Morning Glory Sucks

If you're as lucky as we are, you have a yard full of bindweed. Bindweed, also commonly called morning glory, like any truly great weed is drought tolerant, likes just about any soil condition, and will take over. Bindweed is so difficult to get rid of, perhaps because its vertical roots can extend beyond 20 feet into the ground, and a piece of root as small as two inches can start a new plant. Other reasons it's hard to get rid of include its ability to produce up to 550 seeds per plant and those seeds can survive for at least 60 years. Oh and did I mention that the seeds can start growing with temperatures anywhere between 41 to 104 F! Truly an amazing plant...if only we wanted it.


So what can you do? Well, there's always pulling it. Sure, it doesn't get the whole plant, but if you continually pull it, it won't be able to take over your garden or landscape. Another great way that I recently learned from my friend Candy Holm will take a little more time, but I think it is well worth the effort. So here it is: Take a small empty glue bottle (like Elmer's), fill it with Roundup, and paint the bindweed's leaves with the Roundup.

So depending on how far you've let your bindweed go decide now to set aside a good chunk of time and go after those suckers!

If you have any questions, comments, or just something you want to add, please leave a comment, email me at gardengoddesses@hotmail.com, or call me at 801-885-3178.

Lara L Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Answers to a few questions

Controlling Grass in Corn
There are some herbicides you can use to get rid of the grass. If your corn has already started growing, you'll need a "postemergence" herbicide. Or of course there's the old method of plenty of hoeing. You obviously don't want to pull the grass out if it's close to the roots of the corn as it will disturb the corn.

Raccoons
There are a few different things you can do for the raccoons. One thing you might try is a repellent. Some common ones are coyote urine (yuck!), or a mixture of mustard oil and chili extract. Try this site for ideas: http://raccoon-x.com/repellant.htm

Deer
Repellents are also good for deer. There are two types: 1) area - repel by bad smell, and 2) contact - repel by making plant taste bad. Deer will try just about anything, so no plant is safe! Here's a good site with more info: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06520.html

Slugs and Snails
For slugs there's always the poisons, but many of those aren't safe around kids or pets (you can find ones that are safe, you just have to look). One of my teachers suggested putting small, shallow containers of alcohol around problem areas. Slugs and snails crawl in, drink, get drunk, fall in and drown. It works, but most of us don't want containers of alcohol around our yards.

Another thing you can use is a rough barrier. Snails and slugs don't like crossing rough stuff with their soft slimy bodies. The following lists many different things you can use as a barrier:

"Good barriers can consist of wood ashes, crushed oyster shells (from feed stores), crushed eggshells, diatomaceous earth, sawdust, lime, short hair clippings, powdered ginger, bran, and ammonium sulfate. Make sure the barrier is at least three inches wide--the wider the better. If a powder barrier gets wet, it will need to be replenished. A border planted with low, spreading rosemary is another one they won't want to cross.

"Garden centers sell snail barriers, some of which resemble strips of sandpaper; others have salt embedded in the material. Copper strips make the best barriers. When the slimers touch the copper, it shocks and repels them. These strips are also effective as barriers on trees. Snails love citrus trees and can be real pests in orange groves. Copper comes in sheets, strips, and sticky-backed tape. One gardener glues copper pennies around her pots.

"A good mulch of oak leaves will also repel slugs and snails. Gather seaweed and spread it around as a mulch. Not only does it makes a good barrier, but it will also be good for the soil. If you use decorative mulches, choose cocoa hulls or crushed rock, which are quite inimical to slimers." http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8778/snails.php

So I hope this helps and answers those questions I got! Any thoughts, suggestions, questions, please leave a comment, email at gardengoddesses@hotmail.com, or call 801-885-3178.

Lara Cummings

Garden Goddesses

Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Water Saving Tip #1

It's getting hot!!! And hot means our plants need more water. So what will you do this summer to save water (and money)?

Our lawns are one of the main consumers of this precious resource, but how can we water it less and keep it green?

One simple way is as easy as mowing our lawns. Most of us bag our clippings and throw them away. Stop! If you leave the grass clippings on your lawn not only will you save water, but you'll also save money on fertilizer! The lawn clippings will break down and return their nutrients to the soil, thus feeding your grass.

Another thing you'll save is time by not having to collect and dispose of the grass.

So leaving your grass clippings on your lawn is all around a good thing! You'll save time, money, and water!

