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The Garden Plot
Hosted by Adrienne Cook
Special to the Washington Post
Thursday, March 28, 2002; 11 a.m. EST
Whether you remember her as the "Backyard Gardener" or know her as the "Gourmet Gardener," Post columnist Adrienne Cook is one of the area's authorities on organic horticulture. Cook was online to field questions, concerns and comments regarding gardening.
A self-proclaimed "practical gardener," Cook's love for horticulture stems from her roots, starting with a grandfather who bred day lilies and camellias. An organic gardener, Cook has been putting her heart and soul into the soil for 30 years. In her job as a Post columnist, Cook has been offering "real and simple solutions for basic problems" for the past 20 years. Practicing what she preaches, Cook balances her time between her numerous backyard projects, including a batch of perennials, fruit trees, a cut-flower garden and a burgeoning green house. Currently she is growing apples, cherries, apricots and various berries, but her favorites are the veggies: peas, tomatoes and herbs.
Over the years Cook has contributed her green-thumb knowledge to several publications, including Organic Gardening, Good Housekeeping, Southern Accents and Fine Gardening.
Have a home question? Tune in March 21 at 11 a.m. for Home Front when the Washington Post Home section will be online to discuss home impovements.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Shepherd Park:
Good morning, Adrienne.
I finally got around to planting my peas, spinach, and lettuce last weekend. Planting the lettuce reminded me of a question I think of every year.
Why do they recommend sowing lettuce seeds very densely (every 1/2 inch) and then tell you to thin the emerging plants to every four to six inches? I know not all seeds germinate, but planning to remove 80 to 90 percent of all sprouts just doesn't seem to make sense. Is this just the seed company's way to get us to buy more seeds?
Adrienne Cook: Oh, I love this question! Have you noticed that this suggestion is made for a lot of varieties? Spinach, beets, fennel, leeks, etc. Is it a conspiracy to sell more seeds? I don't think so. I think it comes form an old practice that goes way back, when gardeners were farmers (and vice versa) and that was the quick and easy way of getting seeds started. In fact, nearly all these, including lettuce, not only can be sown considerably less densely, which saves seed, but they also can be started in individual pots and transplanted to save even more seeds. I will say this in the defense of seed companies: They do put a great deal of seed in their packets, so that sowing more densley and then thinning is still viable for the gardener who has less time or patience. The lettuce/spinach/etc. that you pull up, incidently, can be used in spring salads as baby greens.
Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.:
I am very much a beginner gardener so I apologize in advance if my questions seem stupid.
Last year, I grew tomatoes and some basil in pots on my back deck. I read a couple of weeks ago that you recommended rotating crops, or not planting the same thing in the same place every year. Can I use the same soil that's still in the pots from the tomatoes and plant something else or should I get rid of what's there and start from scratch? Can I plant basil in the same pot (with the same soil) I planted it in last year?
If I have to get rid of the dirt currently in the pots, is it ok if I spread it in my front garden (small townhouse garden)? I'm not sure what else I'd do with it since garbagemen in D.C. won't pick up bags of dirt. I don't plant vegetables or herbs in the front because there's not much sun. Are there any flowers you could recommend for me to plant there? I need some that don't require a lot of sun and are easy to plant and care for. Also, what kind of soil or other covering (mulch?) should I put down?
Lastly, where should I go to purchase all of this? Is it ok to get it at home depot or am I better off at a garden store? Any recommendations not too far from the city?
Thank you so much for your help.
Adrienne Cook: You have several choices, given your combination of deck/front yard gardening. First of all, althbough rotating is highly recommended in a regular vegetbale garden that is used year-in-year-out, in pots the approach can be a little different. You can indeed grow your tomatoes and basil in the smae pots you did last year. Assuming you had healthy tomatoes and there was no sign of fusarium wilt, the most devastating soil-borne disease (your tomatoes would have died quite suddenly int he middle of the summer), you should feel comfortable putting in new plants this year. Before you do, however, I'd recommend a dose of compost -- bagged is fine, and getting it from Home Depot is going to be the most practical (or Johnson's or some place closer to you). Work in compost so that you wind up with one part compost to three parts old dirt. If you have leftover planting medium as a result of this, by all menas, recycle it into your front, shady garden. It won't hurt the ground/plants a bit. As tp that bnit of land, tere are some shade-loving plants that work well. For the greatest of easy, try impatiens, which thrive in the shade and come in a range of beautiful colors. This year I have seen them in old rose and burgundy, quite a nice combination, along with white. Impatines are annulas that do not tolerate frost. Buy them as young plants and put them in the ground after May 1. Shade-tolerant perennilas are so numerous that it would be worth your while, if you are interested, to consult a book on the subject; there are many. Amoing my favorite shade plants are primula, lenten rose, hostas for their beautiful foliage, dwarf azaleas and woodland phlox, among others. Mulching is important evenb in the shade as this will preserve moisture in the soil. Use an attractive shredded bark mulch for a natural look. All non-plant-material can be purchased at any hardware or home store that is convenient to you. For your plant material, get to know a good nearby nursery: Johnson's, American Plant Co. are both pretty reliable and there may be some smaller specialty places around your neigborhood that you could track down by talking to other gardeners.
