Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

Oklahoma is springing to life all around us. Everything is running early this year and we still have a good three weeks to go until our average last freeze date for central Oklahoma. Hopefully we can avoid a real hard freeze and serious plant damage. The crocus, grape hyacinth and especially the daffodil bulbs have been gorgeous. The forsythia, quince and spirea flowering shrubs have produced spectacular mounds of color. The Bradford Pears, peaches, apricots, crabapples and our state tree, the redbud, have all been dressed out in there brightest colors. It is really special to see these trees, dormant all winter with their naked branches, stage their annual coming out party with their best showing of bright flowers even before unveiling any of their leaves or foliage. The march of spring color will proceed like a fine orchestra through the growing season as different plants flower at varying stages and temperatures as we go through the annual dance of the seasons. It is really fun to observe and add different plants to your yard as the years go by so that some plant is in the starring role or giving a special show or performance most every week. This variety and constantly changing show of color can really add excitement and beauty to your yard and enhance the joy and fun of spending time in your garden.

We are nearing the end of the season to plant cool season vegetables so if you have not yet planted your potatoes, onions, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce, the time is now. We really should wait on tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and the warm blooded annuals like impatiens, penta, begonias, rose moss, marigolds, zinnias and most others until after our last average frost date around April 7. Mid April is a good time to go full speed on planting warm season crops. We are nearing the end of the season to apply pre-emergent weed killers for crabgrass and other summer weeds since pre-emergents only work before the weed seeds germinate. You must apply soon to get the most benefit. This is also a great time to plant trees and shrubs as you think of the future.

We have had some really gorgeous days that make it easy to quench your spring fever with some wonderful time outdoors. Hopefully you will get a chance to escape the news, finance and employment issues and spend some time in the yard where time marches on and the world is flowering and leafing out with new energy and the excitement of spring.

It seems like we go right from ice and snow to battling tornadoes, but that seems to be the annual trip from winter to spring in Oklahoma. We have a long list of projects ready to tackle in the garden. Based on telephone calls, e-mails, comments from garden center owners and others it appears many additional folks are planning to plant a vegetable garden this year. Vegetable gardening can be part of adjusting our lives to deal with new financial realities, trying to live a more independent or sustainable life style or just part of getting back to basics. Now is the time to plant many of the cool season food crops.

Hopefully you have already prepared your soil for planting. If not, till and work your beds right away. Valentine’s Day to mid March is the time to plant onion plants and onion sets, to cut up and plant your seed potatoes. This is the time to plant cauliflower and cabbage plants. Plant seeds or plants of leaf and head lettuce to grow your own fresh salads. Plant seeds of carrots, swisschard, kohlrabi, peas, spinach or turnips now to get your cool season garden growing. In early March we can plant some of the more tender cool crop vegetables like broccoli, beets and radishes. Now is also a great time to plant perennial food crops like asparagus or rhubarb crowns and bareroot blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes and spring or everbearing strawberries. Many of those perennial crops require planting now to enjoy harvests in future years where the annual crops will produce a harvest over the next few weeks and months.

I get lots of questions about controlling weeds in lawns and when and how to control crabgrass. Now until late March is the best time for pre-emergent weed control on your lawn. There are several products, like those containing Dimension, you can apply later and still get results but it is best to apply now. Work with your nurseryman to pick the best herbicide for your application from a smorgasbord of good pre-emergents including those that contain Balan, Simazine, Atrazine, Trimec, Sulfentrazone, Gallery, Team, Surflan, Ronstar, Treflan or my favorite, Prodiamine. You can apply these as a herbicide alone or as part of a weed and feed product. The most important thing is to get the product applied and activated before the Crabgrass and other weeds germinate. The herbicide does not become effective until activated by a good rain or watering of ½” or more. It is great if you can apply it before a rain. If not, water thoroughly to achieve pre-emergent weed protection for 60 to 100 days.

A week ago I was in warm Tampa, Florida for a meeting and they were all talking up and getting ready for the Super Bowl. I came home early last week, just in time for another Oklahoma ice bowl. It seems like we have been making a habit of these ice events the last few years. Thankfully this ice was not nearly as thick as the two terrible ice storms in January and December 2007. We occasionally get ice up to ¼” in thickness but historically only get ice accumulation of 1” or more once every 50 years. In addition to power outages these heavy ice events cause significant splitting, bending and breakage of trees. Thankfully the storm this week did not get to even a ½” accumulation in most areas but we still have seen some damage to trees and branches still stressed and weakened from the terrible and heavy ice of the 2007 storms. The extreme weight of ice can cause many broken limbs and even trunks leaving jagged holes on the bark of the remaining branches. Sometimes the damage leads to severe damage of the cambium and bark leading to dieback and weak growth of new buds and shoots. Branches lost to dieback and breakage reduce the total leaf area on the tree and this reduces the carbohydrates or food available to the roots and branches. It can lead to sunscald of newly exposed bark and open up the trees to attack by borers and other insects. Wounds and dead branches lead to decay which can lead to more branch loss in the future.    

