From the Desk of Hume: Caring for Your Garden Tools and Equipment
Are the blades on your lawn mower dull? Do they need to be replaced? What about the spark plugs? Do you need to change the gas or oil, or does the mower need a general servicing? How about the hedge shears, weed eater, or your power saw?
If any of your garden equipment needs attention, this is the time of the year to get it done. And if it’s a job for professionals, do it now when the repair shops are not very busy. If you wait until Spring, the repair shops get so busy you will sometimes have to wait a couple of weeks to get the work done.
Right now is also a good time to get the rest of your garden tools ready for Spring. Hopefully you cleaned the tools last Fall when you put them away for the Winter. If so, all that needs to be done now is to sharpen them and apply a light coat of oil, and voila! They are ready for Spring. Don’t forget to sharpen the shovel, spade, and hoe too. We often forget that these tools also need attention, and that when they are sharp you’ll find it so much easier to dig in the dirt.
Take a little time to check the fertilizer spreader, as well. Does it need to be washed out, wheels lubricated, or slider blade adjusted? It only takes a couple of minutes, and then you’ll be ready when you need to use that spreader again. Pruning shears are another tool to check for sharpness and overall quality. I know I need to get out in the garage and clean up my trowels and sharpen the blades, too!
Now is a wonderful time to prune trees, so we may want to give special attention to pole pruners, looping shears, and hand pruners. Again, adjusting the blades, cleaning, and sharpening will be the major tasks in getting them ready to use. By the way, if you’re pruning trees the handiest pruning tools are pole pruners for reaching branches, lopping shears for branches up to an inch or so in diameter, a pruning saw for removing big branches, and hand pruners for pruning small branches. One of the handiest tools I have is a tool called “border shears.” It is ideal for edging between the lawn and flower beds. It has long handles (about waist high) and long cutting blades like hand hedge shears, so you can edge along the lawn without bending over.
In talking about tools, the one piece of equipment I always forget to get ready for Spring is the wheelbarrow. Like all your other garden equipment and tools, it can stand a bit of annual attention. Take time to grease the wheels, tighten the handles, and check the air in the tires.
A little bit of time spent now to get your tools ready for Spring will save you a lot of time over the rest of the year.
-Ed
Add comment February 10, 2010
Ed’s Podcasts: Planning Your Garden
Hello everyone, and happy Monday! Did you all have as good a weekend as I did? How many of you attended the Flower and Garden Show? Wasn’t it great?
This week’s podcast is all about planning your garden. I always like to use this time of year to sit down and figure out what I want to do with my garden for the following year. I think it’s a great practice, and I encourage you all to do the same.
Ed’s Podcasts: Planning Your Garden
As always, if you’d like to save the podcast for later playback on your iTunes or iPod, right-click the link above and select “save target as” (Mac users select “save link as”).
I hope you all have a wonderful day, and we’ll see you here on Wednesday.
Sincerely,
Ed
Add comment February 8, 2010
Clip of the Week: Planting Fruit Trees
Good morning to all! Another week has come and gone. To wrap things up, we have for you a clip from my show Gardening in America.
A compliment to last week’s clip, this week we show you how to plant those fruit trees we helped you to pick out. It can be viewed both below as well as on our video page at blip.tv.
Our event calendar should be up on the site soon, but in the meantime I wanted to let everyone know of my two appearances this weekend.
Saturday, February 6th I will be at The Northwest Flower and Garden Show at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. You can see my presentation “Growing Vegetables in the Pacific Northwest” at 3:15pm.
In addition, I will be speaking at the Ocean Shores Home Show in Ocean Shores, Washington on Sunday, February 7th. My presentation will start at 2:00pm and the topics of discussion will be growing vegetables and Spring gardening.
That’s all for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and maybe I’ll see you at one of the conventions!
-Ed
Add comment February 5, 2010
From the Desk of Ed Hume: Daphne
DAPHNE: A WONDERFUL, FRAGRANT GARDEN SHRUB
One of the truly outstanding Winter-flowering, fragrant shrubs is the Daphne family. There are a number of varieties that offer pleasant fragrances at various time of the year, but the Winter Daphne “Odora” and the February Daphne “Mezereum” are among the most popular.
The most important thing that I like to recommend to home gardeners is that any fragrant plants should be planted near the entry area or wherever foot traffic is heavy so that their fragrances can be fully enjoyed. Remember, Daphnes are only one of several plants that flower during the Winter that are fragrant. A couple others you might want to checkout are Sarcococca and the witch hazels.
