BASIC STEPS FOR TOPIARY
English Ivy or Vinca Vine will work
Materials:
* Ivy plant, any size (small leaf varieties work well with smaller topiary shapes)
* Decorative container to fit the ivy’s existing pot
* Topiary form- Select either a stemmed topiary wire form, a form that has a vertical wire several inches long with a decorative shape sitting on top of it, or one without a stem. Make sure the size selected is appropriate for the size of your plant. Select a form that has a fork or prongs that push into the soil. You can also make your own forms. If using one without prongs be sure the container is deep enough so it will not tip.
Directions:
Fill your container with potting soil leaving about 3-inches of space between the top of the soil and the rim of the container.
Secure the topiary form in the center of the container by burying several inches of the base beneath the potting soil. Select a container that is proportional to your form.
Plant the ivy or other type of vining plant around the base of the form. Position the plants so that the longest tendrils are closest to the form. this may take up to 3-4 small ivy plants.
Wind the plant tendrils up the form and loosely secure with green dental floss. Take off the leaves as you put up the bottom stem.
After planting, water the soil and feed the plant every 10 days or so with an all purpose liquid fertilizer diluted according to the package instructions.
As the vines grow continue to train them up the form. As they fill out clip them to maintain the shape. Use a scissors or small pruner.
You’ll find that by starting with large plants such as the 6-inch pots of ivy that your topiary will fill in within one growing season.
Caring for Your English Ivy Topiary:
ivy will grow both indoors and outside. In the house place them in bright, filtered light in a room that stays on the cool side. Outdoors your ivy will thrive in shade to partial shade. In the summer try leaving it outdoors to get some nice sunshine but not too bright. Bring it back indoors for the winter. It likes bright indoor light.
Whether your ivy is indoors or out, the care of the plants is similar: keep the soil consistently moist, but not soggy and during the growing season use a liquid houseplant fertilizer mixed at half strength every 7 to 10 days. The most common pest on ivy houseplants is the spider mite. Keep ahead of them with a bi-monthly application of insecticidal soap, following the label instructions. Spray them very well, sometimes they can kill the plant.
To keep your ivy topiary in good shape, pinch back new growth and weave tendrils back into the form. See below for pruning tips.
Basic Care:
* Ivy topiaries do not need much water. Over watering can cause root rot which will kill them quickly. Learning how much your topiary weighs when full of water is very important. When your topiary seems light in weight water it, but only then. Water your ivy topiary by submerging the whole plant (foliage etc) in water. Leave it submerged until bubbles stop coming from the soil. Standing the topiary upright in a large bucket of water works well when watering.
Pruning Ivy Topiaries
PRUNING FOR SHAPE AND HEIGHT
Step 1
Pinch and remove foliage and vines that are dead or weak, using your thumb and index finger. If the topiary shape is a sphere or cone, you need to prune deep into the center of the design.
Cut out the lowest new vines and leaves growing on the main stem or trunk with your bonsai pruning shears. This allows you to achieve height for your ivy topiary. Make the cut flush to the junction where the vine meets the trunk.
Step 3
Cut off growth that is spreading out from the original shape or crowding other foliage. Since the growth rate of ivy differs depending on its variety, your topiary may need to be shaped several times a year. As a rule, prune for shaping purposes when new growth reaches 10 percent of your original ivy topiary diameter.
Pruning to Enhance Light
PRUNING TO ENHANCE LIGHT
Look for vines that are creating a canopy that prevents light from entering the main stem. This is a particular problem in ivy topiaries grown in geometric shapes. New vine growth tightens the shape so light is unable to penetrate.
Step 2
Cut the foliage, being careful not to harm the shape of your ivy topiary.
Step 3
Trim off growth at the base of the tree if you are unable to see through to the trunk.
FALL TIPS
Just because it is getting cooler, don’t stop watering your plants or your lawn. Of course, annuals like petunias or impatiens will continue to spit out high-powered flowers for another 8 weeks or so. You have to keep them watered. Do this and see just how long they last into winter! On top of that, your “woody ornamentals” such as spirea, dogwood and burning bush need the fall moisture to hold their leaves longer.
Remember, we love the fall color and want to prolong it. Watering your bushes now will help them hold their fall-colored leaves longer! Awesome! In addition, evergreens such as boxwood, holly and more traditionals such as taxus yews and arboivitae can also benefit from good watering before winter to keep then from drying out in cold winter winds.
Lawns are a little less finicky, but they still need watering during those later hot spells, especially if you have dog pee spots on your lawn from the summer. It is important to wash away the lingering urine and re-establish the lawn. Some fresh grass seed will also need to be added, making the moisture all the more important. Lawn care never ends until the snow covers the turf!
