Boardash: ArcaMax Gardening Daily Tips for Wednesday September 30, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ArcaMax Gardening Daily Tips for Wednesday September 30, 2009

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Gardening Daily Tips
For You
Wednesday September 30, 2009

Rock Rose (Cistus x)
Q&A: Pruning Back to the Crown
Q&A: Tomato Turn Black on the Bottom
Tip: Harvest Green Tomatoes
Free Pet Cartoons from the New Yorker
Reader Photos

Rock Rose (Cistus x)

Today's Featured Plant
Rock Rose (Cistus x)

Read the full profile of this plant at ArcaMax.com.

Interested in reading about other plants? Search through hundreds of plant profiles and helpful articles by keyword.

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Q&A: Pruning Back to the Crown

Question: When you say to cut back perennials to the crown, where is that? Can I use regular household scissors or should they be gardening shears?

Answer: The crown of the plant is the area at or just above the soil surface, where the stems emerge from the roots.

When cutting spent flowering stems on perennials, try to cut them just below the mound of foliage, so the bare stems are hidden. When cutting back dead foliage at the end of the season, you can cut closer to the ground. However, in general, avoid cutting stems or foliage closer than 2 or 3 inches above the crown, so you are sure not to damage the growing points.

If the stems are small, you can use regular scissors. But well-sharpened pruners will probably give you a cleaner cut--important for minimizing diseases.

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Q&A: Tomato Turn Black on the Bottom

Question: Why are some of my tomatoes getting dark rotten spots on the bottom of the fruit?

Answer: Your tomatoes have "blossom end rot" (BER), a physiological condition caused by a lack of calcium at the growing tip of the fruit. It is also a common problem on peppers. While your soil may have adequate calcium, fluctuations in soil moisture content from dry to wet really increase the incidence of BER. It is especially bad on the early fruit each summer and in sandy soils. The damage occurs as cells die at the tip of the fruit. In time (and as the fruit grows) the spots enlarge and turn black. So, by the time you see it, the damage actually has already occurred some time back. Remedies for BER include having a soil test to make sure calcium levels are adequate, adding organic matter to a sandy soil to increase its moisture holding capacity, and keeping plants evenly moist, especially during the development of the first fruits. A thick mulch will help maintain soil moisture.

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Tip: Harvest Green Tomatoes

Harvest mature green tomatoes (those with a pinkish-yellow tinge on the blossom end) before frost. Wash the skin with a 1% bleach solution, rinse with water, dry and place in a 60F to 70F room, not touching each other.

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Free Pet Cartoons from the New Yorker

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This e-mail newsletter, available only from ArcaMax, features New Yorker cartoons picked by the editors especially for our readers. New subscribers will also receive a free New Yorker-style cartoon with their name in the caption!

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-- From the ArcaMax editors

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Sincerely,
ArcaMax Editors