This is the Q&A for the Yard and Garden show for April 26, 2024. Yard and Garden Live is a call-in radio show I do on KUTT 99.5 FM from 10-11:30 am and it will… More
Henbit
The weather is finally warming up more and we can get out into our landscapes again. As we get outside more, we will find one plant that is having a great year, Henbit. This purple blooming weed shows its ugly face very early in the spring. This is the weed that will cover fields with large expanses of purple blossoms. It is also quite prevalent in our lawns and gardens.
Henbit
Henbit is a member of the mint family, which means that it has square stems. It has leaves that are rounded with a scalloped edge and they are arranged oppositely along the stem. It has a small purple flower with darker colored purple spots on the lower petals of the flowers. Henbit is often confused with creeping Charlie or ground ivy, which is a perennial weed from the same family with purple colored flowers as well. The differences between the two are that creeping Charlie is a perennial, blooming later in the year with flowers that are bluer. Henbit also has a more upright growth than creeping Charlie which grows more prostrate along the ground.
Lifecycle
Henbit is a winter annual. This means that henbit only lives for one growing season, but it’s development is different from something like crabgrass which is a summer annual. A winter annual is a plant that germinates in the fall and grows a bit before basically becoming dormant for the winter months. Very early in the spring, henbit will start to grow again, produce flowers which produce seed for the growth to come next year and then it dies. A winter annual dies as soon as the weather starts to warm up in the late spring. A summer annual, like crabgrass, germinates in the spring and goes through its lifecycle through the summer months, dying with the first frost in the fall.
The problem with henbit is that by the time we see it, or rather see the flowers, it is too late to treat it. As stated, henbit dies when the weather warms up, so why spray it with a chemical when it is going to die in a few weeks anyway. Once it blooms it is already producing seed for next year, so killing the existing plants does nothing for the future generation of this plant. However, pulling the plant would be a fine management practice in the spring months.
Managing Henbit
Henbit tends to grow in areas of bare soil such as around sidewalks and driveways. Henbit is also found along house foundations or in a garden area with exposed soils. If we can improve grass growth in these locations or use other plants or mulch to cover the bare soil, it will help reduce the spread.
Use a pre-emergent herbicide for crabgrass and broadleaf weeds in the fall to stop germination and reduce the population next year. You can use products containing prodiamine (Barricade) or dithiopyr (Dimension). Finally, using any broadleaf post-emergent herbicide later in the fall after the henbit has germinated, such as 2,4-D, will kill it as well.
*Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by Nebraska Extension or bias against those not mentioned.
Yard & Garden: April 12, 2024
This is the Q&A for the Yard and Garden show for April 12, 2024. Yard and Garden Live is a call-in radio show I do on KUTT 99.5 FM from 10-11:30 am and it will run through July 26 and continue again in September for two fall episodes.. It can also be found on kutt995.com for online listening. If you missed a show or just want to read through the questions, I have written them all in my blog and will continue to do so throughout the season.
Guest Host: Dr. Paul Read, Professor of Viticulture at UNL
- The first caller of the season cut down pine trees a couple of years ago that died from pine wilt. Can he move his firewood home nearby his other pine trees or will it infect those trees as well?
A. It could spread the disease to those trees, but you have let it sit for a couple of years and you plan to burn it so the chance of spreading it would be low. If he can bring it home only as he needs the wood and use up what he brings home quickly, that would be best.
2. This caller is having trouble with a compacted, low spot in his landscape where he mows weekly around his landscape edging. Can he put soil in on top of the grass to fill in the spot?
A. No, don’t put soil on top of grass, it will smother and kill the grass. It would be best to just fill in and overseed the area rather than trying to keep the existing grass alive to fill it in. In the future, aerate the area to avoid the compaction and low spot developing.
3. What are all the purple flowers in the lawn?
A. That is henbit, a winter annual weed. There is no need to spray now, it won’t be very effective and it just speeds up the natural process of the weed. This weed germinates in the fall, then grows more in the spring when it flowers and sets seed and then dies with the summer heat. It will die soon. For control, you can use a crabgrass pre-emergence herbicide in the fall, something containing prodiamine (Barricade) or dithiopyr (Dimension).
