Cutting back buddleias in late winter

by Mark Levisay

Today I’m going to go through a quick description of how we cut back our buddleias (butterfly bush) in late winter.  February and early March are a good time to prune or cut back most perennials as the sap has not started to run yet.  This also applies to fruit trees, and even grapes.  If you wait until the weather is warmer, the plants may lose precious moisture at the places you make your cuts.  I’m going to use buddleias as an example, since I did this yesterday (2/26) and took some photos while I was at it.

Buddleia bush before pruning.

Buddleias are slightly different than a lot of other perennials in that their upper branches have not been killed back by frost.  They stay remarkably green all winter and will start growing from any of the existing green growth when the weather warms.  You can just leave them, but we usually cut them way back, and then pinch back the new growth multiple times to make the plants bushy and to produce more flowers.  With other perennials cut the dead growth down to just above any green shoots you see just above the soil.

Closer look at the dense green growth near the base of the plant.

This photo shows where we are going to focus our pruning efforts.  There are a lot of green shoots around the base of the plant, and each will become a branch supporting multiple flowers (which the butterflies love!).  Using sharp by-pass shears or loppers, cut each existing branch just above the node (the point on the branch where the shoots emerge) right above the top shoot you want to save.  This is a chance to create a nice rounded form for later uniform plant shape.

This is what the plant looks like after pruning.

Each of the remaining shoots will now be ready to start their growth into new branches when the warmer weather arrives.

Closer look at one of the pruning cuts with the shoots that will become branches this year.

As the new growth begins, pinch back many of the new shoots.  This not only makes the plant bushier, but it will produce more flowers and help you continue to shape the plant.  I’ll go into this process in more detail later in the spring when I can take some photos while I pinch back the plants.

As a side note, we haven’t had any trouble at all with deer bothering the buddleias, even though they are one of the few plants with green leaves during the winter months.  Add to that their value in attracting pollinators like butterflies to your garden and I think we have a real winner here!

Any questions please feel free to e-mail me at marklevisay@gmail.com  Good luck!

Tomatoes in Central Virginia, Part 2: Planting tips

by Mark Levisay

Now that you have a better idea of what varieties of tomatoes you want to plant, let’s talk about how to plant them to maximize their growth throughout the summer. 

Spacing to minimize disease

Proper spacing of the individual plants is important in minimizing the spread of disease later in the summer. Rows should be at least 3’ apart, with the plants in the rows 2-3’ apart. The idea is to get as much sunlight to the plants and promote air movement to minimize fungal diseases. I use soaker hoses throughout my tomato beds, and it helps to have them laid out in addition to your support stakes or poles before you do any planting.

Tomatoes planted and tied to support poles.

Establish strong roots

If you look closely at your tomato plants you’ll notice lots of little “hairs” on the main stem.  These will become roots if they come in contact with the soil, so your goal is to plant your seedlings as deeply as possible for maximum root development.  You’ll also notice two small oval leaves, which you want to pinch off. 

Bury your seedlings to within about 2” of the first set of leaves. Plant them as close as you can to your support stakes or poles and the soaker hose if you’re using it.  Never bury any leaves under the soil as they will rot and cause trouble later.  Mulch thoroughly all around the plants to conserve moisture and prevent soil splash onto the leaves.  (Important note: The soil splash is one of the ways that fungal spores in the soil can come into contact with the tomato plant.) 

Keeping good constant moisture in the soil, without being soggy, is a good way to prevent blossom end rot on the fruit. I use hardwood bark mulch in my tomato bed, but straw works well and you can use newspaper between the plants as well. Water thoroughly after mulching.

Feed plants through the summer

Tomatoes are classified as heavy feeders so it’s important to give them fertilizer of some sort all during the summer. Before I plant, I mix a cup or so of Espoma’s Plant Tone organic fertilizer in the soil where each seedling will go. Mix this in the soil when you dig your hole, and then firm the soil around the plant. You can use a high nitrogen (N) fertilizer at the beginning as you’re trying to promote rapid growth of the new plants.

Once the plants have begun to set lots of green fruit it will be time to add more fertilizer. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer for this application. Two weeks after your first ripe tomatoes, fertilize again, but this time use a fertilizer with a higher phosphorous (P) content, as this helps promote the fruit production. Continue this monthly schedule until fall.

Support plants

I start tying up my tomatoes as soon as they’re tall enough to get the ties around—sometimes even when I plant them.  Tomatoes want to grow UP and I think they do better if you help them climb the poles. Tying up also helps prevent damage from storms and high winds. In addition, we want the plant leaves as far from the soil as possible for disease prevention and the ties will help with upward growth.

