What Could We Do With It? (A real-life composting drama)

Visiting our daughter recently in St. Paul, I was reminded that even a gardener's child may be quite dubious about the utility of having a compost pile. Partly her disinterest was simply a matter of being too busy: she and her husband each work full time, have two young children to care for, and have little energy for the "optional."
But in this case I was offering to provide the energy. On a beautiful May day, preparatory to mowing their lawn, I had raked their yard, and had gathered several good-sized piles of partly decayed leaves and grass. Naturally, these struck me, not as trash, but as the promising beginnings of a compost pile. I looked around the yard, located a suitable out-of-the-way place, and went into the house to suggest my idea.
Our daughter is sharp and legally-trained, but I had answers ready for her questions. "Where could we put it?" ("Along your backyard fence.") "Won't the smell bother our neighbor?" ("There will be no smell, unless heavy rain makes it too wet--then it can simply be turned to provide more air.") But I was surprised by her final question, because to me the many good answers to it seemed so obvious: "What could we do with the compost?"
"Well," I answered, "if you had some compost ready right now, I'd use it as a mulch for the flower beds on either side of your front porch. I noticed when I raked that the ground there is bare, with a hard-packed surface that does not absorb moisture. Compost would make the bed more attractive, hold moisture, attract worms, and gradually improve the soil."
That sounded appealing to her, but, as a busy young professional and mother, she just didn't want to take on "one more thing." So she made this suggestion: "Couldn't you just spread the leaves and grass in a layer on top of the bed, sprinkle on top some of old cedar bark mulch I have, water it down, and let it decompose right there?" "That's a good idea," I answered, "I'll do it."
The beds looked so much better. Daughter admired them; so did her husband. The two grandchildren thought it was fun to help "water the mulch."
Will anything more come of this, than enhanced beds, happier plants and worms, and an out-of-state gardener content with his afternoon? We'll have to wait and see.
But the process of managed composting has now gotten a small start (and an easily repeatable one) in this yard. Unmanaged composting, of course, is going on all the time in nature, as waste products with a high-carbon ratio (symbolized as "browns," such as decaying leaves) are mixed with those of high-nitrogen ratio ("greens" such as grass clippings) and an adequate supply of moisture (plus a certain amount of soil and the bacteria, fungi, and various composting agents that come with it.)
There are several other ways, too, in which wanna-be composters too busy to set up a compost bin can skip the bin stage and simply experiment with small-scale composting. Instead of throwing away your kitchen scraps (minus, of course, meat and bones), bury them in loose soil in some small flower bed or vegetable garden (choose a place with relatively poor soil-- soil containing clay and small stones). Mark the small spot so you can observe what happens as this material decomposes beneath and on top of the soil. To speed up the process, add a few earthworms to the composted soil, and moisten the spot (to be as wet as a wrung-out sponge) when and if necessary.
With surprising speed, you will begin to see worm holes appear on the surface of this spot. Organic materials on the top will gradually disappear, and the number of worm castings (manure) will increase.
If you have young kids in your household, they will happily spend long, slow periods waiting to be lucky enough to SEE a worm stick its mouth-end out of the ground, often right underneath the object it wants, then pull that object down into its hole to be eaten. Among favorite worm foods are rotting banana peels and decaying leaves. If you find some favorite food disappears quickly, you can add more of that food on the same soil surface, without digging it up and disturbing the growing network of holes.
If your kids do express an interest in this kind of backyard naturalism, then it will be worthwhile to plant scraps in several different places, keeping track of which are the earlier and which the more recent ones. And when their interest leads to questions, they will find that the juvenile section of most public libraries usually contains a wide variety of books on this child-friendly subject.

