed to me to be a good topic of conversation for this week’s notes.
In addition to preparing your dwelling for a hurricane or tropical storm, be sure to store lawn ornaments and all lawn furniture. Stake all young trees. Mow the lawn. Short grass doesn’t accumulate as much debris as tall grass lawns. In areas where there are regular storms, consider this article for preparing your trees to limit damage:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/BAF6E48D-7584-467B-B649-5472D4F5E10E/12740/minimizedamage1.pdf
This is short article is what everyone living in stormy areas should know about planning for storms:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/5BF03FAA-683F-4F9A-8997-73DA520DEBED/12736/prestorm1.pdf
When ready to deal with your outside area after any of these situations, the first thing you should do is to carefully check your lawn for all debris. Everything from nails to glass, branches and metal scraps can end up hiding in your lawn and landscape. Your next scheduled mowing could pick up more than you bargain for. With your garden hose, perennials, vegetables and lawn.
Broken branches, defoliation, leaning trees, and cracked trunks are normal. So, let’s discuss how to deal with them. One single piece of advice on caring for plants after such an event is that you should not apply fertilizer or other chemicals to trees, shrubs, grasses or perennials until they begin to come out of stress by putting on new growth.
Broken branches:
Get your pruners and small saws out. Prune all damaged branches back to the main trunk. Rather than clipping it flush with the trunk, clip the branch back to the point where you are leaving a ¼ to ½ inch nub on the trunk. Cutting the branch flush leaves a larger wound and the plant is already stressed as it is. Most wounds will heal on their own and not need to be painted or wrapped.
Defoliation:
With temperature changes, wind, rain, and hail, expect leaves to be torn from the plants. It if is early enough in the growing season, the plants may generate new growth. In the late summer to early fall period, don’t expect to see any new leaves unless you are in zone 9 and warmer. Just like people, plants experience stress and they may not produce new growth until the following year. On plants, which set their bloom buds in summer for the following year, you can expect those plants to be limited in their blooming the following spring as the bloom buds may have been knocked off during the storm.
Leaning trees:
Young trees and shrubs can be easily straightened and secured to grow straight. Here is a link from the University of Hawaii that will explain about staking and securing trees:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/L-7.pdf
Older, larger trees may require heavy machinery to straighten. You might consider calling in an arborist to see if the tree has a good chance for survival if straightened.
For plants that have been completely uprooted, you should read over this article from the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/34E04CC5-B29F-440C-B81E-DDA40715A5FE/12729/uprooted1.pdf
Cracked trees:
If the (main) trunk of a tree is cracked, it is likely that the tree will not survive. Here are questions that you can answer to help you determine whether or not a tree is salvageable:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/C46C9EC3-C45A-4F94-85DC-C6102EAC2322/13545/CanTheybeSaved2.pdf
Young trees, shrubs, perennials, gardens and lawns are most affected by the saline dropped by rainfall from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Let’s address lawns first. The dried sediment accumulation on your lawn and around your landscape should not be tilled into the soil until you are certain that it does not contain high levels of saline. For large accumulations (more than a couple of inches) of sediment, scrape or otherwise remove it. High levels of salt in the soil will kill plants. Initially, the plants will appear as though they have been burned, but when replanting in the same spot, future plants will react the same way. If you are near the coast, you may want to have your soil tested for salinity.
Remove all trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses that appear to be dead. If the sediment doesn’t have saline, you can now till the sediment into the soil. At this time, it would be a good idea to also add in aged compost or other organic matter and if your soil compacts easily, add in coarse sand. Till well, level and reseed.
With a light layer of silt, it may be necessary to aerate several times to break up the hardened sediment, while lawns that have been completely eroded may find it easier to completely re-establish their lawns.
Fruits and vegetables aren’t always at the top of the list to be concerned about. However, if your area experienced a hurricane, tropical storm or heavy flooding be cautious in eating from your garden as well as any locally grown produce as it could be contaminated with bacteria. Fruits and vegetables that were mature at the time of the disaster, should be disinfected, peeled and thoroughly cooked before eating. Leafy vegetables and fruits, such as berries, tomatoes, squash, are highly susceptible to bacteria contamination, while root crops such as beets, onions, and potatoes, are less susceptible but still should be disinfected, peeled and cooked.
Immerse produce for 15 to 20 minutes in a chlorine solution, rise thoroughly with safe drinking water, peel and cook before eating.
Household bleach contains 2 to 6% chlorine. One chart that I came across breaks it down as this:
If your bleach contains 2% chlorine bleach, add ¾ tablespoon to one quart/water
If your bleach contains 4% chlorine bleach, add 1 teaspoon to one quart/water
If your bleach contains 6% chlorine bleach, add ½ teaspoon to one quart/water
Again, rinse thoroughly with safe drinking water, peel and cook before eating.