Questions, comments, or ideas of your own? Leave a comment, call at 801-885-3178, or email gardengoddesses@hotmail.com!

Lara Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Growing Like a Weed

They can take over your lawn and garden in the blink of an eye. They're hard to get rid of and grow where nothing else will. We all have them, we all want to be rid of them, but none of us want to do the job. Weeds.

Well, now's the time to do it! Especially if you've had rain lately. There's nothing like a good rain to make weed pulling easier! And if you don't do it now, their roots will just get deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger, they'll get bigger and bigger, and they'll spread more and more seeds. More seeds to make more weeds to take over even more. Not a good thought.

So get out there! Get the weeds out of your lawn and garden before it's all you see! It's worth it and can be therapeutic if you let it!

Give us a call at 801-885-3178, email at gardengoddesses@hotmail.com, or leave a comment!

Lara Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Tomato Plants are Great!

Tomato plants are awesome! They thrive in a lot of diverse conditions, they're tough to kill, they can produce abundant tomato fruits, and they're just cool!

What's cool about them? You know how you have to transplant most plants at nearly the same depth in the soil as they are in the pot if you want them to survive? Well, it's different with tomatoes. You can plant them deep! In fact the deeper the better!

Why plant them deep? Because every one of those little hair-like things sticking out of their stems will become a root, and that will make your plant stronger and help it to bear more and better fruit!

You have to admit, that's pretty cool!

So is there any trick to this? Not really, but a couple of important things to do before you cover that plant. First, be sure to loosen the root ball when you remove it from the pot. This helps the roots to grow out into the soil instead of in on itself (which could choke it in a sense). Second, make sure you remove any leaves that will be below the soil. Leaving them on could cause problems like rot.

If you haven't already planted your tomatoes, or if you just did within the last day or so, you can still put it in deep. Dig a hole deep enough that you can put practically the whole plant in! As long as you leave a few inches of the plant above the soil, your tomato should do well.

If you have already planted and it's starting to grow you can still get a better root system. How? By carefully (so as not to break the stem) laying most of the stem down on the soil and covering it up. Again, be sure to remove any leaves that would be covered.

Hopefully you'll be able to try this out and get some awesome tomatoes and healthy plants this season! Give me a call at 801-885-3178, email me at gardengoddesses@hotmail.com, or leave a comment for more help!

Lara Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Short and Sweet Because it's Friday!

If you're in the Salt Lake/Provo area and haven't planted your garden already, now's the time! So head out to your local nursery tomorrow, buy your vegetable plants, and take advantage of the beautiful weather we're going to have this weekend! The frost danger is past (barring some loathsome, late cold spell), so even the very tender veggies like tomatoes and peppers are ready to be planted!

Have a great weekend!

Lara Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.

Roses and Aphids

Now that your roses are coming back from winter, and even getting close to blooming, you've probably noticed something else coming back too. Aphids. They've actually been back for a few weeks now and some of our plants are probably showing the damage. So what can you do about these little pests?

There are several things you can do. First, fertilize them! Aphids are actually less likely to attack healthy plants. You can find a good fertilizer without buying the most expensive kind. You can buy the expensive fertilizer labeled "Rose Fertilizer," or you can look at the content's analysis, how much N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium), is in it and buy something comparable for a lot less. Another easy way to fertilize is to use a time-release fertilizer. Again, you don't need the most expensive kind just because it's labeled "Rose Fertilizer," just get the same thing for less.

Another way to control aphids is to use insecticidal soap. While it doesn't kill 100% of the aphids, it will effectively control their population and insecticidal soap is great because it does not harm beneficial insects.

There are also things you should probably avoid. Insecticides while effective, can also be very damaging because they kill the beneficial insects too. Beneficial insects like ladybugs. If you're thinking it doesn't matter too much if a few ladybugs die as long as you kill off the aphids, think about this. A ladybug will eat an average of 5000 insects in its lifetime. That's a lot of aphids. A lot more than an insecticide will probably get.

So, to battle those aphids and for healthy roses you need to fertilize and use insecticidal soap if the problem is getting out of control.

Hope you get the beautiful roses you want out of your garden! If you want help please leave a comment, email at gardengoddesses@hotmail.com, or call 801-885-3178.

Lara Cummings
Garden Goddesses
Life is a garden. Grow a good one.