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Steve Allgeier |
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| Don't stress out over weird winter temps |
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| By Steve Allgeier, Master Gardener |
Monday, April 02, 2007 |
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This past winter, especially early on when it was warm, I had plenty of people asking about the effects of the balmy winter on their plants. Then as it got cold and icy, I received an equal number of calls from Carroll County residents concerned about the cold snap and its impact on their plants or possible ramifications for future insect pests.
Don't worry, was my response. We have had strange winters before. Most of your plants will do fine. The plants that you do lose probably didn't deserve to live anyway and your nursery or garden center will be happy to sell you replacements. Likewise, insects that bothered you in the past will probably show back up in varying degrees of intensity. These critters have also been through strange winters and won't let you down.
As the remains of past ice and snowstorms were melting away in the recent weeks, some of the early risers, such as crocuses, were budding and coming into bloom. This is great. It's a promise "blooming" true: Spring is on its way.
However, for many others, this is a time of apprehension and angst. They call me, worrying about when to plant this or that. Questions abound about how much fertilizer or sun a particular shrub or tree needs. Even the fatalists rear their heads with questions about the impending summer drought that is sure to come. Again I tell people to relax while I try to come up with a soothing response to alleviate their fears. For these worrywarts, I have a list of things you don't need to do in the garden this spring.
Don't rake up the old mulch and throw it out. Just because it's old and decomposing doesn't mean it's no good. I had a neighbor rake his old mulch up every year. It's like throwing out money. Decomposed mulch is valuable organic matter for your soils. Organic matter is something that many people pay good money for when they purchase compost. Rather than purging the old and putting down new, just top-dress with some fresh mulch.
Don't plant a calorie pear. That would be a pear tree like a Bradford, Cleveland select, Chanticleer or red spire pear. Too many other trees work well in most of our landscapes; these pears should be left out and hopefully eliminated from our landscapes. This particular species of pear, "calleryana," or callery, has become the seed source for many of the weed pear trees that are starting to pop up along roadsides and fields throughout the Central Maryland area.
Don't bother fertilizing your lawn this spring, especially if it's healthy and you have fed it consistently in the past. Generally, most lawns in the area are composed of cool-season grasses such as tall turf-type fescues. These grasses are best fertilized in the late season rather than spring. If you must fertilize in the spring, use no more than a half-pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet and use a fertilizer that contains at least 40 percent water insoluble nitrogen or slow-release nitrogen.
Don't try to kill every insect out there. Just because they're in your lawn or garden and you don't like bugs doesn't mean you need to kill them. Many of these critters are necessary for a healthy lawn and garden environment, and can actually help combat insects that can harm your lawn and garden. Some bugs may warrant control but most are benign. As responsible homeowners, we need to recognize what needs to be treated and what doesn't.
Don't rake up the grass clippings and ship them to the dump (unless they are deep - and you can compost these out back). Clippings provide a wonderful supply of organic matter. Our soils, especially in Carroll County, typically are deficient in organic matter. Lawn clippings that are left on the lawn will also help to return nutrients to the soil and reduce the amount of moisture lost from the soil during dry periods while saving you money by reducing the amount of fertilizers needed for the turf.
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Don't lime your lawn unless you have done a soil test. Too often, we will habitually lime our turf because our fathers and grandfathers did this. It is time to break the family tradition and get a soil test to find out if lime is really necessary. Testing your soil once every three years is usually sufficient.
Steve Allgeier, home horticultural consultant with the Carroll County Cooperative Extension, University of Maryland, can be reached in person at the extension office, off Smith Avenue in Westminster; by phone at 410-386-2760, or by e-mail at hortman@umd.edu.
More Info
The Carroll County Cooperative Extension and Carroll County Recycling Office will be offering a series of free composting/grass cycling presentations throughout Carroll County this spring.
Please contact the Carroll County Cooperative Extension at 410-386-2760 for information on dates and locations.
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