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

Hope you had a great 4^th of July and got to enjoy some fireworks and special time with your family and friends. You may have even gotten to enjoy some pretty flowers at the Myriad Gardens, the Zoo, your neighborhood park or even in your own yard as part of the holiday celebrations. As we think back on the birth of our country all of our early presidents and most of the leaders who met in Philadelphia to form our country were avid gardeners and most were active farmers. If you ever have the chance, please make time to enjoy the gardens of George Washington at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. It is amazing the planning they put into their gardens and their passion to find new plants and new crops. They kept comprehensive records and it is fun to see the joy they expressed at the beauty of their flowers and trees and the excitement of their first harvest each season or from new crops.

That is one of the exciting things this year with so many new vegetable gardeners as we get to hear stories about the anticipation and the celebration of their first harvests. I have had many people talking about how red to let their tomatoes get before harvest and debating whether to eat the first tomato sliced, on a hamburger or in a salad.. There are great debates about how big to let the eggplant get before harvesting and when to pick the green beans and peppers. It is really fun to watch and hear the excitement of these new gardeners harvesting their own vegetables for the first time. An experienced gardener gets that same thrill from growing a new vegetable or flower species or succeeding with a plant that has not produced or grown well on a previous effort or in a different spot in the garden. When you are dealing with living things you also learn to deal with the frustrations of a cutworm eating through the stem and killing your tomato or sweet potato, the birds pecking into your tomatoes or the aphids overwhelming your peppers. It really makes you appreciate the challenges commercial farmers face.

Nothing beats growing gorgeous flowers or fresh vegetables and fruits in your own yard but if you can’t or aren’t growing your own local produce please consider buying as much locally grown produce as possible to support the local truck farmers and market gardeners. Many communities have opened their own farmers markets to make it easy for local vegetable growers and consumers to find each other. Local foods are picked more mature and so are usually tastier and even healthier than the usual good produce we Americans are blessed to enjoy.

The weather has been downright gorgeous the last couple of weeks and has allowed us to get more evening and weekend time out in the yard. My wife, Dona, and I have planted more this season than we have in many years and we are having a great time doing it, even though we have been getting a little sore from time to time. I know these physical workouts are good for us. We have really enjoyed gardening together, visiting about all the family, church and world issues in between digging, planting, weeding and arguing over what should go where. She keeps planting more squash, melons, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and other vegetable crops while I keep planting more annuals, perennials and tropical foliage for color. This year we have ended up with lots of mixed plantings of vegetables and flowers. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. The plants we got planted earlier are really bursting out with new growth. If you were not able to get most things fertilized before the mild rains this last week you should fertilize now. We are still planting and have a couple more flowerbeds to update and Dona has a bunch more container gardens planned. Some people act like if you aren’t planted by Memorial Day you might as well skip the season but with container grown transplants, shrubs and trees you can plant all summer as long as you will commit to watering the new plants a little more often until they are well established. We are about 2 months into the growing season and have almost 5 months to go until our first hard freeze so well over 2/3 of the growing season is still ahead of us.

If you have not mulched your container gardens and flowerbeds that should be your highest priority. A 1 ½” to 3” layer of cottonseed hulls, pecan hulls, pine straw or one of the many choices in bark mulches will dramatically reduce your watering.  A layer of mulch will reduce weed germination and competition and result in a more consistent soil temperature and produces bigger, healthier plants. Mulching is an organic or sustainable practice that really makes sense.

Be ready to start helping Mother Nature with the watering responsibilities. Most of our plants need regular watering and if you notice crops starting to wilt, turn a dullish grey-green or look stressed you need to start soaking with drip irrigation, sprinklers or with a good old fashioned waterhose.

Enjoy your time in the garden as you plant, fertilize, mulch and then sit back to enjoy the view and eat the fresh harvest.

We hope you have a special Memorial Day as we remember and honor all those who have served our country. They are so many wonderful and dedicated American citizens that have worked to create our country and to protect our rights and freedoms over the years here in our country and in wars and hot spots all around the world. Over the years we have come to use this holiday to remember all of our loved ones that preceded us, not just those who have committed to military service. Many still practice the custom of planting flowering plants on their ancestors grave or placing boxes or containers of living plants we often call Memorial Day Boxes on those special graves. Make sure you know the rules for each cemetery.

Many other families remember these loved ones by planting a tree, shrub, rose or other special plant each year in memory of their special family members that are no longer with us in body. These memorial plantings often allow us to keep that person’s spirit, memories and love closer at hand and make them a part of our daily or regular experience.

After 2 ½ weeks of rain we have just enjoyed one of the most beautiful weeks of spring weather in a very long time. Hopefully you were able to catch up on planting some or all of those plants you had purchased and were holding for drier soil. This is a great time to plant not just Memorial Day or “in memory” trees and plants but it is a great time to plant just about everything.