--William Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

William H. Becker

In an earlier column, I suggested that, whereas fishermen's tall tales ("fish stories") have to do with the weight, length, strength, and wiliness of specific fish that were caught or got away, horticultural hyperbole refers to the florid, exaggerated language garden writers use to describe the joys (and, less often, the woes) of gardening itself.
Many of the virtues that garden writers commonly attribute to gardening and gardeners are just the ones you might expect: "industry,"
"patience," "humility," the desire to "create" and "restore order" in a chaotic world, "generosity" in the sharing of plants and experience, "tranquility" and "inner peace," "health and longevity," awareness of the "glory" of nature as well as the "tears of things." Others, though, come as a surprise. "Strange as it may sound, I have found the best preparation for fatherhood has been gardening. It takes time. . . . There is no control, only influence." "The garden . . . stands for . . strength in adversity, for the power to forgive."
Sometimes, though, garden enthusiasts get so carried away as to lose their sense of humor. The excess of hyperbole, which often has a welcome humorous side, becomes the pompous, the puffed up, the pedantic. Here are two examples of hyperbolic claims so inflated that they almost insist on being punctured.
The garden has been portrayed as a teacher of moral philosophy. "The principle value of a private garden is not understood. It is not to give the possessor vegetables and fruit . . . , but to teach him patience and philosophy, and the higher virtues. . . . The garden thus becomes a moral agent, a test of character, as it was in the beginning. . . . I mean to have a moral garden, . . . one that shall teach the great lessons of life."
And, it is sometimes assumed that gardening is superior to
all other forms of human activity. "How much better, during a long and dreary winter, for daughters, and even sons, to assist . . . their mother, in a greenhouse, than to be seated with her at cards, or, in the blubberings over a stupid novel, or at any other amusement that can possibly be conceived." (It is surprising how often one finds this distinction between gardeners (we) and the rest of mankind (they) suggested, even by such democrats as Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that gardeners are "the chosen people of God.")
Erma Bombeck may well be poking fun at this sort of we-they horticultural hubris with her one-liner: "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." And Andy Rooney: "I don't dislike gardeners but I'd be . . . pleased . . . if they didn't go around trying to make me feel as if I hated nature. . . . I just don't like to grovel in the dirt."
There is no danger, then, that somber, prissy, humorless forms of horticultural exaggeration might someday, like invasive species, overshadow the other colorful plants in the hyperbole garden. For hyperbole has a built-in sense of humor: it uses excess, exaggeration, to makes its point, and usually that "too much" is funny, anywhere from smile-funny to laugh-out-loud absurd. When hyperbole becomes self-important, pompous, someone will come along with alternative hyperbole to make fun of it.
Take compost, for example. Gardeners like to wax eloquent about the virtues of "brown gold," "worm heaven," "nature's free lunch." One gardening magazine for years published a "compost corner," with pictures, in which its readers could hyperbolize their humus. In response, garden writers comment: "Gardeners, like infants, are proud of their waste products." "People who love compost can drive you crazy, eyeing your eggshell well before you've finished your egg."

[Postscript: All quotations herein come from The Quotable Gardener, by Kathy Ishizuke, Magraw-Hill, 2001. The author would be happy to learn of your favorite quotations about gardening, especially hyperbolic and/or humorous ones. Address William Becker at 195 Fairmount Drive, Lewisburg, 17837, or wbecker@bucknell.edu. And, for a future column, he welcomes your anecdotes about gardening and gender differences, for example, about pruning: "My God, what have you done to my ____ ?!"]

William H. Becker is a Penn State master gardener from Union County.