To make the ties, I use old sheets or pillowcases torn into ½-3/4” strips about 10-12” long and tie them up after every 6-9” of growth.  I’ve also learned to put a wood or drywall screw into my poles ½ to 2/3 of the way up from the ground on the opposite side from the plants.  Later in the summer when your plants are loaded with fruit they’ll want to sag down and the screws give the ties something to latch on to.

Next time we’ll talk about training, pruning and other cultural practices in the tomato bed.

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Tomatoes in Central Virginia, Part 1: Choosing the right variety

by Mark Levisay

Without a doubt tomatoes are the most commonly grown garden plants.  Nothing beats the flavor of a home grown tomato picked fresh from the garden—especially after eating the ones offered at the grocery store.  Seed catalogs give you lots of options for starting your own plants and garden centers usually have dozens of varieties ready to go right into your garden. With all of these choices available, how can you choose the right ones for you?

How much room do you have?

Tomatoes come in all sizes. They are usually classed in three groups 1. midget, patio or dwarf, 2. determinate and 3. indeterminate.  These descriptions refer to their growth habit and may affect your varietal choice depending on how much room you have for tomatoes in your garden. The smallest tomatoes are designed for pots or containers and probably won’t need much if any support.  Determinate plants will only grow to a set height (usually 3-4’) and then stop.  They usually need some type of caging or staking, but not as much as the indeterminate types.  Indeterminate tomatoes are the ones that get big—continuing to grow through the season until killed by frost or disease. They’ll need tall stakes or heavy duty cages for support.

Big Beef tomatoes tied up to supports.

How are you going to use them?

Choosing the varieties of tomato for your garden is hard because there are so many choices available!  It seems like tomatoes come in every size and color, so deciding what you want to use the fruit for will help with your decision.  Cherry and “grape” tomatoes are great in salads.  Most slicers and beefsteaks are great for general eating or putting on your BLT at lunch!  Paste tomatoes are often used for canning or sauce production, though I make salsa and spaghetti sauce out of slicers. 

Heirloom varieties

If you’ve never grown tomatoes in your garden before, consider trying an “heirloom” variety.  These are usually older varieties passed down through the generations and prized for their flavor. Many are not disease resistant, so if you’ve grown tomatoes before you may have trouble with them as the disease fungal spores can survive in garden soil for up to five years. 

Disease resistance is critical

In my garden, where I’ve grown tomatoes for 30 years, I look for the most disease resistant varieties I can find.  Many seed catalogs will list the disease resistance (using the abbreviations from the list of diseases below) in the description of each variety.  Generally the more letters listed in the description the better!  For example, in my Park Seed catalog the Better Boy Hybrid is listed as V/F1/N/A/St, giving you an idea of its general disease resistance.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of diseases that affect tomatoes. Eight of them are fungal in nature and will persist in your soil from year to year.  Early Blight (As), Late Blight (LB), Anthracnose (An), Fusarium Wilt (races 1,2,3 F1 F2 F3), Verticillium Wilt (V), Alternaria stem canker/crown wilt (A), Stemphylium gray leaf spot (St) and Septoria leaf spot (L).  You also have Tobacco Mosaic virus (T), Spotted Wilt virus (Swv), Bacterial Wilt (B) and Bacterial Speck (Pst). 

In addition to choosing the right variety, there are some tricks in how you grow the plants in your garden that help a lot, and we’ll explore that at length next time.

And remember, regardless of size, all tomatoes are tender annuals that require full sun and won’t tolerate frost at all. 

Lemon Boy tomatoes ripening in late summer.

My tomato choices

This year in my garden I’m going to grow four different tomatoes.  I’m growing Sweet Million Hybrids, a red cherry variety that is indeterminate  with F/N/L/T resistance.  This variety is very vigorous and usually grows taller than the poles I use (8’ 2x2” posts).  Next is a red grape tomato we’ve come to love, called Juliet Hybrid which is a resistant, indeterminate type that will climb the pole and then climb back to the ground and look for the next pole down the row to climb back up on!  I grow Lemon Boy Hybrid yellow tomatoes which seem to have good disease resistance, maybe a little less acid than the red tomatoes and are indeterminate. They make really good yellow salsa!  My main red slicer is the Big Beef Hybrid, a former AAS winner.  These indeterminate plants have excellent disease resistance and produce loads of baseball to softball size fruits.

Next time I’ll review growing methods to get the most out of your tomato patch.