4. This caller has multiple fruit trees. Should he spray now and throughout the season?
A. Yes, start spraying once pink begins to show in the bud. Avoid using any insecticides while the blossoms are open. At this point, his blossoms are open, he can use just a fungicide now to help with fungal diseases.
5. A caller used to have a apple tree that was a Jonathan/delicious cross variety. Can you still find this type of hybrid apple?
A. Yes, there is a Jonagold that would be a good alternative if you can’t find the Jonadel that you had before.
6. There was a listener who brought in a weed sample to the studio for identification and management.
A. This looks to be baptisia or blue false indigo. This plant is planted as an ornamental plant in our landscapes, but it seems to have escaped to a pasture in this case. He can spray it with 2,4-D products after bloom to control it, just make sure that the temperatures for 72 hours following application are below 85 degrees to reduce the chance for spray drift. Keeping the seeds from developing would help reduce the spread.
7. The final caller of this show wanted to know how to control bindweed growing in and around her flowers.
A. You can hand pull it to remove the plant before it gets flowers or you can spot spray or paint the leaves with Roundup or a glyphosate product. This is a difficult weed to control and hand pulling isn’t the best option, but keeping it from producing seed will help reduce the spread. If you pull them out often, they usually pull somewhat easily and you can get most of the roots. Mulching around the flowers will also help keep the bindweed from coming in and getting out of hand. Here is a good article from Kelly Feehan, Nebraska Extension Educator in Platte County on managing bindweed: https://go.unl.edu/bindweed
*Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by Nebraska Extension or bias against those not mentioned.
FULL PODCAST: If you would like to hear the full recording of this show, Listen to the Podcast found at: https://yardandgarden.buzzsprout.com
Spring Vegetable Gardens
We are entering the season to plant spring vegetable gardens. As the saying goes, “Plant your potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day” or others say to go with Good Friday. Either way, these cool season vegetables can be planted now. But be cautious with your plants, they could be injured by late freezing temperatures or frost events.
Spring Crops
Vegetable gardens can be worked in the spring as soon as the ground is dry. Cool season crops such as radish, carrots, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, asparagus, potatoes and peas can be planted from late March through the end of April when soil temperatures have reached a minimum of 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Freezing temperatures and frost can always occur through April. Even cool-season crops don’t grow well in these temperatures. If you have a spring garden growing with a frost or freeze event predicted, place a floating row cover or a sheet over the plants to prior to the cold temperatures to protect them from damage. If the cold will be a problem for multiple nights in a row, remove the row cover or sheet during the day once it has warmed up and replace it at night.
Cold Temperature Injury
If your spring crops are planted too early and cold temperatures return, they could be injured. Cold injury on plants will appear as black or dead leaves, water-soaked spots on the leaves, wilting, discoloration, or death.
Most cool season crops can withstand a frost of 31-33 degrees. Temperatures from 26-31 degrees may burn the foliage on broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, onion, radish, and turnips. These temperatures will likely not kill the plants, but that depends on other factors such as growth stage and temperatures the plant has faced prior to the freeze. If the temperature suddenly drops to the freezing level when it has been warm, that can cause death. While plants growing in consistently cool weather with a drop lower into the freezing level are more likely to survive. Brussels sprouts, carrots, kale, and spinach can survive temperatures even lower than 26, for the most part. (According to Texas A&M Extension)
Summer Crops
Wait until after the frost-free date to plant warm season crops so they aren’t harmed by a late frost. The average frost-free date for southeast Nebraska is April 29-May 12, but this is an average guideline. I like to wait until Mother’s Day weekend to plant my summer crops to avoid the late frost we frequently have.
Warm season vegetables for Nebraska include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, beans, corn, watermelons, cantaloupe, pumpkins, gourds, squash, okra, and sweet potatoes.
