Spring gardening A-Z
An encyclopedia for this gardening cycle
By Pat Rubin - prubin at sacbee.com

Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, March 22, 2008
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page K1

http://www.sacbee.com/165/story/801926.html

No doubt about it, spring is a busy and exciting time in the garden.
Suddenly, spring is bursting out all over. Flowers are everywhere.
Here's our handy, quick guide for making spring gardening fun and
successful.

A

Amend the soil by adding a handful of compost whenever you plant.

Annuals for cutting: zinnias, cosmos, asters. All easily grown from
seed. You can - really - toss the seeds into the garden, lightly cover
with soil, water gently every couple days until the seeds sprout.

Aphids love roses, irises, succulents, plumleaves. Hose them off, or
use Safer's Insecticidal Soap Spray, an organic gardening method that
smothers them when you spray them. Clean old feed out of bird feeders,
disinfect the feeder, then add fresh birdseed; Scrub the bird bath and
add fresh water.

B

Books: The Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel ($15.95); Seed to
Seed by Suzanne Ashworth ($19.95)

Blog: Join Pat Rubin on her gardening adventures at www.sacbee.com/inthegarden.

C

Compost: It improves soil structure, adds organic matter and prevents
diseases. You can dig it in or just spread it on top.

Cool season crops (55-70 degrees F): Asparagus, beets, broccoli,
cabbage, lettuce, onions, parsnip, peas, radish, spinach.

Cloche: A mini greenhouse, a cloche can be a gallon milk jug with the
bottomcut out so it fits over a plant. Traditional cloches are made of
glass. They keep tender seedlings warm on chilly days by absorbing
heat. However, leave them on when it's hot, and you'll bake your
plants.

Container for seedlings can be as simple as cottage cheese containers
with drainage holes punched. Peat pots, plastic pots, foam trays,
whatever works is fine.

D

Direct seeding: Planting seeds directly in the garden where they will
grow. Squash, melons, cucumbers, sunflowers, radishes and lettuce
produce good results when direct seeded.

Days to maturity: the number of days from the time you plant the seed
to picking the vegetables. Radishes can take as little as 28 days
while melons take 120 days or more.

Deadheading: Snip away spent flowers to encourage plants to continue
blooming. Damping off: A disease that causes seedlings to shrivel and
rot at ground level. Cold soil and too much moisture contribute to the
disease's spread.

E

Espalier: training a plant, usually a fruit tree, to grow in a pattern
along a fence or a trellis or against a wall or fence. Apples and
pears are the easiest to train and most dependable for fruit.

Electric GrowMat: Provides bottom heat so seeds germinate more quickly
and grow faster. Usually made of heavy rubber. Cost $20-$50 each.
They're available at nurseries.

F

Foliar feeding: Spraying fertilizer, usually fish emulsion, kelp or
seaweed, directly on leaves.

Fan: Turning on a fan - gently - on seedlings helps them develop
stronger stems. You can also comb your hand over their tops for a
minute or two several times each day.

Frost date: find the last frost date for your area, and work backwards
about six weeks to determine the best time to plant seeds indoors.

G

Growlights are usually standard fluorescent lights. The idea is to
provide light for growing seedlings so they don't get leggy. Put the
lights three to six inches above the seedlings.

Gophers: Deter gophers and moles by attaching hardware cloth to the
bottom of raised beds.

H

Hardening off: Exposing seedlings to outside temperatures gradually
until they are acclimated to spending all day and night outside and
are ready to be planted in the garden.

Hornworms: the bane of tomato growers, these larva of the large
tobacco hornworm moth emerges in early summer after over wintering in
the garden. The female lays eggs on tomato foliage to start the cycle
again. The eggs, found on the underside of the leaves, are pale green
to white, and about 1mm in size.

Heirloom vegetables and flowers: Non-hybrid varieties, many of which
have been grown for hundreds of years and kept pure and true by home
gardeners.

Hot weather crops (above 80 degrees F): shell beans, eggplant, okra,
peanuts, watermelon (Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegetables).

I

Inorganic fertilizers: composed of mineral compounds. Examples include
ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, potassium nitrate. They are
available to plants more quickly than organic fertilizers, but must be
replenished more often. Bewa too much can burn plants.

