Rules of thumb that greenthumbs need to know.

Discussion in 'Gardening Other' started by Jerry Sullivan, Mar 1, 2011.

  1. Jerry Sullivan

    Jerry Sullivan Garden Experimenter Plants Contributor

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    Tucked away within us all are morsels of gardening advice in compact "sayings". Often we hear these sound bites of information and we say "Hey, I can use that, or "I didn't know that." Here's your chance to pass on to others those snippets of gardening knowledge.

    Marlingardener suggested we start a thread with these pieces of advice.

    Here are two to start things off:

    Prune spring flowering bushes AFTER they have flowered.

    Use grub killer on your lawn BEFORE the forsythia blossoms fall.

    Your turn,

    Jerry
     
  2. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Only thing I can think of right now is that, according to one of my aunts, is that rose bushes should be pruned back right around Valentine's day.
     
  3. marlingardener

    marlingardener Happy

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    Jerry, good thread! You must have heard about it from a great gardener, ahem . . . .

    My contribution is a rule of thumb. Seed packets say "plant when soil warms." Okay, how warm? I use my thumb. I stick my complete thumb down into the soil and if the tip is still warm, I plant. If it's cool, I wait.
     
  4. Coppice

    Coppice In Flower

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    "Dried tree seed, is dead tree seed", applies to most woody plants.

    The exceptions are far fewer than its true for.
     



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  5. Jerry Sullivan

    Jerry Sullivan Garden Experimenter Plants Contributor

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    For the people who can not identify poison ivy the general rule is "leaves of three leave them be." There may be some other three leafed plants that are not too happy with that but....

    Jerry
     
  6. Kay

    Kay Girl with Green Thumbs

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    In my neck of the woods, (zone 5) we need to prune roses when the Forsythia is in bloom. :stew2:
     
  7. daisybeans

    daisybeans Hardy Maple

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    Very coincidentally, I was just about to post the info below and it fits right in with the other info others have posted. Great gardening minds think alike! I copied the paragraphs below from the White Flower Farm email. White Flower Farm is a nice catalog for plants that I get....

    Great post.

    From White Flower Farm:

    "Paying attention to the first signs of spring in your area can be useful in determining when to plant. A whole branch of science, called phenology, now documents the seasonal cycle of buds and blooms, bird migration, and insect hatch.

    Here's more folk wisdom (essentially applied phenology) based on generations of observations:

    * When Forsythia blooms, it's time to prune Roses, fertilize the lawn, and remove about 1/3 of the layer of winter protection you applied in fall around perennials (remove another 1/3 the following week and the rest the week after that).

    * When Dandelions start blooming and Lilac leaves appear, it's time to plant cool-season crops such as beets, lettuce, and carrots.

    * When Shadbush (Amelanchier) blooms, plant your potatoes (and for those who fish, this is the time shad are running in the Connecticut River).

    * Plant Corn when Oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear.

    * When Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria) is in full bloom, it's time to plant Tomatoes.

    And when your Daffodils are blooming, it is time to plant Peas. "

    :stew2:
     
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