It is Monday and I have been cleaning up the Healing Garden at Sanford.
As I was working, I noticed little sprouts of bluegrass that have been hiding among the stems of perennials that I didn’t notice last year. That reminded me to remind you that this is the best time to remove perennials grass that may have begun invading your garden area.
Many of these grasses like blue grass or quack grass are rhizomatous, meaning that the root spreads underground, periodically sending up little grass plants. My pruning shears has a pointed tip so I can just push it into the soil under the grass and lift the grass root and then continue following that root, loosening the soil as I keep pulling to get the whole of the root dug out.
Right now the soil is moist and loose after thawing from winter, so now is the easiest time to get that grass removed. Wait just a couple of weeks and you’ll be looking at much more of a challenge to remove it.
Blue grass is a slow spreader, but quack grass spreads very quickly and grows the entire season into the fall until the ground freezes. It is not unusual for quack grass rhizomes to grow 3 to 4 feet in one season, whereas blue grass might grow 6 inches. Now you understand why quack can become a problem in a perennial garden or a strawberry patch quickly if you aren’t paying attention.
Yesterday I went out and cut some lilac branches. I put several stems in a deep vase of water with preservative added and set them in a bright area but out of direct sun. The process is called forcing.
At this point in the season, it will take a couple of weeks for the buds to open. I enjoy the fragrance of lilacs, and getting a jump on the regular bloom season is a bonus I can’t pass up. If you are up for giving it a go, cut stems with fat buds from high on the bush so you get flower buds, not leaf buds.
So it is 70 out today, and tomorrow night they are predicting a low of 20. Wow! … That’s why our part of the country is considered Zone 4 on the hardiness chart. It amazes me that plants like daffodils and tulips that are about 4 inches tall can tolerate that much cold.
The heat will warm the soil today, and I am hoping that radiant heat will help protect the flower buds on the daffodils. The tulip buds are still protected because they haven’t emerged from the leaf swirl. Another factor that helps these early arrivals survive is the fact that we still have freezing temperatures most nights.
If the cold isn’t enough threat to your tulips, you can add rabbit damage. The fresh tulip foliage is a treat rabbits can’t resist. The best and least expensive deterrent I have found is garlic powder. Just a light sprinkle directly on the foliage changes the “flavor” enough to discourage the pests. You do have to reapply if it rains, but the tulips grow so fast usually only a couple of applications will do the trick.