YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Ms. No says “Yes!”
Posted on April 19th, 2007 – 5:42 PMBy Connie Nelson
Being the Home+Garden editor has its bright spots. But every spring, I have the unenviable job of saying no. A lot. I’m always having to tell people not to rake their frozen lawns, not to divide perennials when there’s still frost in the soil and not to plant tomatoes in April. Being Captain Bringdown isn’t a whole lotta fun. That’s why I’m so thrilled to be able to say yes — at least to a few things.
Yes, you can rake your grass. The soil should have firmed up by now. (Use a light-weight, fan-shaped rake and go easy. Remember, grass plants are plants.)
Yes, you can seed if you’ve got bare spots in the lawn. (Wait to fertilize, though, until the grass is long enough to mow.)
Yes, yes, yes, you can clean out your gardens, improve the soil and plant leaf lettuce, peas, onions and other cool-season veggies.
Of course, it’s still way too early to plant tomatoes. But there’s one more thing you can do: Empty those containers filled with half-dead spruce tips. They looked great last fall. They look sad and tired now.
Think spring. Plant pansies. And say yes to gardening!
21 Responses to "Ms. No says “Yes!”"
I’m looking for some help with the up keep of my perennial garden (35 x 35)
Do you know of anyone or company that does weeding ??
thanks
laurie
Connie,your tips on what we can do are so helpful. Just looked at the weather forecast and know I’ll be out there, weeding/seeding, etc! One of the etcs will be buying and putting pansies in pots. Can this afternoon go ANY faster so I can get myself to a gardening center?!
is now a good time to prevent crabgrass? because i was planning on do that along with fertilizer, but the blog says not to fertilize yet.
Where is the best place to get great heirloom seeds? I want variety to see what works best, looks best, is the most fun, etc. rather then highest yield. Thanks!
Oh! My fav place for heirloom seeds is Seed Savers Exchange. If you don’t want to wait, try a local co-op. They usually have a rack of seeds in the produce section.
its there pictures of what “weeds” look like? to me if it’s green and it grows, I just don’t know what to pull and what not to (except dandylions)
e
Laurie, I do my own weeding of a huge 30×50 veggie garden, and use Preen & Green in the process - once, at the BEGINNING of the season. Then I put mulch over the top and very few things get a chance to pop back up. Works like a charm. Some people are opposed to “chemicals,” but they do have their place if used properly. (Make sure if you use P&G that your flower/veggie seeds have already sprung up and everything is in place that you want as it inhibits germination.)
Last night planted three rows of onion sets and three rows of potatoes - the ones left over from last fall that had been dug up and we couldn’t eat fast enough. They had decided to start growing in the 5-gallon bucket by themselves, so they said “yes” to dirt. 
What a beautiful evening!
Sara, Jaime & I agree! Seed Savers in Decorah. I hear they have fantastic tours as well!
http://www.seedsavers.org/
Hey EA,
If you want to take a chemical-free approach to gardening, give the little green things growing in your garden some time to identify themselves. When they’re little bitty,weeds and plants can look a lot alike. Wait until they start to develop leaves and take on some form. Then you can pick up a good weed book and take it into the garden with you. Within no time you’ll be able to tell the difference between your coral bells and your creeping Charlie before they even get leaves.
Chris,
It’s probably best to wait a bit to go after crabgrass. Turf grass experts (yes, there is such a thing)say to wait until the first of May to use a pre-emergent herbicide on crabgrass and other annual weeds.
As for fertilizing, you can go ahead and do that as soon as your grass is growing so actively that it needs to me mowed. I’ve heard from plenty of folks who are revving up their mowers. My yard, on the other hand, is just now starting to green up.
If you want to use a non-chemical alternative to herbicide, you can apply corn gluten meal in late April. Spread it on the affected part of your
lawn and water it into the soil. (You’ll need to apply it again in mid-August.) It’s not a quick fix, tho. Every year you use corn gluten meal your yard will look better, but it’ll take about 3 years for it to look fab.
I loved wildlife. Until I started to garden. The deer love to chomp my hostas and have a true affinity for hydrangea. I’ve tried all sorts of commercial sprays, and every bit of non-traditional advice I’ve ever gotten: edging the garden with dog hair, “planting” Lux soap, laying chicken wire on the ground next to the garden. No dice. Part of my problem is no doubt the fact that edge of the garden that leads to the woods is planted in day lillies, something I thought would give a lovely naturalized look. Which it does until the deer decide to use the daylilly patch as a bed. (If I happen to wake before dawn in the summer, I run out in my bathrobe and surprise them. Wau fun. But highly ineffective.) This garden is smack dab in front of our highly contemporary house, and fencing it in would be an eyesore.