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Spring Fertilizer Guide: Organic Holly Tone for acid-loving plants

by Mark Levisay

I’m going to take a break from talking about plants and shift focus to fertilizers and soil additives.  The Corner Store Garden Center carries an extensive line of Espoma products that you don’t know about since you can’t come inside the greenhouse and see them all lined up!  That’s a shame, because many of these products could prove useful to you during the garden season.  I took my camera (and mask) up to the greenhouse one afternoon and photographed each product’s bag, front and back, so you could see what you’re missing.  I’ll try to explain what’s in each product and what it can do for your garden.

Fertilizer for acid-loving plants

Holly Tone is an organic, balanced fertilizer with an N-P-K analysis of 4-3-4. It also contains 3% calcium (Ca), 1% magnesium (Mg) and 5% sulfur (S).  The sulfur component is the key here, as this product will act to raise the acidity of the soil where it’s used. 

Espoma’s organic Holly-Tone fertilizer for acid-loving plants.

Espoma’s “Bio-Tone” provides beneficial bacteria

You’ll also notice as you look at the side panel of the bag that it contains 3 types of bacteria.  Healthy soil contains a mix of both bacteria and fungus, and these organisms are critical in breaking down chemical compounds into forms the plant can absorb.  Adding these beneficial bacteria to your soil will improve the overall “biome” and help plants thrive.  All of Espoma’s xxx-Tone fertilizers will have this “Bio-Tone” component.   A side effect of this is that each package will have a “use by” date, as these bacteria colonies will slowly decline over time.

Another thing you’ll notice on the package is the source of the water-insoluble nitrogen (N).  This in-soluble nitrogen needs to be broken down by organisms in the soil to be available to the plant, so it’s considered slow release.  Feather meal, bone meal and poultry manure are all by-products of chicken  and egg production, and alfalfa meal is derived from a common farm crop.  It’s great that these by-products can be used as fertilizer and they also help improve the tilth of heavy soils.  An unfortunate side-effect is that our dogs think this stuff is candy and we can only use it in areas where the dogs are fenced out!

Ingredients panel for Espoma’s Holly-Tone organic fertilizer.

Plants and application

There are a number of plants that benefit from growing in acidic soil conditions.  Evergreen trees and shrubs, azaleas, rhododendrons and mountain laurels, and blueberries and other bramble berries come to mind.  For a more complete list go to espoma.com for additional information.  They have good lists of plants that benefit and application instructions. 

Espoma recommends a spring application and a smaller fall application for shrubs and two separate spring applications for berries.  To be sure for individual plant varieties I’d refer to Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website (ext.vt.edu) as they have loads of information on the nutritional requirements for most garden plants.

Next time we’ll talk about Plant Tone, which is an organic fertilizer I have used a lot in my vegetable garden with great results.

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Tomatoes in Central Virginia, Part 3: Growing tips

by Mark Levisay

Now that you’ve got your tomato plants in the ground, how do you care for them to ensure maximum fruit production?  I have found there are several things you can do throughout the growing season to help your plants thrive.

Tomato plants tied to support poles as they grow.

Provide great support

The first thing is to give the plants good support to keep them off the ground and growing vertically.  I use 8’ 2x2” poles to support my plants, though cages can work as well.  Using strips of old sheets or pillowcases I tie the growing leaders to the poles at least every week.  An interval of 4-8” is probably good-more supports will help hold up heavy sets of fruit.  I usually tie just under a node, which is where a leaf comes off the plant’s stem.  Don’t tie them too tight, as the stems will get bigger over the summer and you don’t want to prevent the flow of nutrients up the stems to the leaves and fruit.

Continue tying all summer long, at least until the plant gets to the top of the poles!  The goal here is to keep the plants away from soil splash during heavy rains, as that can infect the plant with fungal spores present in the soil.  The ties and supports also prevent damage from summer storms.

Prune regularly

Secondly we want to prune the plant and train it to grow with two or three main “leaders,” which get tied up to the support.  Tomatoes want to produce many growing shoots and will produce “suckers” at almost every node.  These shoots will produce flowers and fruit if allowed to grow, but the root system will have trouble supporting all of these stems and the plant will be very thick with foliage. 

We also want to encourage air movement within the tomato patch and help more sunlight reach the fruit so it can ripen.  When the plant is 12-18” tall you will notice one or two of the suckers will be really big and robust.  I let one or two grow in addition to the main leader and remove all other suckers that emerge.

