Q: We have an established maple tree in our backyard whose roots are showing on the surface. I would love to plant under the tree (shrubs, perennials, etc.)and wonder what the best way to do this without damaging the tree would be. If we add topsoil, will the roots just come to the surface again and would it weaken the tree? I saw a raised bed where there was a ring of stone wall about a foot from the trunk of the tree,(keeping the dirt from touching the trunk),with another stone wall on the outside forming the raised bed- sort of like a donut around the trunk. But this was done around a small ornamental tree. Thank you for your time and any suggestions.
Connie

Q: We have just discovered some beautiful Dogwood trees on our property. We would like to transplant them. We live in Maine, any suggestions for a successful relocation of the trees?
Kristin

Worms, birds and bees, these are a few of my favorite things. As a gardener and nature lover, I can’t imagine life without these three creatures. Each plays such an important role in creating healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. Without them, life wouldn’t be the same or possibly even exist. It sounds like a bold statement I know, but take the bee for example. It is single-handedly responsible for one third of the food we eat, including coffee and chocolate. Bees are directly responsible for the pollination of the plants that make them. What would I do without my bees?

Yet honeybees are in grave danger. A yet unexplained phenomenon known as “Colony Collapse Disorder” is decimating honeybee colonies around much of the world. The source of the problem has yet to be determined but it is strongly suspected that pesticides play a significant role.

On a related note, our beloved backyard birds are a welcomed addition to our gardens and landscapes. Their brightly colored plumage and melodic songs are the perfect complement to the plants and flowers we enjoy so much in our gardens. But in addition to the pure pleasure they provide to us personally, birds too play a vital role in maintaining biodiverse habitats. Many of our native plants are propagated each year thanks to seed-eating birds that randomly disperse them through ecosystems across the world. Birds are also a wonderful natural pest control since they eat millions of pest insects each year from our gardens and lawns. Unfortunately, according to the National Audubon Society, about seven million of our feathered friends die annually across America from eating insects poisoned by pesticides.

And then there is the lowly worm. Not so lowly really if you consider all that they do. They provide some of the most essential benefits to what happens below the surface of any garden or lawn. Known as “nature’s plow”, earthworms create a network of tunnels and pockets underground that allow air and water to circulate and roots to grow. Moreover, their castings (manure) are five times higher in nitrogen, seven times higher in phosphorus, and ten times higher in potassium than ordinary garden soil. A single acre of healthy earth may contain over a half million worms. But that number can fall rapidly when salt-based, synthetic fertilizers are added to the soil. Worms are very sensitive to adverse changes in soil chemical or physical makeup and will relocate to more hospitable environments.

All this to say that we gardeners and weekend warriors hold the key to protecting some of the most important guests we can ever have visit our gardens and landscapes. In order to provide the most inviting and sustainable environment for these vital creatures, understanding what attracts, repels and harms them will have a great deal to do, not only with the health and vitality of our own little corner of the world, but collectively, with the health of the planet as well.

If you really want to get those gardening questions answered, ask a Master Gardener. We’ve all heard the reference before and many of us have utilized this valuable free service. But just what is a Master Gardener, and how does one achieve such a designation?

Master Gardeners are volunteers. Above all, they have one thing in common. They’re passionate about gardening and horticulture and want to share their time and knowledge with others. It might surprise you to know that most of them are not professional gardeners or horticulturists. In fact, many come into the program as novices. Others have been gardening all their life.

In the United States, Master Gardener organizations are active in 48 of them and in four provinces in Canada. Yet surprisingly there is no overall governing body or authority so the requirements vary. Each state or province’s university system is responsible for managing and administering its own program. Yet overall the guidelines are set up to provide a win-win for the volunteers and university system. In exchange for an extensive and comprehensive training program by University Staff and expert volunteers, Master Gardener candidates agree to give back between 25 - 50 hours of volunteer time each year. For many programs, a majority of those hours are spent manning the phones at their respective County Extension office to answer the plethora of calls that comes in on a variety of questions related to gardening.

Once volunteer candidates have completed their training (which includes subjects such as integrated pest management, arboriculture, vegetable gardening, pest and disease control and identification, wildlife management and more), passed a few exams and logged the requisite volunteer hours, they earn their official title as Master Gardener. To maintain ‘active’ status in subsequent years, Master Gardeners must continue to volunteer a required number of hours.

