Hosing Around

Almost of all of us have been there -- that annoying feeling when your hose kinks up, snakes around, and all of the sudden the water stops flowing. It's a rite of passage for gardeners, and instead of continually replacing hoses, it may be avoidable, or put off a bit, by starting with a good hose. This means spending a bit more, but wouldn't you rather spend now than have to deal with frustration and a new hose later?

Here are some pointers from Andrew that you should consider when purchasing a hose.

1. It's good to start at the end with a solid brass nozzle. Think about if you ran over it with a car -- would it still be intact and dent-free? 

2. Try multi-ply hoses. These tends to have better water flow.

3. Sometimes we get a bit lazy and leave a hose on the lawn, rather than coiling and stowing it. A hose that is UV-stabilized will be able to withstand the heat of the sun without cracking.

4. Once you buy your hose, using it properly will continue its sustainability. Here's how that's done: Face the spigot, or where you connect the hose to the initial water supply, and walk backward pulling the hose out as you walk. This will help avoid all the kinks, spurts and water stoppages. It will also allow you to guide the hose away from any pots that could be knocked over while you water.

5. A good, handy sprinkler is the perfect companion to a good hose, as well as a quality shut-off valve. Tony prefers a brass shut-off valve and a watering wand to a shut off trigger, and he says it's far more convenient than having to go back to the water faucet to turn off the water. He likes the Dramm Water Wand  because of its length and durability. He finds that the trigger grip multifunction nozzles rarely last through a single season.

What is your favorite hose and why? Let us know.

Cutting Garden

Maintaining a flower cutting garden is a great way to bring the beauty of an outside garden indoors.  Here you can create a tapestry of color and texture that can only add to the atmosphere.  Tony and Andrew discussed what's in their cutting garden on Tuesday's  Homegrown and two ideas stood out - the addition of Zinnias and Bells of Ireland or Molucella laevis.

Tony said he leans toward Zinnias because they're easy to arrange and he likes the size of the flower.

Zinnias provide a splash of color for any arrangement and the color variety creates endless possibilities. The state flower of Indiana is an annual that comes in many different sizes, ranging from 6" dwarfs to about 4'.  There are more than a dozen varieties of Zinnias to choose from and these work well on the border of your cutting garden.

Bells of Ireland add a classic touch to a bouquet and look nice on the parameter of your garden.  These half-hardy annuals have cup-shaped leaves, which surround white flowers. Interestingly enough, they are also in the mint family.

What would be in your dream cutting garden?

I happen to like this tree

I was walking through Central Park this past weekend with my partner Kevin heading to the zoo .  As we made down from 70th and 5th Ave we came across this beautiful stand of Carolina silverbell/Halesia tetraptera.  It felt like we were walking inside a snow globe with all the branches covered in dangling flowers.  I am more familiar seeing them as a single trunk but here they are multi trunked and it gave them a much more open, dreamy feel.  And since the flowers emerge before the leaves, there is more to dream into.

Halesias are a really underused specimen that deserves more attention and praise for it's easy habit, adaptability, controlled size for smaller spaces and of course, the flowers.  And what isn't there to love about flowering trees?  Pretty, flowery, springy...yes!

For more on Halesias, flowering and non flowering trees, try these two sites.  Happy hunting and dreaming.

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html
http://www.treesaregood.org/

Planting Strawberries

Who doesn't love the sweet, tangy taste of strawberries that make your tongue tingle just a bit?  They're a reminder that the season is ripe and full of possibilities and the plumper the berry, the better.   Strawberries are easy to plant and taste best by themselves, with powdered sugar, a dollop of whipped cream, or added to a green salad for color and a sweet, unexpected punch.

Strawberry plant roots are best grown in fertile, well-drained soil with full sun and typically come in bare root and potted plant form. There are three basic types: June-bearing, everbearing and day neutral. June bearings have one crop during a two to three week period in the spring with single flowers and runners.  Everbearing and day neutral produce two to three harvests spring through fall, but they don't seed out many runners.  A runner comes from the the mother plant and is a long shoot.

When picking your planting sight, forgo areas where veggies like eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes or peppers have been planted in the last three years to prevent verticillium wilt.  Plant so that the soil is just covering the top of the root and that the crown is not covered. Instead, the crown should be even with the surface soil and the root ball should be facing downward. 

Matted Row, Spaced Row and the Hill System are the three major spacing systems used to plant strawberries.  With the matted row system, which is good for June-bearing plants, plant 2' apart in rows 3' to 4' apart. Using the Hill system, which is good for everbearing and day neutral types, plant in raised beds 8" X 24" and set in staggered double rows 12" apart. The spaced row system is similar in planting to the matted row, but runner plants are able to root from the starter plant. 

After planting, make sure to water your patch with 1" to 2" of water weekly.  For patch maintenance, keeping weeds at bay is imperative for a thriving strawberry patch. And during the first growing season, remove flowers of June-bearing plants as soon as they appear.  Although this will keep berries from producing that season, it will promote roots and runners to develop for longevity of plants, and plenty more juicy strawberries to come.

                                                    

 

...and here is the link for pruning grapes...!

grape pruning advice

I'm outta here........!