A good rule of thumb is to pinch off any suckers on the plant each time you tie the new growth up or roughly once a week.  You’ll even notice suckers that appear where you’ve already pinched one off but remove it again if it appears.  This pruning actually stimulates the plant’s vertical growth which will aid with air movement and sun exposure.

Fertilize strategically

Fertilizing your plants is really important as tomatoes are classed as heavy feeders.  I use Plant Tone organic fertilizer when I plant the seedlings.  Once the first fruit has set, about 2 weeks before your first ripe fruit is expected, fertilize each plant with a fertilizer relatively high in nitrogen (N).  After that, at one month intervals, feed the plant a fertilizer that is higher in Phosphorus (P) as that will help support the flowering and fruit production.  Remember, if you are growing indeterminate plants they will continue to grow, flower and produce fruit until killed by frost or disease.

Keep it clean

To prevent the spread of disease it’s also important to practice good hygiene in your tomato patch.  I generally consider any yellow or brown leaves I see to be diseased and remove them as soon as I can.  Not only remove them from the plant, but from the garden as well.  I don’t even put them in my compost pile, as the fungal spores can survive for up to 5 years in compost or soil, unless your compost pile is really achieving the high temperature needed to kill them (131F for 3 days). 

When in doubt, throw them out!  Your plants will start to look bare at the bottom, but that won’t affect the fruit production if they’re actively growing at the top.  At the end of the season, when your tomato plants are dead, remove all of the old leaves and stems from the garden, and try to plan for having your tomatoes in a different area next year.  Most farmers practice crop rotation, and you should too.

Good luck!

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Growing vegetables in containers

by Mark Levisay

What do you do if you want to grow vegetables (or flowers for that matter) and you don’t have a yard to garden in?  If you have any sunny spot outside your home, you can grow a lot of different kinds of vegetables in containers.  Just as with garden beds, having lots of sun is key, as most vegetables simply won’t thrive in the shade.

Drainage is key

Almost any kind of container will work as long as it has drainage holes at the bottom.  The water must be able to readily drain out of the pot, and not sit in the bottom.  Plant roots want to be moist but not swimming in water, as they also need air to live.  Pot size will vary depending on the space you have and the types of plants you want to grow.  Obviously a tomato or pepper plant will need a larger pot than a couple of heads of lettuce or a few herbs. 

Larger pots are usually better, as you may need to water them less often.  One drawback of the larger pots is their depth which seems to increase faster than the diameter.  Most plant roots will only live in the top 8-10” of soil so the bottom of the pot is not really needed.  Many people use some kind of filler that doesn’t hold water and allows drainage, so your potting soil only fills the top half of the pot.  Collapsed plastic plant pots, closed cell Styrofoam, or just bark mulch will all work.  Rocks would work fine but the pot will be really heavy if you have to move it!

Railings can provide added support for tomatoes growing in containers.

What should I plant? 

Determinate tomatoes (they only get to a certain size) or peppers are good candidates if you have large pots.  Herbs work really well, and several varieties could be grown together in a large pot.  Basil tends to get pretty big by late summer, so you’ll probably need a pretty big pot for that.  Lettuce and spinach can work in smaller pots if you keep the number of plants low.  Cucumbers should work well if you have some kind of trellis for the vines to climb on.

Planting and caring for your container crops

Planting is pretty much the same as it would be in a garden bed.  After checking your drainage holes (you may need to drill these out in plastic pots or add more to what’s already there) fill the bottom half (of large pots) with some kind of filler.  Add your potting soil, plant the seedlings or seeds, and water thoroughly.  Mulch is often helpful for retaining moisture.  Commercial potting soil usually contains a slow release fertilizer, so you’re good to go for 4-6 weeks before you need to add more.  A water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro or slow release pellets like Osmocote will work well.  Water frequently and thoroughly-you should see some water run out of the bottom of the pot. 

Unless your pots are sitting on gravel, they should be up off the surface of your patio or deck by at least an inch.  There are all kinds of plant stands of varying height which will do the trick.  We even found a plastic product called Pot “Toes” on Amazon-use 3 or 4 per pot to raise the pot.  This promotes drainage and allows the surface (wood, concrete or tile) to dry out between waterings.  In our warmest summer weather you may need to water almost every day, as the entire pot will be over 90 degrees and evaporation will be rapid.

With plenty of sun, basil grows well in containers.