For future disasters, the University of Florida Extension site as a wonderful handbook on what to do. http://disaster.ifas.ufl.edu/
Keep it on your favorites as a referral. You never know when you will need it.
Take care and until next week……Cheryl
To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at cherylsnotes@greenwoodnursery.com
Thursday, September 11, 2008
How to be a Gardener
I feel that it is one of my missions to not only share my own experience and information, but to search out new and helpful information that will make gardening and landscaping easier and more fun. Each month, I receive many emails from first time homeowners who are anxious to learn how to garden. There are so many gardening books that have come onto the market in the past few years that it is mind boggling to narrow it down to one that offers the best info. ‘Cause, do you go with the one with detailed pages or the one with the best pictorials? It is hard to find that perfect combination that is just right for everyone.
Well…..I have stumbled onto a solution that many of you will enjoy and the price is great. It’s free!!! When you have phoned the nursery and spoken with me, you know I generally have music playing the background. I am a dedicated listener to Riviera Radio through the internet. (www.rivieraradio.mc) it’s what we tune to on our car radio when we visit the South of France. I enjoy the BBC news broadcasts on it. So, today, I went to BBC’s website to read further on a news topic and somehow found a link to BBC Gardening. There are so many tools that you can use. It’s amazing!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/
The page that the link below will take you to is on “How to be a Gardener” by Alan Titchmarsh in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society. This is a short course on learning the basics of gardening and is broken down into 8 lessons or modules which include not only written text with pictures, but video clips as well. Each lesson will have an introduction page to give an overview of what it will cover. The topics covered in a lesson will always be in the upper right hand side of the page followed by a quiz that you can take to see how much you remember.
Once you complete all 8 modules, you can advance onto part 2 which goes into landscape design topics. Everything from problem solving to creating a natural garden is covered.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg2/
For those of you die hard, gotta do it now landscapers, here is a link to their virtual landscape design program. It is free and seems to be quite user friendly. You will need to jot down the dimensions and basic shape of your landscape area before you begin. Then play around and have a good time with it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/virtualgarden_index.shtml
Also, before I forget, you know how last week’s article covered late summer maintenance and adding color and texture that will extend on into fall? Here is a picture that points out exactly what I was referring to, if you didn’t catch it. Once you click onto the link (it takes just a moment to load) click just below the picture to see the arrows of where the hotspots are for properly placed late summer/fall color and texture.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/plant_recipes/lateborder_index.shtml
Whew!!! That was a lot to cover for this week. Overall, it might look confusing, so just take it one topic at a time and I hope you enjoy.
Until next week………Cheryl
To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at cherylsnotes@greenwoodnursery.com
Well…..I have stumbled onto a solution that many of you will enjoy and the price is great. It’s free!!! When you have phoned the nursery and spoken with me, you know I generally have music playing the background. I am a dedicated listener to Riviera Radio through the internet. (www.rivieraradio.mc) it’s what we tune to on our car radio when we visit the South of France. I enjoy the BBC news broadcasts on it. So, today, I went to BBC’s website to read further on a news topic and somehow found a link to BBC Gardening. There are so many tools that you can use. It’s amazing!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/
The page that the link below will take you to is on “How to be a Gardener” by Alan Titchmarsh in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society. This is a short course on learning the basics of gardening and is broken down into 8 lessons or modules which include not only written text with pictures, but video clips as well. Each lesson will have an introduction page to give an overview of what it will cover. The topics covered in a lesson will always be in the upper right hand side of the page followed by a quiz that you can take to see how much you remember.
Once you complete all 8 modules, you can advance onto part 2 which goes into landscape design topics. Everything from problem solving to creating a natural garden is covered.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg2/
For those of you die hard, gotta do it now landscapers, here is a link to their virtual landscape design program. It is free and seems to be quite user friendly. You will need to jot down the dimensions and basic shape of your landscape area before you begin. Then play around and have a good time with it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/virtualgarden_index.shtml
Also, before I forget, you know how last week’s article covered late summer maintenance and adding color and texture that will extend on into fall? Here is a picture that points out exactly what I was referring to, if you didn’t catch it. Once you click onto the link (it takes just a moment to load) click just below the picture to see the arrows of where the hotspots are for properly placed late summer/fall color and texture.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/plant_recipes/lateborder_index.shtml
Whew!!! That was a lot to cover for this week. Overall, it might look confusing, so just take it one topic at a time and I hope you enjoy.
Until next week………Cheryl
To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at cherylsnotes@greenwoodnursery.com
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