Horticultural Hyperbole

"Gardeners are much worse than fisherman," writes one observer. "Their arms stretch much wider when they are describing the height of their broad beans than when the fishermen are describing the length of a pike."
True, there is no obvious parallel in gardening to the term "fish story." Maybe that's because the biggest fish stories gardeners typically tell have to do, not with the size or aroma of a particular rose or strawberry, but rather with the virtue and sweetness of gardening itself. Horticulture itself, rather than some particular vegetable, fruit, or flower, is the favorite subject of horticultural hyperbole.
Gardeners seem to get carried away when they talk about the satisfactions of their craft, "as though they were drunk with the scent of the flowers they were describing." They find it hard, it seems, to speak modestly of gardening's "pleasures" or "rewards," but prefer the sensual, even sexual, vocabulary of young lovers. To these smitten ones, gardening brings "joy," "undiluted joy," "passion," "love," "exhilaration," and "ecstasy."
Iris Murdock writes, "People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us." And another author suggests that such garden-madness may become an addiction: "She had at last in her life leisure to make gardening into a vice--a strange and lovely vice, a passionate ecstasy."
A term like ecstasy has spiritual as well as sensual implications, and one often finds garden enthusiasts using a spiritual or religious vocabulary, as in the title of the 1997 book, Cultivating Sacred Space: Gardening for the Soul. Often this natural religious language is consistent with the familiar biblical view of God and the created world. "The garden is a sort of sanctuary, a chamber roofed by heaven... by whose wicket the world can be shut out." "As I have gardened, feeling myself in some sort of deep dialogue with an unseen and silent partner, I have come to know true inner peace."
But it is not surprising that nature-oriented spirituality also follows non-biblical, more earthy and animistic, garden paths. "Flowers and trees ... do not speak, but they do have hearts and spirits just like you and me. They can feel your love ... and 'we' the guardians, were created to remind all things of their relationship, and to never forget Earth Mother." "After his death the gardener does not become a butterfly, intoxicated by the perfumes of flowers, but a garden worm tasting all the dark, nitrogenous, and spicy delights of the soil."
It is sometimes easier to spot gardening hyperbole when garden writers are saying unusual things about their craft. We are so accustomed to hearing gardens described as places of peace, meditation, reflection, and healing, for example, that we may hardly notice the flowery language: "a refuge from a world of troubles, an oasis where waters truly heal." "All my hurts," writes the ever-optimistic Emerson, "my garden spade can heal."
The hyperbole is much more noticeable, however, when gardeners turn to the "struggle," "warfare," "cruel" and "brutal" activities, "life-and-death dramas" that take place in Eden. John Updike makes it vivid: "It's a . . . torture rack, all that budding and pushing, the sap up the tree trunks, the weeds and the insects getting set to fight it out once again." "Gardening is always, more or less, a warfare against nature." And Emerson, (in a not-so-optimistic moment) while regarding the obsessive nature of gardening, lamented, "A garden is like those pernicious machineries [sic] which catch a man's coat-skirt or his hand, and draw in his arm, his leg, and his whole body to irresistible destruction." Even the extension service gets caught up in the struggle: "Anyone who tells you that gardening is soothing, is either lying or old and mellow. After all, it's such a problem-ridden area that the federal government subsidizes a health department and infirmary--the Cooperative Extension Service--to care for those wounded in the line of duty."
[All quotations herein come from The Quotable Gardener, by Kathy Ishizuke, Magraw-Hill, 2001. The author would be happy to learn of your favorite quotations about gardening, especially hyperbolic and/or humorous ones. Address William Becker at 195 Fairmount Drive, Lewisburg, 17837, or wbecker@bucknell.edu. And, for a future column, he welcomes your anecdotes about gardening and gender differences. For example, about pruning-- "My God, what have you done to my ____ ?!"]
--William H. Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

Planning to Plant?

Fall's cooler temperatures make this an ideal time to plant or transplant ornamental bushes and trees. Lower air temperatures will cause the tops of plants to enter dormancy, but the warmer soil will encourage roots to develop until the ground freezes. The plant will already have taken root when spring comes.
Here are some suggestions to consider as you select specific plants and prepare beds and holes in which to plant them:

· As you choose ornamentals and trees suited to your site, keep asking yourself, " How big will this plant be at maturity?" A common mistake, even for professional landscapers, is to place young plants too close to other plants, to foundations, walks, power lines, and so on. Is there room here for a tall tree (50 feet and above), one of medium height (25 to 40 feet), or only a small one (25 feet or less)? What will be the diameter of these bushes when fully grown, and how much will they be competing with each other? (And keep in mind that plantings already in place will continue growing too.)

· Examine plantings carefully before buying. Fall is a good time to purchase plants, since they will often be available at end-of-the season sale prices. But for that "good price" you want a healthy, promising plant. Look out for broken branches, cracks or wounds in the bark, leaves that appear unhealthy in shape or color. If you find something that bothers you, ask about it before you purchase.