Care of the Garden
Make sure that the soil is dry before you work in or plant your garden to avoid soil compaction. Locate your garden where it will receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day, but 8-10 hours of sunlight is best. Make sure that it is planted on level ground to ensure uniform watering. Gardens need about 1 inch of water per week. Soaker hoses and drip irrigation are the best options to reduce diseases, but overhead irrigation can be used. If watering overhead with sprinklers, water early in the day, to allow the garden enough time for leaves to dry out before nightfall.
Vegetable gardens should be mulched to manage weeds. Grass clippings make a good mulch as long as the lawn hasn’t been treated with any herbicides this season. If grass isn’t available, use straw, newspaper, soybean or wood chip mulch.
Asparagus
Spring is here, officially, but that doesn’t mean we should get overly excited and go clean up our landscape beds just yet. However, Asparagus will soon be emerging from previous plantings and new plantings can be started soon.
Planting & Care
Asparagus is a perennial vegetable that will come back every year providing you with harvest annually without having to plant it every year. Asparagus is planted as crowns in the spring when soil temperatures have reached 50 degrees, check your soil temperature at go.unl.edu/soiltemperature. Dig a trench 6-8 inches deep and 12 inches wide and place the crowns in the trench and cover with soil. Do not compact the soil around the crowns and be sure to place the crowns with the roots downward and the buds upward in the soil. In the past, it was advised to add 2 inches of soil at a time as the spears grow upward until you reach the top of the trench, but new research indicates that isn’t necessary and you can just cover all the way back up with soil when you plant.
Once planted, wait to harvest until the third year to give the roots time to become fully established before beginning harvest. Asparagus can be planted from seeds, but it will add one more year to the establishment period before harvest is initiated.
Asparagus needs to be watered when precipitation is not present. It should receive about 1 inch of water weekly, which may need to be supplemented during periods of drought. Ensure that you are watering down to where the roots are, at 6-8 inches deep by using a screwdriver to probe the soil for moisture.
For fertilizer, you should start with a soil sample to check where your soil nutrient levels are when starting the bed and every 3 years after planting. If necessary, a typical garden fertilizer (10-10-10) will benefit plants annually. If you start to notice that the plants aren’t producing as well as they did after multiple years in the ground, it is likely that fertilizer is necessary. Composted manure can be used as well, but that is best added to the soil around the asparagus in the fall to reduce problems with bacteria.
Weed Control
Weeds are one of the most common problems for gardeners of asparagus. For years, many gardeners used the salt water produced when making ice cream around asparagus, this is no longer advised. Asparagus can survive in a high salt condition due to the deep roots, but salt can build up and cause asparagus to die over time. Also, the salt content in the soil can create a crust which blocks water absorption to plants which causes drought stress. Using any type of salt in the lawn or landscape is NOT a recommended practice for weed control in any situation.
The better option for weed control in asparagus would be to use mulch around the plants. Any type of organic mulch will work for weed control around the asparagus including grass clippings, wood chips, straw, or hay. If using grass clippings, be sure that it hasn’t been treated with herbicides or follow the label for length of time to wait after application. Mulch will keep the weeds down as well as hold onto moisture and add nutrients back into the soil as the mulch breaks down. Frequent, light shallow cultivation can be done early in the spring to help with weeds also.
Preen can be used to help reduce weeds in asparagus. Make sure it is the Preen product that is labeled for use around the asparagus and use it in combination with the mulch to help with annual weeds. Pay close attention to the label on the Preen product, it states it can only be used in the early spring before spears emerge.
Another option is to use a glyphosate product over the bed after the last harvest of the year. Snap all the spears off to ½ inch below the soil surface and spray over the bed, be sure there is no foliage or any green growth above the ground. Spray the glyphosate over the bed in the late spring when harvest is complete for the year. This will control most weeds found in the garden.
Harvesting
Harvesting can be completed by cutting or snapping spears off the plant as they emerge and grow to 5-8 inches in length. Harvest for 6-8 weeks or until the majority of the spears are less than 3/8 inches in diameter. When all the spears get spindly, the plant is running out of energy for production and harvest should be concluded to allow the plant to rebuild its resources for next year.
*Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by Nebraska Extension or bias against those not mentioned.
