Arbor Eat'em

 

April 2023

 

PICKAWAY TO GARDEN

Arbor Eat’em

By Paul J. Hang

 

Arbor is the Latin word for tree. Trees are eaten by Beavers, Moose and caterpillars. If you count tree fruit like apples, peaches and pears and nuts like pecans, hickory and walnuts, and some trees have edible inner bark and leaves, then I guess you could say that we humans also eat trees, along with other animals. For those of you with a mechanical mindset, arbor also means a spindle or axle with a wheel or other object spinning on it. Or, it can be a structure for vines and other climbing plants. But I digress.

 

Arboretum is pronounced like arbor eat’em. An arboretum is a place in which specimens of trees and shrubs are cultivated, often for study and education. Arboretums are also pleasant places to walk and see what various species of trees look like. The closest arboretum for us is Chadwick Arboretum on the The Ohio State University campus off Lane Avenue.

 

Our town is becoming an arboretum of sorts, a place where trees are cultivated. If you want you can study them or simply enjoy them. By the end of this year there will have been well over two hundred trees planted in the past four years in parks and along city streets. Oaks, Maples, Lindens, Black Gums,  Buckeye, Hornbeams, Gingkoes, Beech, Serviceberry, these are some of the species of trees that have been planted by City workers, High School students, Master Gardener Volunteers and other volunteers along with members of the City Tree Commission.

 

The City Tree Commission was started seven years ago by City ordinance and has written a Comprehensive Tree Plan for the City. The Tree Commission paid for the trees through grants and recently with a budget from the city. Its members are all volunteers. As these trees grow they will become more valuable year after year. A single mature tree is much more valuable than a whole lot of smaller saplings. In addition to planting trees we must value the older trees we have and try to save all that we can. To volunteer or to contact the Tree Commission contact City Council Clerk, Linda Chaney at lchaney@circleville.oh.gov.

 

Trees provide shade and slow the wind and save energy in summer and winter. Trees slow rain runoff and mitigate storm runoff. Trees provide food for wildlife especially birds. A White Oak is chewed on by over 500 different caterpillars which are a major food source for nesting birds and their nestlings. Evidence shows that neighborhoods with trees are safer where neighbors are more likely to engage with and know each other. Trees are good for business. Shoppers are known to spend more time and money in stores where trees line the streets. Trees fight climate change by sequestering carbon. It has been shown that trees and greenery promote healing and health.

 

April 28^th is Arbor Day. For information about planting and mulching trees see bygl.osu.edu. Gardening questions? Call the helpline at the Pickaway County Extension office at 740-474-7534. Don’t eat a tree but plant one.

 

Things to do in the garden:

 

Tomato and pepper seeds should be started indoors. The seedlings should be moved from the cells after 4 weeks into larger pots. Move them into the garden only after hardening them off and the danger of frost is past. As usual make sure you water-in the transplants. When you water, water deeply (top six inches wet) and water the base of the plant not the foliage. Water when the plants need it, not every day. Most plants require 1 to 1 and a half inches of water per week.

 

Vegetables that can be planted by seed into the garden are: beets, carrots, peas, onions, spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes. Cabbage and broccoli plants can be planted as soil conditions allow. In other words, don’t work our clay soils when they are wet.

 

Use row covers (Google it) on your vegetables right after planting to keep the bad bugs off. For vegetables that produce fruit (beans, cucumber, pepper, squash, tomatoes, etc.) remove the covers after blooming to let the pollinators go to work. For those that don’t need pollinating (Cabbage, broccoli, onions, chard, kale, lettuce, beets and radishes, etc.) you can leave the covers on until harvest. Make sure you buy the right covers that let in enough light and rain. I have found this to be an effective method to protect plants without insecticides from bugs that damage vegetables.

 

Most annual flowers can be seeded directly into the soil after the danger of frost has abated. Some popular annuals that you should consider starting indoors are: snapdragon, wax begonia, sweet William, impatiens, sweet alyssum, petunia, gloriosa daisy, blue salvia, viola, pansy and zinnia, among others. This can save you a considerable amount of money that you can then spend on a perennial plant.

Time spent on your lawn now will benefit it the rest of the year. Fertilize lightly if at all. The time to re-seed is when night time temps consistently reach 50 degrees and above. This is also the time to aerate lawns. Apply a pre-emergent herbicide when the first bloom appears on Bradford Callery pear (which is now) in order to prevent crabgrass, unless you plan to seed. When common lilac or Ohio buckeye begins to bloom it is too late for a pre-emergent herbicide to be effective and too early for a post-emergent. Leave clippings on the lawn. Their nitrogen content is high and will reduce the need to fertilize. Mowing height of at least three inches will retard the growth of crab grass and other weeds.

Unless you are prepared to cover plants in case of frost, don’t put out those tender plants such as tomatoes and peppers until mid-May or later when the soil warms up. The average last frost date is now April 23rd. There is a 50/50 chance of frost then and the chance decreases about 10% per week after that. 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 work the soil if it is too wet.  Wait until it dries out a bit. If it seems wet enough to make a clay pot, wait. Squeeze a ball of earth about the size of golf ball and let it drop from waist high, if it breaks apart it’s ready to be worked. Don’t apply mulch until May. Allow the soil to warm.

Cut back your ornamental grasses to six inches. Cut back your butterfly bushes (buddleia) to a foot or two and apply a balanced fertilizer. Now is the time to prune roses. Depending on the variety, you may prune back to a foot in height. Bagworms on shrubs and trees hatch out shortly after the Snowmound Spirea blooms. This is when you can spray an insecticide (read the label) to kill the worms.

Don’t prune your oak trees after the middle of the month or after they leaf out. Sap beetles are attracted to the open wounds and will bring oak wilt, a disease which will kill them and has been found in this part of the state.