· Decide whether you will plant the new acquisition yourself or have it done by a professional. In the case of a small potted perennial, most gardeners will have sufficient energy and appropriate tools to plant it properly. But a large bush or a small tree may well require considerable heavy digging, which will require strong muscles, a healthy back, and some larger tools. The hole for planting a small tree should be about twice as deep as the root ball is high (allowing for soil amendment to be added in the lower half), and approximately three times as wide. A root ball about one foot in diameter, then, requires a hole two feet deep by three feet wide. The soil you must remove from this hole, if you are lucky, may be loose and loamy, easy to dig. But more likely, it will contain plenty of stones and rocks, perhaps some densely packed clay, perhaps some large roots which require cutting. At a minimum, digging a large hole in such soil will require a ong-handled garden shovel, a post-hole digger, and a six foot steel bar for dislodging rocks and roots. In addition, a narrow-bladed transplanting shovel, a four-tined garden fork, and an ax
(for cutting roots) may be needed.

· Decide in advance what you will do with the "extra" soil that seems to magically appear whenever a hole is dug, especially a hole of any size. This magical extra results, of course, from three factors which displace much of the original soil: the root ball of the new plant; the compost, peat moss, or other soil amendment you place in the bottom and sides of the hole; and the surprisingly large quantity of air you introduce when you dig up long-compacted soil. If this extra soil is to be used elsewhere, you may wish to shovel it directly into a wheelbarrow or lawn
cart for easier moving. You may wish to separate topsoil from the clay subsoil as you dig the hole, if you plan to use these in different places. (If you maintain a compost pile, you can store some of this extra soil near your compost bin, making it easy to add a thin layer of soil to the pile as necessary.)

· Water the new planting regularly and heavily for its first two weeks, unless Mother Nature takes care of this for you.

· When spring comes, apply an appropriate fertilizer to your new tree or bush, and keep it well watered in dry weather.

William H. Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

Weeding Wisdom II

As the title suggests, an earlier Green Thumb Corner column (published June 16, 2004) presented some basic suggestions on this topic, namely:
· Use gloves;
· Weed early and often;
· Apply mulch right after weeding;
· Weed soon after it rains;
· Vary your weeding posture and situation.

The present column builds on this earlier advice to increase the likelihood that any gardener can win at least some of each summer's encounters with these empire-building forms of plant life.
Edge the beds you weed. There are two advantages to making a sharp edge (perhaps using a square-tipped garden spade, or an edger) around the beds or gardens you weed, especially if these are surrounded by lawn. First, edging will neatly separate the area to be weeded from the
lawn, and begin to separate the weeds from their soil. Second, it will make it easy to create a depression or gutter around the bed, which will allow you to mow around the bed more easily, and will serve to hold in place the two-three inches of mulch you should apply after weeding. These advantages will apply whether or not you install some form of plastic, metal, brick, or wooden edging material around the bed. Such edging material will add this additional advantage: minimizing the growth of lawn grass and clover into the bed.
Lift or brace any obstacles out of your way. Sometimes you need to weed under low-hanging bushes or trees, whose branches tend to scrape your head, knock off your hat, hide the weeds from view, and make hot, humid weather even more oppressive. Usually a little advance thought will suggest some way to hold these branches up off the ground, using rope,
sawhorses, or boards placed across buckets or trash cans. And if you leave these barriers in place until you spread your mulch, that will make it easier to place the mulch where you want it.
Consider potting any desirable "volunteers" you may discover. We are often reminded, when we weed, of the dictum that "a weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted." Weeding our strawberry beds after this summer's harvest, for example, I found ten well-established seedlings from our Chinese Golden Raintree (Koelreuteria paniculata), which is located about eighty feet from the strawberries. Remembering the interest several friends and family have expressed in this unusual tree, I decided to dig up the seedlings and pot them. Already I have given away six of these, and if I still have the other four next spring, I'll take them to the Master
Gardener plant swap held annually (at the Union County Public Library garden) in late May.
Dry out your freshly harvested weeds in the hot sun. If your weeds end up in the trash, as mine do, you can greatly reduce their volume and weight by drying them first in the sun, perhaps on the asphalt of your driveway. By doing this, you will also recover some of the soil which, despite the weeder's best efforts, inevitably clings to the weed roots. The soil will fall off as the roots dry, and as you collect the weeds.
Remember: weeding is necessarily an ongoing process. Weeds, like all plant life, are constantly changing: practicing their seedy sexuality, becoming visible, flourishing, aspiring to rainforest status, waning. This means that removing weeds--"weeding"--should be viewed as a continuous process rather than a once-or-twice-a-summer event. To make the point
differently: if you spend one or two hours a week weeding during each of the summer's ten weeks, your yard and gardens will be, and will appear, far better tended than if you weed twice a summer, for the same number of total hours.