Arlington, Va.:
Can I sow lettuce now? How can I protect it from nibbly little critters? Last fall I had a good crop coming along in a pot, with a couple weeks growth, and one morning went out and found it all eaten! I was so disappointed I didn't try again, but I have leftover seed and will give it one more shot. Thanks.
Adrienne Cook: You can, and protection form nibblers depends on what species they might be. For slugs, try wrapping pots with copper stripping, available from hardware stores. For squirrels, you can cover lettuce seedlings with garden fabric, a gauze that permits air, light and rain, but keeps out critters, or try chicken wire.
Maryland:
In a previous chat, you recommended that I create a raised vegetable garden because of underlying soil issues. For the raised bed, should I use 100 percent Leafgro or can I mix top soil and Leafgro -- and/or should I include peat moss?
Adrienne Cook: Don't use peat moss. You can use 100 percent Leafgro, in fact, I'd say that's you best bet. If you are trying to save money, mix it with topsoil, but be sure you get good topsoil, a lot of it sold in bulk for example can be full of rocks and trash. Proportions should be at least half-and-half, preferably two parts Leagro to one part soil.
Alexandria, Va.:
I have inherited a lovely but neglected crepe myrtle that seems to be in need of pruning, but I don't know when or where to start. It flowered last year and still has the little brown pods on the ends of the branches. Can or should I cut it back and clean it up now?
Love your chats -- I'm a novice gardener and always learn so much from you.
Adrienne Cook: Crape mnyrtles can be pruned now. Prune for shape and appearance. The best look for these lovely shrubs with their fascinating bark is to have a grouping of five or six main trunks. These will naturally shed lower branches as they grow taller, forming a pretty cluster that grows to about 20 feet and branches beautifully from about eight feet up, producing abundant blooms in July and August. This is the natural growht of the crape myrtle, so avoid pruning it down to a single trunck, which will make it look awkward and gangly and prone to wind damage.
Falls Church, Va.:
Adrienne --
I hope you can help me. I know in the past there has been discussion about
cutting back lavender. I've looked throught some of the archive files and can't
seem to find the answer. I need to move my lavender plant which has gotten
quite big. Should I cut it back to six inches from the ground now then move it
or should I wait and move it in a few weeks? Would it be better not to cut it
at all -- just move it to the pot this year? As you can see I'm so confused.
Please advise.
Adrienne Cook: Depending on the varietiy, lavender can indeed get raggedy looking and require pruning to bring it back into a handsome mound. Prunign will not hurt it a bit. If you want to move the plant, do prune first and doing it now is fine, though the best time would have been late summer or early fall. Cut it back to six inches as you said and lift it with as much of its root ball intact as possible. If necessary, you may want to divide it, providing you with more plants and reducing the overall size of the original one -- at least for a couple of years. Plant you lavender is a place where it can grow to its mature size -- each plant will be three feet in diameter at that point. Give it sun and continue to do what you were doing before because evidently it enjoyed that.
Linden, Va.:
I have thousands of bulbs in my landscape, and over the years many have seeded and/or multiplied to other areas. Now that they are up, could I move those errant ones to different areas? I don't care if they bloom this year or not. My problem is that when I wait until fall I forget where they are. I know I should mark them but I suffer from that old timer's disease -- CRS, can't remember stuff!
Adrienne Cook: You can move daffodils at any time. In fact, it's so much easier for those of us with old timer's lack of memory to move them while they are still blooming. You'll cut back a bit on this year's bloom, but so what?
Takoma Park, Md.:
Just bought my first house this winter and I'm new to having a yard. I have lots of bulbs that have come up, but they are not blooming. Not even a flower bud, just tons and tons of leaves. What could these be? Aren't most Spring bulbs pretty much done? Shouldn't they at least have a bud or two on them by now?