At the end of the growing season you have two choice of what to do with your pot.  You can pull out your spent plants and save the pots full of soil for next year. This works well if you’ve planted perennial flowers, as many will over-winter.  You’ll just need to add fertilizer at the beginning of the next growing season, as the original fertilizer will be depleted.  The other procedure is to remove the soil and filler from the pot completely.  The used potting soil will make a good addition to traditional garden beds if you have them.  Rinse your pots with water to remove soil and plant debris, and then disinfect the pots with a water and bleach solution mixed 10 parts water to 1 part bleach.  This should kill any fungal spores or harmful bacterial that may have accumulated during the growing season.  Store the pots somewhere dry and they’re ready to start all over next spring.  You’ll get many years of use out of good quality pots, so why not give it a try?

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

What is pH, and why should I care?

by Mark Levisay

What is pH?

To answer this question we need to take the way back machine to high school chemistry class.  Acidity is the relative activity of the H+ ion in a given environment, and there is a scale to measure that activity.  The scale is from 0-14, where 0 is highly acidic, 7 is neutral, and 14 is highly basic or alkaline.  The scale is logarithmic, so a change from 7 to 6 is actually a 10 fold increase in the acidity.  In general, plants can grow in a pH range of 3.5 to 10, but most of the plants we’re interested in prefer a range from 6 to 7.  Exceptions to this rule would be plants from forests or bogs which have evolved in a more acidic environment.  Some acidic loving plant examples are azaleas, rhododendrons, laurels and blueberries.

Azaleas and rhododendrons are a few of the plants in our area that prefer acidic conditions.

The impact of pH on plant growth

The reason we should care about the pH of our soil is that it has a huge effect on fertility.  If the soil is too acidic, manganese (Mn) can concentrate in toxic (to plants) levels.  Calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P) can be tied up chemically and not available to the plant.  On the other hand, in alkaline conditions phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), boron (Bo) and manganese (Mn) can become unavailable.  Some of these are major macronutrients, and plants can really suffer under the wrong conditions.

In central Virginia we rarely encounter alkaline conditions.  Most of our native soils are going to be at least slightly acidic due to the underlying geology and the fact that most of this area was forested at one time.  Adding mulch to your garden is an excellent idea but will lower the pH (making it more acidic) over time due to the organic processes of decomposition.  Even rain is slightly acidic which doesn’t help the situation. 

If you have trouble with your lawn grasses and/or have moss then your soil is probably more acidic than you’d like it to be.  To get an exact answer, you need to do a soil test, which will give you an exact pH number and a recommendation of how much lime you might need to bring the pH into balance.

How to fix acidic soil

Raising a pH that’s too low (acidic) is pretty straightforward.  Limestone is basically calcium carbonate (CaCo3).  Adding this to the acidic soil breaks down the molecule, releasing the Ca+ ions along with carbon dioxide and water.  Calcium is a nutrient needed by plants so limestone provides an added benefit.  You may have used pelletized dolomitic limestone on your lawn, and this inexpensive product is also excellent for your vegetable and flower beds.  Dolomite is a limestone that also contains magnesium (Mg), so you get a double benefit by adding both Ca and Mg to the soil.  This can be especially important with fruiting plants such as tomatoes which can develop blossom end rot.  This condition is caused by a calcium deficiency typically due to insufficient or infrequent watering.  Having extra calcium in the soil can help prevent this.

Wood ashes from your fireplace can also be used to correct low pH, but it’s a little trickier.  It takes twice as much ash to raise the pH than lime, but ashes also contain phosphorus, potassium and boron, so you shouldn’t use too much at any one time.  The best practice is to spread a thin layer of ashes on your garden beds in the fall and let it incorporate over the winter.  Never put ashes too close to seeds or seedlings, as it can damage the roots.  Vegetables that seem to like things less acidic than others, like beets and spinach, may benefit from an application of wood ash.  If you use ashes, it’s a good idea to do a soil test regularly to keep a close eye on the pH.

Keeping your pH at an “optimum” level of 6-7 will help ensure that your soil is able to deliver the nutrients your plants need.  Your vegetables, flowers and lawn will reward you for it!

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

What do those numbers on the fertilizer bag mean?

by Mark Levisay

You’ve probably seen bags of 10-10-10 “plant food” at a big box store or garden center and may have wondered what those numbers mean. The numbers refer to the percentage by weight of N-P-K, or nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash (potassium) which are essential nutrients that plants need to grow.  Rather than thinking of them as plant “food,” it’s helpful to view them as ingredients that the plant uses, along with sunlight, to manufacture food (sugars) that the plant needs to live.  Let’s talk about those ingredients in a little more detail.

