:Wise Money Tips

This article is designed for gardeners living near Doylestown Pa.

Planting Red Oak Trees Red Oak Trees. Whenever I think of Red
Oak Trees, I remember hunting when I was a kid and standing near
trees that were giants. Now every Red Oak tree I plant, I can
invision those days in the deep woods and those grand trees and
hope someone else will have that same enjoyment. These trees
will help you too in establish a desired vision to your
landscape.

Beyond their size, Red Oak Trees also fill important ecological
niches. They grow across broad ranges of forest and urban
conditions, finding much of North America to their liking.

Red Oak Trees need protection from deer, disease, insects, and
competing weeds and shrubs. The better your weed control the
better your trees will grow. When seedlings are planted, it best
to plant them with large spacings to allow more light to the
plant. If these trees are planted in shade, they tend to be more
open. Red Oak Trees are used around new construction because
they perform in a wide range of soil conditions. Threse trees
can take wetter soils than most trees and are many time found in
native areas near creek or river banks.If you have compacted
soil from new construction, we suggest smaller trees of 3-5′
height.

All people handling seedlings and small trees need to help with
the life support of your plants. Seedlings are like fish out of
water and need care which is often overlooked between the time
the seedlings are lifted and transplanted. Improper care means
higher mortality. Do not try and reinvent the wheel. You must
protect seedling from moisture and temperature extremes, as well
as physical damage. Seedlings are living and should be handled
carefully. For a higher survival rate, treat trees carefully and
plant them immediately. I like to have a backup plan for
planting if the weather turns bad. I will sometimes switch from
lining out the seedlings to potting them up if I realize that
the soil conditions will not be right for an extended lenght of
time. If planting must be delayed a few days, keep the plants in
a cold, protected place with air circulation between the trees.
Keep the trees out of the rain and wind. To check if the trees
need water, feel the media at the roots.. If it isn’t damp,
water the trees and allow the excess water to drain. In cool,
damp weather, the biggest threat to these trees is from mold.
Try to keep out of soil seedlings moist by either restricting
water loss with a water vapor barrier or by wetting the roots at
regular intervals. While handling or planting try to reduce
temperature and air movement around the seedlings. Windy days
can dry out seedlings so consider waiting for calmer weather.
Once your soil conditions are correct OUR FREE USE PLANTERS will
make planting a snap so its will be worth waiting for good
planting conditions.

HOW TO PLANT

Ideal planting days are cool and cloudy with little or no wind.
If possible, avoid planting on warm, windy days. The soil should
be moist not wet. Care in planting is more important than speed.
Make sure the roots are never allowed to become dry. Bare root
seedlings should be carried in a waterproof bag or bucket with
plenty of moist material packed around the roots to keep them
damp. Ideally, bare root boxes should be kept refrigerated or
packed in ice or snow. Don’t freeze the trees. Competition from
weeds, grass, brush or other trees is very detrimental to
survival and growth of seedlings. Choose areas free from this
competition or clear at least a three-foot square bare spot
before planting. Seedlings should not be planted under the crown
of existing trees, or closer than 6 feet to existing brush.
Avoid areas near walnut trees. Brush aside loose organic
material such as leaves, grass, etc., from the planting spot to
expose mineral soil. If organic matter gets into the planting
hole, it can decompose and leave air spaces. Roots will dry out
when they grow into these spaces. Open up the hole, making sure
the hole is deep enough for the roots to be fully extended. If
roots are curled or bunched up, the tree will not be able to
take up water correctly, will often weaken and die, or may blow
down later due to poor root structure. Take a tree out of your
planting bag or bucket only after a hole is ready. When exposed,
the fine roots can dry out in as little as 30 seconds. Seedling
shoots and roots lose water to air, roots require more
protecting.Unlike leaves ,they do not have stomata (closeable
openings on the surface of the leaves) or any waxy coatings to
help reduce water loss. If the roots apear dry they are probably
dead. Now I know you are thinking,”I will place them in a
buckect of water and store them there until planting”. This will
not work. Submerge plants for no longer that a couple of
minutes. Placing them in water cuts them off from oxygen.
Remember to remove the container before planting a containerized
tree. A helpful hint to all those new gardeners just starting is
to remember to always plant green side up. Hold the seedling in
place in the hole, making sure the roots are straight, fully
extended and that the tree is neither too shallow or too deep in
the hole. Fill hole, allowing soil to fall in around the roots.
Tamp with hands or with your heel. Don’t crush the roots by
jumping up and down around the seedling like there is a snake
curled up around the seedling. It is delicate. Fill with more
soil, if necessary, and tamp. Tamping is important. If soil is
not firmly packed around the roots, there will be air pockets
that can dry out the roots, and the seedlings may be weakly
anchored. It is far easier to plant the tree strait up then have
the tree leaning and have to adjust the tree later. (Addition of
fertilizer and plant vitamins at the time of planting is not
generally necessary.) Take your time in planting. Proper spacing
will help you grow a more valuable crop. I have tried to get
more production from a limited area by over planting and then
thinning, but I always have had trouble in harvesting ….
digging is slower and poor quality usually results for a portion
of the crop. Avoid these tree planting errors:

Tangled roots Planting too shallow Planting too deep Air pockets
Turned up roots (this is called J rooting) Planting trees that
are not tolerant of wet soils in poorly drained areas Planting
over rocks, septic tanks and leach fields, on sand mounds

CARE OF TREES FOLLOWING PLANTING Check periodically to be sure
that brush, grass and other vegetation is kept under control by
mowing, mulching, spraying or a combination of these treatments.
Always obtain advice from a licensed pest control advisor before
using chemicals. You ag extension agency may offer courses in
application of chemicals. Monitoring the appearance of your
trees will help you to detect signs of insects, diseases or
other problems. Apperances also help sell your product. Look for
foliage turning yellow, new foliage drooping or other signs of
poor health. It is easier to take successful corrective action
if the problem is detected early.