--William H. Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

Weeding Wisdom

Given our rainy spring and warm temperatures, the weeds are flourishing all around us. Their lust for life, seedy sexuality, and rain forest aspirations can be intimidating, not only to competing plants, but to gardeners as well. Acquiescent gardeners sometimes simply ignore this challenge of the weeds, surrendering early in the season rather than facing certain defeat later. For them, weeding wisdom means: you can't win, so don't make the mistake of getting involved.
But most gardeners feel some calling to resist weeds, perhaps because they know intuitively that these empire-building plants, though not specifically mentioned in the Garden of Eden story, must have some essential connection with Original Sin. Here is some weeding wisdom which can help you fight the good gardener's fight.
• Use sturdy gloves, especially early in the season. A blade of grass or a thorn can easily cut not-yet-calloused skin, and a cut on your hand will provide an all-too-welcome excuse to stop weeding. For weeding in wet weather, it is helpful to have several pair of gloves on hand, since water-soaked plants and soil quickly make leather or cloth gloves feel unpleasant on your hands.
• Weed early and often. Like the seeds you plant, most weeds germinate as small seedlings with short, easy-to-remove roots. Get them while they're young. Revisit the weeded areas regularly, at least every two weeks, so you can spot and remove the new arrivals early.
• Apply mulch right after weeding. If applied quickly, a two- to three-inch layer of mulch will prevent or delay germination of the next generation of weeds. Moreover, the mulch will make it easier to remove weeds which do appear, because it will keep the soil moist. If you have large areas to mulch, but lack a large budget, use grass clippings (preferably dried first) or shredded leaves (which you can shred by running over them with a power mower).
• Weed difficult areas soon after it rains. You will find it easier to remove weeds with long roots, such as maple seedlings, when the soil is soft and friable. The same is true of weeds which are mixed in with dense ground cover such as vinca (myrtle). If the rains don't come when needed, moisten the area to be weeded an hour or two before you plan to start.
• Find ways to make yourself weed regularly, perhaps daily, for a significant period. As with all our avoid-it-as-long-as-possible activities, weeding requires a certain realism about one's own psychology. Like anyone else who wants to get demanding work done, the gardener must deal with him/herself first. Most teachers, for example, find that grading examinations and papers is the educational equivalent of weeding: necessary to successful cultivation, but not enjoyable. My dad, an experienced college teacher, provided this useful advice: figure out how many papers you need to finish in one day, how long it takes to do X papers, and then clock yourself, making sure you put in an hour or so of grading before doing an hour of something you'd much prefer to do.
• Provide yourself with as much variety and change as you can. If there are several different types of weeding to be done in the yard, start your weeding hour with 20 minutes doing what you dislike most; then switch to 20 minutes of the most satisfying work, then finish off with 20 minutes of the "not too bad." Alternate your posture, by using a kneeling pad, a sitting stool, and so on. Alternate between sun and shade. Bring a portable radio to your weeding, if listening to music or news helps you pass the time.
• Remember: weeds only seem to be infinite. Scientists and theologians agree that we live in a finite, that is, limited, universe. While it may seem sometimes that the weeds on your own property are infinite, that's not really the case. All the weeds on planet earth, all those buckets and wheelbarrows and dump trucks full of weeds, still represent only a finite number. So, at least in theory, you can eliminate all weeds, for a finite time, from specific places in your yard.
--William Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