Secondly, add in some nutrients that will help these plants survive the winter and last into the next spring. Wouldn’t it be great if your plants had a fast and glorious start next March? The way to do this is to add some nutrients now.
Be sure that your fertilizer contains good amounts of potassium and phosphorus as these strengthen the roots system. Stronger roots make the bush or tree live longer, but also help them look better in the long run.
Finally, you need to prune back the shrubs just before winter. Clip off the overgrowth after all the leaves drop off. The best time of year to prune your trees and shrubs is when the plants are going into dormancy. This way, you keep them in check size-wise without stressing them out.
Whatever you do, the main element here is the moisture. You need to keep your trees and shrubs watered from now until the temperatures drop below 50 degrees consistently. Start this process now and you will see a longer fall color pop, as well as better leaf-out next spring. If there is no rain of about one inch per week then you need to be watering.
The sooner you get these task done then it will be one less thing to do before the snow flies and your trees will benefit greatly from the advance care you are giving now.
GREAT TIP FOR KEEPING STRAWBERRIES LONGER: (I found in Cooks Illustrated)
It works pretty good, make sure you have enough paper towels to absorb the moisture.
1. Wash berries in bowl with 3 cups water mixed with 1 cup white vinegar. Drain in colander and rinse under running water
June 2011
In the gardens around my yard
May and June 2011
This has been an interesting growing season with all the rain, and more to come.
Potatoes are doing wonderful. Carrots and spinach came up spotty and I also replanted carrots.
Kale and Asian greens, and lettuces looking good and I have been eating lots!
I will try to post a recipe a week with what I have been testing, I sometimes forget to take photos and then too late when I ate the dish!
Growing and planting Potatoes
Potatoes are easy to grow, but they prefer cool weather so you should try to get them into the ground at the right time. Store your seed potatoes in the refrigerator until you plant them. They need full sun and well-drained soil and will even grow in less desirable soil. Do not plant in the same spot in your garden year after yearas that increases the chance of disease. As soon as the ground is tillable you can plant them. You may have heard that Good Friday is potato time, many years this is true.
Mounding and hilling are the time-tested ways of growing spuds. But if you’re only going to be growing a few, or if you have plans to snatch new potatoes from the vines early in their growing season, this simple method is worth a try.
Prepare the seed potatoes. Cut the potato into several 1-inch chunks, making sure to include an “eye” on each piece. This is the growth point where the new plants emerge.
Don’t cut the pieces too big. A smaller chunk of potato encourages the plant to get busy and put down its own, strong roots, rather than live off the stored foods in the seed piece.
And don’t try to get a lot of eyes on a single piece. Each eye will produce several stems. If too many grow together, they’ll compete with each other for sun and nutrients and make a shaggy mess.
Let the pieces air-dry outside for a day, for 24 hours. This toughens the outer layer of the potato and helps it resist disease.
Check with your local extension service for the right time to plant potatoes in your area. Place the potatoes in your prepared soil. You soil should also have a well balanced fertilizer worked in (10-10-10) or aged manure and compost.
With this method, you don’t need to dig trenches or mound soil into hills. Just work a trowel full of compost into a square foot of soil in a sunny, well-drained area of the garden. The soil should be loose enough for the potato to send down roots easily.
Take a piece of seed potato and press it firmly into contact with the soil. Be sure the “eye” faces up. Mound mulch, such as straw or marsh hay and leaf mold.
Build up a 6-inch-deep mound of mulch over the potato. Oak leaf mold is excellent for mounding. Straw will also work, but may bring in weeds you’ll have to take care of later.
Water the mound gently to thoroughly wet the mulch. This will help it hold together. Keep the mound evenly moist.
As the vines start to peek through the mound, begin feeding them with a half-strength foliar spray. Use fish-emulsion or seaweed extract once a week until the flowers open, then stop feeding.
Mound additional mulch around the stems each time they’ve grown about 6 more inches.
Potatoes grow at the ends of stolons that the plant puts out wherever the stems are covered with mulch. So in time your plant will have tubers in several sizes within the mound.
Last thing you will need to do is harvest those fresh potatoes. The best part about this method is that you can “rob” new potatoes, those small little tasty ones, without disturbing the plant. The time to go after the first new spuds is right after the flowers bloom. Just move the mulch gently out of the way and pop the new potatoes off the ends of the stolons with your fingers. These are some really good tasting potatoes and I always do this every year. Who can wait all summer to get a taste of some new ones?
Only take a few percent of the new potatoes at a time. Let the rest remain to keep the plant from being stressed.
Continue watering the plants throughout the season to keep them producing new potatoes.
