John Vanderwees is the owner of Vanderwees Home & Garden and the host of Garden Talk a weekly call in radio show, Saturdays at 10AM on 91.5FM.
Email John at dearjohn@tbaytel.net to have your questions answered, or click on one of the links below to view recent answers to questions on these topics.
This Week's Questions: Q. When is the best time of year to divide Hostas? Should this be done in the spring, or not until the fall? A. You would divide hostas in early May when the shoots are just showing. It is too late now and fall is not the best time. Q. I have hops vine growing in my yard. I have just transplanted it to the other side of my yard. My friend tells me that I should grow it in a pot because the roots will damage my foundation if it gets to close. True? Not true? - Patti. A. Hops is an agressive vine/plant but will not damage your foundation. Q. I purchased a 15-30-15 fertilizer. It is water soluble. Is it safe for flowers and vegetables even though the container says flowers? How often should we use this fertilizer? How much to the gallon? A. Use on the plants and veggies once every 2 weeks. The root type veggies love this fertilizer. One tablespoon to the gallon. Q. I planted three patriot blueberry and four saskatoon/serviceberry bushes. They are planted in raised gardens and I followed the planting instructions. I also used Bone Meal and Myke growth supplement. I have covered the raised garden with about 3 inches of wood chips to keep in the moisture and to keep weeds down. I have been giving the patriots about 1/2 gallon of water and the saskatoons/serviceberries about 3/4 gallon of water each morning. I have just noticed that the leaves are starting to turn a rust colour. I'm not sure what that means. Could you help me on this? A. You can back off the watering now. Only once per week unless very dry weather comes along. They should green up with less water and a bit of heat. Q. Can you let us know if you carry raspberry canes and which varieties you carry? - Sylvia. A. The canes are the Boyne. They are healthy canes and ready to be planted. Q. I have planted some lettuce in my vegetable garden and something has been chewing all the edges of the leaves. What would be causing this and what can I do about it? - Donna P. A. If you cannot see the bugs, they are probably slugs. We have an environmentally friendly product for this. If you see any worms on them, then come in and we can help you with one of our vegetable soaps. Q. About six years ago, someone gave me roots from their prolific rhubarb plant. I planted them and they have produced rhubarb every year, but only a few slender and small stalks. This year I dug it out and planted it in a different spot. It has started growing already in the new spot. Any ideas? Does rhubarb require specific ground/soil conditions or certain sunlight conditions? A. Rhubard enjoys a rich soil and generally will survive and thrive well in a semi-shade location. You may want to try and find a spot in your yard like this. I had the same problem as you and now have my plants on the east side of the house and they thrive there. Q. Do I do a drastic pruning of my overgrown lilacs and my forsythia which is quite tall and lacking flowers this year? - Ann C. A. Yes, you can trim the lilacs after flowering and the forsythia can be trimmed taking off all the old wood. This will encourage flowering for next year. Be sure to fertilize well this year. Q. I am likely going to have to cut down a Canada Red Cherry tree that is planted in the ground with my deck built around it. It has been suffering for many years from black knot disease and gets worse each year. I will miss having a beautiful shade tree here so I wondered about replacing it with a tree in a container. What tree would you recommend? I would like to put it in a large wooden planter (to be built). Something very hardy with a large canopy or umbrella top that would grow to at least 15 feet. A. My favourite tree with a large canopy would be a Greenspire Linden. In our area they grow to about 25 - 30ft. tall. You would have to insulate the box for sure and also insulate the top area in the winter as well. Visit us at the nursery for more tips. Q. We have a Diablo Ninebark that has white marks on the leaves and branches that almost look like paint. Is it mould? It seems to be growing okay, but if we leave it, will the mould ruin my other plants? A. The mildew could move to roses it you have them close by. It could also move to other plants. It is best to spray the tree and any plants around it showing signs of mildew with a fungicide spray. Q. I have many pin cherry trees in my yard and all around my property. As you can imagine, there are roots and sucker trees popping up everywhere. I'm trying to have a vegetable garden and a perennial garden, but I have small trees popping up where I don't want them. I've heard of a product called 'Sucker Stopper.' Do you carry that or anything else that will kill off the sucker roots? Do you have any other suggestions? - Sarah. A. We do carry some environmentally friendly products for weed control that may help. In the meantime you will have to keep pulling them out. Q. I have been having a real problem with slugs in my garden. Could you suggest an environmentally friendly, vegetable garden solution? A. We have an environmentally product that you can put in the garden that will discourage them from entering and bothering your plants. Q. While digging out in my garden I found a few ant colonies. Are ants harmful to my garden? If so, how do I manage them? A. Yes ants can be a nuisance. They can damage the roots of plants as they tunnel through, and can also bring aphids to the garden. We have a natural ant killer product in stock. Visit us for solutions. Q. When applying commercial fertilizer to your garden do you mix it in with the soil or leave it on top? What is the best type of fertilizer for a vegetable garden? Should it be added to cow manure? A. Rake the fertilizer into the top 2 inches of soil. I would use 8-20-20 garden fertilizer. You could work cow manure into the rows before planting. Cow manure helps build the organic matter in the soil, but carries little in the way of nutrients. Q. I have had my apple tree for five years and it had blossoms and even fruit the first year. When the fruit was just starting to grow, one of my kids picked it all off and it hasn't bloomed since. It's grown in size and looks healthy, but no blossoms. What can I do? - Markku. A. Fertilize with bone meal and give your tree a light pruning. Make sure the tree gets a good drink of water each week as well. Keep in mind that your apple tree won't produce fruit unless there is another apple tree in the area. Q. Moss is growing in my flower beds as well as in my vegetable garden. How can I control this problem without harming the flowers or the vegetables? A. Your soil is acidic. Apply lime at 3lbs per 100 square feet now and again in the fall. Work it into the soil and water it in. If your vegetable bed has been freshly planted, you might want to wait until fall to add the lime. Bring in a sample of your soil and we can test it for free here. Q. We moved to a new house a few years back. The previous owners had planted a couple of tall junipers infront of the house (about a foot away from the side). I am concerned that this is too close to the foundation and will cause problems in the future. What distance would you recommend for planting close to a house? I was considering uprooting the junipers and planting some emerald green aborvitae instead. Is this a good choice for our Thunder Bay climate? A. I would recommend that you plant at least 2.5 feet from the house. I would not recommed the Emerald Cedars as they are not very hardy for this area and tend to burn. I would suggest planting Black Cedars. We have them on sale now and they are very hardy. Q. I have a flowering plumb that is about 12 years old. We transplanted it late last summer. We were not sure if it would survive, but it seems that some of the branches are sprouting new growth and leaves. Should we be cutting out some of the older large growth that doesn't look likely to do anything? We don't want to stress it further than we already have. - Bonnie J. A. Yes, I would cut off the old growth. I would recommend cutting off no more than 1/3 of the tree this year. You can bring in a picture and we can advise you further. Q. Last year we built four planter boxes in our Healing Garden. Since three are growing sacred herbs, the other is free for growing vegetables. The boxes are approximately 4' x 8' or so and I was wondering if you could tell me what sorts of vegetables grow well together. We were thinking of domestic sage, tomatoes and onions. - Cat. A. I think you have made good choices. You could also cucumbers and zucchini, and perhaps broccoli and cauliflower. |