Start Seeds Indoors
Winter can sometimes be very long, especially for a gardener. It is hard for us to stay indoors in the cold weather when we want to be outside working in our garden year-round. However, you can start your growing season early by starting seeds indoors. I have taken up the hobby of starting seeds indoors and it has continually expanded every year because I am enjoying it so much.
Starting Seeds Indoors
When starting transplants, use good quality seed and a sterile soil or soil-less mixture. For growing media, you can use potting soil, or a soil-less mixture that contains vermiculite, perlite, and/or peat moss. Choose growing media that is lightweight and well-drained and has been moistened prior to adding to planting containers.
Start the seeds in seed trays or other types of peat containers. You can reuse pots or seed trays from previous years, just make sure it is cleaned from year to year. You can recycle old food containers or make your own from newspapers or toilet paper tubes. Be sure that all recycled containers are cleaned thoroughly prior to use and have good drainage or drainage holes are punctured into the container.
Plants should be grown in temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees. Too cold or too warm can reduce the rate of germination or the plants may grow leggy or improperly. Seedlings need 12-16 hours of light per day. This light should be kept about 1 inch above the plants, as they grow, this light should be moved up with the seedlings. The light source can be as simple as a utility or shop light with one cool and one warm fluorescent bulb. Many lights for growing plants have a built-in timer to keep the lights on for up to 12 hours, but you can always purchase an inexpensive outlet timer to keep it on for 12-16 hours and off for the rest of the evening. The light should not be on continuously for 24 hours.
When to Start Plants
It is best to wait until after our last frost to plant transplants of warm season crops into the garden. It takes about 6-8 weeks to grow tomatoes and peppers from seed, so count backward from Mother’s Day to determine when to start the plants indoors. Since Mother’s Day this year is on May 8, you can start tomatoes and peppers in the next couple of weeks. I plant my peppers at 7-8 weeks prior to planting and the tomatoes at 6 weeks prior to planting as the tomatoes will grow faster.
Transplanting Outside
Prior to transplanting outdoors, plants should be hardened off to acclimate them to the outdoor conditions. 1-2 weeks ahead of planting outdoors begin moving your plants outside gradually into more wind exposure and more sunlight for longer periods of time as the hardening off period goes on. Plants started indoors have not developed a thicker cuticle to sustain Nebraska winds, so they need to be put into wind gradually to push them to grow stronger. They also are not used to the intensity of sunlight outdoors. Putting them from your home to outside abruptly could cause the plant to snap off in high winds or develop sunscald on the leaves.
Planning for Spring Color
This time of year can become long and full of anticipation for spring flowers. You can plan now for different plants to add to your landscape to help with winter interest next year, even flowers.
Helleborus
Lenten Rose or Helleborus is a perennial plant with evergreen leaves. It grows up to 15-18 inches in tall and wide and it will colonize in good growing conditions. The leaves are not compound but are deeply serrate into 7-9 segments. Helleborus blooms from the end of February into March with blooms that can last until June. The flowers are cupped, 4 inches wide and vary in color from white or cream, to rose, to purple and more. Be careful with this plant, it is toxic if consumed and if you contact the sap, it can cause dermatitis.
Snowdrops
Common snowdrops is a bulb that blooms from March to April. It has narrow, grass-like leaves that emerge in late winter followed by white flowers that droop down. After snowdrops bloom, they go completely dormant for the year. Snowdrops only grow to 4-6 inches tall. It provides short-term interest but does continue to come back every year. It adds an early burst of spring to your otherwise dormant landscape.
Crocus
Crocus is another early spring bulb, blooming in March or early April with flowers that have six petals. The 2-3 inch blooms can range in color from white to purple to yellow and will close up on cloudy days and at night. Crocus has grasslike foliage that is very narrow and has a white stripe down the center. It will bloom before the foliage fully appears and then after only a few weeks, the whole plant is dormant again. If left alone, crocus will spread from year to year. I really enjoy crocus in my garden as an indicator that spring is on the way. Crocus is shown in the picture above.