Insecticidal soap is a potassium based soap, and kills aphids by
smothering them.

J

The Jerusalem artichoke is not from Jerusalem and is not an artichoke.
It's in the sunflower family, and produces tall, leafy clumps topped
with bright yellow sunflower-like flowers. The tubers are ready to
harvest in the fall, and are delicious steamed then topped with
parsley flakes, black pepper and butter.

K

Kipling says: Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade and saying
"how pretty."

Plant your garden near the kitchen, or where you will walk by it. Be
sure to label seedlings or you won't be able to tell them apart until
they get their true leaves.

L

Lilacs herald the beginning of spring with their sweetly scented
blossoms.

Ladybugs can eat as many as 5,000 aphids during their lifetime.

M

March: In like a lion, out like a lamb.

Mulch is the garden's blanket. Retains moisture. Suppresses weeds,
keeps the ground soft and friable, and gives the garden a tidy
appearance.

N

NPK: Nitrogen (stem and leaf production); Phosphorus (root growth);
Potassium(flowers and fruit production) NewMoon: to encourage new
growth, prune shrubs and trees between the new and full moons.

Never walk on your soil.

O

Organic fertilizers: dehydrated manure (horse, cow) bone meal, blood
meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal Plant what you love and what you
will use.

P

Peat pots can go into the ground with the plant. Compressed peat
pellets are great for starting seeds. Simply add warm water and let
pots expand. Add seeds, keep moist until seeds germinate.

Q

Questions? E-mail us at , or call us at (916) 321-1075.
Call the Master Gardeners: Sacramento (916) 875-6913; El Dorado (530)
621-5512; Placer (530) 889-7388; Nevada (530) 273-0919; Solano (707)
784-1322; Sutter, Yuba (530) 822-7515; Yolo (530)666-8737.

R

Raised beds dry out and warm up faster in the spring than surrounding
soil so you can plant earlier. You don't walk on the soil, so it
doesn't compact. You bring in fertile, nutrient-rich soil. Easy to
weed.

S

Soil for starting seeds: Choose a good potting mix. Seeds don't need
fertilizer or compost. Seedlings do.

Square foot gardening: This year's Bee Garden will use this method,
which was devised by Mel Bartholomew, a retired engineer. It divides a
garden bed into square foot blocks. Watch April 19 for more
information.

Slow Release fertilizer: The nutrients are released over a period of
time, so they can be absorbed slowly and gradually by the plants.

Slugs and snails are on the move. Dishes of beer, a trail of ashes,
diatomaceous earth and slug baits can help.

T

Transplanting: Wait until seedlings have at least two sets of true
leaves and all danger of frost is past before taking them outside.

Thinning seedlings: Snip unwanted seedlings instead of pulling them
out of the ground so the roots of the remaining plant are undamaged or
disturbed.

Tomatoes: Plant tomatoes up to their necks in the ground. Unlike other
vegetables, tomato stems can produce roots along its stem.

Must have tools include a trowel, three-pronged cultivator and a
shovel.

U

USDA hardiness zones tell you how much cold a plant can tolerate.

V

Viability: Whether seeds germinate depends on whether they're viable,
or simply, still alive. If you save seeds from year to year, check
viability by placing a few seeds between layers of damp paper towels.
Check daily to make sure towels are still moist, and after a week or
10 days, unroll the towels to see how many seeds have germinated.

Vermicultu Worm composting. Let earthworms turn kitchen scraps into
compost.

W

Warm season crops (65-80 degrees F): Cantaloupe, chard, corn,
cucumber, pepper, pumpkin, squash, sweet corn, tomato.

Watering: The best time to water in early morning and late afternoon.

Web sites: www.sacbee.com/inthegarden; www.farmerfred.com;
www.sacramentogardening.com; http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/

X

Xeriscape means a dry landscape, although it's come to mean water-wise
planting and using plants suited to a summer-drought climate.

Y

Yellowjackets are a type of wasp. They're love nectar, and flowers.
The females can sting. Yellow jackets feed on harmful caterpillars and
insects.

Z

Zucchini. Plentiful, but when you don't grow it, you miss it.