Probably the favorite Winter Dahpne is Odora. This is a semi-evergreen variety that flowers in late Winter and early Spring. The flower clusters are soft pink and reddish on the backside of the petals. There are a few varieties with variations of flower colors, and the green leaves have yellow margins. This is one variety that grows best in places that protect it from the hot mid-day sun. The plants usually only grow about four-to-five feet tall and wide unless they are crowded by other plants. Two tips: First, they benefit from a little dolomite applied on the soil at planting time. Second, make certain the soil is well drained. In a severe Winter they may die back a little, but they generally seem to recover within a few months.
The other popular Winter variety is Daphne Mezereum, commonly called the “February Daphne.” The flowers are reddish purple and appear on the stiff, upright branches of this variety. The flowers are often followed by bright red berries, which are attractive but believed to be poisonous. This variety is deciduous, which means it loses its leaves over Winter. It grows about 3 ½-4 feet tall and about 2 ½ feet wide. Plant this variety in full sun.
I need to mention one other variety that flowers later in the Spring because it is the most popular of all Daphnes and is possibly the showiest and most fragrant as well. It is often call the “Garland,” “Rock,” or “Rose” Daphne. The variety is D, cneorum. It is a lower-growing Daphne that is often used in rockery plantings or as a low foreground plant. It only grows about a foot high and up to three feet wide. The clusters of pink flowers (or red, in the case of the Ruby Glow) are intensely fragrant and cover the small evergreen foliage. On a rare occasion the plants will flower again in the Autumn. This variety also grows and flowers best when planted in full sun.
As I mentioned earlier, Daphne need to be planted in soil that is well drained. Feed them with an organic rose-type fertilizer in Mid-February and/or May. If you find it necessary to prune them, the best time is immediately after blooming.
If you’re interested in these plants and would like to add some to your garden, it is worth mentioning that nurseries and garden centers carry their widest selection of Daphne varieties when the plants are in bloom. Don’t miss out on the timing!
Sincerely,
Ed
Add comment February 3, 2010
Ed’s Podcasts: Tool Care
Hello, everyone! Did you have a great weekend? It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Tacoma Lawn and Garden Show. I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
This week’s podcast is about caring for your garden tools. This is a very important topic that, for reasons you can hear on the podcast, I believe is best to cover at this time of the year.
As always, if you’d like to save the podcast for later playback on your iTunes or iPod, right-click the link above and select “save target as” (Mac users select “save link as”).
Also, if you ever have any questions about any of the information on this site, leave us a comment! I will personally respond to each and every one of your question.
Well, that’s all for today. I hope everyone has a great Monday, and we’ll see you in two days!
Sincerely,
Ed
Add comment February 1, 2010
Clip of the Week: Selecting Fruit Trees
Happy Friday, everyone! Boy, what a busy week it’s been. I don’t know about you, but I sure am looking forward to the weekend!
This week’s clip offers some helpful advice on selecting the right fruit tree for your home or garden space. Do you have any fruit trees? If so what kind?
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I’d like to take a moment to let you folks know about a few events coming up soon. This weekend I will be speaking at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show. You can catch me at the following presentations:
Friday, January 29th; 12:00 PM- “Solutions to Everyday Garden Problems”
Saturday, January 30th; 4:00 PM- “Secrets of Success in Growing Vegetables”
I will also be appearing on my good friend Ciscoe’s radio program, “Gardening with Ciscoe.” You can tune in to KIRO FM 97.3 on Saturday, January 30th from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. You can also listen to the program streaming on the web here.
That’s all for now. Keep your eyes peeled on the right-hand side of our blog, as we should have a detailed list of my future appearances up there in the next week or so. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Get lots of rest and we’ll see you here on Monday!
-Ed
3 comments January 29, 2010
From the Desk of Ed Hume: Repotting Houseplants
Because of weather-related limitations on outdoor gardening activity during the Winter, the gardener’s attention often turns to the care of indoor houseplants. Pinching back unwanted growth, repotting, or pruning are sometimes all that is required to improve the appearance of a plant and get it back in good growing condition. Over-generous care or neglect at some time can result in robust, spindly growth, loss of leaves, or retarded growth. Late Winter is a good time to set about to correct any of these conditions that may have affected your houseplants.