Daffodils
Daffodils can be found in many color combinations but always within white, yellow, and orange with occasional green flowers. The flowers are typically held singly on the stalks and droop over. Daffodils will grow in clumps with slender, strap-like leaves that emerge before the flowers. The flowers appear from March-May, depending on the species. They can grow 6-18 inches tall depending on the variety.
Tulips
Tulips are very commonly known flowers for spring. There are so many color and flower options, you can have fun choosing what to put into your garden and add more as you go. The bloom time differs between the varieties, so you can get tulip bloom from early through late spring. Some of the newer varieties are not as hardy or as reliable re-bloomers so don’t be surprised if they don’t last long in your garden.
Planting Spring Bloomers
If you are looking at your garden, thinking that you would like some tulips, daffodils, or other spring blooming bulbs, now is not the time to plant them. Spring blooming bulbs should be planted in the early part of October. This gives them time to grow some roots and then bloom the following spring. Purchase bulbs at the time of planting, rather than purchasing them now and storing them until the fall when they can be planted. Helleborus can be planted in the spring or fall, knowing that they will not bloom until next winter.
Take time now to plan additions or changes to your landscape, so next fall you can purchase and plant your bulbs. Schedule time in early October to plant spring blooming bulbs and you will love the outcome next spring.
If you already have spring blooming bulbs, enjoy them. And remember don’t prune the foliage off until it dies back in the early summer to allow it to build nutrients to bloom again next spring.
Helping Pollinators Thrive
It is crazy to think that we are now only a little over a month away from the beginning of spring. However, don’t let the warmer weather fool you, even once we get to spring, it may be too soon to do much in your landscape. The photo above of a leafcutter bee is from Jim Kalisch, Extension Emeriti.
Garden Cleanup
Wait to clean up the dead material from last year’s growth, it is still too early for that. That plant material should be left until the temperatures are more consistently spring-like. I recommend waiting until later April or early May when the plants can tolerate temperatures. That plant material, including the build-up of leaves during the winter, protects plants through the cold months. If that plant material is removed too soon, it will expose the plants to colder temperatures and it could injure them.
Pollinators
The other thing to remember about plant material left on the garden space from last years’ plant growth is the impact on pollinators. Many of our pollinator insects and other beneficial insects overwinter in the leaf litter around our plants or in the hollow stems of the plants left behind. If you remove that plant material too soon in the spring, you will likely kill those insects nesting there. Try to leave that plant material as long as possible in the spring to allow those adults to emerge in the spring.
Pollinator Insects
Insects that pollinate plants are vital to our ecosystem. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from male flowers to female flowers to produce seeds which, of course, leads to more plants and the fruits we eat. Some plants are only pollinated by insects, others are pollinated by wind or self-pollination, while some plants are pollinated through multiple methods. Insects can improve production on even self-pollinated plants. Bees and other pollinators are responsible for the pollination of more than 60% of flowering plants, including 95 crops in the United States that are pollinated by honeybees (from NebGuide: Creating a Solitary Bee Hotel). Apples, Grapes, Watermelon, Cashews, and Chocolate are just a few of our favorite foods that must have insects to be pollinated to produce the foods we love.
Honeybees are great pollinators and are what we usually think of for pollinators. Their bodies have a lot of hairs to pick up pollen and move it from plant to plant. There are also many solitary bees, flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths that make great pollinators. One very well-known beetle pollinator is the soldier beetle found on Linden trees while they are in full bloom.
Plants for Pollinators
There are a lot of great plants to use for pollinators. Of course, milkweed is a preferred food choice for monarch butterflies. While common or swamp milkweed may not be the desired choice for landscapes for many people, there are alternative milkweeds that are also great food choices for butterflies including butterfly milkweed which has a very pretty red/pink colored blossom.
Many other pollinators use various other plants for food sources that can really enhance your landscape including sunflowers, butterfly bush, zinnias, gayfeather or liatris, beardtongue or penstemon, pasqueflower and coneflower. There are even trees like lindens, redbuds, and maples and herbs including basil, dill, thyme, oregano, and parsley that are attractive to pollinators. Pay attention when purchasing sunflowers, some new varieties have been developed that are pollen-free for less mess with cut flowers, choose varieties with pollen if your purpose is for pollinators.