The plants we have already planted are just leaping from the ground with the sunshine and warmer weather of the last week after the earlier heavy rains. Remember we will need to start watering our flowerbeds and container gardens now that it is getting warmer and drier. This is a good time to start mulching those earlier plantings to reduce watering and weeding. After all the rains, weeds seem to be coming up everywhere so make sure to pull the weeds before they get out of control or select a herbicide or weed and grass killer that is safe to use over or around your crops. Mulching will dramatically reduce your weed problems. If you haven’t fed your trees, shrubs and lawn yet this spring now is a good time to do that before we get too hot. 

There are lots of things to do in the garden now but planting trees, shrubs, tomatoes, melons and summer vegetables and planting annual and perennial flowers is the main gardening message on this Memorial Day.

Two weeks ago we were really dry and on the verge of drought conditions. How quickly things can change. Now most of the state has been blessed with lots of good soaking rains and many areas are now above normal rainfall for the year. As long as you have well drained soil where your plants aren’t standing in water this has been very good for the plants you have already planted this spring. I have already purchased quite a few more plants to put out, but it has just been too wet to get out and plant them. I don’t like working in the soil when it is really muddy since besides being very messy it compacts the soil and can actually hurt the soil structure and reduce soil quality.

With just a couple of nice spring days the soil will dry out enough to create perfect planting conditions. A friend recently called this the season to dig, plant, water, feed, water and enjoy. Whether your “enjoy” is color and pretty flowers or fresh vegetables and fruit, this is an absolutely fabulous time to dig, plant and feed after these cleansing and refreshing spring rains. We are still at the start of the season and you can get the full benefits of gardening by planting soon.  After all these leaching rains and with our plants in their fastest growth phase of the year this is a great time of the year to fertilize your plants. Remember to water in the fertilizer, if we don’t get more rain within a day or two after you apply the fertilizer.

Hopefully, you have had a soil test, so you will know what kind of fertilizer you need. If not,  I would suggest a good general purpose food where the numbers of N-P-K add up to over 20 like 20 – 10 – 20.  We usually have enough phosphorous in our state so you can generally go lighter on the middle number of phosphorus. Our soils are usually short on nitrogen, the first number so it is often our most needed element. Treat your lawn, trees and flowers to some food. Be responsible and don’t over fertilize but the right fertilizer can make your plants much healthier and will result in more flowers and produce.           

This is also a great time to plant your container gardens so you can enjoy them on your patio, porch or even sitting in your flowerbeds. Now is the best of times to get outside and enjoy time in your garden.

WOW, Last week was absolutely gorgeous and really lived up to those images and dreams of the magical springs of my childhood. I hope you have already been active in planting vegetables, flowers, trees, roses and other wonders of the plant world in your yard. If not, time is a wastin’ as this is the very best season to be planting just about everything.

One by product of the economic uncertainty is that folks seem to be spending more time at home either because they aren’t working as many hours or are just watching their expenses. As a result we are seeing lots more people planting vegetable gardens or sprucing up their patios and yards with pretty flowers since they plan to be home to enjoy it more this year.

The good news is that gardening efforts have multiple paybacks. Investments in vegetable, berry and fruit gardening not only gives you very healthy, home grown produce that tastes better but it is fairly easy to produce $500.00 worth of produce in a very small 100 or 150 square foot vegetable garden with an investment of about $100.00 for transplants and fertilizer. The time spent in the garden can be a very healthy workout and provide some needed sun exposure. Gardening is a wonderful time to meditate, reflect and think while getting a refreshing dose of fresh air.

It has been a lot of fun to visit with so many new and first time gardeners this year. Even my sister in law, Heather and her children, Sydney and Cody are tackling their first vegetable garden and it has been fun to hear the excitement in their voices as they prepared their soil, selected their plants and planted their first tomatoes, peppers and eggplants and started seeds of squash and watermelons. Hopefully they will enjoy this experience and become regular gardeners. In many households and families these skills have almost been lost as many have gone a generation or two buying everything at the grocery store or hiring out their gardening. Many folks have missed this special experience to commune with nature, to enjoy their own fresh healthy produce, their own beautiful inspiring flowers, the success, the joys and the disappointments and frustrations of growing living things.

If you want to liven up your yard with beautiful, uplifting flowers or want to add trees and shrubs to your landscape this is a great time to get outside and just do it. You will reap the dividends later this year in pretty flowers and for years to come when planting trees and shrubs. Trees not only are beautiful and healthy but when properly placed can reduce your heating and cooling bills, will provide you fresh oxygen and absorb and use carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Trees, shrubs and landscaping can dramatically improve home values and make your property more marketable. Schedule some time to get outside and plant your yard and container gardens and no time beats now.