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Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Here are some questions and answers from the Nov. 2 show:
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These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: Can I plant organic garlic from the grocery store?
A: It should work. It depends if they were coated, and organic bulbs shouldn’t have been coated with anything. You can pick some up at the garden centre in the spring, too.
Q: How deep and how far apart should I plant garlic?
A: Plant them so they’re not touching, a hand width apart or even a little bit less. The depth should be at least four inches to six inches. Eight inches is a little bit too deep.
Q: When is the latest I can prune asparagus?
A: With asparagus, look at the width of the ferns. You want them the width of a pencil or your pinky finger be fore you cut them back. Otherwise, leave them and then cut them back in the spring.
Q: Can I cut down and water in my perennial mums now?
A: I would leave them until they start turning brown or have gone dormant. You want the energy to go back down into the roots. You can cut them down if you have to, though.
Q: Why were my potatoes small this year?
A: I think it had to do a lot with the sun and amount of heat. You may want to check the pH of your soil, it should be around 6 .5 to 7. Okay, that’s where it should be. If you aren’t hilling your potatoes, you will get smaller ones too, pile the soil up around the plant as they grow. Inconsistent watering can also make them small.
Tradescantia (wandering dude) with dry tips. (Submitted)
Q: Do I pinch off the dead pieces on my house plant (pictured above)?
A: It’s a Tradescantia, or a wandering dude. Trim those dry tips off, it actually will help promote some branching. The biggest thing is consistent watering, so stick your finger into the soil. Make sure it feels dry to the touch before you’re watering it.
A grow light will help keep it through the winter season. You can take some cuttings off it, throw them in some water and make some new plants as well.
Q: When should raspberry bushes be trimmed back?
A: This fall, take out the third year of canes. Leave the ones that did most of the producing this year, and all the younger canes. Don’t trim them unless they’re six feet tall. You can trim them down to three or four feet.
If you have a raspberry patch that’s got out of control, you can trim it back but you are not are going to have a nice crop next year.
Q: What is the best way to deal with poplar saplings coming into my yard?
A: This is a complicated question. If they are coming from a tree in a neighbour’s yard, the best way to do it is to cut a trench about three or four feet away from the fence or the trunk — it depends if the trunk is right up against the fence. You’re trying to sever the umbilical cord to the suckers.
The problem is if you spray Roundup on the shoots that come up it can translate
back to the tree and you’ll kill it. The best way is to make a 12-ich deep trench and then put in two layers of landscape fabric vertically to form a barrier so the roots can’t grow back. Next year when those suckers are growing, you can paint some Roundup on them and kill those roots that are now separated.
If you keep trimming it, you’re going to eventually end up on a big stool bed and you won’t even be able to walk out there with bare feet on your grass. You can use Roundup Advanced but it will also make a dead spot in your grass.
Q: What’s the best lawn fungicide to prevent snow mould?
A: Copper sulfate is best for home gardens but any fungicide will help.
Q: Lots of ladybugs are hibernating under my wood-slat sidewalk. Will it harm them if I shovel the walk clear of snow?
A: The ladybugs will find a place to hibernate, so you don’t need to worry about that. If you have any leaves or anything like that, leave some debris somewhere in your yard that’s nearby where the ladybugs can go to hibernate.
Lady bugs are quite amazing, they go into deep dormancy and they kind of freeze and then they just perk back up again in spring. You will lose some of them if it ia a harsh winter — that’s what gets rid of a lot of our bugs that aren’t natural here.
Q: How do I care for spruce trees seedlings in cell seed trays over winter?
A: Snow cover is huge, so plant the whole tray if you can. With raised garden beds, if they’re narrow, they’re not going to help because the frost will go right through the side but if it’s a big wide bed, then plant them right in the middle.
If you can’t bury them stick them together, pile up the edges with dirt or mulch and throw some mulch over top of the trays, but make sure it is in a spot where there will be good snow cover. If the snow it’s starting to melt away for some reason, pile some back on top.
Q: How do I get rid of spider mite on a plumeria?
A: With spider mite, you’re best to increase the humidity in the area. With plumaria you don’t want to have too much humidity or the soil is going to get wet and you’ll start having fungus gnats and all of those types of things, too.
The best product to use is End All. Spray it on the underside of the leaves every 12 to 14 days for about three to four cycles.
Q: If I cut down a chokecherry with back knot will it spread to my lawn where the branches fall?
A: No. Black knot only affects the chokecherry family, it doesn’t affect other plants. Make sure you take the branches to the landfill.
Q: Should I trim my roses now?
A: Leave them until spring, and then because they act like little snow fences and cache lots of snow to protect them. In March or the first week of April, trim them back at least a third up to a half.
Q: My sunflower leaves had black dots on the leaves and the stalks. Can I still harvest the seeds?
A: The black dots could be a lot of things. They could be caused by water sitting on the leaves and causing a fungus or it could be a bug that was causing it. You can definitely still harvest the seed but if you think it was fungal at all, get rid of all of the branches.
Q: Should we cut down peonies now and leave mulch over them?
A: Peonies are perennial so they come back from the base every year, so if you want to cut them down now remember they set their eyes in the fall, so you want to make sure you’re not cutting too low to the ground. Otherwise leave them and cut them back in the spring.
A Norkent apple tree. (Submitted)
Q: My Norkent apple tree (pictured above) has developed a wound on the trunk. What would you recommend for winter care?
A: Those cracks going down the stem could be frost cracks. It looks like this tree had a Y and they selected one branch to go up.
With the sunscald on the base, the damage that’s been done, you’re not going to have a whole lot of fruit because the bark is damaged on one side and the only way the sap is getting to the top of the tree is up the other side of the trunk.
Now is the time to put tree guards on your fruit trees to prevent sunscald and rodents. You can get a spiral or corrugated one but get them on now because you want to protect them from snow.
Consider putting in a new one in because that tree is going to deteriorate over time. It’s not going to produce, insects are going to move in and it’s going to rot more.
Q: Can I trim my haskap bushes now?
A: Now or in the spring, it doesn’t matter. Even after trimming, you should get fruit. Just thin them out a bit so the sunlight gets inside of them.
Q: How late do you water new grass in the fall?
A: You don’t want it to germinate anymore because if it pops up and you get hard frost and no snow, you might lose it.
Probe the soil — if you’ve got moisture there, just leave it. If it’s totally dry, then give it a last watering.