Plant flowers with an array of different bloom times throughout your garden. It is important to cover all the seasons of bloom including early spring and late fall.
Indoor Gardening
The past month has been hard for us gardeners! It has been bitterly cold with so much snow it seems that it will never melt. A good way to keep your green thumb working is to grow plants indoors. You can grow houseplants or herbs year-round inside.
Houseplants
There are so many great houseplants to choose from for color, leaf structure and flowering. I have a few, they are all grown primarily for their greenery. Aloe, philodendrons, hoya, snake plant or Mother-in-law’s tongue, and Schefflera or Umbrella tree plant are all plants I enjoy in my office. At home, I enjoy African violets, spider plant, Chinese fern, and inchplant. There are also some great dumbcane plants, corn plant, and peace lily among many others to choose from.
Growing Conditions for Houseplants
Light is critical for any plant, but houseplants can have real problems if placed in incorrect lighting. According to Sarah Browning, Lancaster County Extension Educator, South facing windows provide the brightest light, while across the room from a north window is the darkest location. If you do not have a location near a window with enough light intensity, you may need to supplement the light around your plant. You can purchase plant lights from many stores and online shopping locations.
Humidity is another critical care factor for houseplants. Many houseplants are tropical in nature and our homes are quite dry in comparison, especially in the winter months. Plants need 70-80% humidity for best growth. Increased humidity in the room can be accomplished through the use of a humidifier or by placing plants in bathrooms which are typically more humid. A pebble tray can also be used to add humidity to your plants. Do not leave plants sitting in water, this can lead to root rot issues.
Be sure to keep the plants sufficiently watered. Just feeling around in the soil to test for moisture can be an effective way to know when to water. Don’t just water weekly on the same day, test the soil first. If the soil feels wet, don’t water, if it feels dry water the plant. Add water until it runs out the drainage holes in the container.
Herbs
Herbs that are typically grown indoors include chives, basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme, sage, and oregano. Harvesting these wonderful fresh herbs throughout the winter is the best part of growing herbs indoors throughout the winter months. The harvest is quite easy, just snip off stems before they bloom to get the best flavor. The plant will continue to regenerate new growth throughout the entire winter.
Growing Conditions
Indoor grown herbs need to be placed in the sunniest windowsill in your home. They need at least 10 hours of light each day to get their maximum growth. Supplemental light may be necessary to get the full amount of light they need each day. This can be controlled with a timer to make sure that it is turned on and off equally each day. This supplemental light should only be 8-10 inches from the plants themselves to get the maximum light intensity for the plants. Along with the amount of light the plants receive, you should make sure that your herbs are not placed near a drafty location in your home.
Herbs like to be in well-drained soil. Grow in containers with drainage holes. Place the pot in a saucer or some type of dish to catch the extra water, but never leave the plants sitting in the saucer of water. Allow the plants to dry out some between each watering but do not let them get too dry.
Snow and Ice in the Landscape
We really saw a lot of snow this past week. I know not all people appreciate snow as much as others. It makes travel difficult and is accompanied by very cold temperatures, and also, in some cases, our plants don’t appreciate it either. On the other hand, there are some plant benefits to all this snow.
Benefits
Plant protection is a benefit that comes from snow on plants through the winter. That may sound odd, but it works as an insulation to keep the plants uniform in temperature. This can help keep the plants from frost heaving, which is where the plant is pushed out of the ground by continual freezing and thawing of the soil throughout the winter months. Once this has happened, the plant roots are exposed to freezing temperatures and will likely die. Not all plants frost heave and some are more prone to it than others. The insulation from the snow also reduces the freezing depth in the soil, keeping it warmer for deeper roots.
Snow may be cold and difficult, however, it does provide moisture to our plants in an otherwise dry environment. Winter is usually dry and windy. Strong winter winds can make winter drought worse. Snow is good moisture to help reduce drought and provides protection against drying, winter winds.
