Why Flowers Bloom When They Do

How TO HOE depends on the particular ground or reasons for hoeing. If we wish to rid an unplanted plot of big weeds, we must cut down the weeds and break up their roots. In a loose, friable soil, free from hard lumps, this will be all that is necessary. If there are troublesome clods, they can be broken up by going over the plot a second time with a strong hand wielding the hoe.

A light touch is used in handling the hoe when we wish to kill small weeds just coming through the soil. It is pleasant to work in the garden during the cool morning hours and by noon the sun will have withered the weeds nicely. This light, shallow hoeing also aerates the soil when a crust has formed. It loosens the surface so that rain penetrates easily instead of running off. When hoeing around plants, deeper hoeing would injure fibrous feeding roots near the surface. Draw the soil toward the plants. If the hoeing action is such that the soil is pulled away from the plants, it may expose roots near the surface which would be injurious to the plants.

For large areas such as the vegetable garden or where flowering plants are in straight rows such as in the cutting garden, a wheel hoe saves much time and labor.

Just how soon one can cultivate after a rain depends on the amount of rainfall and on the composition or structure of the soil. A well-drained sandy loam with plenty of organic matter dries much faster than heavy clay loam. Garden loams improved yearly with humusy barnyard fertilizer or compost can be worked in a wetter condition without becoming brick-like. No hoeing should be done while the plants are wet with rain or dew, or fungus disease trouble may be carried from diseased plants to healthy ones.

Applying Moisture

In watering, the important thing is to water thoroughly. The moisture must seep down to the roots or it will do no good. Splashing water against the soil does not penetrate. I have seen a gardener go down the paths with a bucket of water, dashing a bit against each plant in need of moisture, and apparently considering that sufficient. Unless it was a very small plant (this particular gardener was watering good-sized fans of recently planted irises) such watering methods only moisten the soil surface on one ride of the plant and not a drop ever reaches a rootlet.

It was amusing one August day to see a gay teenager set a bucket of water down near a row of young trees. It had been an abnormally dry and hot season and soil must have been parched. She dipped what appeared to be an average-sized tin cup into the water and fairly danced her way to each little tree in turn to pour on a cup of water. I could vision her employer asking her later, “Did you water the row of little trees?” And the girl answering blithely with a feeling of confidence of a task well done, “Yes, I watered every one of them.”

How little the girl knows about the proper way to water a row of young trees! A depression or shallow basin should have been made around the base of each tree and this filled with water at least three times—allowing the water to soak away each time be-fore adding more. The same method would apply to shrubs and perennials. If one cannot make a depression be-cause of roots too near the surface, one can build up a basin by hoeing up a circle of soil around whatever is needing the water.

If watering can be done during the evening, the moisture will have a better chance to penetrate the soil and not so much is lost by evaporation. There is less baking of the soil. If no mulch is applied, the soil should be stirred slightly when it dries to prevent a hard crust from forming. One should avoid getting water on the foliage of roses or any plants that are susceptible to diseases from wet conditions.

To make the watering of a lawn beneficial, it must be done thoroughly. This means that the hose or sprinkler should run long enough over a given area to permit the moisture to soak down to the roots. Then the hose may be moved to another part of the lawn. If only the surface is sprinkled lightly, the roots will seek the slight moisture at the top and be so shallow that when watering is neglected, subsequent dry weather will kill the roots.

Plants that have not become thoroughly established, or have recently been reset, often show the effects of a sweltering August day even though they may have ample moisture at their roots. They will appreciate a gentle all-over sprinkling with water from a sprinkling can or misty spray from the hose late in the afternoon and look very refreshed the next morning. Young evergreens also appreciate a misty spray.

When planting rows of vegetable or flower seeds, unless the soil is very moist, the drills should be made the correct depth and watered well before planting the seeds. The seeds are plant-ed and covered with a layer of dry soil. Thus the seeds will have moisture where they need it and no crust can form on top. I seldom plant row crops of any kind, be it spring, summer or fall, without this initial watering. The seeds are almost sure to germinate quickly without waiting for rain.

It has been determined that such things as moisture, temperature, the length of daylight hours… varying with plant varieties… have a way of regulating the time that some plants bloom. In the greenhouse if Easter lilies advance too fast with bud development, the temperature is lowered. If they appear slow, the greenhouse temperature is raised to hurry them along. The same thing occurs outside with foundation plantings of spirea. Those on the south side of buildings where it is sunnier and warmer open sooner than those on the north where cooler conditions exist and the light is weaker.

In Northwest Missouri the hardy amaryllis (Lycoris squamigera) opens about mid-August. Needing flowers one year for an early August wedding, I soaked two rows well a number of times in July several weeks before the wedding. A mulch was applied to conserve the moisture. Those rows sent up bud stems in time for the wedding and the unwatered rows waited until their normal blooming time. It has been established as a fact that chrysanthemums begin to form buds when the number of daylight hours decreases. Bud formation can be hastened by artificial shading, using black cloth. The cloth is placed over the plants in July from 5 or 5:30 p.m. until 7 or 8:00 the next morning. The mums think the shorter days are at hand and buds form. The shading is continued until the buds show color.

by O Tiemann

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• Hoe and Cultivator – Garden Tools For Success
• Petunia Rooting Materials
• 7 Important Watering Do’s
• Tips and Guidelines to Growing and Propagating Seeds