The gardens are in and the flowers have been planted. Now comes the work in maintaining a healthy, and attractive landscape and vegetable garden.

It is important to keep up on the maintenance or it will become even more work. Keeping the weeds down in the garden will help vegetables and flowers grow. It is much easier to go through the garden every 7-10 days with a hoe and remove the weeds when they are still young rather than wait and allow the weeds to get a good stronghold.

If weeds are left too long they will flower and form seed heads and reseed themselves which adds even more work! There are some weeds such as chickweed where the seeds can remain in the soil for several years and still germinate, so it is important to get the weeds early. It is also better for the plants as they are competing with the weeds for moisture, nutrition, and air circulation. Weeds also can also harbour unwanted pests. As you weed, you can check plants for any problems such as pests or disease. Check plants for aphids which are a common complaint. Aphids are small, soft bodied insects that come in several different colours such as green, yellow, grey etc., They suck the sap out of the plants and tend to be found on the young tender growth, and under the foliage. They can be removed by spraying them off with the garden hose or spray the plant with insecticidal soap. You will have to do this more than once in case you missed any.

Slugs can be another problem. They enjoy eating the plants foliage. Slugs tend to come out in the evening as they do not like warm dry weather. They look for warm, wet areas to lay their eggs. Make your yard less desirable to slugs, by watering plants in the morning so that things are dry at night. If slugs become a problem, slug bait can be put down, following the manufacturers instructions.

Carrots can get worms in them. If you had worms in your carrots last year, chances are you will have them again. To help prevent this, place a floating crop cover over the carrots. This will prevent the carrot rust fly from laying its eggs on the soils surface next to the carrots. The fly lays its eggs on the soil and when the eggs hatch the tiny worms go down into the carrots below the soils surface. The floating crop cover is placed on the carrots when they are seeded and remains there until mid July when the carrot rust fly is gone.

Over the past few days, the local night temperatures have been at 0 Celsius or lower. Freezing temperatures can seriously harm frost tender plants such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, beans, corn, dahlias, begonias, impatiens, coleus, etc., These plants need to be protected from freezing temperatures by covering them at night with a frost protection blanket such as Reemay.

Moisture is an important factor in a plants health. Container plants should be checked daily and watered when the top of the soil feels dry to the touch. Gardens and flowerbeds will need to be watered when the top 5 cm of soil is dry. It is always better to water in the morning. Water thoroughly and less often, rather then daily for short periods of time. You want the plants roots to go down looking for water, rather than stay shallow on the soils surface where they will dry out more quickly.

Feeding your plants will make happy, healthy plants. It can be organic or chemical. Feed container plants weekly. Vegetable gardens and flowerbeds are fertilized less often, depending on what type of fertilizer you are using, generally every 6 weeks.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden centres in Prince George:

• Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road
• Highway 16 West at Kimball Road