We all knew that the warmer sunny weather would not last. Still it was nice to get that taste of spring. Ahhh spring! The warm days are pushing us outside, and when we did go outside what did we notice? Some of our touchy plants didn’t quite make it. Oh well, zonal denial… wait, William has a bone to pick with the term ‘zonal denial’! Check out his blog posting this week and see why he thinks we need to reassess that term and what it means! Don’t worry about the flowers getting ahead of you either, there is still time to get out in the garden and do a little cleaning. It is the perfect time to tackle some of those early spring tasks, a few of which we show you in this week’s show. Or you can skip the chores and visit your local garden center for a ‘fix’ of spring color like we did at Cornell Farm.
This week we featured..
One Weekend Wonder – Garden Trellis
People are looking for more structure in their gardens. One way of doing that is to build a trellis or arbor. William and Judy showed us a One Weekend Wonder project on how to build a new trellis with just a few simple materials. All it took was 2 treated posts, 2 twelve foot 2x4s, 2 bags of concrete, 2 ten foot 2x2s and some nails and bolts. The project started with the placement of the posts. Once the concrete was set, we built the top of the trellis. If you are looking for step by step instructions, click here, for all the details. This structure is great for any climbing plants like clematis, climbing roses, and other vines.
Starting Seeds Indoors
Now is the time to start some of your seeds indoors in anticipation of the coming spring and summer. Judy is joined by Sue Berge of New Dimension Seeds to show you how to plant your seeds and what types you can plant now to get a head start on the season. The basic rules for success include starting with a quality soil and fresh seeds. Sterile soil will help you keep your new plants happy and healthy, because they won’t be exposed to different molds and fungus. Sue also mentioned the need to read the back of your seed pack so you will know how deep to plant your seeds and other care instructions. Sue moves and thins her small plant seedlings to bigger pots to give them the best start before they go in her garden. This would be a great year to start a vegetable garden to save some money; check out your local garden center for a great selection of seeds. For some more tips on successful seed starting, check out the ‘Seed Starting’ link on the How-To page.
Lawn Moss
If you live in the Northwest you have moss. This is one of the biggest problems facing the homeowner and with the warmer weather around the corner you may have the urge to renovate your lawn for the summer months ahead. But first you have to get rid of the moss. We talked to Norm McCreight of Lilly Miller about moss and why we seem to have so much of it in the Northwest. It is a condition that we get from a lack of care. If you take care of your lawn and help the grass grow, then you can help keep the moss from taking over. Norm gave us some tips on getting rid of the moss and what you should do to keep it from coming back. We also featured the Moss Out product. William started the story by spraying a patch of the lawn and by the time we finished the story the moss was already turning black! We also learned that if your have a moss control that contains iron you should be careful to not let it get on buildings, patio or clothing. The iron will cause a stain. If you want more information about the Moss Out product, check out their website , and BEWARE OF MOSS.
Grape Pruning
Pruning grapes can be intimidating. We paid a visit to Jan and Ray McNeilan, retired OSU Extension agents to learn how the homeowner can cut back their vines for the coming season. Grape vines can grow in all different directions and that makes it difficult to choose the right ones for grape production. Your pruning of grapes should be pretty harsh. You can take up to 90% of the vines off and still have great fruit production. Jan and Ray ended up cutting off most of the vines and left only 4 main vines for the new season. Each of these vines was roughly 3-4 feet long (having about 6-7 fruiting nodes per vine). These vines were new growth from the previous year and had nice ‘green’ centers to the vine. Any vines that have brown centers are dead and need to be cut off. Train the selected vines on your horizontal wires and prune off the rest of the vines. This will send all the growth (and fruit production) to these canes. As the season goes on you will see some new growth. These new ‘green’ vines will become your fruit producers for the next year, so take care of them. Next spring you will have to choose a couple of these vines to be your fruit producers. So to recap; pruning grapes are a 2-year job. You are looking for one-year old vines for fruit for this year and you are promoting new ‘wood’ for fruit vines in the second year. Of course you can contact your local OSU Extension Office for more helpful tips.
Spring Bird Care
With the coming of spring it also signals the return of birds to the garden. You can make it easier for our feathered friends by equipping your garden with all the right materials they need. We paid a visit to Backyard Bird Shop (503-635-2044) and met with Scott Lukens to see what he recommends for bird lovers. The basics that they recommend addressing are food and shelter. Food needs change depending on the type of bird you want to attract. For example, you wouldn’t use a hummingbird feeder to attract a chickadee. So know your bird and use a correct feed. Most seed feeding birds like black oil sunflower seed. Also, when choosing a feed, pick a quality one. Backyard Bird Shop gets fresh deliveries of seed a couple times a week. Shelter could be a bird house, or even planting the right plants in your garden that can protect them from the weather and predators. Scott showed us a bird house that had a smaller hole for the birds to enter with no perch. This is important. A larger hole with a perch will attract non-native types of birds. An inch and quarter is just the right size. You will also want a way to clean it out after the nesting season is over. This will prevent diseases and contamination for the next brood. You can also leave out nesting material and it will help them build a nice soft nest. Finally, the hummingbirds are returning and you can welcome them back with a nice meal. Set up your hummingbird feeders with some fresh nectar. You can make it yourself with the recipe on the Backyard Bird Shop website.
Kindergarden – Coloring Daffodils
This week’s kindergarden segment is something that many people did when they were growing up; adding die to your flowers to make them change color. We were using daffodils, but you can use carnations or even celery. You first go out into your garden and cut a fresh daffodil. You then add a couple of drop of food coloring to some water, green, blue or red work the best. Over the next couple of days you will start to notice the color appearing on the outer edges of the flower. If you look closely you will actually see the small colored veins in the flower. It is a great way to see how plants use and take up water.
