The recommended time for planting garlic in colder climates is mid-fall – October in zone 5. That certainly works but is that the best time?
Spring bulbs, like tulips, are also planted in fall but common advice for these is to plant them as soon as you get them. Earlier is certainly better than later. Planting earlier allows the bulb more time to develop a good root system before winter sets in. Since garlic is a bulb, would the same logic not apply to it? Would it not be better to plant garlic sooner?
Planting garlic – When Is The Right Time? From left to right, Aug 2, Sept 1, Oct 1, by Robert Pavlis
Compost tea is all the rage but does it really work? Research studies so far have produced mixed results. The science to support the use of aerated tea on crop plants, lawns, shrubs, or trees is very weak, at best.
There seems to be a lot of work done in this area but much of it is not published in peer reviewed journals and most of it has been done in labs and greenhouses, not in the field. Until the work is repeated in the field we can’t conclude it works in gardens.
The other problem is that controls have been poorly selected. For example, in one study (ref 3) they compared ACT compost tea to water, using lettuce that had been under-fertilized. Guess what, compost tea improved growth. This only proves that adding nutrients, when they are deficient, will improve growth. The study never compared compost tea to adding nutrients in other ways.
In this post I will review one study that compared the use of compost to compost tea, in field conditions.
Effects of compost tea on the growth of trees, by Garden Myths (data from reference 2)
Mulching the garden is a very common recommendation. Mulch will reduce the number of weeds and it will hold moisture in the soil but how does mulch affect the quality of soil?
There are lots of claims that mulch improves soil but have you ever seen numbers to validate them? I haven’t either. How exactly does mulch improve soil? It should add organic matter, but how much? It should increase the number of microbes, but is this really true? Unfortunately, almost nobody studies landscapes and gardens because no one will fund the work.
Luckily I was able to find one very good research paper that looked at this exact problem.
Effect of fertilizer and mulch on soil, by Garden Myths (based on reference 1)
A year ago I started a study to see if eggshells decompose in soil; Eggshells – Decomposition Study. It is now one year later and time to have a look at the buried eggshells.
More orchids are killed by over watering than for any other reason. It begs the question, how much water do they really need? How long can an orchid go without water?
I know they grow slowly and react slowly to their environment. They also die slowly. I decided to see if an orchid needs to be watered regularly.
As winter approaches, we worry about our poor plants making it through the cold. All manor of wrapping devices are used to protect them and Styrofoam cones, also called rose cones, have become popular in recent years. Do these contraptions work? If they do, how much warmer do they keep your plants?
There is a lot of talk on the internet about Styrofoam cones. Many extension offices recommend them, and suppliers certainly tell you they work, but I was unable to find a single source of information that actually provided data to support the idea that Styrofoam cones keep plants warmer in winter.
So I decided to do some testing of my own.
Temperature changes with and without a Styrofoam Cone, by GardenMyths.com
Online information about growing clematis from seed is limited. As a result, I decided to investigate clematis seed germination in more detail by running 120 test cases on a number of different types of clematis. This report summarizes known information and presents new information found as a result of this work.
How to Germinate Clematis Seed – Clematis Houldine (not from seed), by Robert Pavlis
How quickly do eggshells break down in soil? Is it 6 months or 5 years? Maybe it’s 100 years? No one seems to know. In this post I will describe a 6 year study that has been started to find out if eggshells decompose in that period of time.
Eggshells – Do They Decompose In The Garden – supplies, by Robert Pavlis
Lots of people add eggshells to the garden or compost pile. It is claimed that they add important calcium to the soil for plants. Is this true? How well do they decompose? What happens to them in a compost pile? Do they add any value to the garden?
Eggshells that have been sitting in the garden for more than 3 years, by Robert Pavlis
Pruning trees and shrubs in late summer is NOT recommended because such pruning causes new soft growth that can’t harden off before winter. You will find this advice everywhere, but is it correct?
In the two previous posts I looked at ways to use Coffee Grounds in the Garden and the effect of coffee grounds on ants. There was one outstanding question that did not get resolved. Do coffee grounds deter slugs from eating your plants? Since I could not find any scientific work on this topic I decided to run some tests myself.
How do you get rid of ants? I have found that people use 3 common home remedies to get rid of ants; diatomaceous earth, Borax and coffee grounds. Borax does work and it is the main ingredient in many commercial products designed to get rid of ants. In this post I will look at the effectiveness of coffee grounds.
Getting Rid of Ants with Coffee Grounds, Photo Source: Charlie Stinchcomb