A little chemistry

Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are readily available to the plant from the air and water (CO2 and H2O), but the nitrogen in the air is tightly bound up as N2 molecules and can’t be accessed by plants.  Phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are minerals that would usually be found in soil.  These six elements are considered the major macronutrients plants need for growth.  Calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S) are minor macronutrients and might be lacking in some soils.  Micronutrients are iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), molybdenum (Mb), manganese (Mn), boron (Bo), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co) and Chlorine (Cl).  Most of these will be found in soil in adequate supplies for plants but can be added if a soil test indicates a deficiency.

The functions of N (Nitrogen), P (Phosphorus) and K (Potash)

The back of the fertilizer bag will provide details on the ingredients.

So, what do these individual nutrients of N-P-K do for the plants?  Nitrogen promotes top and leaf growth and is essential to the plant.  It’s transient in soil and will need to be added, at least yearly, depending on what plants you’re growing.  Phosphorus is important for root growth and fruiting, but stays in the soil, so once added should be OK.  This is also the nutrient that promotes algae blooms in Chesapeake Bay, so you’ll rarely see this nutrient in products like lawn fertilizer.  Potassium promotes stem durability and cold hardiness and is also transient in soils, so we’ll have to keep up with this over time.  A N/K ratio of about 1 is probably right for most average plants.

Soil testing provides your goal

To understand how you can improve your soil and provide your plants with the ingredients they need, you should test.  You can guess at what’s in your soil by observing your plant’s growth, but testing will tell you for sure.  Your county extension agent can help you learn more.  The test results will tell you what’s in your soil currently and make recommendations to improve it for good plant growth.  The recommendations will be expressed in pounds of nutrient per 100 or 1000 square feet. The test will also tell you the pH (measure of acidity), but we’ll talk about that in a separate blog.

The pounds of nutrients recommended is where the numbers on the bag come in. In our original example, 10-10-10 tells you there is 10% N-P-K in the bag by weight.  A 40 pound bag has 4 pounds each of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or 0.4 pounds per pound of fertilizer.  The rest of the bag is an inert filler, which is important because too much nutrient too close to the roots of a plant will burn the roots.  Some of the organic fertilizers are less potent, like Espoma’s Plant-Tone organic fertilizer at 5-3-3,    so they can be added in larger quantity to the garden.

Watering is very important in relation to fertilizer application, and it’s uptake by the plants.  The nutrients in our bag of fertilizer are in the form of nitrates, nitrites, phosphate and potash which break down into charged ions in water.  These ions are then available to be absorbed by plant roots.  98% of the plant’s nutrient needs are absorbed in water taken in by the roots.  Roots encountering dry particles of fertilizer can be damaged.  Adding chemical fertilizers one to two weeks before planting seeds or plants can allow the fertilizer to become mixed in the soil and go into solution.  I’ve had pretty good luck using Plant-Tone at planting time since it’s not too strong, but I always water well after planting.

With the right ingredients, your plants will trhive.

To learn more about the individual fertilizer requirements of specific plants, go to the Virginia Cooperative Extension website. You’ll also be able to find information about soil testing on the site.

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Dealing with weeds

by Mark Levisay

Most people probably agree that a weed is simply a “plant out of place.”  Tall fescue, your typical lawn grass, is certainly a weed in your vegetable garden.  A beet showing up in your lettuce bed might be too, but maybe not as onerous!  Dandelion flowers are lovely, but nobody seems to like them in the lawn—but the bees certainly appreciate their early flowers.

What makes a weed such a problem? 

Many weeds are fast growers, and as such may out-compete the flower and vegetable plants you’re trying to grow.  They take valuable nutrients out of the soil to support their own growth, robbing your desired plants of what they need.  They may even shade or crowd your seedlings to the point they can’t grow at all.  Many weeds excel at growing on poor and compacted soils where other plants can’t thrive, so Imagine how much they like your improved garden soil!  Their fast growth and short reproductive cycle (many mature, bloom and set seed in just a few weeks) demand quick action.

Henbit, one of the most pervasive weeds in the garden early in the spring.

What can we do to stop the weeds? 

Physically we can just go out and dig or pull them-most easily done when the ground is wet. For centuries, humans cultivated crops with hoes (and sticks before that) to kill weeds while preserving the desired plants. A few more modern ideas:

• Use landscape fabric as a barrier to prevent weed seeds from sprouting and growing. It’s even more effective when used with mulch. 

• Mulch itself helps a lot.  It makes the weeds that do appear easier to pull and improves the soil in the long run.  Even newspapers can prove effective as a barrier.   

• Mow the lawn as high as your equipment allows so the grass will shade out weeds. 

