From: pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: FAQ and New Gardeners
Date: 26 Jun 92 19:48:32 GMT

swk004@muvms3.bitnet (CONNIE LEINEN, SWK004@MARSHALL, HUNTINGTON, WV) writes:
>As for the FAQ and new gardeners, I have a whole heap of suggestions.

I'll try and see if I can come up with some short answers.

>A nice definition of what constitutes full sun, partial sun, partial
>shade and shade would be nice.  

No easy questions first? OK, how's this:
full sun: direct sun from at least 8-4 sun time, 9-3 may work
partial sun: morning or afternoon sun, but not both, 6-12 or 12-6 sun time
partial shade: sun filtered by pines or similar or just a few hours of
	direct sun in the morning, not noon or afternoon sun
shade: brightest light, but no direct, unfiltered sun hits plant
 
>An explanation of annual, half hardy annual, perennial grown as 
>annual, etc., etc. would be nice.

Annuals live one year, biennials live two years, short lived and standard
perennials live more than two years. Biennial is sometimes used to mean a
plant that will not flower in the first year. These terms are relative to the 
climate, hence the term, "grown as annuals". Tender, Half-Hardy and Hardy? 
That's also relative to the climate. If these terms are applied to a plant by 
the British, it tells you how they do in that climate. Tender almost always 
means 32oF. Half-Hardy means one out of two years it will survive winter, 
better odds with protection. Hardy means it will survive most winters.

>For years, I "weeded out" annuals that attempted to return the following year.
>This year an acute attack of the lazies taught me that allysum, petunias,
>impatiens and some begonias will return if left alone.

Probably self-seeded, or new plants grew from the seed produced last year. This
is the life of the annuals, in the temperate climate this is how they avoid
winter.

>I'm still foggy on biennials.  My biennials have bloomed every year
>since the second year and, no, I didn't re-seed.

They aren't technically biennials for you. Perennials are often called
biennial because they will not flower the first year but flower the second and
thereafter. True biennials die after flowering in the second year.

>Then there are the terms that experienced gardeners and gardening
>books fling around without any explanation such as "dead-head",
>"bolt", "until established", "pinch back", "cut back", "thin",
>"leggy" and so forth.  Looking at these phrases now, I feel somewhat
>foolish having not understand at the time, but I particularly remember
>feeling absolutely baffled when instructed to "dead-head".  I remember
>giggling and wondering if I was supposed to play my Grateful Dead 
>collection in the garden.

That's what it means! OK, just joking, I get it. "Dead-head" means remove old
flowers before they set seed. "Bolt" means the plant is flowering when you
didn't want it to like lettuce bolting. "Until established" means maybe 1/4
of the plants life span. It's like a person geting "established". "Pinch-back"
means to remove the growing tips so that side shoots develop or to remove
flowers before they form so you get leaves. "Cut-back" means to prune or to
remove vegetation to improve the shape or increase flowering or new leaf
growth. "Thin" means to not grow plants too close together, plants have to have
room to grow, so you thin out or remove some so that the others may mature.
"Leggy" means a plant is all stems and tends to not support its own weight
and fall over. It is caused by not enough sun or too much nitrogen. Sometimes
"cutting-back" will solve this problem.

>"Water during dry periods" always and still baffles me.  What 
>constitutes a dry period?  

Depends on the plant and climate. Native plants don't need water during dry
periods, but may or may not benefit. In summer, a rough guide would be 1" of
rain per week, less than that is a dry period. In the eastern US, a dry period
would be a week without rain. In the west, we call no rain from April to
September a normal summer.

>"Set seed" was also another interesting term.  Having bought plants,
>I wasn't sure how to determine if the plant had set seed or not since
>I had never seen the seeds.

Set seed means there are seeds on the plant. Some plants die after setting
seed.
 
>"Winter protection" is another.  If a plant needs "winter protection"
>are we talking about the standard layer of mulch?  Or something more?
>If the answer is something more, then what?