In addition to the invaluable resource they provide, the monetary value Master Gardeners return to the University system is staggering. When you add up the total time given back by volunteers, millions of dollars are saved by not having to hire staff to perform the same duties. Across the United States and Canada, Master Gardener volunteers perform a wide variety of services from answering questions, to installing and maintaining public and community gardens, hosting plant doctor clinics and putting on community outreach programs and so much more.

One would think, with all the volunteer time required to give back to the program, extension offices would take every qualified applicant. But sadly that’s not always the case. Due to limited resources for training, classroom space, and subsequent support, getting into the program can be a long and disappointing process. It was for me. Even though I had formal training in horticulture and a lifetime of experience, due to space limitations, I wasn’t even interviewed for my county program until I had applied for three consecutive years! But from the moment I was accepted, it has been one of the greatest associations that I’ve ever been involved with. To have the opportunity to learn from top experts, meet new friends, bond with kindred spirits and give back to the community through a subject you are passionate about, is as good as it gets. I encourage anyone who has a desire to learn more about the program to contact your local county extension service. And for everyone else, if you want a trusted friend to give you a knowledgeable answer to your question, ask a Master Gardener! You can find the number for the office closest to you by visiting this web site: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/.

A lot of people ask me if I’m strictly an organic gardener. Well, I guess in the strictest sense, I’d have to say no to that. I occasionally have to resort to using glyphosate (better known as Roundup) to knock out stands of poison ivy. Since I’m highly allergic to it, I can’t get near the stuff without breaking out. And sometimes, I’ll even use a little Miracle-gro in my containers when they need a quick shot of soluble fertilizer.

On the other hand, my use of man-made, synthetic chemicals are few and far between. Given the choice I prefer to use fertilizer and pest controls that are organic or natural first. Why do I say this? Because generally, they are kinder to the earth as they are manufactured (if even applicable) and once they are applied to our lawns and gardens.

Synthetic fertilizers are designed to be water-soluble. Contact with water releases the chemical and what isn’t absorbed by the plant (which is most of it), continues to move off target, either as storm water runoff, or through the soil into underground aquifers. Either way, these chemicals can wreak havoc in watersheds, promoting the growth of algae and depriving other amphibious creatures life-giving oxygen and disrupting delicate ecosystems. Organic or natural fertilizers on the other hand must be broken down in the environment first before they are in a form that can be taken up by plant roots. Accordingly, they are slower acting and tend to bind or stay where they’re put, at least much longer than soluble products. And organic / natural products are not manufactured with salts which can really throw off soil pH and disturb the living soil food web.

The very premise of organic gardening is to establish a healthy eco-system, above and below ground. Doing anything to disturb that is counter-productive to organic gardening. So what about tilling? It doesn’t even involve chemicals and would certainly be considered a natural or organic form of cultivation. But it greatly disturbs the soil structure and contrary to popular belief, should be avoided if your goal is to build healthy soil.

Pesticides are the biggest problem in my mind and the major reason why I’m a strong advocate of natural over synthetic choices when it comes to control. But even here, many natural methods are non-selective—my biggest beef with synthetic chemicals. Which is why I don’t spray at all if possible. Instead, I let nature take its course. It does much better than me at dealing with the pests in my garden. Of all the bugs, only about three percent are even considered pests (the ones that actually damage your plants). So why then would you spray any non-selective chemical on your garden when 97 percent are either beneficial or at worst, neutral? You shouldn’t!

But I do like knowing that organic controls are far more susceptible to breaking down quickly in the environment when exposed to sunlight. And I certainly appreciate the biological controls such as B.t and Milky spore that are very pest specific and harmless to other creatures in the garden.

The bottom line though to organic and non-organic, synthetic controls is the fact that no matter what you are using, it should be applied with great restraint, discretion and with the wisdom of knowing how, when and where to apply it. If you have to resort to any chemical, keeping it on target is a major factor in minimizing the environmental impact.

I have three rules to almost guarantee the success of any garden or landscape. First, put the right plant in the right place. Next, feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants. And finally, use mulch. It sounds simple and it is. But all too often we try and take shortcuts by not taking the time to learn about a plant’s ideal cultural requirements before we plunk it in the ground just anywhere. Or we try to solve every visible problem by throwing a chemical at it, especially fertilizer. And all too often, we skip the most important step (after watering) once the plant is in the ground, and that’s the addition of mulch.

For the purpose of this writing, let’s assume you’ve done your homework and know the ideal placement in your landscape for whatever plant you happen to be dealing with at the moment. And then you actually follow up and place it there. Now it’s time to make sure the place where this plant will live has the optimal conditions within the soil in which to thrive. How do you do that? From whatever conditions you start, add organic matter to the soil sufficient to cover the entire planting area.

