Ed Hume Answers Your Gardening Questions
Ed Hume cannot answer all of the garden questions he receives, but questions
of general interest will be answered here every month. Email your questions
to HumeSeeds@aol.com. Please
note: we do not accept attachments.
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of previous questions and answers or search our
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Other February Links
 We just retired and
moved to Arlington and have installed our first two 4x8 foot raised vegetable
garden boxes. It was set up with nursery mix and a sprinkler system. From
reading your web site it appears that we should add some sort of fertilizer.
Recommendation?
 Add any type of
well-rotted manure, compost or even processed manure. In Arlington, you should
be able to find well-rotted manure and it would be best. (Do not use fresh
manure at this time. It is only applied in the fall.) Mix about a wheelbarrow
in each bed.
The sprinkler is tied
to our nearby planting beds. I'm afraid that overhead watering may have adverse
effects on the vegetables, i.e. mold, mildew etc. Is it something to worry
about since the garden gets full sun all day?
Keep your tomato plants
away from the overhead sprinklers.
Finally, since this
is our first vegetable garden what would you recommend for our first adventure
so as not to burn ourselves out and not achieve any fruits of our labor?
Start with leaf lettuce,
spinach, beets, carrots, onions, radishes, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, kohlrabi,
chard, cabbage, early corn, beans, peas, cucumbers and herbs. At first, stay
away from peppers and tomatoes (other than early varieties).
See Also: Raised-bed Vegetable
Gardening Preparing the Vegetable
Garden Wide Row Vegetable Gardening
I am planning on putting
in a laceleaf Japanese Maple in my front yard. It will face south and get
morning sun-not much afternoon sun. When is the best time to plant one of
these?
Japanese Maples could be planted anytime during the dormant season (now).
If I were you, I would wait until late February or early March when the nurseries
get in their new stock. Right now you would be getting a choice from what
was leftover from last season.
Japanese Maples could
be planted anytime during the dormant season (now). If I were you, I would
wait until late February or early March when the nurseries get in their new
stock. Right now you would be getting a choice from what was leftover from
last season.
I have massive amounts
of grass clippings. I do not have the brown stuff to help breakdown
the grass. I end up with a pile of slime. It's really wet here. We average
over 100 hundred inches of rain annually. Makes the grass grow well in the
spring. I would like to compost. Any suggestions.
The best browns are
leaves from deciduous trees or peat moss. The key is to build the compost
pile in layers, so you do not have too much of one material, such as the
grass clippings...they will make a big slimy mess. If you do not have leaves
from deciduous trees, ask you neighbors to save some for you or contact the
parks dept. in town. Coffee grounds are also a great addition to the compost
pile.
You may need to cover your compost pile at times because of the heavy rainfall
in your area.
I have problems with
squirells. They dig up everything I plant. They dig up bulbs and they dig
up plants that I have just planted. Do you have any suggestions on how I
can keep the squirells out of my garden.
Myrna tried a new
product in our garden because the squirrels were digging the bulbs out of
the newly planted containers. It solved the problem, at least for now. It
was called 'Scoot Squirrels'. In the Canadian parks they use Naphthalene
flakes over the planted areas. Others claim hot dried pepper works well,
too!
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