April: the Salad Days

Green leafy vegetables and onions are among the earliest crops that can be grown in our area, which means you can plant an entire salad garden (minus the tomatoes) during the month of April. Lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard seeds will germinate at lower temperatures than do most vegetables and will grow well in cold weather.
Lettuce comes in a variety of flavors, shapes, and hues with differing rates of maturity. Many types of leaf lettuce mature in 45-50 days. Butterhead lettuce, such as the popular "Buttercrunch," takes from 55-65 days. Romaine or cos requires about 70 days, and crisphead lettuce takes 72-82 days.
If you enjoy a variety of fresh greens in your salads, of differing taste, color, and crispness, consider planting the various seeds in many short rows, rather than a few long ones. This will allow you to plant small quantities of several types, each in its separate row, and will also make it easy to prepare the soil in advance for successive plantings.
On the east (or cooler) side of my vegetable garden, there is a salad section about 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. In late March or early April, I lay out a whole series of parallel rows, each 4 feet long, perpendicular to the edge of the garden. This can be done most efficiently by stretching two lines of string the long way, located four feet apart, and tapping row markers into the soil at desired intervals (about 18 inches apart), using the two lines as guides. In my section, this method produces about 20 parallel rows, each four feet long.
Once you have marked off these short rows, you may wish to add compost or another soil amendment before you turn over and cultivate the soil. Onion sets (bulbs) are hardy, and are a good choice for planting first. But don't plant all your sets at once, if you would like to have fresh scallions over a longer period. The sets will keep well if stored in a cool, dry place, and you will be able to plant additional rows in two to three-week intervals throughout the spring.
It is easy to space your chard and spinach seeds properly in the row, given their size, but more difficult to space lettuce seeds, which are usually very small. You will need to thin these seedlings, after germination, to allow room for plant development and to discourage pests like slugs. If you know your soil is acidic, add a dressing of lime along with your fertilizer, and work both gently into the soil alongside the rows of greens, all of which prefer alkaline soil.
Your salad garden will benefit from frequent weeding which can be conveniently done in connection with thinning out the developing lettuce plants. Mulching between the rows after the seeds germinate will help discourage weeds. Keep the mulch about 2 inches away from the plant stems, however, to provide for good air circulation and to help you spot those weeds which, inevitably, will appear in the midst of the lettuce and onion rows.
You can allow space for some onions to fully mature in their rows by picking alternating plants, as they develop, for use as scallions. Any thick double-neck onions should be picked and used early, because they retain more moisture and will not dry out well for storage. The large onions remaining in the fall can be dug up and placed on black plastic in the sun, where they will dry out after several days. As the outer layers of skin dry and come loose, peel these off and return the onions to the sunshine for more drying. The dried onions should be stored in a cool, dry place, preferably in mesh bags that allow for good air circulation. Two or three pounds of onion sets, planted gradually throughout the spring, can produce enough scallions and large onions to supply a small family for the full year.

--William Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County

In February and March, think pruning. During this late winter period, trees and bushes are still dormant, so the cuts you make will not lead to sap loss nor invite insect damage. Moreover, the absence of leaves on your deciduous plants means it is easy to see the structure of the plant and decide what portions, if any, should be removed.
The first step--which we are sometimes tempted to avoid--is to think about what you want to accomplish. If your goal is to thin out the branches of a bush or tree, opening it up to more air and light, then you will be cutting out the older, woodier growth at the base of the bush, or cutting off tree limbs at the trunk (or, perhaps, where a branch joins a limb).
If you want to control the size of a bush or tree, some forethought may prevent you from simply shearing it off (as one does a hedge) or "topping" it. This direct approach, while it may seem most efficient, has three major disadvantages. First, it distorts the natural shape of the perennial, turning all bushes into hedges--all trees into lollipops. Second, it negatively affects the growth pattern of the plant, removing the terminal buds from all branches of the plant, hence eliminating all "leaders." Lastly, it may put your marriage or intimate partnership at risk, since spouses and partners often have very different perspectives on how much is appropriate to cut off at one time. More than one unthinking pruner has had to endure that tearful cry, "Oh my God, what have you done to our _____ !?" The "Green Thumb Corner" cannot accept responsibility for pruning-related divorces.
There are times, of course, when it is appropriate to perform radical surgery on a bush which has greatly overgrown its originally allotted space. For example, a giant rhododendron which, through neglect, has grown so tall and wide as to shade your living room window and mildew your wall. Or, bent-out-of-shape azalea bushes which have been forced to seek light by growing over and between other plantings. Restoring an acceptable size and shape to such plants a few cuts at a time may well take years. But it may be possible to restore them to a healthy size and shape in just a year or two by cutting them back to stumps just a few inches from the ground. If the plants are fundamentally sound, they will put out healthy new shoots this spring, which you can encourage with some fertilizer. If this radical surgery doesn't work, you can always remove the roots and start over with a new planting. By all means, however, consult before you cut.
Also, before you cut, consider this important question: do I have the tools I need to do the job right? A chain saw is normally neither required nor appropriate for pruning, except for use by professionals. Here are some pieces of pruning equipment that you might need:
· a scissor-style, hand-held pruning shears for small branches;
· a lopper which gives you the leverage to cut cleanly branches up to 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter;
· a folding pruning saw which usually has a double row of teeth, and can cut cleanly through branches several inches thick--even in close quarters;
· a bow saw, useful in cutting off unobstructed branches; and, if you will be working on higher branches,
· a pole pruner, which allows you to lop off branches well above your head.

