AuH2O

April 2013

PICKAWAY TO GARDEN

AuH₂O

By Paul Hang

Some of us are old enough to remember AuH₂O as a bumper sticker for presidential candidate Senator Barry Goldwater who ran unsuccessfully against Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. These chemical notations from the periodic table, Au for gold and H₂O for water, is a segue' to consider water as more precious than gold. Our bodies are anywhere from 55-78% water, which proves that some of us are more all wet than others. Wars have been fought over water. The earth is a blue planet with 70% of it covered with water. April is usually a watery month, "April showers bring May flowers." Water is essential for life on earth.

All plant life is dependent on water, some fresh some salty. Fresh water plants do best when they have water accessible in the amounts they require. Last year was a very dry year. 2011 was a very wet year. Both years put a lot of stress on plant life. Plants don't flourish with drought or flood. Plants are like Goldilocks when it comes to water, not too much, not too little, just right. An experienced Master Gardener Volunteer once advised me, "Most plant problems have two causes, too much water or too little." As an example, inconsistent water on tomato vines prevents them from taking in calcium which causes black end rot, the condition where (not surprisingly) the bottom end of the fruit turns black and rots.

Given that we can't control how much rain we get, what is a gardener to do? There are a number of things we can do. If we are in drought we can irrigate. Put the water right at the base of the plant rather than sprinkle from above where a lot is lost to evaporation. We can use mulch to keep the soil cool and retard evaporation. We can use the newer hydrophilic chemicals that soak up water and release it slowly. This is particularly helpful in container grown plants. Water in the morning so that if water gets on the foliage it will dry before night, this prevents fungi and diseases. Drip irrigation is being used more and more as a way to save water. Some gardeners use a timer on their irrigation systems which controls the time and amount of water their plants receive.

Too much water drowns plants by keeping the fine hair like roots from taking up oxygen. Drought can also kill these small roots by drying them out. This makes it difficult for plants to get the water and oxygen they need for health and growth. The very fine roots take up water by osmosis. This happens at the cellular level. Further cellular level osmotic pressure directs the water to the tubular cells in the root center. These cells push water up the stem with slight pressure. Although this root pressure can get water to the leaves of low growing plants it can't get water up the hundreds of feet of some trees. That is accomplished by a pulling force generated in the leaves called transpirational pull.

Some plants thrive in a wet condition more than others. The right plant in the right place can prevent most gardening problems. When we get more rain than we need we can use rain barrels to save some of it for when we need it. We can promote drainage by using raised beds. We can add organic material to the soil to promote drainage while keeping the soil moist. French drains or trenches can also be used to move water away. Rain gardens are becoming a popular way to put excessive runoff into an area where the water will be contained and percolated into the ground gradually while allowing water loving plants to flourish. This helps prevent storm runoff which is a major cause of water pollution in the U.S.

Water is becoming a scarce resource on much of the planet. Ground water is being used faster than it can be replaced. Ground water aquifers, as well as our lakes and streams, are becoming contaminated from fertilizers, sewage and industrial chemicals. Once contaminated it impacts our way of life and imperils our health. A new chemical equation we should work for is H₂O=>Au.

April 18^th is Ralph C. Starkey Community Action Day. One of the activities will be held at Mary Virginia Crites Hanna Park. The volunteers will work to remove as many invasive plant species growing in the woods as we can. Come join students from Ohio Christian University, local high schools and others. Bring loppers if you have them.

Things to do in the garden:

Helpline. Pickaway County Master Gardener Volunteers will be available to answer your questions about gardening. Call the OSU Extension office at 474-7534. Your question will be taken and then a Master Gardener Volunteer will get back to you with an answer. You can also pose a question at the OSU Extension website, pickaway.osu.edu, click on the "Ask an Expert" button.

If you are a serious gardener or just want to learn more, make a weekly habit of checking the Buckeye Yard and Garden Line at BYGL@osu.edu. There local state experts discuss gardening issues which are in the form of a newsletter.

Time spent on your lawn now will benefit it the rest of the year. Fertilize lightly. Now is the time to re-seed once night time temps consistently reach 50 degrees. This is also the time to aerate lawns. April is the time to apply a pre-emergent (but not if you plan to seed) to prevent crabgrass and other annual weeds in the lawn. A rule of thumb is to apply when the forsythia is in full bloom.

Unless you are prepared to cover plants in case of frost, don’t put out those tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers until the end of the month. The average last frost date is now April 23rd. Spring flowering bulbs should be fertilized after they bloom. Remember to leave the leaves of bulbs until they yellow. Brown is better. Also prune spring blooming shrubs after they bloom. If April brings its overhyped showers don’t dig in our clay soils until they dry out a bit. If they seem wet enough to make a clay pot, wait.

Cut back your ornamental grasses to a couple inches. Cut back your butterfly bushes (buddleia) to a foot or two and apply a balanced fertilizer. Pull those bag worms, or better, cut them off. Do it now before the worms hatch out (shortly after the Snowmound spirea blooms)? Dispose of the bags in the trash or bury them. One bag left equals a hundred plus new bags that won’t show themselves until this fall.

It's not too late to start tender plant seeds indoors to be placed in the garden later, after hardening them off, and the danger of frost is past. Tomato seedlings should be moved from the cells after 4 weeks into a larger pot or into the garden (if weather permits). As usual make sure you water in the