Tips and Advice

Winter Damage on a Rhododendron: Although the leaves may be brown and curled, this doesn’t necessarily mean the plant is dead. In fact in most cases the plant will rebound easily with a little TLC.After a long, cold, snowy winter like we just had, we often see damage to our shrubs and trees often called “winter kill” or “winter damage.” The most common damage is brown or dead-looking azaleas, rhododendrons, holly and other broadleaf evergreens. Most people assume cold temperatures are to blame, but it’s actually caused by dehydration. In winter, cold dry winds and bright sunshine suck moisture from the foliage of broadleaf evergreens, much like chapped lips after a day of skiing. Plus, because the ground is usually frozen and the plant is dormant, plants can’t move water through their roots back to theire leaves. The result is dehydration, browning the tips of leaves or even entire branches. The more exposed to wind and sun, the greater the damage; particularly heartbreaking when it happens to shrubs you’ve loved for 20 years or more. Yes, sometimes the plant is dead and will need to be replaced, but often winter damage only make shrubs appear dead.

How do I know if it can be saved?

Look carefully and you’ll see that the leaves may be brown and brittle but the branch may have good life. Try gently scratching the bark with a fingernail, if underneath it’s greenish and pliable it’s probably still alive. If under the bark is brown and brittle the branch is probably dead – but not necessarily the whole plant. Continue the exploration down the branches and you will probably see some life along the way. Usually I tell people to leave winter damaged shrubs alone until late May. By then you can see the new growth starting, making it easier to see and prune the brittle dead wood. In any case, don’t give up on them to soon – in early spring, winter damage often looks a lot worse than it really is! All you need is a little patience and a good organic fertilizer.

The Scratch Test: Try gently scratching the bark with a fingernail, if underneath it’s greenish and pliable it’s probably still alive. If under the bark is brown and brittle the branch is probably dead – but not necessarily the whole plant.

Holly-tone by Espoma: Use it on all broadleaf evergreens like Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Holly, Boxwood and Andromeda.

Help the recovery with a good organic fertilizer.

I can remember I had a Holly and an Azalea that turned completely brown from winter damage. Then after feeding with Espoma Holly-tone fertilizer and some warmer weather from Mother Nature both plants completely re-foliated and grew back to where they were the previous fall. This saved me the time and effort of replanting the shrub. The earlier in spring you take action the better because it will allow more time for the bare branches to re-bud and start to fill in. There are other products to choose from, but Holly-tone is easy to use and it’s worked well for me. If there is mulch around the base, just push it away to expose the soil. Scratch the soil surface a little to allow for good soil contact and spread Holly-tone around the drip line of the shrub (the area under all branches). Just follow instructions on bag for proper quantity. Then just replace the mulch, water and wait for the magic healing to begin. You may need to go back and do some tip pruning later to cut out some dead wood but it’s far better than throwing out a live plant.

Side note:

There are several products that help prevent winter kill. They’re called “anti-desiccants,” a kind of a sunscreen for plants. Spraying an anti-desiccant places a harmless transparent wax coating over the broadleaves. The effect is to reduce the dehydration caused by wind and sun. Typically it’s applied after the first really cold nigh in late November or December. At Mahoney’s we recommend Wilt Stop by Bonide, but there are other good products to choose from.

All gardeners answer gardening questions.  It is inevitable.  Just let someone have a peek at your perfect tomatoes or dinner plate-sized dahlias and the questions will come, regardless of your overall expertise.  Gardeners, by nature, love to share information.  Likewise, all gardeners have questions, even those of us who have pursued knowledge at colleges and universities and have made our living from that knowledge. There is new research available every year that reveals better ways of planting, growing, and fertilizing. Professional plant-growers and hybridizers are unveiling new plants each year.  Gardening is a very regional activity.  Plants that grow in New England often struggle in other parts of the country.  Soils generally are on the acid side in our region, while they are much more alkaline in other parts of the country, and pH levels affect plant growth.   Perfection is rarely achieved in the garden but the pursuit of perfection is one of the things that makes gardening interesting.

I answer gardening questions both personally and professionally every day.  Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on 96.9 WTKK I answer questions on The Garden Guys radio show.  Not every Sunday - three a month - and I always have a professional co-host at my side so we can share in the fun.  The questions come in from callers and are always a surprise.  How do you answer a question concerning gardening about which whole books have been written? We strive to answer each question adequately and concisely.    Every show has some new questions but there are several gardening questions that are repeated each week.  That said, the top five gardening questions asked on our radio show, starting with number 5, are as follows:

5.  How late can I plant a tree, shrub or perennial?

The truth is that you can plant any plant that is grown in a container as long as the ground can be worked, which means as long as you can dig a hole.  One of us will always elaborate on how to actually plant.  Dig a hole twice as wide and just as deep as the container.  Remove the plant from the container.  If the roots seem very tight and compacted, gently wash off as much of the soil from the roots as you can and tease the roots out of that container shape just a bit. You can score the rootball with a knife if necessary.  Fill the hole halfway with water, put the plant in the hole and backfill with the existing soil.  Water thoroughly.  That is my advice. Mulch lightly with an organic mulch and keep watered until established or until the ground freezes. Click here for great mulch choices.

4.  When can I transplant my lilac (or other deciduous shrub)?

The best time to transplant deciduous shrubs is when they are dormant, which is to say when the leaves have fallen or before they emerge in the spring. There are exceptions to the fall transplanting so if in doubt, wait until early spring to transplant.

3.  How do I control grubs in my lawn?

There are many varieties of grubs.  Japanese beetle grubs are usually the most prevalent and the best way to control Japanese beetle grubs, according to the most recent studies, is with beneficial nematodes.  Milky spore has been shown to be an effective control but requires repeated applications to build up the necessary bacteria in the soil, which then attacks the grubs.  It is also specific to Japanese beetle grubs.  Beneficial nematodes are becoming more readily available and are very effective at controlling many types of grubs.  Since we promote organic methods, we rarely mention available insecticides.  If the caller asks, we suggest they consult their garden center personnel for their recommendations.