• Plant wide rows of vegetable plants or put flowers in clumps close together to crowd out the weeds.

Chemical weed control

There are two fundamentally different ways to attack weeds with chemicals.  One is a pre-emergent product which keeps weed seeds (many are annuals) from germinating.  Crab grass preventer for lawns is one example. Applied at this time of year (when the forsythias are blooming) it keeps last year’s crabgrass seeds (and other annual grass seeds) from sprouting.  “Preen” is a granulated pre-emergent product you can use in vegetable and flower gardens as long as you are NOT PLANTING SEEDS in those areas.  This product works great around perennials, or where you might be planting established seedlings like tomatoes or peppers.

Contact herbicides can themselves be divided into two types.  Broad spectrum chemicals like “Roundup” kill everything they’re sprayed on.  Roundup (glyphosate is the active ingredient) is absorbed by the plant and disrupts the cycle of photosynthesis. More selective herbicides differentiate between monocots (grass) and dicots (broadleaf plants).  These are usually applied to lawns to kill non-grass weeds like dandelions or chickweed.  As always, read the label, follow the mixing instructions, and avoid contact as much as possible.  Some of these herbicides are very controversial so make informed choices.

If you keep after them, you can get ahead of the weeds. Try to break their flowering and seed distribution cycle and you’ll have less work to do over time!

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Simple Raised Beds

By Mark Levisay

Raised beds don’t have to be complicated, or expensive.  Their main function is to enhance drainage in rainy weather, and allow you to enhance the soil, especially if your area has a lot of rocks or clay.  Three or four inches is all you need to achieve those goals.

Size and access

Let’s think first about bed size and access.  You should be able to easily reach into the center of any bed you build, so your arm length may be the ultimate guide for bed width.  If your garden has a fence, you can make beds along the fence 2 feet wide or so, which allows easy access from just one side, and can support large plants such as a row of tomatoes or peppers, or lots of smaller plants.  In areas where your bed will allow access from both sides, four or even five foot wide beds can work.  A bed this size could contain two rows of peppers or tomato plants, or even three rows of something like beans or beets.  Just remember you want to be able to easily reach the center of the bed, as you never want to step in the bed to avoid compaction.

Bed length is determined by your overall garden space.  Some folks go with a “four square’ that is four feet on every side, with easy access from any side.  Many of my beds are twenty feet long, as  row cover material often comes in either 20’ or 50’ lengths (I cut that in half and use two 6’ wide strips to cover a 5’wide bed). 

You should leave “paths” between your beds to allow easy access for you and maybe a wheelbarrow or wagon so you can get your tools and produce in and out.  Three feet or so should be plenty for a path.

Soil

You don’t need fancy soil for your raised beds, especially if you are building them in an existing garden space.  The nearest source could be your designated pathways.  Dig a few inches of soil out of your path, and pile that on your beds.  Mulch the path to keep your feet out of the mud, and you’re good to go!  If you have a really rocky site, or one with heavy clay, you may need to bring in soil.  There are numerous local contractors who can deliver really nice “top” soil by the yard, or for smaller projects you can buy bagged products.  Some are even called “raised bed soil” which seem to contain a lot of organic matter to promote good drainage.  Always plan to use some amount of mulch on the top of the soil, which will inhibit erosion and soil splash (especially important for tomatoes) and retain moisture in dry weather.

Structure

Do you really need to have physical edgings for your raised beds?  You don’t really need edging, especially if you have a fairly level site.  If you’re on a slope, physical borders can help create terraces that create level beds on the slope.  Edgings can also give you a place to kneel when you access the beds for planting, weeding or harvesting.  I’ve used a lot of landscape timbers over the years but found that they rot out pretty quickly.  I may switch to landscape blocks which are designed for retaining walls and garden edges.  This may cost a little more but should be permanent.  Railroad ties, bricks, logs, or cedar boards (naturally rot resistant) will also work depending on your site and what you feel comfortable working with.

If you put in a little up front effort you’ll have garden beds that will work well for you in any kind of weather for years to come. Good luck!

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

I’m stuck at home, what can I do?

by Mark Levisay

March is actually a pretty good time to be home, as there are many things in the garden that need your attention.  Indoors you can be starting seeds, such as tomato, pepper, and basil next to a bright sunny window or with some good artificial lighting.  Planning the layout of your vegetable or flower garden is another way to use your time and be ahead of the game when planting time rolls around.

Pepper seedlings under the lights.

Outdoors there are lots of things to keep you busy. 