Adrienne Cook: Spring bulbs bloom from February through June, so they could be almost anyhting. Still to come are tulips, alliums, fritallaria, suqill and many others. When you have bought a new house, it's wise to refrain from doing anyhting but the minimum manitnenace in the garden for at least one year, taking notes as the seasons evolve and new flowers/shrubs bloom. A garden that has not been lived with before can be full of surprises and before you can decide what you want to do with yours, you should assess what's there already. If what you are seeing is an abundance of daffodil foliage coming up with no flowers, then you may have a situation where the bulbs are so crowded that they now fail to bloom. In this case, digging them up and dividing them, discarding small and undersized bulbs abd keeping only the largest ones, would be in order. But for now, you have the luxury of doing nothing, and being perfectly correct in this.
Brand new gardener:
Besides reading Gardening for Dummies, what should I know/read/do before starting a veggie garden? I just got a plot in one of the community gardens here in D.C.
Adrienne Cook: You are in the very best place to be a beginner gardener. This sporing you will be surrounded by passionate gardenrs who will only too gladly share all their accumulated wisdom. Your challenge is going to be getting way from all the advice! Two suggestions: Buy plants of all your summer stuff -- tomatoes, squash, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, etc. Sow seeds of most of your spring stuff: Lettuce, carrots, spinach, peas, beans. Buy plants for broccoli, cabbage too. Use lots of compost; make sure you have mulch down between plants -- use newspaper, black plastic or organic mulch like shredded leaves. And water during the summer when things get dry. Also, start small. That's it.
McLean, Va.:
When can I plant carrot seeds?
Adrienne Cook: After April 15. Too ealry and they tend to attract carrot fly.
South Riding, Va.:
We have a tiny lawn that is composed mostly of hard clay and the grass grows pretty sparsely. I was wondering if you could give us any tips on how to get a nice, green, lush lawn to grow. We've tried fertilizing it but it doesn't seem to take. Thanks.
Adrienne Cook: Start by getting your soil tested at the Loudoun Cooperative Extension Service; check listings in the Blue Pages for the number. You will be asked to bore a small hole into your soil and send in that smaple and the results will be beack in a couple of weeks. It will tell you what you should be adding to grow grass. Typically it will break down to pH, nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Undoubtedly your soil will have to have a pH balance, it is probably higher in acid than in lakaline. To neutralize it, spread limestone, using dolomitic, which is a slow release and accessible to plant roots but won't burn them. Dolomitc lime is available at any good garden center such as Meadows Farm or Merrifield. Next, look into the availability of organic matter that is free or cheap. Organic matter provides slow-release, mild nitrogen that keeps lawns growing lonmg-term and does not force quick, tender growth that is suceptible to diesase and requires prodigious watering. Keep in mid that you are building soil, here, not just grass. Organic matter also contains potash and phosphate. Loudoun has a recycling facility outside of Leesburg that produces pretty good compost. I believe it is free for Loudoun residents. You will need to pick it up yourelf, so go there with several large trash cans and a shovel. Even a small lawn will need a good deal of organic matter. Spread two to four inches of compoost over your soil and work it in with a hoe, or a fork or a rake so that the top four or five inches of soil is loose and crumbly. You can add your lime at this point too. Next, braodcast seed of a mixed lawn, do not plant only one variety. Use something that is apporpriate for the amount of sun the lawn will get; check at Merrifield for a good mixture. Top the seeded lawn with a light covering of straw, which you can get from a garden center. This step is important in shading seedlings from strong sun and preventing water evaporation. Water the lawn every few days until you see it very green and clearly filling in. For mainteneace, add compost in the fall and again in the spring; add lime in the spring if you feel or find, though soil testing, that the pH still needs adjusting. Avoid using high-nitrogen fertilizers that will cause rapid, fragile growht and leave your grass vulnberable to insect and disease attack. Concentrate on a two- to three-year build-up of soil first and foremost and you can be confindent that your lawn will follow suit and provide years of beauty with minimum maintenance. If you build your soil, you can then use it to plant many other things besides grass, knowing that you have an excellent base to start with.
Gaithersburg, Md.:
Why no peat moss in the raised vegetable garden? I've used it in the past -- should I stop?
Adrienne Cook: If you have peat on hand, there's no reason to throw it out. However, there are so many other additives that are superior that are widely available in our region, why import something, especially if it comes from endangered bogs? There is a good deal of peat harvesting from bogs that are thought to be fine, in Canada for example. But there is also peat coming in from areas that should not be harvested. Cheaper, more effective additives in our area that do more for the soil than peat include leaf mold, compost -- home-made or collected from recycling centers, or even store-bought -- shredded bark or wood chips. I just can't recommend spending money on a producrt that is questionbable and has better alternatives in our region.
Adrienne Cook: Thnask for all the great questions. I'mm off to the garden now. See you next week.
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