AuthorLyn Chimera is a Master Gardener, consultant and lecturer. Archives
May 2023
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The Stately Hemlock11/24/2020
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November Gardening Tips11/1/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
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October Gardening Tips10/1/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
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September Gardening Tips9/1/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
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August Gardening Tips8/1/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
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July Gardening Tips7/2/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
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June 2020 Gardening Tips6/9/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
First, I want to thank all of you who ordered plants from my plant sale last month. It was very successful, but I missed seeing everyone at the sale. Hopefully, next year we will be back to normal. It’s JUNE How did that happen?! I know this cold snap is temporary, but it still feels like March to me. One of the lessons learned from the extreme weather swings we’ve had over the last 3 months is that nature survives. We may have lost some things to the heavy freeze in May and had transplants wilt in the extreme heat last week, but overall plants survive. I was fascinated at how fast the trees leafed out during that hot week. Some of my ferns grew seemingly overnight. Others are not even up yet, and I’m concerned. Yet, looking at gardens they seem lush and green. We are lucky we have our gardens to distract us during these difficult times. The following are some tips for this time of year.
Educational Opportunity: Master Gardener Online Garden Fence Chats Join our CCE Erie Master Gardener hotline volunteers as we host virtual hotline hours or ‘Garden Fence Chats’ Monday –Friday via Zoom from 10:00 am to noon. REGISTER FOR GARDEN FENCE CHATS HERE https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/vpYvcu6trTspMthpDqjMUzrOiSoFqWp1eQ?fbclid=IwAR3qWjL-oua5i7Sjqm6y6lXaanBXl1inS_GOQu3wfjUjA0KaGwZSTrsvGdU This will be an opportunity to chat with Master Gardener hotline volunteers real time and share your gardening questions either by phone or the computer. The link above will also list the topics for the week. They are also listed on Buffalo-niagaragardening.com. We will open each day with a short presentation covering a timely topic or frequently asked question and then keep the line open for people to call-in or virtually stop-by with questions. Come hear from your garden friends what is happening in their gardens and what they are learning.
Don’t forget to contact me for a garden consult. I can help improve your garden and gardening practices as well as save you time and money! It’s not too late for improvements. Happy Gardening!
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Mulch, the Good and Not So Good6/1/2020 Most of us have heard about mulch but just what is it and why should you use it? First of all mulch is basically any material used to cover the bare surface of the soil. Nature has been mulching itself forever. Tree leaves and plants at the end of the season decompose on site and provide soil cover and nutrients for the next season. We have created controlled habitats in our gardens and have to provide this necessary process. There are multiple reasons to use mulch. The most common one people think of is to prevent weeds from growing. Who likes to spend the summer weeding?! However, other reasons are just as important if not more so; helping the soil retain moisture so you don’t have to water as much, keep the soil cooler which also cuts down on water evaporation and helps prevent cracking during dry periods, protect the soil from heavy rains and erosion, cut down on soil splashing up on the plants and lastly it gives the garden a finished look. The two main types of mulch are organic and inorganic. Organic simply means it’s made from plant or animal materials that have been ground or composted. Organic mulches will eventually decompose and add nutrients to the soil. Inorganic mulches include stone and plastic sheeting and have no value for the soil. Organic mulches are the best to use because along with all the ways they help your garden mentioned above they will also help improve the fertility of the soil as well as the structure of the soil making it easier for the roots to grow and easier for you to dig. As the organic mulch decomposes during the season it adds life to the soil through microorganisms. It’s these microorganisms that feed the plants. Most organic mulch consists of items like composted animal manure, leaves, straw, ground wood, sludge and yard and kitchen waste. Some of the most common mulches are made from chipped or ground wood, bark and branches. This is usually referred to as wood chips or bark mulch. In my opinion the large wood chip mulch is not the best option. It decomposes very slowly and adds little nutrient value to the soil. After a season or two it turns grey and the recommendation is to remove it and add fresh. Seems like a lot of expense and energy for mulch that is not that good at keeping weeds down. Triple ground wood mulch is a much better option. You will pay more but it’s more effective at weed control and will add nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. Cedar mulch has become popular because of the color however the cedars are being harvested from cedar bogs in the south at a frightening rate. For this reason alone I don’t recommend using it. Compost is a very affective mulch especially if you have “dirt” instead of good soil. Adding compost is the most effective way of improving your soil. When I started gardening my soil was heavy clay and almost impossible to dig. I mulched with compost for quite a few years and it made a huge difference. You can make your own or buy it by the bag or yard delivered to your driveway. A mixture of triple ground wood mulch and compost is ideal and available at many nurseries. Mulched leaves are an ideal and FREE mulch. To use as mulch the leaves have to be ground up using a mulching lawn mower. I collect mulched leaves people discard at the curb in the fall and bag them for later use. They make a light weight (no back breaking shoveling of heavy mulch) excellent mulch. I use mulched leaves exclusively now except for one bed in the front which gets a lot of wind. Mulches to avoid are the non-organic varieties. Stone mulch is not recommended. It’s heavy, expensive, doesn’t improve the soil, increases watering needs and is an ineffective weed barrier. It also absorbs heat which can be harmful to some plants and causes the water in the soil to evaporate faster. Plastic garden or weed barrier is also a very poor choice. You need to cover it with mulch to hold it down and it tends to migrate and show up above the soil after a while. Plastic weed cloth is also very hard to plant through and when weeds do show up are hard to remove. Bottom line… use an organic mulch that includes some compost. It will make your gardening much easier and improve the soil at the same time. A win/win situation!