Do you have a fenced in area for your vegetables?  If not, put one up!  60” welded wire fencing will keep the deer out, and you’ll probably need to build one or more gates for access to your garden.  Ever think about raised beds?  This is a perfect time to build them, so they’re ready to go—the sooner the better.  Mulching the paths between the beds is a good idea, as it will keep your feet out of the mud after big spring rains.

If you already have an established garden, now is the time to clean out dead plants, leaves and other winter debris from your beds.  Weeding is crucially important, as any weeds that are already blooming are ready to set seed for their next generation.  Getting ahead of weeds now will really help later on in the summer.  I spread pelletized lime on my beds every couple of years to help counteract the many acidifying factors, such as fertilizer, mulch, and rainfall that affect your beds.  If you have an asparagus bed you can also fertilize it now, as the spears should start to appear in April.

Have you thought about using row cover material to protect vegetables like broccoli and cabbage from worms?  This is a perfect time to set up your supports, and lay out a soaker hose where your plants will go.  The soaker hose makes it much more convenient to water once the cover goes on.  Buy your plants, set them, and then cover.  No more broccoli worms!  As a warning, kale is in the same family, so growing it under cover will help protect it from the worms.

As far as actual planting goes, mid-March already getting late for peas and spinach, but you can try if you haven’t already planted them.  Lettuce and beets should wait until later in the month, unless they’re going under a row cover.  Same with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts.  Plant now under cover, or wait a week or two to set out in the open.  We’re more than a month away from putting out things like tomatoes, peppers, beans, and squash, but you can plan for where they’ll go.  Poles for training tomatoes or for climbing pole beans and fencing for cucumbers can go up now, and you’ll be ready to go when the time is right to plant them.

Take advantage of any extra time you have to invest in your garden now, and you’ll reap the rewards later this summer!

Have a garden question? Send me an email at marklevisay@gmail.com.

Garden Bed Design Basics

Whether you are breaking ground for a new garden, renovating or enlarging an old one, or maybe considering raised beds there are a few things you should consider. What kind of sun exposure do you have? Is your proposed garden level, or sloping, and in which direction? Are you going to have a fence to keep the deer out? What materials do you want to use, or have access to on your property? Let’s dig deeper into each of these areas.

Maximize sun exposure

Sunlight is the number one factor in a successful garden, as you can’t really change that once you’ve dug your beds. Most vegetables and flowers do best with at least 8 hours of full sun each day. Some can do OK with less, and may benefit from a little afternoon shade during the hottest months. Avoid trees, for the shade they cast (which can change over the course of the season), and also the roots that compete for nutrients and water. If possible, it’s best orient your beds east-west, which will maximize the amount of sunlight each row receives.

Sun and slope were key considerations in this garden bed design.

Fencing options

Do you have a deer problem in your yard? We sure do, and it’s been getting worse with time. To keep them out, use a 60” (5’) welded wire fencing around the perimeter of your garden, with one or more gates to allow access to your beds. This fencing comes in 50’ rolls, and costs roughly $1/’. Inside, consider beds of two sizes, depending on where they are in relation to the fencing.

A 2’ wide bed along the fence allows you to reach all the way across without stepping in the bed itself, and allows plants that like/need support access to the fence itself. Pole beans, peas and cucumbers all benefit from the support. Away from the fence and small beds, consider 4-5’ wide beds. The goal is to be able to reach the center of the bed easily from either side. Pathway areas between the beds should be at least 3’ wide so you can use your wheelbarrow or garden cart between the beds.

Slope considerations

Is your garden area level, or does it have some slope? A lot of places in Central Virginia are hilly, so slope is often an important consideration. On the plus side, it will improve your overall drainage, and if your garden slopes southward more sunlight will reach each bed. Northward slopes, though not ideal, are still workable. Increase the size of your pathways to prevent one bed shading another, and consider raising the beds to some degree—possibly higher as you go down the slope.

Raised beds offer advantages in level areas too, as they allow for increased drainage when we have too much rain. You don’t actually have to use an edging material when you build up the raised beds, but many people use landscape timbers, cedar boards, concrete blocks or even logs to outline the beds. Consider using some soil from the pathway areas to help build up the raised beds. If you are using perimeter beds along your fence, you may also need to plan for some drain pipes to get water out of the garden during and after a heavy rain. Using short sections of 4” flexible plastic pipe under the perimeter beds can really help. This is most easily done when you’re first building the beds.

Taking a day to examine your sun exposure, and planning the layout of your beds can really get your garden started on the right foot. Happy digging!