2.  When should I prune my lilac, roses, et cetera?

The answer to this question starts with ‘Why do you feel you need to prune?” Many shrubs require little or no pruning. The necessity for severe pruning usually means that the plant is planted in the wrong place.  The general rule for pruning flowering shrubs is to prune them right after they flower.  Incorrect pruning rarely kills a tree or shrub.  The flowers might be gone for the following season because you have pruned off the flower bud, but usually the plant survives the cut.  However, there are exceptions, which leads to the following number one question that we answer nearly every week and that is,

1.  Why aren’t my hydrangeas blooming? 

‘What kind of hydrangea?’ is the first response and the answer is usually the blue mophead, Hydrangea macrophylla.  There are eleven species of Hydrangea and innumerable cultivars in production but it is that blue, that reliably blue…(another question on color for later), which garners the most interest.  Our quick answer is ‘Stop pruning this plant’.  Wait until new growth commences in the spring and prune only the dead wood above the first set of leaves.  Full sun is best for prolific blooms.  Fertilize with an organic fertilizer and use a mulch  to retain moisture, as this plant will wilt on the hot days of July and August.  The most complete answer for the ‘Endless Summer’ variety is here and is answered very eloquently.

Those are my top five.  As you can see, they are very basic questions but they are important questions.  There really are no stupid questions.  Well, there may have been one or two in the past but they are my secret.  Gardeners have to start somewhere.  What question are you most frequently asked concerning gardening?

[I garden in Zone 7, but this article is suitable to gardens throughout Massachusetts - as cold as Zone 5.]
You know those loooong lists of “chores” in the garden for each month? Well, I hate ‘em. I’m a gardener of the low-maintenance school, and here’s what I’d rather know: What do I really, really have to do this month, ot the 40 possible things I could do? The 40 things I probably would do if I were of the Martha Stewart of gardening, which, unfortunately, I’m not.

Watering

Experienced gardeners will see this as the no-brainer of the month but I have to say it: In the absence of regular rain, it’s time for some summer triage. That means choosing the plants that really could die without supplemental watering, and saving on water and labor by letting the lawn go dormant for a while.(At least this is how I treated my lawn when I had one, and it always bounced back in September.)

I walk my garden at LEAST once a week and really look at the plants to see which ones are wilting and need help. Also, Iwater trees and evergreen shrubs whether they’re wilting or not (they won’t) because they’re the most valuable plants in my garden, bar none! Trees are particularly vulnerable to drought, and they require deep watering. That means using a soaker hose or letting the regular hose drip for several hours, or until the soil is wet at least 6 inches deep.

My containers, of course, need watering daily unless there’s rain.

Weeding

This is the other obvious garden chore for August, since weeds are pretty darn obvious this time of year. My weeding tips?

• I do about 30 minutes of weeding at a time, to keep my middle-aged backaches to a minimum.
• In the summer I do my weeding first thing in the morning, finishing by 8 a.m. when it’s especially hot (July of 2010!!)
• If I can’t devote lots of time to weeding, triage is helpful here, too. I at least remove the great jungle-makers of the weed word - VINES! - and target weeds that are crowding out and possibly smothering the plants I actually like.
• I try to never, ever remove weed without having a container to put them in. Low-maintenance gardening is smart gardening, and dumping weeds on the ground just means having to pick them up again.

Pruning

I’m removing dead, damaged or disease wood from trees and shrubs as I find them. Same goes for suckers and water sprouts. Otherwise, it’s a no-pruning month for me.

Sowing vegetable seeds

I’m sowing my fall crops - peas, and lettuce greens - in the empty spaces where my melons and cucumbers grew until just last week. For the salad greens I’ll sow a few seeds every 10 days to two weeks and see how long I can keep the harvest coming.

Feeding

No more feeding for my garden. Not that I ever did much of it. Only my vegetables, containers and roses received this kind of coddling (I’m of the tough-love school). It IS the time to feed lawn, though, so keep reading.

Lawns are never this lush and full without added nitrogen.

Lawn Care

(When I had a Lawn)
From now until early September is the best time to start a new lawn or overseed a sparse one (and whose lawn isn’t?), so when I had a lawn, this is when I tried to improve it. (Watch for a blog story later this month by Mike Mahoney about his favorite grass seed.)

Now about fertilizing. Lawns simply use up their stores of nitrogen every year and become unhealthy and spotty if the nitrogen isn’t replaced – at the rate of 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. So if your lawn is sparse, August and early September are the absolute best time to apply a slow-release, organic fertilizer. (Look for the term WIN, which stands for water-insoluable nitrogen). Read those instructions first, and follow them. Compost is also a terrific source of nutrition for your lawn, and many organic gardeners simply apply a quarter- to half-inch layer every fall to keep their lawns healthy and full.

If you applied the recommended amount of corn gluten last winter to prevent weeds, your lawn may already have enough nitrogen for the year. Other ways to make sure your lawn gets the food it needs are grasscycling - leaving grass clippings from the mower where they fall - and including clover in your lawn. Yes, clover’s a good thing! It’s described as “self-fertilizing” because this wonderful little plant turns nitrogen in the soil into nitrogen the plants can use. (And there’s a term for that -“fixing” nitrogen.)

New Plants

Here’s the part that’s optional for me because my garden’s pretty darn full by now - after 25 years here in this spot. Butit’s been months since I bought any plants and the sales are on and I can’t stop myself. But hey, they’re on sale. (And if they’re not, I’m sure I needed the plants, anyway. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)