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May 2020 Garden Tips Pt 14/29/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,
I’m so glad April will be over and am hoping May will be more hospitable for garden work. It seems to me I got more done in the garden in March than April. Maybe March was really April and April was March. At least it seemed that way. News about my plant sale and a Master Gardener opportunity are at the end of these tips. Hard to believe but we still must be patient as the soil is cold and wet. The following are some tips for May: One big issue that requires patience is waiting until your perennials come up before walking in the beds or starting to dig. Unless you know exactly where every perennial is, it is safer to wait until they show up. It is so tempting to step into a bed to get at that weed but resist! I have crushed crowns of plants with my feet and/or dug into them by not waiting to see where they are. If your soil is workable (not so wet that it forms a clump in your hand) you can transplant perennials that are already in your garden. They are acclimated to the weather and should be fine. It’s way too soon to put out any nursery grown perennials or annuals. Our nights continue to be well below 50. Plants from greenhouses haven’t been acclimated to outside temperatures. If the cooler weather continues it may be the end of May before it’s safe to put out tender annuals. Weeding should be a priority. There are a few weeds to watch out for that are starting to bloom now. - Lesser celandine is another weed that is in full bloom now. This is an extremely invasive plant that unfortunately is very pretty. It’s a short (2-3 inch) ground cover with heart shaped waxy green leaves and bright yellow flowers. It dies in back in early summer like a tulip or daffodil so you must weed them out now before you can no longer see them. These do not pull up easily, so you must be sure to dig out all the roots and the very small bulbs at the end of the roots. Luckily, they are in bloom so will be easy to find. For more information and pictures go to:http://www.nyis.info/index.php?action=invasive_detail&id=71 Lessons from Nature and Amanda’s Garden Annual Native and Perennial Plant Sale. Many of you have inquired about our annual plant sale. Obviously, we won’t be able to have our regular plant sale due to the covid 19 restrictions. Instead we will both be having a sale by pre-order and pre-pay with pick up the week of May 25-30. I will send out a list of available plants the second week of May. All orders will be first come first served. I will indicate which plants I have a lot of and which ones only a few. Prices vary according to the size of the division so I will include price ranges as well. Email me your order and I will let you know the cost. Then you can mail me a check and I will prepare your order. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PRE-PAID. Plants from Amanda’s Garden can be ordered by email or phone:You can check the website for plant lists: www.amandasnativeplants.com ellen@amandasnativeplants.com (585)750-6288 Amanda's Garden Native Perennial Nursery specializes in locally grown native plants for woodlands, meadows and wetlands. These will also be available for pick up at the same week here at my home in E Aurora. Order by checking plants on Amanda's Garden website and email your order. Ellen will email you an invoice for pre-paying. All my plants are dug fresh from my garden and those from Amanda’s Garden are started from seed by Ellen. Foltz, the owner. I will also have a selection of hypertufa containers, draped concrete planters and birdbaths. Master Gardener Online Garden Fence ChatsGet Ready for Spring!Join our CCE Erie Master Gardener hotline volunteers as we host virtual hotline hours or ‘Garden Fence Chats’ Monday –Friday via Zoom from 10:00 am to noon. REGISTER FOR GARDEN FENCE CHATS HERE: https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/vpYvcu6trTspMthpDqjMUzrOiSoFqWp1eQ?fbclid=IwAR3qWjL-oua5i7Sjqm6y6lXaanBXl1inS_GOQu3wfjUjA0KaGwZSTrsvGdU This will be an opportunity to chat with Master Gardener hotline volunteers real time and share your gardening questions either by phone or the computer. We will open each day with a short 10-15 minute presentation covering a timely topic or frequently asked question and then keep the line open for people to call-in or virtually stop-by with questions. Come hear from your garden friends what is happening in their gardens and what they are learning. Our Garden Fence Chat space will be staffed by Master Gardener volunteers and our Consumer Horticulture Educator Garden Consults: Done at a safe distance with masks. A Garden Consult can help identify plants, problems, and improve your garden and gardening practices. This will save you time and money. Happy Gardening!
