Garden Maintenance

By Jos Van Hage

    When spring flowering bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, etc have finished blooming you need to remove the old flowers before they set a seed pod. This is so that the plant will put all its energy into forming next years flower. Do not cut down the foliage or the stem of the bulb as this has to die back naturally, also so that the bulb can form next years  flower over the summer. To keep things neat you can tie the dying foliage up so that it does not fall everywhere and you can also plant annuals or perennials around the bulbs to help hide it.

This past winter has been hard on some of the trees and shrubs. There was a lot of winter kill on cedars. If there is only a branch or two that  have died they can be cut off to where the healthy growth starts, but it  will take a long time for the tree to regain its shape. When most of the tree has died back it is best to remove it and plant another one. To check on deciduous trees and shrubs that have not yet leaved out, scratch a  branch or try and break it; if it is dry, it is dead and should be removed to where there is healthy growth. Many people want to compensate by giving the tree extra fertilizer which will only harm it. Instead, keep the tree  well watered and fertilize very little until you see that the tree is showing signs of new growth. At is at this point when you can fertilize the tree regularly.

Mugho pines are now showing their new candles. Candles are the new growth that appears at the tips of the existing branches. (see photo) To create a denser, fuller looking plant the candles should be pinched back by half so that each decapitated candle can produce 2-3 new shoots. Do this now.

Go through the garden and landscape and check for any pests and weeds. These should be removed as you see them before they become too large a problem. It is easier to prevent any problems rather than have to deal with them. Birch trees for example, are prone to leaf minor and there is no available chemical at this time to combat the problem. It is important to keep the birch well watered and fertilized so that it is healthy and stress free and strong enough to battle off the leaf minor.

In the vegetable garden you can cover the newly seeded carrots with "Reemay" until the carrots begin to mature. This should help prevent the carrot  rust fly from laying its eggs on the soils surface by the carrots. Peppers are often prone to aphids so by spraying those weekly with an insecticidal soap such as " End All" will kill any young aphids before they get the chance to lay eggs.

All these preventive methods should help in having a healthier garden.

-Jos
    

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

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

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