Could you explain the three numbers on the fertilizer containers. I bought a "transplanter helper" with 10-52-10 and later saw a container for Blooms with the same numbers. I am confused.

Thanks, JL

Marjorie Harris:

This is the problem with that stuff. The numbers stand for percentages of nitrogen, phosphate and potash.

I find all of that stuff so confusing. This is what turned me into an organic gardener.

If you make your own compost or even pick up bags of compost from the city, you add a little bit of manure and some ground-up leaves, you'll have all the fertilizer you need.

There are a few new fertilizers coming onto the market that are organic and I'd have a look for them. They're balanced fertilizers.

All these things with huge numbers sound to me like you're aiming too much at a plant. For a really healthy plant, what you want is a surround of compost. It will leech into the soil and it will feed the plant as the plant needs to take up those minerals and trace elements.

I talked my mother into growing her own plum tomatoes last summer. By summer's end, she'd informed me that most of her tomatoes were ending up with a single hole -- maybe 1/4 inch in diameter -- burrowed through from one side to the other, with no evidence of insects on the plants or in the tomatoes themselves. The plants were otherwise healthy and the tomatoes, even with these holes, seemed fine. Any idea of what specific insect could have caused this?

Marjorie Harris:

It sounds like some kind of little worm that made its way through. I don't know much about tomatoes. I'm not a very successful tomato grower.

I would plant garlic with my tomatoes and maybe that will discourage them. And putting Epsom salts around them will help, too.

After struggling with my Rhododendron for many years, last year it finally bloomed (!).
This year - nothing, not even one bud. My Magnolia didn't bloom either. Is there some reason for it that neither of them bloomed?
Weather?

Thanks,
Nikki Barnett

Marjorie Harris

Yeah, they got blasted in that January thaw that we had almost consistently across the country. It was so confusing for the plants, and a lot of people didn't have blooms on their magnolias this year. We're also finding the same thing with red buds.

One way to help plants recover from all of this is to make sure they're really well watered now and that they have a good mulch around them. I'd put about a three- or four-inch mulch around those plants.

I have yellow roses that flower only in June for about 2 weeks. They look a lot like a wild rose and grow like a tall bush. They tend to want to spread and travel through the flower bed. When and how should you prune them?

Marjorie Harris:

You've got to do that first thing in the spring. If they're spreading by underground roots, I'd cut them off as you see them popping out.

I'd be almost tempted to say dig it out of the garden and put it in a contained spot like an old half-barrel and get it under control, because it will spread everywhere.

My Rhododendron has never bloomed - It suffers greatly in winter and barely recooperates over our short summer. Our soil is acidic which is supposed to be good for them. How can I get this bloomin flower to bloom?? LOL

Marjorie Harris:

I have watched rhododendron growers haul them out of the ground and plunk them in another spot, slightly raised up with lots of humusy soil around, and they've absolutely done really well.

It's called planting proud, planting on a slight raise so that moisture doesn't go toward the stalk, but drains away from it.

We tend to be so fussy about our rhodies. It's a good forest plant. It doesn't get all fussed over and TLCed to death in the forest, so think of it that way.

I have found white grubs eating at my bearded irises, any eco friendly way of getting rid of them somehow?

Marjorie Harris:

For grubs, I would go for live nematodes that you can buy in containers. Read the instructions really carefully because they are living creatures.

These things will get into the grubs' bodies and make them explode. It's great. I love the sound of violence in the garden.

It lasts for about three years and then you need to redo it.

Our lawn needs help! I am considering having it aerated, but have read somewhere that aeration has negligible effect, that it is a waste of money. What do you think?

Marjorie Harris:

You must aerate. If you do one part of the lawn one year and another part the next year, it doesn't get to be too much of a job.

I want to plant a small tree near my pond because the full direct sun is causing a lot of algae in the pond. I want something with a small, downward growing root so the root does not damage the pond liner. I also want something without a lot of foliage that will end up in the pond.

Marjorie Harris:

There's a wonderful tree called a ginkgo. You want a male version of this tree. It has thrusting downward roots. It has the most beautiful, fan-like leaves.

It won't cast a really heavy shadow, but will give respite. It has a nice, vase-like shape. It grows relatively slowly.

There's also a wonderful tree called heptacodium or seven-son tree. It's got a very loose, lax form. Birds absolutely adore it because it has exfoliating bark and they love to peel bits and pieces of it off for their nests.