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May 2020 Gardening Tips Pt 24/29/2020 Dear Gardening Friends,This is a special edition of our Garden Tips to bring you up to date on a few things. First how to handle this frigid weather. This is a perfect example of NOT gardening according to the calendar, rather following natures lead.
Now for some good news!! The WNY Land Conservancy is offering a FREE online talk by Doug Tallamy author of Bringing Nature Home. He is one of the people who has made the biggest ecological impact on home gardening. Info and registration info is below. Upcoming Plant Sale: Lessons from Nature and Amanda’s Garden Native and Perennial Plant Sale. 170 Pine St., E Aurora, corner of Pine & Lawrence. Obviously, we won’t be able to have our regular plant sale due to the covid 19 restrictions. Instead we will both be having a sale by pre-order and pre-pay with pick up at my home the week of May 25-30. I will send out a list of available plants AFTER the second week of May. Due to the cold weather many things aren’t up yet! All orders will be first come first served. I will indicate which plants I have a lot of and which ones only a few. Prices vary according to the size of the division so I will include price ranges as well. Email me your order and I will let you know the cost. Then you can mail me a check and I will prepare your order. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PRE-PAID. Plants from Amanda’s Garden can be ordered by email or phone:You can check the website for plant lists: www.amandasnativeplants.com ellen@amandasnativeplants.com (585)750-6288 Amanda's Garden Native Perennial Nursery specializes in locally grown native plants for woodlands, meadows and wetlands. These will also be available for pick up at the same week here at my home in E Aurora. Order by checking plants on Amanda's Garden website and email your order. Ellen will email you an invoice for pre-paying. All my plants are dug fresh from my garden and those from Amanda’s Garden are started from seed by Ellen. Foltz, the owner. I will also have a selection of hypertufa containers, draped concrete planters and birdbaths. Educational Opportunity: On Wednesday, May 13th from 7:00-8:30 p.m., the WNY Land Conservancy will present a very special evening with renowned writer and native plant gardening expert, Doug Tallamy, who Edward O. Wilson calls "one of the most original and persuasive present-day authors on conservation." In his new book, Nature’s Best Hope, Tallamy urges homeowners to turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. During this free, virtual event, you will learn practical, effective, and easy steps for taking environmental action in your own yard. There will not be a live Q&A, but if you have questions for Doug, email them to Kyle Semmel, communications manager, at ksemmel@wnylc.org prior to the event. Preregistration is required. To register go to: info@wnylc.org Master Gardener Online Garden Fence Chats Join our CCE Erie Master Gardener hotline volunteers as we host virtual hotline hours or ‘Garden Fence Chats’ Monday –Friday via Zoom from 10:00 am to noon. REGISTER FOR GARDEN FENCE CHATS HERE https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/vpYvcu6trTspMthpDqjMUzrOiSoFqWp1eQ?fbclid=IwAR3qWjL-oua5i7Sjqm6y6lXaanBXl1inS_GOQu3wfjUjA0KaGwZSTrsvGdU This will be an opportunity to chat with Master Gardener hotline volunteers real time and share your gardening questions either by phone or the computer. We will open each day with a short 10-15 minute presentation covering a timely topic or frequently asked question and then keep the line open for people to call-in or virtually stop-by with questions. Come hear from your garden friends what is happening in their gardens and what they are learning. Our Garden Fence Chat space will be staffed by Master Gardener volunteers and our Consumer Horticulture Educator Don’t forget to contact me for a garden consult. I can help improve your garden and gardening practices. They can be done with masks, outdoors and with safe distancing. Stay safe and be well!!!! Happy Gardening! |