March happenings in the Garden

My Kawanza Cherry tree in bloom.

Creeping phlox

We are on the next wave of blooms here in North Atlanta: Kawanza Cherry and dogwood trees, Indian hawthorn and azalea bushes, with Homestead purple verbena and creeping phlox.  It is so colorful, but the yellow film of pollen all over everything is the price we get to pay.

 

We had our Backyard Gardener's Workshop #2 on March10th,  where I demonstrated how to re-pot your tomato seedlings after 6 leaves appear.  Have new container ready.  Use a fork to gently lift the sprout out of container, de-tangling the roots.  Gently place in a new container, burying the stem up to the leaves, adding soil to fill in around it.  This will make a stronger root system, and ultimately a stronger plant. Water gently. In the 1st or 2nd week of April, move the seedlings outdoors to a sheltered area for a few house each day, gradually increasing the amount of time.  This is called hardening off and will acclimate the seedlings to wind and stronger sunlight.  Watch closely so as not to let them dry out and bring indoors if frost threatens.

I also demonstrated how to re-pot houseplants.  Look up the requirements for the specific plant you want to re-pot.  Some lie to be root-bound, others do not.  Usually, you re-pot if the plant has outgrown the container, or looks like it is wasting away in Spring when it should be showing signs of new growth.  Have the plant watered a few days before re-potting, but not soggy.  Tap the bottom of the pot or squeeze the plastic pot around the sides, gently loosening the plant around the edges. Untangle the roots.  If multiple plants, pull or cut roots apart to divide.  Have a new container ready: 2 sizes bigger, if leaving plant whole.  If dividing, have a second pot.  Put plant in pot, gently adding soil up to where the soil line was before.  Resume watering , fertilizing once a month through the growing season (Spring and Summer).  You can give your houseplants a vacation when days and nights are warm.  Water with a dose of fertilizer and set them outside in a sheltered place for a while.  Before bringing them back in, apply bug spray, so you won't bring bugs into the house.

Spike, yarrow & Homestead purple verbena

We have had mild enough weather, that I have started to set out the plants that I wintered over.  I want to make sure that I have something bright and blooming April through September to draw the humming birds.  Flowers that draw hummers are tubular-shaped, like honeysuckle vine, cardinal flowers, sages, verbenas, snapdragons, nicotiana, petunias and calibrachoa.  To draw butterflies plant asters, butterfly bush, lantana, fuchsia, heliotrope, iris, nasturtium, blanket flower, marigolds, verbena, sweet alyssum hollyhock, cone flowers and phlox.

I "layered" some hydrangea branches this past month.  I take a throw-away plastic pot and make a slit down one side to the a hole at the bottom.  I pull that slit back and put the branch of hydrangea, up through the hole in the pot. Then I add soil around the branch, covering at least 2 nodes(places where leaves would come) on the stem and water gently and regularly.  In a month or so, the buried nodes should produce roots instead of leaves.  After this happens, you can sever the branch below the new roots and have a new bush started!  Pretty cool.  You could do this with many different bushes.

mums, Shasta daisies & garden girl

This past week I started watering the filled pots and beds.  Things were starting to get a bit droopy with the absence of rain and warmer temperatures.  I also dug up some Shasta daisies that were out-growing their space and crowding other plants.  I try do this every 2 or 3 years if they need to be contained.

volunteer cilantro

  I added some more herbs to the herb garden, lemon thyme, dill (for make pickles out of the cucumbers) and Texas tarragon.  These are new for me, so we will see how they do.  I have been harvesting the cilantro that came up volunteer (fallen seeds from last year) and drying it with my dehydrator.  I just trim the side leaves with scissors. Love having cilantro on hand for all the Mexican meals and salsa that we like.

Strawberry flowers, soon to be strawberries

I dug up the stray strawberry plants and put them in the patch where there were holes. They are flowering and will have berries to eat in a week or so. So excited!  Nothing like strawberries straight out of the garden.  In the South it is good to mulch them with grass clippings or straw so that they don't burn out over the summer.  Keeping them well-watered and picked every day will produce the most strawberries.




My next Backyard Gardener's Workshop will be April 14th.  I will demonstrate how to plant summer vegetable and herbs in the ground, and talked about the anatomy of healthy pots and hanging baskets.