Repotting
Lack of growth or poor leaf color may simply be a sign that a plant has out-grown its container and needs to be repotted. This is especially likely if a plant has been in the same container for several years. Matted roots on the soil surface or roots protruding from the drainage hole of the pot are other signs to look for.
When you set out to repot any plant, be certain to observe a few basic principles for good results: First, select a new container that is only one or two sizes larger than the original. Second, provide suitable drainage. Third, choose a soil mixture that is compatible with your plant.
When a houseplant has become overcrowded, it is sometimes difficult to separate the plant from the pot, so it may necessary to break the container. Use a hammer or hit the pot against a concrete surface. Moisten the soil before you do this so the soil will cling to the roots. Be careful not to damage the root system or top growth when you break the container. If the root structure is overly-crowded, it is a good practice to lightly loosen or gently break the roots along the edge of the rootball with your fingertips. Make certain that the new container has a drainage hole at its base or on the bottom sides of the pot. Good drainage is a must for 99% of the tropical houseplants. Also, use a quality all-purpose commercial potting soil mix which contains the proper nutrients to get your newly potted plants off to a good start.
Now you’re ready to start repotting. After putting a bit of your soil into the bottom of the pot, place your plant so the top of the existing root system is about a half an inch below the top rim of the container to allow space for watering. Most soil mixes already contain fertilizer, so it should not be necessary to add more plant food. If it doesn’t, add a mild fertilizer like liquid fish food.
Don’t become alarmed if your plant remains dormant (inactive) for several weeks or even months. Generally repotted plants will take some time because new root growth is taking place in the soil.
One last word!: NEVER REPOT INTO A POT MORE THEN ONE SIZE (TWO SIZES AT MOST) LARGER THAN THE ONE THE PLANT IS CURRENTLY PLANTED IN!
If you have any other questions on repotting, leave us a comment and we’d be happy to answer all of your inquiries.
Best,
-Ed
Add comment January 27, 2010
From the Desk of Ed Hume: Pruning Trees
January and February are excellent months to prune many trees and shrubs. The deciduous fruit, flowering, and shade trees as well as the deciduous shrubs are generally pruned at this time of year as it is during their dormant season. The ultimate size, bushiness and vitality of trees and shrubs are in fact determined by pruning. Proper pruning also results in better flower production and more berries or fruit on these type plants.
Trees and shrubs have natural growing tendencies, so before you ever start pruning, study the natural growth habit and prune accordingly. Improper pruning can ruin the shape of either trees or shrubs. Use hand pruners for pruning small branches, lopping shears for small-to-medium-sized branches, pole pruners to tip high tree branches, and a pruning saw to cut medium-to-large branches. Prune out any dead or decayed branches to healthy growth to eliminate the chance of the continuing spread of insects or disease that might have caused the condition. Criss-crossing branches and branches that rub together should also be removed. Good air circulation and plenty of light exposure also contribute in great measure to the growth and health of most garden plants. Pruning or pinching out tangled or crowded growth will help provide better light exposure and air circulation for your plants.
You can determine the direction of growth of any plant by where the pruning cut is made. For example, by pruning just above a growth bud on the outside of the stem, you will force that bud to develop and the new growth will then be outward. In most cases this tends to open up the plant and allows for better light exposure and air circulation. By pruning above an inside bud, you encourage the new growth inward. This method is often used to encourage bushiness. Long water sprouts and suckers should be removed as they appear, as this new tender growth robs the tree or shrub of needed food energy.
One of the biggest mistakes often made is pruning at the wrong time of the year, thus removing potential flowers or fruit. Here is an easy guide to follow:
Spring-flowering Plants: Prune immediately after their normal flowering.
Summer-flowering Plants: Prune during the Winter or earliest Spring.
Evergreens: This includes junipers and conifers. Prune as their growth starts to develop in April or May.
Fruit Trees: Prune during the Winter dormant season. Stone fruits (apricots/peaches/plums/etc.) should be pruned in either late Fall or earliest Spring, all others should be trimmed during the Winter.
Hedges: Trimmed during their growing season, on a cool cloudy day. They should not be pruned after mid-August so that the new growth has time to mature before Winter sets in.
This is a very general pruning schedule. If you are in doubt as to when or how to prune a particular tree or shrub, your local library or nearest nursery or garden center will usually have any one of a number of pruning books adaptable to your area.
One last word: NEVER PRUNE FOR THE SAKE OF PRUNING! ONLY prune those plants that need pruning!
-Ed
Add comment January 20, 2010
