What's in this Issue:

#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips

#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month

#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News

#5 Great Plant of the Month

#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month

#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month

#8 Feedback - Anonymous

#1 Master Gardening Tips

Fall Soil Preparation for Spring Planting

Question…

What do I need to do this Fall to prepare the soil in my flower garden to be ready for Spring planting?

Soil preparation in the Fall is an important part of the Spring planting process. It may seem like a long way off but here are some good reasons for the early start:

First: Soil is often damp and wet in the Spring which makes deep spading difficult. If you till soil that is too wet it makes clods and these are very hard to break down into the crumb state that is ideal for planting. Furthermore, you may be amazed to know that working soils that are excessively wet can destroy soil structure which may take years to rebuild.

Solution: Tilling & spading in the Fall allows for the natural winter conditions of freezing & thawing to naturally break your soil into smaller particles. Of course if you are in the tropics such as Florida or other areas warm climates this is not as dramatic.

Other advantages to fall tilling are:

* It allows you to plant earlier in the spring.

* Organic matter has better decomposition if done in the fall versus spring.

* Insects, disease organisms, and perennial weeds may be reduced or eliminated because you are exposing them to the elements of winter.

Tilling in the Fall also allows for the addition of organic matter. Compost and matter such as leaves are great for your soil preparation and add very important nutrients. In most areas there is an abundance of leaves coming down in the Fall so this is perfect for your compost base material.

Rake the leaves into your garden area and spread them. It is actually best if you are able to shred the leaves but not mandatory. Spade your leaves into the soil as deeply as possible with 6-10 inches being an ideal depth. You could also add a small amount of all purpose fertilizer to help in the decomposition process.

Organic matter in the soil is a golden answer for the spring time. Soils with plenty of this are easy to till as the soil will naturally break apart when working it. Another important benefit is that your soil will do 2 simultaneous important things… It will retain moisture while at the same time have good aeration and drainage capabilities.

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#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips

Pumpkins & Gourds

Save Pumpkin & Gourd Seeds

Remember to save your favorite pumpkin and gourd seeds to plant in the spring so that you can have your very own fall harvest next year and kids just love to watch them grow all summer.

Pumpkins are great bases for fall topiaries. Just put a branch in the top of a sturdy pumpkin, put a Styrofoam ball on top and cover with leaves, apples, pears or even white lights. They really stand out if you can put them on top of a clay pot or plant stand by your front door or by your fireplace.

Decorate Pumpkins & Gourds

There are plenty of ways to decorate with pumpkins and now with the new varieties of different colored ones, especially white and pale green ones, even if you don’t like orange for your décor, you can still decorate for fall. Draw your design on your pumpkin, cut the bottom off instead of the top and clean out the seeds. Use a drill to poke holes in the pumpkin where your design is and you can either put white lights inside and poke through the holes or just put a candle inside on the bottom piece of pumpkin that you cut off. Of course you must add some mums for that burst of color that fall is all about.

For holiday decorating, take the small green and white gourds and line them up across your mantle (remember to use an odd number). Fill a bowl with mixtures of gourds or fall fruit and put them on your coffee table or in a basket on your porch. Put small pumpkins or gourds on your dinning table in the center or at each person’s place setting, cut a small hole in the top the size of a tea light candle and put the candle inside for a festive look, you can even use apples. For an additional touch, tie a stem of mums around a napkin with some raffia.

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#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month

BelleGarden - Flower & Garden Bags

In their own Words… While always fascinated with those gracious touches that made their home interiors special, two friends from Cincinnati, Ohio designed the Flower Bag in 2003 and BelleGarden was launched. Tamara More and Kristin Schneider were trying to find a way to display fresh flowers in a small powder room. Joking that they should just tack the blossoms to the wall, the idea of the Flower Bag was born. Soon their friends were requesting their own Flower Bags and BelleGarden was in business.

The Flower Bag was very popular and Kristin and Tamara were getting request for a similar product that could be used with a live plant. Combining their talents, the creative women designed the patent pending Garden Bag that allows a healthy plant to grow within it while adding interest to the garden. Introduced at the Cincinnati Flower Show in 2004, the Garden Bag was an instant hit with its simple silhouette and brightly colored fabric.

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#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News

Venus Flytraps

How do they Catch & Eat Insects?

The Venus Flytrap as you can see by the photos waits with trap wide open. It has a sweet-smelling sap that attracts unsuspecting prey to land on it. When the insect climbs into the trap part of the plant the Venus Flytrap closes so fast the insect (including fast flies) cannot get out in time.