Got any new ideas for me? I’ve heard there are plants that repell deer, but I don’t know what they are.
I inherited a massive retaining wall garden that runs the length of the cornor lot of my NE Mpls home. The previous owners planted the whole thing with peonies. Last fall they drooped and died and I didn’t prune them back. I waited until just a few weeks ago to prune them back to the ground and now I’m afraid that I’ve killed them. The rest of the flower garden seems to be springing to life but the peonies havn’t popped their little heads out yet.Are peonies usually late bloomers?
Anyone know of any non-chemical and/or organic lawn fertilizers and herbicides (besides the corn gluten meal mentioned above)? I have a 19 month old and the thought of her rolling around in all the chemicals outside terrifies me!
Connie,
I have ignored waiting to plant my tomatoes and other vegetable wives’ tale for several years now. You should not plant early if you have not turned your soil several times to reduce moisture and increase the temperature and if you are not willing to cover your plants.
However, if you cover your garden with a heavy layer (two-three feet) of leaves and other compost in the fall then remove your covering as soon as the first warm week occurs ( often March or February) because of global warming pollution. Turn your soil once after removing compost covering a second time in early April. Your soil temperature and moisture should be perfect for planting tomatoes or any other vegetables.
I use milk cartoons, old pots, and other containers to cover my plants if the temperature drops below 35 degrees but that has happened rarely in the last five years. I have taken the gamble of planting early for the past several years and have not regretted it. My guess is we can continue to take that gamble because the climate has changed and will just keep getting warmer.
Ken Bradley
Minneapolis
Amanda,
Your peonies should be showing at least some green by now. But failing to prune them wouldn’t kill them. Give them a little time and see how they do.
Good luck!
Hey Jo,
Nice to hear from you. There are a ton of products on garden center shelves claiming to repell deer. Most of them are scent-based and do an OK job, depending on how often they are applied and how numerous and hungry the deer are. A fence is really the only way to keep deer out of the garden.
I don’t know of any plants that repel deer, but here’s a list of some of the plants that deer seem to like less:
Bulbs: Daffodils (Narcissus) Ornamental onions (Allium) Grape hyacinth (Muscari) Calla lily (Zantedeschia)
Perennials/wildflowers: Yarrow (Achillea) Monkshood (Aconitum) Lupines (Lupinus) Anise hyssop (Agastache) Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Delphinium Lungwort (Pulmonaria) Goldenrod (Solidago) Lady’s-mantle (Alchemilla) Peony Chrysanthemum Astilbe Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) Foxglove (Digitalis ) Globe thistle (Echinops) Hardy geranium (Geranium) Spurge (Euphorbia) Lenten rose (Helleborus ) Iris Bee balm (Monarda) Catmints (Nepeta) Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) Lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) Columbine (Aquilegia) Salvia Daylily (Hemerocallis) Oriental poppy (Papaver orientalis) Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
From horticulturist Nancy Rose,a contributing writer to the Star Tribune Home+Garden section.
.
Ken,
Great to hear you’ve been able to get a jump on the season. I know other gardeners who’ve had luck with cold frames and Wall-o-Water. Any other tricks you use?
I don’t plant tomatoes until Memorial Day. I guess I’m just hopelessly old fashioned.
Connie,
My mother is hopeless old fashion as well. She scolds me ever year for planting “too early”. I am hopeless defiant. I will plant my tomatoes this weekend and if we wouldn’t have had the recent cold snap I would have last week.
My grandfather use-to-use warm water on his tomatoes in the early spring, he claimed that made them grow and produce quicker because it helped to warm the soil. He would poor warm (not hot) water each morning prior to leaving for work. This apparently helped him to be the first gardener in the neighborhood to have a ripe tomato. I leave a gallon of rainwater out in the sun all day and then bring it inside and water early in the morning. I have generally produced enough tomatoes for my family, mother, neighbors, and even co-workers off 8 plants. What fun!
Ken
Going to replace the veg garden with one very large asparagus bed.
After getting like 10 bags of tomatoes and cukes…(yes i do leave them on the neighbors front steps at night), I intend to scale back, just a bit.
Turning the veg garden into a large asparagus bed this year.
Looking forward to the season and I do enjoy reading your posts.
Thank you,
pat
I use milaorganite to repel deer. You can also run a fishing line around the perimeter of your garden (maybe 4 feet high). You can’t really see it and it will spook the deer when they touch it.
Where I see gallery?
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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