bobhic@aluxe.UUCP (ADOLT) (07/10/85)
To new gardener - juilo Your original article got deleted before I could respond, but I would like to encourage your initial efforts at gardening. Giving specific advice as to what will work for you is impossible since I live in a different part of the country. My general advice to you is to: 1. ask questions. (esp. of older people in your immediate area) 2. walk around your neighborhood and see what others are doing. Most gardeners will be more than happy to give you a guided tour of their gardens. 3. read the books, magazines, catalogs, and seed packets very carefully (with a grain of salt). Planting dates and time to maturity VARY. 4. use your common sense and EXPERIMENT. In answer to one of your specific questions about planting seeds at this late date: I would recommend that you try a 'fall' garden. Some veggies prefer fall to spring or summer: peas, carrots, beans, lettuce, radishes, spinach, endive, mustard, turnips (all from seeds) and broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower (from sets). Find out the earliest date that your area has a killing frost. Read the seed packs and determine if you have enough growing time. If you do - go for it. Additional time can be realized by soaking the seeds in water (usually overnight) prior to planting and by covering your plants when a frost is scheduled. BTW - I enjoy my fall garden much more than my spring or summer gardens. And, last year I was still harvesting into the second week of November. ----------------------------------------------------------- Bob Adolt -----------------------------------------------------------
rws@gypsy.UUCP (07/16/85)
About the lawn: use a fertilizer with 50% organic content. It will slow down the release of nitrogen, giving you healthier plants and also giving less shock to the beneficial bacteria and worms in your soil. Water your lawn once a week for one hour (or one inch of rainfall, if you can measure it.) If you don't want to water, don't fertilize until labor day. At that time you can also put down a general purpose dry weed killer with your lawn spreader. Grass grows better in cool weather than hot, so go with the flow and let it dry up in the summer, then help it out in September, when it can choke out the weeds, whose lives are waning anyway. Bob Schwanke Siemens Research Princeton, NJ 08540-6668 seismo!princeton!siemens!rws
rws@gypsy.UUCP (07/19/85)
A previous note in this series spoke of watering every day. If you find yourself doing that for well established plants, you probably aren't watering long enough, unless you're in an especially low-humidity climate or especially sandy soil. Average soil can only absorb about an inch of rain per hour. The rest runs off. The average plant is happy with an inch of rain per week. When the surface of the soil is dry, the root zone can still be quite moist and pleasant. However, you have to convince your plants to send their roots deep; if you are watering every day, why should they bother? So, try watering your garden twice a week with half an inch of water, applied slowly from a sprinkler or drip irrigation set-up. See how long it takes your plants to droop. For deep-rooted plants, such as tomatoes, corn, carrots ... try an inch of "rain" once a week. If your soil is too sandy, add humus, either as compost, peat moss, or whatever you can lay your hands on. Bob Schwanke Siemens Research Princeton, NJ 08540-6668 seismo!princeton!siemens!rws