Don’t forget the added benefit of snow, which is beauty in the landscape. I know it is hard to see past the cold, but it is quite beautiful. It also allows some of our other plants to really pop in the winter landscape. One of my favorite winter interest plants is red twig dogwood, which becomes magnificent with red stems against the white snow.
Disadvantages
Heavy snow can cause trees and shrubs to bend down out of their normal form or even break branches. If the branches are just bending, they will return to their normal shape once the snow melts. For bending branches, it is best to just allow the snow to melt naturally. However, heavy snow may cause branches to break. If branches break due to snow weight, make proper pruning cuts to the broken branches once it is safe to go out and do so.
If the tree becomes covered with ice, the instinct is to knock it off the tree, but this can be more damaging. If you try to break ice off a tree or shrub, it can break or crack branches. Let ice melt naturally.
Small wildlife, such as rabbits and voles, are more protected from predators in the snow and all wildlife are looking for food when snow covers the ground. Rabbits will chew on small plants. In the winter, they gnaw on the thin bark of young trees to feed on the green inner bark areas. In winters with heavy snowfall, you can sometimes see a horizontal line of damage along small trees or shrubs in a tree row or even on individual shrubs from where the rabbits chewed during the winter.
Voles can do similar damage, but often underneath the snow line. The snow will protect these small creatures from predators allowing them to get to our trees and shrubs and girdle them all the way around the trunk, in some cases. This damage cannot be reversed and it may lead to plant death.
There is no real cure for rabbit or vole damage to our plants, exclusion will have the greatest impact. They can be excluded by surrounding a garden or landscape area with fence made of 1 inch mesh that is 2 feet tall.
Recycle Christmas Trees
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is already over, again. Christmas trees are such a big part of the holiday, but it seems that they are gone quickly at the end of the season. There are ways to enjoy your tree longer or to recycle it so wildlife or our gardens can enjoy it rather than just tossing it into a landfill with your garbage.
Christmas Trees for wildlife
There are many ways to recycle your trees to give it a second life after celebrating the holidays. A couple of those methods can benefit wildlife.
Many people take their trees out to local lakes to the areas designated for Christmas tree recycling. The trees are placed on the ice in the winter and when the ice melts in the spring, they fall into the lake for fish habitat. If there is no ice, there are still designated areas to pile the trees and they are pushed onto the lake later in winter when ice does form.
You can put your tree outside in your landscape for birds as well. Clean off all your holiday tree trimmings and place the tree on the south or east side of the house, sheltered from winter’s harsh north and west winds. Anchor the tree securely by setting the stump into the ground or a large bucket of damp sand and secure the top of the tree with twine to a nearby building or fence.
Decorate your tree with strings of popcorn, cranberries or raisins. Apples, oranges, leftover breads and pine cones covered with peanut butter then dipped in birdseed can also be added. For best results, push the edible ornaments well into the tree. It is best to place food items high enough in the tree that dogs can’t reach them.
If you decide to start feeding the birds, be consistent with your feeding. They become reliant on your feeders as a food source; empty feeders during a severe cold period or storm could result in the birds starving before they can find another food source.
Christmas Trees for our plants
Christmas trees can also be saved for our own use in our gardens in the spring. This will give them a much longer purpose and really can help our gardens.
You can chip the tree and use it as mulch in your garden. You can chip it up now and save it for spring. Store it in a shed or other dry location with limited sunlight to help keep it intact. In fact, some cities will collect the trees for use in parks. These trees will be chipped and used to cover pathways in parks or as mulch for trees in city parks and other areas. You can check with your city to see what the trees will be used for if they are taken to the recycling locations. So, if you don’t have the need for the mulch in your garden, you can share it with your community.
You can also trim off all the excess branches and the needles to form a very nice trellis to be used in your garden. You can grow a lot of different flowers on a trellis, as well as many vegetables including cucumbers. You can keep the trellis structure and stake your tomato plants to it for structure rather than using a tomato cage if you would prefer. It can add a nice piece to your garden and give the tree longer life than just the few weeks in your home.
Plants and Pests with Nicole 