LEE COUNTY CENTERLee County Master Gardener Newsletter |
The Lee County Master Gardener Newsletter is published monthly and is distributed to Master Gardeners in Lee County. Thank you for your interest in this publication.
Still time to plant pansies and violas, if you wish. Blooming bulbs should be fertilized with superphosphate or bonemeal after their blooms fade. You will reap the benefit next year. Prepare beds now for warm season planting later. It is a good time to apply lime to clematis if you haven't in past years. A cupful worked into the soil every three to five years keeps clematis going.
Shrubs and Trees
Major pruning of bush type roses should be completed after the last killing frost. When pruning use sharp, clean shears. Deciduous trees and shrubs may be pruned after flowering. Cut back older stems and avoid giving shrub a boxy or balled shape. Feed camellias and azaleas as they stop blooming. Clean fallen camellia blooms from around plant before fertilizing. If you use a one-application, time-release fertilizer, now is a good time to apply it. Also, it is time to clean up the Liriope, as the new shoots will come up soon. Remove old browned leaves, or run the mower over it with the blade set high. If you use the mower method, be careful not to cut the new shoots. Pampas grass may be cut back now too. Be careful of the blades of pampas grass, they are very sharp. Fruit trees should be fertilized after fruit set, check your trees.
Lawns
Clean up leftover fallen leaves; they can damage the tender grass beneath them.
Vegetables
Time for cool tolerant vegetables: greens, root vegetables, cabbages and broccoli.
We need volunteers to help with the dogwood trees that will be placed at three middle schools. We will not dig or plant - we will be advisors only. The trees are scheduled to arrive around March 16 or 17.
Work has been done on the community gardens. All boxes are filled with compost. Thanks to Sally, Jackie, Cecil and Laura for your help.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 15 at the Extension Center, 225 South Steele Street, at 9:00 am. Debbie has a guest speaker who will speak on "Trees in the Landscape". If you have not heard Dr. Jim McGraw, you need to attend. He is well informed and his presentation is great. We will have a short business meeting following Dr. McGraw's presentation. Call Rhonda if you plan to attend.
Please remember to turn your time sheets in to the Extension office. Also, if you haven't turned in your signed Master Gardener Volunteer Memorandum of Agreement, please do so.
http://www.ces.ncs
u.edu/depts/hort/mg/hort.sites.html
This is a GREAT site for Master Gardeners! Erv Evans, Horticulture Science Extension
Specialist has cataloged this site with thousands of links to other sources of research based
information. Very easy to used and very well organized.
http://aggie-ho
rticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarden/kinder.htm
This is an EXCELLENT site for gardening information for children. The website name is
KinderGarden, and it is hosted by Texas A&M University.
http://ipmwww.ncsu.edu/a
gchem/agchem.html
This site contains the North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manual, a must see site for
all Master Gardeners.
htt
p://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/perennials/Perenni.htm
This is a slide show of hundreds of perennials, which includes care information and great
color pictures. A great site for all perennial lovers!
http://www.garden.com (Then, click on Regional Gardening)
This is a great site for all types of gardening information. The regional gardening section
has specific information for our region of the country.
If you have any information to contribute to the Lee County Master Gardener Newsletter, please call Megan Thornton at 774-1737, or e-mail her at .bonmot1@mindspring.com You may also contact Phil Griffin at 776-9710. March is a great time for calling other Master Gardeners who have extra plants to spare. If you have extra plants, please contact Rhonda at the Extension office (775-5624) for details.
If you have any information to contribute to the Lee County Master Gardener Newsletter, please call Megan Thornton at 774-1737, or e-mail her at bonmot1@mindspring.com.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this page, please contact: rhonda_gaster@ncsu.edu, or call her at (919) 775-5624.
Last revised on March 21, 2000