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HORT THERAPY
Dear Readers:
HORT THERAPY is a weekly column where our team of professionals will answer your gardening questions.
Email us your garden questions at AskDIGIT@dig-itmag.com. We love a challenge.
Dear DIG IT!
My wisteria bushes grow large all season long. No matter how much or how often I prune them back, they still keep sending out shoots and runners. What should I do to keep them in bounds and still have flowers next year?
Lonnie Jacobs, Port Jervis, NY
Dear Lonnie,
As you are finding out , wisterias are fast growers putting out a tremendous amount of new growth each year. In order to keep them in check you will need to prune them regularly each year. During the growing season cut back all the long shoots (laterals) to about six inches in length from the stem. This will usually need to be done during the months of July and August. Then in early spring prune all the laterals back to two to three buds this will help keep the bush in bounds without sacrificing flowers.The bush will look like a hat rack once you are done with your pruning. don't worry your wisteria will grow by leaps and bounds once spring hits.
Jeff van Pelt
Dear DIG IT!
I purchased a cherry tomato plant at a heirloom plant sale this year, but I forgot to ask about it. The tomatoes are yellow, so I don't know when the fruit is truly ripe. How can I tell?
Thanks.
Kat Grant, Northwest NJ
Dear Kat,
The yellow cherry tomatoes that you purchased at the 1st Annual Heirloom Tomato Transplant sale are either of the following varieties:
Sun Gold - if the tomatoes are round
This variety will produce tangerine/orange cherry tomatoes. They are exceptionally sweet and win many taste contests.
Yellow Pear - if the tomatoes are pear shaped
The yellow pear is an heirloom variety that has been grown since the late 1800s. It is a very popular variety that has mild flavored, pear-shaped fruits. They are just great for adding to salads.
As far as when they are truly ripe? There is no hard-fast-rule other than tasting them!
Hope this helps and hope you can visit the 2nd Annual Heirloom Tomato Transplant Sale next year during Memorial Day weekend at Olde Lafayette Village.
Hope to see you then.
Farmer Rich
Dear DIG IT!
Looking for some info on the growing & care of a rabbit's foot fern. Any info would be helpful...thanks,
Walshhippie
Dear Walshhippie,
Alfred B. Graf says in Exotica that Rabbit’s foot-fern (Davallia fejeensis) likes 50-55 degree nights and 60-70 degree days with air. Davallia is a good houseplant because it handles the unfavorable conditions found in homes and offices. It likes humusy soil, (when repotting add peat moss), indirect, bright light and even moisture. It's native to the Fiji Islands.
I have two Rabbit’s foot-ferns. Here is where they lived last winter:One in the bathroom across from a north window with a bush in front of it, and one in my unheated, glassed-in porch that faces south. I brought it in the house when temperatures were expected to dip below 20 degrees. I probably pushed the horticultural envelope but it survived
quite nicely. Repotting in clay is a good idea.
Have fun!
DIG IT!
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