Over watering is a common problem in irrigated plantations. You
probably won’t need to water more frequently than every 7-10
days. Give your trees a thorough, deep soak and then let the
soil dry out before the next watering. This encourages the roots
to grow down in search of water. Frequent, shallow watering
encourages root growth near the surface and the trees are more
dependent on irrigation and are less windfirm. Animals can be a
major cause of damage to young trees. Porcupines, gophers, mice,
rabbits, deer and cattle are the most frequent source of damage.
In many states you may have to call your game commission and get
their recomendations on legal methods to protect your crop. In
our state, you can get help from the Pa. Game Commission to kill
deer that are a threat to your seedlings or obtain a free fence
to keep deer away from your seedlings. Over the years we have
lost more trees to mice than any other animal. Put rat baits out
on a regular basis. Over the years we have lost more seedlings
and plants to mice than any other culprit including deer and
rabbits combined. You an see more articles about the care of
trees plants and nursery stock at our web site
http://www.seedlingsrus.com other links are:

http://seedlingsrus.com/DeerDamageControl
http://seedlingsrus.com/Soils
http://seedlingsrus.com/PlantingTips.html
http://www.zone5trees.com/GrowingGrasses.html

Comments Off

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?” G.K. Chesterton

I woke up today with achy muscles and hamstrings that felt
stretched to the max. Too much time at the gym? Too many miles
on my bike?

Nope. Just lots and lots of gardening.

This week I joined hundreds of others who, pulled by Spring
Fever, sunshine, and fresh air, flocked to nurseries and garden
centers in search of the perfect annuals, shrubs, planters, and
garden ornaments. And boy oh boy, did we find them. We came in
droves, fellow gardeners and I, driving way too many miles in
this gasoline-crisis-environment of ours, looking for the best
prices, the best selection, and the best accessories.

And you know what I mean by garden accessories, right? It’s a
business reaction as befitting this gardening frenzy as hot dog
buns are to hot dogs. And we’re not just talking planters,
birdhouses, and birdbaths anymore, either. We’re talking benches, arches, baker’s racks, shutters, statues, sundials…with bunnies and roosters in all shapes and sizes to boot. Do you want those in bronze, black or antique white? Distressed? Shiny? Whatever your fancy, they’re yours for the buying.

And buying them we are. What with cocooning becoming the “in”
lifestyle of the 90’s, it’s no wonder that we’ve attacked our
yards with passion. And our wallets. Americans spend just under
$40 billion-yes, that’s a “b”-on lawn care annually, according to the National Gardening Association. And the annual rate of growth in the industry has been at 8% for the last five years. In fact, eight out of ten households in the U.S. actively participate in indoor and outdoor lawn and garden activities of the do-it-yourself nature in one way or another, a degree equal to the highest level of participation in the last five years. Sales of bulbs to consumers have nearly doubled within the past five years, too. And retail sales of floral products come in around $13 billion.

We can hardly help ourselves. Researcher Mike Steven established
in a research project in Australia entitled “The Congruent
Garden: An Investigation into the Role of the Domestic Garden in
Satisfying Fundamental Human Needs,” that gardens have the
potential to satisfy nine basic human needs, including, in
addition to subsistence, affection and creation, which resonate
most closely with my own experience there.*

Gardening allows me to forget the troubles of my everyday world
and become immersed into creating something of beauty. Gardening
allows me, as I mindlessly pull weeds, arrange potting soil into
containers, and pat dirt gently around freshly planted flowers,
to sift my thoughts through a filter energized by sunshine and
fresh air. It gives me the freedom to enjoy the wild songs of the birds, the bubbling of the brook….and the humming of the
lawnmower of a neighbor I hadn’t previously recognized.

Gardening forces me out of my comfort zone behind the computer
screen at which I stare seven days a week, and into the world of
perennials and annuals, the names, sunlight requirements, and
bloom cycles which continue to escape my memory. It forces me to
get my hands and fingernails dirty (I hate wearing gloves) and
celebrate the tactile pleasure of running damp soil through my
palms and pressing it into the earth. Gardening stretches me. It
helps to illuminate my innermost thoughts. It forces me out of
the cerebral nature of the work that I do, and pushes me into the physical nature of work in which I feel so incompetent.

As we celebrate Spring….and fight the Fever together…engage
in work of your hands by working the earth beneath your feet.
Allow yourself to become intoxicated by the beauty and aroma of
flowers. For as it was so aptly said in the TV show A Gardener’s
Dairy: “What grows in the garden, so lovely and rare? Roses and
Dahlias and people grow there.” Yes. People grow in gardens.
Robert Ingersolll wrote: “Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy.”

And growing in love and joy is, after all, what growing in one’s
garden is all about.

*Note: Mike Steven, Lecturer in Landscape Studies, University of
Westen Sydney, Australia

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com.

Comments Off