Our goal is to help our trees heal by promoting reasonable vigor, to contain wounds and re-establish a stable, well spaced, branching structure. We can do this with good pruning, proper watering, mulching and moderate fertilization. A good level of vigor will help the trees compartmentalize decay and limit its spread. When a tree loses over half its branches the best approach may be to remove it. If it has over half the branches left use good pruning to help the tree recover. Cut the damaged branches back to laterals or the trunk but preserve the branch collar by making cuts that angle out from the trunk. Never leave stubs.  Spread heavy pruning out over 2 or 3 seasons so the tree maintains sufficient leaf area to produce adequate food.

Trees need sufficient rain or water to keep the tree healthy. Most trees do best with about an inch of rainfall (0.62 gallons per square foot) per week. It is particularly important to provide extra water during the hot dry summer, during dry winters and any drought. We are very dry right now and this ice/sleet/ snow will only provide about a ¼” of rain so your trees need some extra water now. A mulch of natural bark or hulls around the base of the tree will help conserve soil moisture and keep the soil temperature more consistent. Mulch is particularly helpful to young trees.

Select the proper site for any new trees, clean out damaged branches and prune properly on existing trees and water thoroughly to avoid stress and keep your trees healthy.

We hope you have the New Year off to a good start and got to explore the special show gardens and visit a few of the gardening vendors this last weekend at the Home and Garden Show. The days are already getting a little longer again and with the garden show and gardening catalogs all around us we know that spring will be here soon. We may not be certain about the stock market, our home values or even our jobs but we know that the sun will rise and set each day and that spring will arrive in early to mid April with our last freeze of the winter.  The certainty of spring gives us something really positive to anticipate.

There are many things we can do now to get ready for spring. We have been very dry for a couple of months and are getting close to winter drought conditions.  You really need to water your trees and shrubs to keep their roots healthy. Winter watering also helps prevent cold damage or freeze burn on evergreen foliage should they dehydrate in these dry conditions. You can also dig new flowerbeds or rototill existing beds and add organic matter to get ready for spring planting. This is a good time to dig down 6” and take soil samples to your local county extension office from your lawn and flowerbeds to analyze your soil nutrient conditions.  These soil tests will help you see what fertilizer you may need later this season or if you have too much or too little of various nutrients and minerals. You often can pay for your soil tests with reduced fertilizer once you know what you really need. You will be living a greener, more sustainable life by only buying and applying what you need instead of overfeeding.

I have read several stories in the paper lately about staging your home and the importance of curb appeal. Whether you are trying to sell your home or just wanting to be a good neighbor paying a little attention to your trees, shrubs and landscape is one of the most important ways to make your home stand out with good curb appeal. This is a good time to focus on your landscape. A little planning could add big value to your home in the future or at least make it more likely that future buyers would at least look at your home. Use your staycation or extra time at home to add trees, rework flowerbeds or develop your patio and outdoor living areas. You will enjoy the new look, living in these revitalized spaces and they will add real value to your home and property.

It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone but 2008 is now history and we have entered the future of 2009. Through great times, tough times, uncertain times, one thing is certain, that time marches on and the seasons come and go. We are now dealing with the cold of winter but before we know it spring will be upon us followed by another hot summer and then a glorious fall and back to Thanksgiving, Christmas, winter and another new year.

This is the customary time to review our lives as we complete one year and to make new resolutions and set new goals and dreams as we start another new year. This is also a good time to review your garden and landscape plans and decide if there are any new projects you want to tackle this year. That process for gardeners is aided at this time of year as our mail box is filled with catalogs from the seed, plant and bulb companies touting their newly discovered plants, new varieties and new colors. For the higher tech gardeners your e-mail in box is probably filled with these same treasures or enticements encouraging you to try new vegetables, fruit trees, perennials, annuals, ground covers, roses and all other kinds of plants. I always enjoy flipping through these glossy catalogs with enticing pictures and often make a list of new plants I want to try.  Make your list then try and buy these plants locally at your neighborhood nursery, greenhouse or garden center who can often give you good input on what really works here in Oklahoma and can give you good local information on whether to plant the desired plants in the sun, the shade, in a container or whether there are other special care requirements.

With food prices having increased so dramatically the last couple of years you may want to start a vegetable garden to grow your own tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, potatoes, onions, melons and other more exotic foods. You may want to start a strawberry patch or add blackberries, raspberries, grapes or fruit trees to your yard to experience the joy and taste of home grown food. You may have been dreaming about adding another flowerbed, a pond and water garden, a cutting garden with flowers that excel for cutting and bringing inside to liven up your living room or kitchen table. You may have a goal to build a patio or outdoor living area surrounded with container gardens of beautiful tropical plants or want to build a hobby greenhouse.

You have to dream it, resolve it and plan it for most things to happen so take a little time to plan what you want to try or add to your yard during this New Year.