Hardening Transplants
The time is here for most of us to start planting transplants in our garden. It is a good idea to harden off the young plants before planting them into your garden. Most vegetable and bedding plants have spent most of their life in a greenhouse or in your house. If you plant them directly into the garden the sun and wind may damage them. Harden off plants by gradually exposing them to their new environment. Place them in a sheltered location to start, and gradually move them to a more exposed site for a week to 10 days. Keep watch on the plants as you harden as their potting soil may dry quickly. Transplants should be planted in the garden on a cloudy day or in the evening, so plants have a bit more time to get established before they're exposed to full sun. For more information ask for PM 819 Planting a Home Vegetable Garden at your County Extension Office. 

Planning for a raised bed  garden
Are you ready to put in that vegetable garden you have been thinking about all winter?  First you need to start with a good soil mix.  Raised bed soils should be light and well-drained. An excellent soil mix can be prepared by mixing equal parts topsoil, organic matter, and coarse sand.   
Before filling raised beds, remove the grass and work up the existing soil with a spade. Add a few inches of the soil mix, then incorporate it into the existing soil.  Continue to add and incorporate additional soil mix until the raised bed is filled.  

 

Is your tree at war?
A tree in the wilderness grows mostly in a woodland area or a forest with little or no grass around it. On the other hand, grass tends to grow in open areas with few trees.  People enjoy looking at both trees and grass, so we plant them together in our yards. This arrangement can cause some problems for the tree.  Grass and trees will have to compete for water and nourishment from the same soil. Then there is our need to cut and trim the lawn putting the tree in harms way.  Lawn mowers and weed whackers can do a lot of damage to the truck of a tree.  This type of damage can put stress on the tree making it more susceptible to disease and insect infestation. Then there are the different treatments that we put on our lawn such as lawn fertilizer and broadleaf weed control. Theses are chemicals that the tree will not need. So you see your tree is at war with your lawn. But you can reduce some of this stress by mulching around the base of your tree. Ideally you should mulch under your tree out to the drip line. However, that may not always be possible because of the location of the tree.  At the very least, mulch far enough from the tree to keep grass, your lawn mower, and weed whacker away from the tree trunk.  

 

4-H CallAThon
This is just a reminder that the annual 4-H CallAThon is underway this week through the first week of May. Calls are made by ISU students through the ISU Foundation call center. Prospective donors are asked to support the general fund, but also have the option of supporting their county program. Howard County 4-H has an endowment fund and you can direct your gift to the Howard County 4-H endowment fund. Thank you for supporting us in this important fundraising campaign!

skb 4/10/2008