The insect touches one or more of the “trigger hairs” that when brushed against at least twice sets off the trap at speeds of ½ second. The Venus Flytrap then begins to digest its meal to extract nutrients for further growth and development.

Some of their prey includes: Flies; Spiders; Crickets; Caterpillars; Slugs; & Others. While other plants get a lot of needed nutrients from the sun and the soils around them, Venus Flytraps have a regional challenge. In the bogs they favor the soil is very acidic so minerals and nutrients are absent or scarce. The Venus Flytrap has overcome this by developing the ability capture its nutrients through eating insects.

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#5 Great Plant of the Month

Echinacea - Purple Coneflowers

Botanical Wildflower Name: Echinacea Purpurea

Purple Coneflower - Echinacea Wildflowers are easy to grow perennials that are adaptable to many conditions and regions.

Echinacea makes excellent cut flowers, butterflies are attracted to it, blooms all summer long, and it can be used as an herb.

I am always attracted to flowers that come back easily, will grow anywhere and take care of themselves. The purple coneflower (or any of the coneflowers) is one of those great plants that make you proud. Coneflowers also come in yellow, white and different shades of pink.

Purple Coneflowers are an excellent addition to any garden. The flowers are 3-4” across with drooping petals and very long lived. The petals are a purple/pink and the centers are a dark purple brown. The seed heads are also attractive and I like to leave them on the plant for the birds. They will grow in just about any soil and will tolerate drought conditions but will thrive in moist well-drained soil. Careful when you are doing your weeding in the spring because they re-seed very easily. Just look for that familiar pointed leaf.

Coneflowers are good in borders or a good anchor plant. They look very nice with Russian Sage (Gray foliage and lavender spiky flowers) and pale yellow Thread leaf Coreopsis. All of these will give you constant color long into fall.

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#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month

Tree-of-Heaven

If you wonder how invasive the Tree-of-Heaven is, consider these facts:

* One Tree-of-Heaven can produce up to 325,000 seeds in a year.

* Its seeds are easily spread by wind.

* Its seeds have a very high germination rate.

* Sprouts as young as 2 years old are able to produce seed.

There’s more… Once the Tree-of-Heaven is established it can dominate an area by re-sprouting from its stump or root system. An established tree constantly spreads by sending up root suckers that may emerge as far as 50 feet from the parent tree.

Additionally, mechanical means of controlling Tree-of-Heaven may be counter productive. This tree responds to cutting and grinding by producing large numbers of stump sprouts and root suckers. Even hand pulling is not effective unless you are able to remove the entire root system as you do this.

Tree-of-Heaven can grow to heights of 80 feet and 3 feet in diameter. It has a smooth grey bark, blunt twigs that are light chestnut brown, and long stems of leaves from 1-4 feet in length. There is also a cluster of seeds called samaras. All parts of the tree and especially the flowers have a strong and offensive odor.

Origins: The tree-of-Heaven is also known as Chinese Sumac and Stinking Sumac. It is a fast growing deciduous tree native to a region extending from China and south to Australia. It was known to be imported to the United States in 1784 by a Philadelphia gardener and was brought to California in the 1850’s by Chinese immigrants. This tree was at first valued as an urban street tree and routinely planted in the United States especially around the Washington and Baltimore region.

In no time, the Tree-of-Heaven has thrived and adapted to a wide variety of conditions. It is found growing in fields, along roadsides, fencerows, forest openings, woodland edges, and cracks of asphalt and sidewalks. It has become a serious agricultural threat and has been known to occur as seedlings by the hundreds in newly planted fields.

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#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month

Japanese Beetles

Question… What is considered the worst turf grass infesting pest in the United States?

Answer… The Japanese Beetle.

Origins: The Japanese beetle is from Japan where it has natural enemies to keep it in check. It was first found in New Jersey around the 1916 timeframe and found very favorable conditions o thrive without natural enemies to control its populations.

Adult Beetles: An adult Japanese beetle is a shiny metallic green and around ½ inch long. Both males and females have the same markings but the females are usually slightly larger. It’s not the adults that do the damage to the root systems of turf and ornamentals, it’s the beetle grubs. The adults take their damage to the foliage of most plants.

Beetle Grubs: The beetle grubs chew on the root systems and reduce a plants ability to take up enough water and nutrients to withstand the normal stresses of hot and dry weather. One of the first clues of beetle grub infestation is localized patches of pale and dying grass. The end result if unchecked is that the damaged area keeps increasing until the turf is not well anchored and can be rolled back like a carpet.

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