gardening

By MAUREEN GILMER
DIY Network
Monday, May 21, 2007

There was a hymn published in 1867 was dedicated "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead." But Southern women were decorating Civil War graves as early as 1864.

Just a few years later, John A.

By JOE LAMP'L
DIY Network
Monday, May 21, 2007

So it's finally cool for mainstream America to be green. Organic products are showing up everywhere from what we put in our gardens to the clothes we wear on our back.

Some organic choices require very little thought, such as selecting organically grown carrots.

By MAUREEN GILMER
DIY Network
Monday, May 14, 2007

If you're a first time homeowner, listen up. If you think you can't grow fabulous flowers, read on. If past failures have made you throw your hands up and retreat from gardening in general, get ready to rumble! There's a secret to great big bold flowers.

Forget about all that stuff you see in catalogs that brands a plant "easy" because that's a relative term. For anyone who can't find the right end of a garden hose, "easy" may be downright complex. What you need is plants that grow even if you plant them upside down, which happens more than you think.

The Lily family has produced two no-brainers that produce truly inspiring flowers. They are relatively cold hardy and when you use them together you get a full range of color. One is the best source of blue in the garden; it is known as Agapanthus, or lily of the Nile. The other is Hemerocallis, the daylily, so named because each huge flower opens for just a single day before it withers. This second group supplies you with virtually every color of the rainbow except blue. So between the two you'll have an incredible palette to paint your garden.

Standard blue "Agapanthus africanus" is the more frost tender, hardy to Zone 8, which does not drop below 10 degrees in the winter. It is a native of South Africa and can survive considerable heat and drought. However, there are two exceptionally hardy hybrid forms that include the 'Headbourne Hybrids' and a variety called 'Midknight Blue.' These will stand winters to Zone 6, which is minus 10 degrees below zero, allowing the vivid Agapanthus blue to extend much further north. In addition, these last two are darker blue in color than the species.

The daylilies enjoy an even wider range of climate tolerance, which makes them a bit trickier to buy. The majority are hardy to Zone 4, which is to 30 degrees below zero. But you'll find individuals that won't survive below zone 5 or 6, so it pays to check the labels and buy from a reputable grower. Certain daylilies termed "evergreen" are only hardy to Zone 7.

Daylily breeding exploded early in the 20th century. Since then tens of thousands of named varieties were developed. Every year more are being introduced, including the exotic tetraploid types that feature truly complex flower colors. The tendency is for newbies to select the common yellow and orange, but if you buy online or from a daylily grower you'll be able to sample the hot pinks, coral, lavender and purples. To access any of the gazillion daylily growers online, log on to http://daylily.net to start shopping and studying.

Armed with your palette of Agapanthus and daylilies you can begin to plant with a vengeance. All require full or part sun with well-drained soil, although they've been known to do well in less than ideal clays, too. Each plant becomes a clump of strap-like leaves over thick fleshy roots, and out of these rise on long wands topped with blooms in a spectacular showing.

The trick to success is to plant lots of them because they are all truly affordable at one gallon or bare root by mail. Try three to five of each color in a mass to compound their visibility. Allow these groups to drift around one another like a soft flowing patchwork. Spot them into your existing beds and borders, which injects powerful seasonal blooms where other plants have proved disappointing.

What's so addicting about these plants is that large clumps can be so easily dug up, divided or moved if you're not happy with the location. This means that you get lots of free plants in future years to spread into new drifts of color. And best of all, you get to make lots of mistakes and they'll still come back next year.

(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and host of "Weekend Gardening" on DIY Network. Contact her at her Web site www.moplants.com or visit www.diynetwork.com.)

By JOE LAMP'L
DIY Network
Monday, May 14, 2007

Who would have thought that having a home vegetable garden would be considered so cool in the 21st century? But with all the talk about organics, E. coli, global warming, food miles (the distance that food travels from harvest to table) and nutrition, growing your own makes more sense than ever.

And now it's easier than ever, too. Specialized, nutrient-rich, moisture-retentive soils, automatic timers and irrigation systems and more effective, eco-friendly solutions for pests and diseases are giving even the time-starved rookie gardener the tools needed for first-time success.

That said, there are still some universal truths to vegetable gardening that are as pertinent today as they were centuries ago.

-- Pick the right location.