A warm southern wall, a higher spot protected from cold air draining in from
lower spots, covering the plant with mulch and blankets, sprinkling with water
to protect from freezing (like Florida oranges), large buckets of water,
heat cables, insulation, smudge pots or burning kerosene, protection from
cold north winds, grown in a pot and taken indoors ...

>Then there was the confusing issue of mulch, compost and fertilizer.
>I realize now that those 3 things can all be one thing applied differently,
>but in the beginning I thought they were interchangeable terms for the
>same thing.  Of course, I still don't know how much mulch.

Hmm. Mulch is a one to six inch layer of material on the surface. What's
too much? Don't cover the plant. And if the ground is cold in spring, you
need to brush back the mulch so that the sun can warm the ground.

>"As soon as the ground can be worked"....hmmm...does that mean when 
>I have time or what.  In fact, I'm still a little hazy on this one.
>The fact that we've had abnormally mild winters since I began 
>gardening could account for my confusion.  But what would signal
>it to be too early to work the ground.

A very important concept that any good farmer has to know. It has to do more
with how wet the soil is, rather than temperature. The more clayey your soil,
the more of a problem this is. Grab a handful of soil. If you can form a
ball that doesn't crumble, it is too early to "work" the soil. If the soil
crumbles, it is time. If the soil is so dry that you can't get a handful, it's
too late. This is a big topic worthy of its own article. Wet springs delay
the time that you can "work" the soil. You sometimes hear about this in the
news.

>Till, cultivate, plow, dig in, turn-over.  Do these mean different
>things?  

"Till" means to disturb or work the soil. "Cultivate" means the same thing,
but often means to remove weeds. "Plow" is using a plow to disturb the soil.
"Dig-in" means to bury something in the soil. "Turn-over" means to flip the
soil upside down which kills most things growing in it.

>Instructions to contact the county extension agent were also disappointing.
>It was sometime before I accidently discovered that the County Extension
>Agent was listed in the telephone book on the blue pages under the 
>sheriff's Department and labelled as the West Virginia University Extension
>Service.  Prior to that, I would call information and request a listing
>for the "county extension agent."  Of course, I should have known better.
>After all, the weather number is listed under United States Government,
>Commerce Department.  Silly me.

Yea, our federal and state dollars at work for us. More or less.

>"Apply a soap solution" was also a little daunting.  "Safer soap" was 
>also interesting because it was sometime before I realized "Safer" was
>a brand name.  I'm embarrassed to say that I used Joy Dishwashing 
>Liquid for an entire gardening season.  Actually, the results were 
>pretty good.

Sure, any soap will do. Soap is better that detergent. 1 teaspoon per quart
of water, one tablespoon per gallon of water. Safer soap is just soap.

>Now, ya'll, quit laughing at me.  I'm doing this on my own.  I don't 
>come from a gardening family.  My friends don't garden, or if they do,
>they're as new at it as I am.  I bought a number of gardening books,
>but none seemed appropriate for the complete novice.  Of course, now that
>I've found this board and the number for my county extension agent,
>my garden is doing much better.  

You don't sound like much of a novice, at least you're asking the right 
questions.  I subsribe to the theory that the more you learn, the more you 
realize that all there is, is questions with no real answers. That's not all 
bad though. You can learn from questions too.

>BTW, I have a significant ant problem in the garden.  Can't even stick
>my trowel (another one of those words....a definition of tools would
>be nice) in the ground without disturbing a nest.  I was content to 
>leave them alone until all this talk of aphids started (those are those
>annoying little green things, right?).  Anyway, John-my-county-extension-
>agent recommended the use of malathion.  Boo hiss.  Organic concerns aside
>for a moment, I'm much too much of a novice to be applying such lethal 
>concoctions.  Any suggestions on how to rid the garden of ants? 

As long as they are not fire ants, who cares. Ants. That will probably
be a FAQ.

>I've rambled and I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to
>press the cause of new gardeners everywhere.

Sure, why not. Someone's got to do it. Of course the truth is that we are all
new.