If you’d prefer to let the potatoes mature and get larger, stop watering them after the flowers bloom. This causes the plant to start concentrating on developing the potatoes. Then, in the fall, when the plant begins to die back, move the mulch away and harvest the full-grown potatoes.
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A first for me! The picture below is of the Living Stones Cactus. I have had these for about 4 years and they are finally blooming! A wonderful sight to see!
What To Do when the Ground Freezes
After the ground starts to freeze perennials like ‘Endless Summer’ should be cut back and covered with a thick layer of shredded leaves, straw, or pine needles, as they are borderline hardy here at best. Other hydrangeas can be cut back with a mower or shear and covered with a three or four inch layer of mulch. Remove this mulch as it thaws in the spring. Pull or cut foliage of hosta after it freezes or before new growth in the spring. The foliage should rake up rather easily. Removal of all hosta foliage is a very important part of slug control. If you clean up in the spring this is a good time to divide your hostas.
Mulch does several things for the garden. Organic matter and nutrients are added when mulch is used. This depends on the mulching material and how quickly it is broken down by microorganisms. Never use a mulching material with component sizes larger than an inch as these take many years to decompose and actually tie up nitrogen and can cause deficiency symptoms in many plants. My advice when putting your gardens to bed is to think about the plants and in what conditions they thrive in nature. If you emulate this then your gardens will grow very well.
Epsom Salt Question
Q: I recently read in a catalogue that you can use Epsom salt in your garden and lawn to get fantastic results. Is this true? I trust your opinion, because you’ve never steered me wrong. Thanks for your time.
A: Yes, you can use Epsom salt in your garden. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. Plants use magnesium to develop stronger root systems and to aid in the uptake of chlorophyll.
I use a tablespoon of Epsom salt when planting roses as a way to stimulate root growth. I have a special rose soil recipe that I like to mix up. To two buckets of garden soil, I just add one bucket of peat moss, a half of bucket of dried cow manure and half a bucket of compost, or cottonseed meal. When I have all of these basic ingredients blended together, I add a little special touch in the way of either a half a cup of super phosphate or a full cup of bone meal. And then I add one tablespoon of Epsom salts.
A little Epsom salt goes a long way in the garden. Studies show that magnesium and sulfur, two components of Epsom Salt may:
* Help seeds germinate
* Make plants grow bushier
* Produce more flowers
* Increase chlorophyll production
* Improve phosphorus and nitrogen uptake
Check out the Epsom Salt Council’s website www.epsomsaltcouncil.org for more details
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Fresh Sungold tomatoes on the grill ready for a salad!
Look for garden tips and recipes on the home page!
Sungold tomatoes, very sweet and just the right size to pop in your mouth!
Pear tomatoes
Red Cabbage that is large this year!
Flowers right after the July 5th rain:
Here is some unusual produce from last season. Red atomic carrots and Zebra tomato. Wonder what will be the fun one for this year!
Recent radish questions:
Q. What causes my radishes to crack and split?
A. The radishes are too old. Pull them when they are younger and smaller. A flush of moisture after a period of relative dryness also may cause mature roots to burst and split. Try to avoid uneven moisture availability.
Q. Why do my radishes grow all tops with no root development?
A. There may be several reasons: seed planted too thickly and plants not thinned (though some roots along the outside of the row usually develop fairly well even under extreme crowding), weather too hot for the spring varieties that do best in cool temperatures (planted too late or unseasonable weather) and too much shade (must be really severe to completely discourage root enlargement).
Q. What causes my radishes to be too “hot”?
A. The “hotness” of radishes results from the length of time they have grown rather than from their size. The radishes either grew too slowly or are too old. Radishes also get tough and woody from not growing fast enough. Do not plant too thickly and when they are just starting to grow, thin to about one inch between the plants or the roots will not develop.
Tiny shot-holes in leaves of seedlings.Flea beetles are tiny bronze or black beetles a sixteenth of an inch long. They eat small holes in the leaves of seedlings and small transplants. The larvae feed on roots of germinating plants. Spread diatomaceous earth around seedling. Cultivate often to disrupt life cycle. Keep garden clean.
Radish is a cool-season, fast-maturing, easy-to-grow vegetable. Garden radishes can be grown wherever there is sun and moist, fertile soil, even on the smallest city lot. Early varieties usually grow best in the cool days of early spring, but some later-maturing varieties can be planted for summer use. The variety French Breakfast holds up and grows better than most early types in summer heat if water is supplied regularly. Additional sowings of spring types can begin in late summer, to mature in the cooler, more moist days of fall. Winter radishes are sown in midsummer to late summer, much as fall turnips. They are slower to develop than spring radishes; and they grow considerably larger, remain crisp longer, are usually more pungent and hold in the ground or store longer than the spring varieties.
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