Mountain Garden Club

Mount Washington Valley, NH

Horticulture Report

By Marcia Burchstead

MGC Horticulture Chair

 

Moles - There seems to be a bumper crop of these pests in our yards and gardens this year. Our early and record snowfall amounts insulated the ground and prevented it from going into a deep freeze which allowed these creatures to tunnel undisturbed all winter. Now that the snow has melted you may be seeing these paths of tunnels and ridges. To check if the moles are still active in your yard stomp the tunnels/ridges flat and wait for 48 hours. If they mound back up you still have moles active. 

You can apply a product such as MoleMax by Bonide (www.bonide.com) or any other product containing castor oil to the lawn to get rid of the moles. This product is safe for use around children, domestic pets and plant life. (Not MoleTox II ,which is restricted in NH).

 

 

Lilacs – Now is the time to add lime to the soil around your bushes, using a liquid lime product such as RainGrow,   (www.raingrow.com) an organic product from British Columbia which contains calcium and magnesium. It will be absorbed much faster than pellet or granular lime which are slow release and can take up to six months to work. Also if you have wood ash from your fireplace or woodstove you can spread that around the bushes. Just make sure you don’t use the ash from artificial logs.

 

 

Soil Fertility 101 - There is a great article on the basics of Soil Fertility from NGA.  Check it at the link below:

Article Courtesy of www.garden.org the web site of the National Gardening Association

http://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=1359

 

Finally, on an environmental note not really gardening related except that we utilize public water supplies as well as well water to irrigate our lawns and gardens and recent tests of public water supplies have shown evidence of levels of prescription medications such as antibiotics, pain relievers and antidepressants in the water. Do not flush your unused medications (left over, expired, etc.) down the toilet. It gets in the water tables and into our drinking supplies and also into the rivers, lakes and oceans where it is absorbed by fish and other aquatic life.

 

Speak to your Pharmacist regarding the proper method to dispose of unused medications. Some pharmacies will take them back; some town waste disposal centers will take them as well.

 

4 STEPS FOR PROPER DISPOSAL

1. Keep medicine in original container. Mark out personal information on prescription bottles.

 

2. Mix liquid medicine with undesirable substances like coffee grinds, cat litter, or dirt. Dilute pills with water, and then add coffee grinds, cat litter, or dirt.

 

3. Place bottles in an opaque container, like a yogurt container, and secure lid; or wrap in a dark colored plastic bag.

 

4. Hide the container in the trash. Do NOT recycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardening Tips

Reminder to members, if you volunteer to clean up on Saturday May 3 (Valley Pride Day) please indicate on the sign-up sheet that you are a MGC member. Donna Woodward, organizer, will donate daffodil bulbs to the club in the communities represented by MGC volunteers.