It pays to invest in high quality equipment; some companies even provide a very reasonable warranty. To do their job well, these tools must be sharp, especially the pruning saw. Wear sturdy gloves while pruning.
There are many resources available to the home gardener who has questions about specific plants or pruning tasks. The Penn State Extension Service publishes free pamphlets on this topic, and your public library has many books on gardening which give pruning advice.
--William Becker is a Penn State Master Gardener from Union County.

Welcoming Worms to Your Garden

Gardeners know from experience that they are likely to find earthworms in some soils (loose, friable, moist, rich in organic matter), but not in others (rocky, hard packed clay, sandy, sun-baked). The former soil environments suit worms because humus--decaying plant matter in the
soil and on the surface--provides their food. Not only that, but moist, friable soil permits them to move around easily and keeps their skin moist--a requirement if they are to breathe. Despite the name, an earthworm can live far longer in water than in sun-dried soil.

In general, then, earthworms like the same soil environments that your plants like. Just as "volunteers" will appear in your compost pile because their seeds are present and the growing conditions rich, worms will appear there too since they are attracted by these rich conditions. Besides, you also probably "inoculated" your compost pile with earthworm eggs when you added small amounts of soil. These eggs are tiny, grouped together in cocoons no larger than a grain of rice, and remain fertile in the soil--even dry or frozen soil--over many months until conditions become right for hatching.

Moreover, your plants will like their soil environment much more with worms than without. Worms continually improve the friability, aeration and nutrient level of the soil, simply by going about their business of eating decayed matter, digesting it, depositing their castings, mating, and producing eggs,. They do this in two fundamental ways. By moving through the soil (specifically, by poking their pointed front end into small openings, then expanding their girth by shrinking their length, thereby opening a worm-width tunnel) they loosen, turn over, and mix together layers of soil--activity which has earned them the nickname "nature's plow." They create a lacework of burrows which allows air and water to enter the soil more easily and provides prefabricated pathways often used by plant roots.

Secondly, earthworms provide fertilizer for your plants. By digesting organic matter in and on your soil, and then excreting this in the form of inorganic chemicals, the worms make available nutrients which could not otherwise be assimilated by the plant roots.

You can observe the plowing skills of worms by placing the following materials, in 3-4 inch thick layers, in a large glass container: rich soil mixed with compost or humus, light-colored sand or sandy soil, another layer of humus-rich soil. Place some earthworms in the container,
and cover the soil with decaying leaves, perhaps some fruit peelings and a sprinkling of coffee grounds. Keep the jar in a cool, dark place, and lightly moisten the soil every 2-3 days. Within a few days, you will (by approaching quietly and using a flashlight) begin to see worm tunnels inside the glass, often with worms in them, and grains of light-colored sand being redistributed throughout the darker soil. If you wait patiently, you may see a large piece of leaf or banana peel slowly pulled down into a worm's burrow, where it will be turned into fertilizer.

Here are some things you can do to make your vegetable garden or flower beds more attractive to worms:
· Compost your kitchen scraps and yard wastes, using the finished compost to amend your soil.
· Mulch the surface of your garden and beds with shredded leaves. (If you do not have access to a shredder, run over the leaves a few times with your power mower.)
· Apply a mulch of shredded leaves in the fall, to protect the soil from erosion and to provide food for worms.
· Use a tilling machine in the garden only when necessary, for example, when breaking up soil for the first time. Turning your soil over with a garden fork will be much easier on the worm population, though probably a little harder on your back.

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