What is organic matter you ask? Think of shredded leaves, ground bark, aged manure and compost and you get the idea. Although these examples are not a complete list, the more organic matter you can incorporate into the soil to a depth of six inches or greater, the better any soil will be. Accordingly plants will be happier too. But of all the organic matter I mentioned, I believe compost is the single most important ingredient we can include. It adds life and fertility to the soil, improves drainage while allowing the soil to retain sufficient moisture and it creates good soil structure, a critical element in allowing nutrients and water to be absorbed, and roots to spread.

The good news is you can make it at home for free with ingredients you already have around the house and yard. The bad news is, we can rarely make as much at home as we want.  Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to improve your soil. A little goes a long way. Once you inoculate an area with the beneficial microbes from compost, you’re well on your way to a healthier, more productive garden.

There are a few essential elements necessary for compost to occur.  They are: water, air, heat, carbon (brown matter, like dead leaves and twigs), and nitrogen (green matter, like grass clippings and vegetable and salad scraps).

To start a compost pile, you don’t need anything fancy.  A simple accumulation of green waste (10-25%) and brown waste (75-90%) will get you going.  Every week or so, try to mix up the pile so you add oxygen to help speed up the decomposition process.  Add a sprinkling of water, enough to give the pile the moistness of a damp sponge, and you will be well on your way to making compost.  Depending on the variables, you should be able to have usable compost in about four months to one year.

You can add many items to your compost pile or bin.  Almost anything from the yard or garden can be used but try to avoid adding limbs that are thicker than a pencil.  They’ll take longer to break down.  Also, avoid adding diseased plants.  The disease pathogens may not be killed in the composting process, and you can end up adding diseases into your soil.  I also choose not to include weeds if they are at or near the flowering state.  Weed seeds can persist for a very long time, and may survive the composting process.

When adding products from within the house, the biggest items to avoid are meat, fish, bones and dairy products.  They can attract outdoor pests.

Your compost will be ready to use when its dark brown, earthy-smelling and crumbly.  The end-result is undoubtedly the best soil food and conditioner available – it’s recycling at it’s best!

Q: How do I properly use my new edger to edge a planting bed?

This entry is coming to you on Earth Day. Although it’s not a national holiday, I think it should be. Of all that we have to be thankful for, I’d think the world in which we live would be a good thing to celebrate. And although we have not been very good stewards of the resources Mother Nature has bestowed upon us, I believe many of us are working harder to correct the errors of our previous ways. Indeed, she gives us all we require to meet our needs, but not our greed. And that’s what has put us in a position of now having to make global changes to pull out of this unsustainable rate at which we are consuming those finite resources.

I believe that climate change is real and that we are the reason for it. I also believe that collectively we can do something about it to protect and preserve our planet from greater damage and for the benefit of future generations. But I also know it will take the collective efforts of us all if we are serious about turning the tide. I wear a green wristband on my arm that says, “growing a greener world”. It’s to remind me to make a difference every day in how I live and what I do for environmental stewardship. It’s also the tagline of my company. Because although my staff and I can do everything within our control to live more sustainably on a daily basis, we know it takes the efforts of us all.

As citizens of this earth, we are in this together and I’d like to think we’d all do our part to heal her. I am encouraged by the efforts I see by individuals, businesses, schools and governments to eliminate non-environmentally-friendly practices while implementing eco-friendlier ways. Even President and Mrs. Obama are making some significant waves around environmental preservation and organic gardening. Their latest addition of an organic vegetable garden on the White House Lawn is certainly worthy of great media attention and hopefully an influential message to millions of people around the world.

You and I can and should feel good about what we’re doing for the sake of the planet. And know that in spite of how small our efforts may seem, it is these collective measures that really will make a difference. From eliminating plastic bags when we shop, to switching to rechargeable or electric tools for our lawn and landscaping projects, and simply composting and recycling rather than sending so much to the landfill, it all adds up.  There is much to celebrate. Integrating a sustainable lifestyle into our daily lives is slowly becoming routine for many of us. There is still much to do but for today, let’s recognize that our efforts are making a difference and global momentum is building. Keep up the good work and don’t let up now. We’re just getting started.

Q: I have a Yucca Palm and we dug up bulbs around them . I want to know if I should replant them or put them in water to let them take root? Thank you

Peggy

Q: We live in Maine zone5 What is the best way to plant grape vines?