Question: The garlic I planted last fall — Russian Red and Italian varieties from FedCo — are coming up with green shoots now well above the straw mulch I put down. It still gets cold at night, low 30s, and we had wet snow yesterday. Should I go ahead and pull the mulch off? Leave […]
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Question: I have three lilac trees. All three of them are very thinned out, not many buds. What can I do? Are they dead? They are all in a sunny spot. Answer: Kate Garland, Horticultural Professional Lilacs typically do well in windy and salty sites. If your plants haven’t had any signs of disease and […]
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Question: We have so many oak trees on our property. Between the leaves and the excess acorns left over from winter, we have excess of everything in our gardens. The grass doesn’t seem to like them so I will try to rake them off but are they doing harm to our raspberry, blue berry and […]
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Question: I have irises and day lilies in my garden. Now they have moved themselves to the Eastern side of the garden. (surprise, surprise) I need to move them, but don’t want to wreck them. The irises are all hooked together. If I break them, do I lose that part? Also, some of the lilies […]
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Question: We just moved into our first home in South Portland! We have a wooded .5 acre of space that we have deemed as the “wasteland.” For probably close to 30 years the previous owners just allowed the space to be used for dead trees, sticks, leaves, trash and other debris. Many trees have fallen, […]
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Question: Thank you for helping me identify two invasives last year: goutweed, and quackgrass. I used buckwheat to smother a patch of quackgrass (yes, it seems to working!) and have tried blackout and pulling for two other areas where goutweed has heavily taken over, including infiltrating established daylilies and lilies of the valley, many of […]
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Question: I’m out in Bethel, and I’m looking at buying some trees, both fruit, and landscaping. I’m trying to understand some things about hardiness zones. We’re in zone 4 (I think), though we’re not far from Zone 5, but when I look at record low temperatures in Bethel, they’re well above -20F (which is minimum […]
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Question: Can I plant pachysandra underneath my service berry tree as a ground cover? The service berry is two years old and 7’ tall. I’m wondering if they would be compatible? Answer: Marjorie Peronto, Extension Educator Many people do plant pachysandra or other ground covers beneath trees, and the trees survive, but it is not […]
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Question: When can I rake my flower beds and still protect the pollinators? Answer: Marjorie Peronto, Extension Educator Great question. The longer you can leave the plant materials in place, the more likely you are to allow overwintering insects to emerge on their own time. Their emergence is directly linked to growing degree days, Understanding […]
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Question: Last year I grew husk cherries in 10″ diameter x 10″ high containers on a table topped with hardware cloth in my garden to make harvesting easier. I used a Fox Farm potting medium in the pots. For the first couple of month, the plants grew terrifically and the fruits were much larger than […]
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