Do gardeners ever stop thinking about or checking the weather? No. And that is as it should be. I want to anticipate what my gardens will need if rain and sun don’t provide. Right now (on Monday), I am thinking, “How can I plant my vegetables in March if we still have snow on the ground?” Answer is: I probably won’t plant them out.
Luckily, the temperatures in the 40s this week should bring some helpful melting, a step in the right direction. I won’t be planting outdoors, but I can keep up with my indoor seed starting. Time to start some lettuce and more scallions. If the lettuce gets too big before I can transplant, I could just eat it!
Although the air has been cold, the sun will quickly warm up plants in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. Rotate your houseplants to prevent the sun from scalding the leaves as the days get brighter. Bright sun will cause flowers to open further only to close up again when temperatures fall.
At least the melt provides some hope for spring. And it makes the maple sap start to flow. The sap of a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) has the highest sugar content of all maples. About 40 gallons of sap need to be boiled down to yield one gallon of syrup—more if the sap’s sugar content is low. Visit a local maple-sugaring house in the next few weeks for a taste test!
Houseplants may also be showing damage from pests or inconsistent watering. Sometimes the only problem is the plant is too happy and has outgrown its pot. Inspect your houseplants carefully and don’t be too quick to blame an insect. Most problems begin and end with moisture—either too much or too little. If you do identify an insect pest, test pest-control soap solutions on a single leaf before using them on an entire plant.
My orchid has been sending roots all over the place, but a discolored leaf indicated too much water. New stems have buds, so now seemed like a good time to enlarge the orchid’s home. I chose a pot about one inch wider than the original, and I also chose one with air holes. The pot I had been using allowed too much water to stand, ultimately rotting the roots that should have been holding it in place.
The new pot has holes that allow for better air movement. I removed the plant from the old container and found the center roots had indeed rotted. I pulled the dead material out and gently rinsed the plant in fresh, lukewarm water. Then I let all the roots soak for a few minutes.
While the orchid enjoyed its bath, I also soaked long-fiber sphagnum peat moss and orchid bark in water. The orchid had been planted in a mix of these two products already, so I decided to stick with what worked. Adapted to grow among tree branches of the tropics, orchids need high humidity and bright light but no soil per se. Photosynthesis feeds them, and they capture minerals from the water as it runs over the roots. This planting media can retain moisture for a long time, but allow air circulation.
After about 10 minutes, I pressed a layer of moss and bark into the bottom of the pot. I let the orchid drain and gently wrapped the roots in more moss and bark. It felt like softly forming a snow ball or a ball of pastry. Once most of the healthy roots were wrapped, I eased the orchid into the pot. I then filled in around the ball with more moss and bark.
Once I patted the media down firmly, I brought the pot to the sink and ran water through the pot to make sure all was moist. I let the pot drain, pouring off any excess water from the attached saucer and brought it to its favorite window. Every few days, I will check the media to be sure the roots stay damp.
And no flower buds were sacrificed in this procedure!
Not all houseplants grow without a potting soil mix like epiphytic (air-plant) orchids. Most require a moisture-retentive, coarse mix. Fine soil with silty granules will pack hard, quickly making water run off. Choose potting mixes with coarse materials such as sand, composted bark, or perlite.
While waiting for spring, save your wood ash to use on acidic soil that needs “sweetening” for lawns or vegetables. Wood ash has about half the liming ability of ground limestone. A thin sprinkling on vegetable beds or flower borders adds valuable calcium and potassium to the soil.
Prune diseased stems and branches while pathogens are still dormant and temperatures are in the 20s or low 30s. Now is also a good time to prune grapevines or blueberries. Pruning will encourage new fruiting stems for this summer’s harvest.
When we have a sunny day where temperatures are above 40 for 24 hours or more and you don’t have anything else to do (hah!), you can spray preventive fungicides. A copper-based fungicide application in late winter will reduce peach leaf curl on stone fruits. You will need the same type of weather to apply dormant oil as directed for overwintering pests on fruit trees. Dormant horticultural oil spray will smother the eggs of mites, scale, or aphids.
Check the product labels and follow the directions. Do not spray fungicides and dormant oil on the same plant on the same day. You could damage the plant. My important tip for today: Have an extra set of “readers” in your garden apron so you can read the directions! And then follow the directions.
I call myself the Lazy Berkshire Gardener because I don’t want to work too hard in my gardens. I want to enjoy them. I find it easier to observe my landscape and let the compost happen, the water pool up, or daisies to self-sow. I look for ways to do the minimum task for the biggest impact. For example, mulching is better than spraying and much better than weeding all season. I look for beautiful, low-maintenance plants that thrive in or at least tolerate my garden conditions. Plus, I am willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
