Released: January 14, 2004

Don’t Wait for Spring to Set ‘04 Gardening Resolutions

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The new year for landscapes won’t truly start until spring. With 2004 nursery and seed catalogs beginning to arrive, however, homeowners should begin thinking now about their New Year’s resolutions for yard and garden, according to Chuck Marr, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

“A resolution that could make a big difference is to get your soils tested before spring. Far too many homeowners either slowly starve their plants or apply unneeded and sometimes harmful soil amendments,” he said. “The irony is: Any county Extension office can quickly explain how to collect soil samples, get them tested, and then read and apply the results. You just have to ask.”

Marr said the following also are good possibilities for most gardeners’ resolution list:

1. To reduce carryover diseases, before spring I’ll clean up landscape debris I missed last fall.

2. No matter how good they look in the catalog or store, I will quit trying to grow plants that are a failure waiting to happen because (a) they don’t have other varieties’ disease or insect resistance or (b) they’re unsuited for my location or soils, my yard’s microclimates, or the amount of time I’ll have.

3. I will grow a plant from seed.

4. I will plant at least one new vegetable crop (peppers, a cherry tomato, leaf lettuce or a row of sweet corn).

5. I will use chemicals only when absolutely necessary and then will actually read the label first – plus do as it says.

6. I’ll chip or burn any newly dead Scot or Austrian pine trees by April to help stop the spread of pine wilt disease. I will get rid of deciduous trees’ damaged or dead limbs before time and weather can turn them into deadly missiles.

7. I will resist pruning shrubs into ice-cream-cone shapes.

8. I will decide on a color scheme BEFORE shopping for this year’s annuals.

9. I will plant a butterfly- or songbird-friendly shrub or perennial.

10. I will regularly scout for insect pests, and I’ll control garden weeds by mulching, as well as pulling, digging or hoeing before the weeds get big and tough.

11. I will not water my landscape in the middle of the day and will only water when it needs it.

12. Except for such things as poison ivy and dandelion roots, I will compost every bit of landscape debris or save it to plow into my vegetable garden next fall, thus keeping it out of the landfill and soon improving my landscape soil.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward, Communications Specialist
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News