Most vegetable plants do best in full sun. Find a location that gets at least six hours of it each day. In the same regard, place the tallest plants in your garden on the north or west side so they do not shade the smaller plants.

Even if your garden is only big enough for a few containers, try placing them on rollers and move them around on the deck or patio as you chase the sun.

-- Soil is king.

If you're looking for shortcuts, this is not the place. In fact, spend more time working on your soil, and the plants will reward you for the effort. Good garden soil suitable for vegetables includes lots of compost and other organic matter. Whatever you're starting with, incorporate enough of the material so that the amended soil is neither sandy nor compacted.

When the mix is right, it will bind together when you squeeze it, but break apart when disturbed. This soil is full of living microorganisms that will help feed your plants. The water will be sufficiently retained and yet won't saturate the soil, either.

-- Water wisely.

For most vegetable plants, 1 inch of water per week is adequate. An efficient way to deliver proper irrigation is by using soaker hoses or drip irrigation lines. This water is delivered slowly and evenly, allowing roots time to absorb the moisture and soil to adequately hydrate. Automatic timers take the effort and worry out of this all-important step.

But however you water, try to do so at the soil level only. This will help to keep the foliage dry. Wet foliage for extended periods can promote diseases.

-- Use patience with pest control.

Although pests are usually a given at some point in a vegetable garden, nature can usually take care of the problem. If you practice the steps mentioned so far, you've taken the measures to promote the growth of healthy plants that are better able to stand up to potential pest invasions.

If you must resort to insecticides, apply them responsibly. That means only late in the day or evening, and then only when necessary. Never apply pesticides in the morning when pollinators and other beneficial insects are most active. Otherwise, you'll likely kill them as well.

-- Don't fertilize too heavily.

Too much -- especially those high in nitrogen (the first number on the fertilizer package) -- can promote plenty of lush green growth at the expense of less fruit and a smaller harvest. Excessive fertilizer can also harm or even destroy the living soil food web below the surface.

Sure, there's more to vegetable gardening then a few simple steps. But I promise you: Put into practice what I've suggested and you will eliminate many pitfalls and get your garden off to the right start. Preparation is key, but the reward is a healthier, more productive garden with less maintenance. We could all use that!

(Joe Lamp'l, host of Fresh from the Garden on the DIY Network and GardenSMART on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. For more information visit www.joegardener.com and www.DIYnetwork.com.)

By MAUREEN GILMER
DIY Network
Monday, May 07, 2007

Slide any nursery-grown plant out of its one-gallon pot and cut the rootball into two equal halves. You might be surprised to find that the roots are clustered around the outer edge of a largely untapped soil mass. This is because plant roots go to where there's water. And water applied to container grown plants tends to travel down the seam between the soil and the inner pot edge.

This teaches an important lesson: Most plants are utilizing only a small fraction of their potting soil. If you can encourage them to root into the center of the soil mass, you can increase the plant's vigor without transplanting. The more roots there are, the more resilient your plant will be in heat and drought. It will also grow faster and flower better.

The trick to encouraging more adventurous rooting is to change the way you water. The goal is to evenly wet the entire soil mass, not just the outer edge. This takes time, particularly with a very dry rootball that resists water absorption. But once saturated, you need not water as often.

The simplest way to completely saturate large stationary pots is to turn the garden hose on the barest trickle or drip and place it at the center of the pot, which may be right next to the trunk of a plant. Water slowly applied here will be drawn down by gravity directly into the center of the root ball. After a few hours it will be well saturated.

To water portable pots I use a rectangular plastic box designed for under-bed storage about 6 to 12 inches deep. I put my pots into the box and fill it half way with water. Then I water each pot until it won't drain. That means pressures have equalized holding water around the root ball instead of letting it flow through and out the drain hole.

I let them sit in the water for an hour to be sure the entire soil mass is saturated. Then I remove them to drain outside or in the bathtub. In go the next round of pots and the process repeats itself. Sometimes I mix fertilizer into the water for an extra boost.

You can use the same method with hanging moss baskets that can be tough to water evenly. Use a large plastic garbage can with a smaller one turned upside down inside it. Fill with water and drop your hanging baskets in to sit on the upturned can for an hour to really saturate the sphagnum moss and soil. Then remove the basket and hang to drain before returning to its permanent location.

