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by Rett Davis | |
Gardening Q&A by Rett Davis appears in
Alamance County's daily newspaper, The Times-News,
every Sunday in the Accent section. Each week's installment is
posted to this
website, beginning with January of this year. Scroll to the bottom of
this page to navigate to other Gardening Q&As. Please contact
Rett via e-mail with questions
or
comments in regard to this column.
Answer:
Gourds are harvested when the skin becomes hard and resistant
to your thumbnail. You can also wait until the vine begins to wither and
dry up. They must be harvested before frost. Leave several inches of
stem when cutting from the vine. Handle them carefully to avoid
bruising. Hard shelled gourds must be air dried. They can be hung on a
rack or from a rafter. They can also be spread out on a table and
turned several time a week. Hard shelled gourds can take a month to six
months to dry. Immature gourds will just shrivel and rot. The hard
shelled gourds are in the Lagenaria genus. The most popular ones grown
are called bottle gourds. Once dried they will last for years. The
thin shelled varieties are waxed, shellacked, or varnished immediately.
They will rot if carved. This type of gourd will only last for several
months.
Question:
I would like to order some red cedars to use as a screen on my
property. Does the state still sell seedling trees?
Answer:
Seedling trees are sold by the Division of Forest Resources.
Order forms can be obtained at our office in the Agricultural Building,
209 North Graham Hopedale Rd. in Burlington. You can also have a form
mailed to you by calling us at 570-6740. Regardless of what kind of
tree you would like to purchase it is best to order now before they sell
out. When ordering select the month of February for delivery of your
trees. In my opinion this is one of the best months to plant seedling
trees. These tree seedlings are ideal for reforestation, windbreaks,
erosion control, and Christmas trees. Most seedlings will be 1 to 2
years in age. You can order from 100 trees to units of 1000. If you
need help in selecting what would be best for your property, give me a
call.
Question:
I am debating on planting a winter cover crop on my garden or
just using leaves. What would be best?
Answer:
This all depends on what type of equipment you have to prepare
the soil. I used to plant winter rye and wheat on my garden each
year. In the spring I had to borrow a neighbor's tractor and disc to
incorporate it into the soil. Once it was cut up and disced in, then
after a few weeks I could get in there with my garden tiller. One year
I planted Austrian winter peas. They required bush hogging before
discing with a tractor. About the only cover crop you can manage with a
garden tiller alone will be clover. You will only need about 5 ounces
per 1000 square feet of garden. Tree leaves can be very beneficial
without the use of heavy equipment. Till them into the soil this fall.
Do not cover the garden with a blanket of leaves and leave there all
winter. It will keep the soil from drying out in the spring and delay
planting. Use cover crops or leaves to improve the tilth of the soil,
increase water holding capacity, and restore much needed organic
matter. Soil erosion is minimized with winter cover crops too.
Question:
I am interested in your Master Gardener program. When will
another class be taught?
Answer:
The success of last year's Master Gardener class has encouraged
me to offer it again beginning in January 2003. We presently have 20
Master Gardeners that are volunteering their time to the Cooperative
Extension Service here in Alamance County. The program consists of 12
classes taught each Wednesday from 9 until 12 noon. The weekly classes
end in early April. Then each month thereafter we meet one morning for
field trips. Subjects covered in the training include botany, soils,
pesticides, pruning, landscape design, plant diseases and insects, lawn
care, tree and shrub identification, and wildlife.
Cost of the program is $75 per person. Class size is limited to 20
participants. Applications are available by calling 570-6740 or
reaching me at my e-mail address at Rett_Davis@ncsu.edu. Deadline for
applications is December 6th. More detailed information on what you
will be asked to due in return for this training can be found at our web
site, www.ces.ncsu.edu/alamance.
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If you have any horticultural questions, please direct them to Rett Davis