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.
Before submitting a question, be sure to check the index
of previous questions and answers or search our
site using key words. Many questions have already been answered
here on the site.
Other July Links
 I have owned my hybrid lilac
bushes for approximately 9 years...and they don't bloom. I have also noticed
that the leaves are brown at the top. What can I do?
 Lilac's will not bloom if they
are too shady, lacking in fertilizer or if the soil is too acid. The leaves
as you describe them may be suffering from Lilac blight. Examine the plant,
soil and location and see what needs to be done to correct the condition.
Feeding? - Liming the soil? - Too much shade? You might want to take a leaf
into a garden center and have them diagnose the condition on the leaf. If
it is Lilac leaf blight, you can use a copper spray to helps bring it under
control.
We have a fairly large yard
with tall pine trees on each side. (just moved in last July) I have noticed
that the grass is dying out away from them. It looks like it is dying in
the shape of the tree branches. The trees are large pine trees and the lowest
limbs are way above our heads. We keep the needles raked up. There are few
needles where the grass is dying. Your website suggested lime and aeration
along with reseeding. Is this all I really need to do? There is hardly any
grass at all in these areas but the rest of the lawn is lush and green.
That will really help fill
in the turf, but you will also have to watch the watering closely, because
the pines are thirsty trees. Also feed the lawn , under the tree, with a
liquid fertilizer, as it is then taken up thru the grass blades.
Do you have any suggestions
for discouraging our resident woodpeckers from eating my ripening tomatoes?
There are plenty of bugs for them to eat - last year we did not have a problem
with them eating the tomatoes. This year they are identifying the ripening
fruit and pecking it to pieces.
Cover the fruit with a light
mesh or the entire tomato area with screen door cloth, so they cannot get
to the plants.
My mom is interested in using
clover for a lawn that would not need to be mowed. Are there different types
and which one would be best for this use?
Yes, there are several types
of clover. I recommended the white Dutch clover for the NW, but they may
have a different variety that they recommend for her area of Indiana. Suggest
she contact the Indiana Extension Service. It will be listed in the white
pages of the telephone directory, under (her county) Cooperative Extension
Service. Clover grows taller than cut grass, but does not need mowing unless
one wants to keep it lower in growth.
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