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Have questions for the Garden Hotline®?
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Perhaps the reason the Q&A section is so popular is that
much like THE GARDEN HOTLINE® radio program, many gardeners benefit from a
single gardener's question.
Here's this month's Q
& A: [June/July 2008]
• Succession planting of vegetables?
Question: Earlier this year we heard you speak about using succession planting in the vegetable patch. Could you repeat the list of vegetables we might plant this month for later harvest this fall? - Paul and Cynthia, Ohio
Answer: Before I repeat the list of vegetables for succession planting, let me remind you that succession planting is nothing more than replacing those plants which have completed their productive cycle with new productive plants. It's a way to maximize the per-square-foot output of your garden.
For summer and fall harvest, I recommend the replacement of June peas with bush beans. New Zealand spinach seeds should be planted now in place of the spring lettuce which, due to warm weather, has bolted or gone to seed. And, in other open areas, even walkways, set out broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage transplants for late fall harvest.
Last year, the zucchini borer wiped out my squash plants by mid July so I planted a large block of broccoli in their place. It turned out to be the best crop I have ever harvested. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage definitely benefit from the cooler weather of late fall.
There is another advantage to planting in late summer. Crops which loved the cooler temperatures of spring can be planted again. In late August, plant seeds of both red and white radishes, spinach and several varieties of leaf lettuce. This will provide a harvestable crop for late September and October, and depending on where in Ohio you garden, you may harvest into late November.
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•Blooming Bird of Paradise?
Question: I've had a Strelitzia (bird-of-paradise) for over six years without one bloom. I have tried everything, keeping it dry, keeping it wet, in sun and in the shade. Nothing works. What should I do to get this rascal to bloom? - Frustrated Jane, Colorado
Answer: I’ve been told by many bird-of-paradise enthusiasts that the plant must be allowed to become pot-bound, it must have reached the 13-leaf stage, and that you must have patience as it often takes 5 or more years to reach the blooming stage.
If your plant has reached the 13-leaf stage, I suggest you feed it a blossom booster type plant food. With a high phosphorus plant food (the second number on the label representing phosphorus is larger than the first number, nitrogen), provide bright sunlight (avoid the hottest afternoon sun), and allow the soil to dry somewhat before watering. Let's hope your bird-of-paradise flutters with bloom within six to eight months.
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• Pruning my boxwood?
Question: I'm growing a dwarf boxwood hedge along the front walkway which always needs a light clipping to make it look neat for winter. Last year, I pruned it in late August as suggested by my neighbor. Within two weeks after clipping, new growth emerged that turned a whitish-brown this past winter. I clipped the hedge again in early spring. What went wrong? - Lawrence, New Jersey
Answer: In your growing area in New Jersey, light pruning to even up a boxwood hedge or almost any other non-flowering evergreen may be done at almost any time, with the exception of the last of July to the middle of September. Pruning during this period stimulates new growth which does not have time to harden-off before the first killing frost. The description of whitish-brown tips on the new growth is a dead give-a-way of frost damage. Boxwood are particularly susceptible to frost damage on new growth.
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