If you find your pots aren't draining well they may have a very small hole that has become blocked, or the pot may be too flat on the bottom so that when it is placed on concrete or other nonporous surfaces there's barely any gap between the pot bottom and the paving. This can inhibit water flow considerably.

To enhance drainage, you need to get your pots up off the ground _ if just for a quarter inch. There's no need to invest in expensive pot feet. My preference is to use small ceramic tiles or fragments of larger ones. I simply slide them under the edges of the pot where they can't be seen to raise it up. This gap can make a real difference if you are growing drainage-sensitive plants or if you tend to water too much.

Another trick is to be really careful about what kind of potting soil you use. Some brands have way too much woody matter in the mix. You'll see too many of these wood chips in the mix and not enough fine humus. Wood can result in fungus growth and can cause nitrogen deficiency. Select your soil with care. Mix in a two-to-one ratio of coarse sand and perlite to give it improved drainage. Fertilize often to ensure your heavy-feeding annuals are fat and happy.

The most common reasons that container gardens and potted plants do poorly or fail altogether are over-watering or drainage problems. So before you start anew this year, make a change to ensure every inch of potting soil becomes a home for adventurous roots.

(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and host of "Weekend Gardening" on DIY Network. Contact her at her Web site www.moplants.com or visit www.diynetwork.com.)

By JOE LAMP'L
DIY Network
Monday, May 07, 2007

I am in awe of bamboo. It is likely the most versatile and resourceful plant on earth. It's reported that the list of things bamboo is not used for is shorter than the list of things it is used for.

But as virtuous as this plant is, in a home landscape setting, its reputation can be less than righteous.

Imagine asking your neighbor for their permission to plant something in your own yard? Sounds absurd, doesn't it? But, if you're talking bamboo, planting the wrong type could unwittingly be the start of the next Hatfield vs. McCoy feud for as long as they live there!

You might not feel the need to keep your 'green screen' in-bounds but with most bamboos, you've now imposed a maintenance situation on you neighbor they hadn't planned for. You see, bamboo has many, many qualities including the rate at which it grows. Although it's actually a grass, bamboo is the fasting growing plant on earth, bar none! Some species can grow as much as four feet in a mere 24 hours (which leads me to think my lawn is a variety of bamboo sometimes!)

The stalks or 'culms' are fully grown in just a few months. With about 1,000 species growing around the world, the smallest reach a mature height of only about an inch while others top out at around 120 feet.

Now fast growth is one thing when you want to fill in a space or provide some privacy, but when it rapidly encroaches onto your neighbor's property, that's another story. And this is where the potential problem comes into play. Many of the most common species of bamboo are aggressive horizontal spreaders as well.

Bamboo is referred to as one of two types: running or clumping. Knowing the difference can signal the success or failure of your relationship when it comes to planting it.

Running bamboos (momopodial or leptomorph) should be taken at face value! They run. I'm not sure even I can out run them! They are difficult but not impossible to contain, even though their underground 'runners' (technically rhizomes) race below the surface anywhere from two to 18 inches deep. Containment methods include cement, metal and high-density polyethylene plastic rhizome barriers. However, once they have breached the barrier they are a challenge to reel in.

Non-invasive, clumping bamboos (sympodial or pachymorph) have short roots, 18 inches or less, generally forming discreet clumps requiring only a three- to 10-foot circle of space to expand even at maturity; although their dense root structure can impose significant pressure on foundations, walls, fences and the like. They make attractive specimens and will form very dense screens albeit more slowly than their eager cousins.

Clumping bamboos tend to be less cold hardy than the running kind but no matter where you live, there's a species for you. It's found naturally on every continent in the world except Antarctica.

If you'd like to grow bamboo yourself, culturally it prefers rich, moist, well drained, neutral to slightly acidic soils. It is also partial to deep watering in soils with good drainage but can succumb to root problems in water-logged conditions.

In cold weather climates plant bamboo after the danger of frost has passed. In very hot climates plant in late fall or early spring and in mild climates such as that of the west coast bamboos can be planted any time of year.

Bamboo doesn't have to be feared if you know what you're planting before you start. If containment is an issue, take the appropriate precautions and proceed accordingly. Asking your neighbor for their permission? Well, that's up to you.

(Joe Lamp'l, host of Fresh from the Garden on the DIY Network and GardenSMART on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. For more information visit www.joegardener.com and www.DIYnetwork.com.)