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Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Here are some questions and answers from the June 29 show:
Read more:
- Garden Talk: Give your summer lawn some love
- Garden Talk: Solutions for all your lily problems
- Garden Talk: Save money by being water wise in your yard this summer
- Garden Talk: Can fruit be affected by wildfire smoke?
These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: What ground cover do you suggest to replace a lawn?
A: You can do multiple things if you want to get away from grass completely — you can turn it into a xeriscape by putting mulch down and adding plants in that don’t take very much water
Sedums, thyme, phlox, Prince of Wales creeping juniper, blue rug creeping juniper can all work.
If you are doing a xeriscape do your research and plan it ahead because it can look like a mess if you don’t do it properly. Planting groups and especially odd numbers of each can give you a bigger impact rather than polka dotting different plants all through the area. Add dips and mounds and maybe some large boulders so it doesn’t just look like a flat lawn.
Q: Is coleus a tough plant to care for?
A: Coleus is an annual, and usually does well in a shady to part sun location. There’s some varieties that can do well in the sun. It is a plant that you use for cuttings. Throw the cutting in some water and it will root quite quickly. They are a pretty tough plant once you get them established. The biggest thing right now is fertilizing.
Q: We planted two Russian mountain ash, one on each side of the yard. One is doing well, the other is not, why is that?
A: Probably different soil conditions. If you have heavy clay, you can over-water a mountain ash. You have to just water the root ball as if it was in the pot and only enough water to water the root ball and not the rest of the soil around it. Make your hole two to three times wider than the pot that you plant, and get rid of the clay and put good topsoil in.
There might be a swale going through the yard where the water runs from your sprinklers into where the hole is. You don’t want a spot where you leave a big dish where the water will can sit from running off from a downspout or a pump or anything like that.
Q: How do you get a plant like bellflower named as an invasive species?
A: It’s a long process. Some people might think dandelion would be an invasive species but it’s not named as that. There are trees that go into waterways, and they’re more interested in naming those ones that can take away habitat from fish and wildlife.
With bellflower, the best thing to do is don’t let it flower because it has a zillion seeds. Use corn gluten because it’s a natural pre-emergent herbicide and put it down heavy to help stop the seeds from germinating, or just keep picking it.
There is a website called saskinvasives.ca to report it to the Ministry of Agriculture. To get something reported named as invasive, it has to hit lots of criteria, including being able to survive naturally and it has to be usually destroying a waterway or something like that.
Q: Why do my potentilla keep dying?
A: One thing potentilla do not like is too much moisture, so don’t over-water them. They also need to be established, so keep them moist until they get the root system out into the out of the planting hole.
After they do they are very very drought tolerant. Probe the soil with a piece of rebar as a cheap water meter. Stick it in the ground but to the bottom of the planting hole and pull it up. Because the rebar has ribs on it it’ll bring a sample from the bottom of the hole.
Q: Is there a permanent solution to get rid of lily beetles so they don’t come back every year?
A: It’s a tough one. Once you have them, you have to break the cycle of making sure they don’t lay eggs. Diatomateous earth on the soil can work. Basically it is crushed up seashells that gets into all their crevices and joints and dehydrates them. You have to reapply it if it rains heavily. Scouting and picking them off is your best solution and use End-All to keep the numbers down.
Q: What is the best way to prune gooseberry bushes?
A: Gooseberry bushes need pruning in the spring, to shape and thin them a bit because they get because they get fairly thick in the middle. You need to get more more light into the middle of the bush to get more berries. Also when you prune them it stresses the plant a little bit and they will produce more fruit.
Q: We have a bad infestation of table beetles at our community garden. What’s the best thing to use?
A: Plant things like marigolds or bush bean or use diatomaeous earth. Mosquito Barrier can be a good deterrent, too. It won’t hurt the plants and it deters a lot of different insects away. Keep picking and try using garlic spray as well, it’s concentrated pure garlic extract.
Q: Does bone meal expire?
A: No, but keep it dry. If you store them in a shed, the humidity can buils up in the packaging and then it gets moist inside there.
Q: How to I get rid of onion maggots?
A: The best thing to do is when you plant them in the spring is twait just a little bit longer to plant. You don’t plant them at the same time as the rest of your garden. The fly is in the ground and when it comes out they like to land on anything yellow. So they’ll land on a dandelion or something like that and hang around until the onions pop out of the ground and then lay their eggs on there.
Another thing you do is put a crop cover over, basically a thin white fabric. You can put little little pieces of irrigation pipe or little pieces of wire and use it to make a little dome. Or use an accordion style greenhouse so the fly can’t get in there. You only need it for a short time and then you can take it off because the fly’s gone somewhere else and then won’t lay their eggs.
Q: I’ve had to get my snow blower going to get rid of poplar fluff in my area. I read this happens because the trees are stressed. Can I get the tree some therapy or medication? Is there anything we can do to make it less stressed?
A: Fertilizer and water. We’ve been through a drought. Once a month do a deep soak, a slow trickle from a hose. You can also use a Ross Root Feeder to stick into the ground and they either fertilize or water at the root zone.
Q: Do you have any suggestions on fertilizing when it’s raining every day?
A: If you’re using a water soluble fertilizer you don’t want to over-water. You might want to pick up a granular fertilizer because then as it rains it will fertilize every time.
I like to do a combination. I use a granular fertilizer and then I use a water-soluable fertilize on top. A lot of plants are hybrids and heavy feeders.
If they are in pots use feet to raise the pot off the ground to help the pot to help it drain better and get some air movement underneath the pot.
Q: How do I use corn gluten?
A: It has to be fairly thick when you put it down. A 20 lb bag of corn gluten usually does about 1,000 square feet. Only put it in a perennial bed or on a lawn, not in the garden because it does act as a natural pre-emergent.
Q: Can I prune trees that have been damaged by a windstorm?
A: Yes, then let it dry. And if it’s a big rip, it’ll take about two or three weeks to dry out completely. Then clean up to any spots where water might sit, so the water drains off. After a few weeks, use a pruning paint on it.
Q: How do I split hostas?
A: The best time to split them is when they’re dormant, so early spring. Mark them in the fall so that you know where they are or you can do it in the fall after the leaves have turned yellow and died back down.
The thing about doing it in the fall is that depending on how much snow we have, you can get some winter kill as well because they’re not as established.
Q: How do I deal with rust on my plum trees?
A: Use copper sulfate, and spray them three times, 14 days apart. With all the rain and humidity it’ll spread more but copper sulfate is a preventive and stops it from spreading. It’s not a cure so that’s why you want to keep doing it the three times.
The damage isn’t going to go away. It’s going to prevent it from spreading elsewhere. Fertilize to get new growth and then the copper spray will keep it from spreading to the new leaves. Some light pruning too can help.
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