Your Interview

My question is-when is the best time to water and how much?

Mark Cullen: I trust that you mean ‘water the lawn’ in which case I recommend only once a week but for 3 hours or so. The idea is to drive water deep into the root zone of your grass plants to help them sustain future drought.

Hello Mark,

I've seen people spread compost on their lawn this spring. Besides being more environmentally friendly, how does it compare to chemical fertilisers?

Mark Cullen: There is no comparison between the two.

Compost ‘feeds the soil’ while synthetic or organic lawn fertilizers provide the raw nutrients most needed by your lawn.

Compost is a great addition to just about any lawn as it provides some nutrient value over time to the lawn while adding much needed organic matter to the soil at the root zone.

Organic gardeners will do the compost thing only — spreading about 4 to 5 cm. each spring or fall [Aug – Sept is best] while others will do both.

Use a quality grass seed with the compost to thicken your lawn and make it virtually weed free.

What fertilizers do you recommend to keep the garden healthy? Thanks.

Mark Cullen: I use a lot of ‘compost tea’ when feeding my flowering plants. I steep a pillow case of compost in a rain barrel for a day or so and use the solution on my plants. Do this often — like every time you water! — and you won’t need fertilizer.

However, I do fertilize my tomatoes, roses, young perennials and container grown annuals with Green Earth organic fertilizers.

An alternative is to use a ‘Once and Done’ or ‘Feed and Forget’ fertilizer in spring. One application does the job for the whole season.

I have a potted plant garden on a balcony. As a compromise to selecting drought tolerant plants, are there eco-friendly soil additives that can help retain moisture with less watering?

Mark Cullen: ‘Eco Friendly’ is the key here, as a logical answer to your question is to use the polymers that swell up on contact with moisture, like ‘Soil Moist.’

A great organic alternative is ‘core’, which is usually sold as a brick that you soak in water [a wheel barrow works well!] overnight. I know that Home Hardware has a product under the Home Gardener label — it is available elsewhere but I don’t know the trade names.

Core is the fibrous lining of the coconut. It was a waste product for many years in coconut producing countries. Now it is sold as a soil amendment — it retains water much more effectively than peat moss and breaks down much more slowly.

I added compost that had a lot of pine needles. How would I test the ph of my garden?

Mark Cullen: A basic soil test kit purchased from a hardware store or garden centre will do the trick. They are only $6 to $8.

Is it possible to mulch a lawn?

Mark Cullen: Yes — get a mulching lawn mower or a mulching attachment for your existing mower. It will drive the grass clippings into the soil where they will break down quickly, adding valuable nutrients to the soil, including lots of nitrogen.
I am a great fan of mulching lawn mowers! They do NOT add to the thatch layer of your lawn, by the way.

Mark,

What good resources do you know for tomato growing? I keep hearing horror stories about people's tomato crops and I don't want to lose mine. They're doing well, but I'd hate them to get tomato blight in their final days.

Thanks,

Jason

Mark Cullen: The secret to ‘saving’ your tomato crop is to apply Bordo Mixture [Green Earth] as it contains Copper, which will prevent early blight.

Apply Bordo in the next 2 weeks as prevention is the only ‘cure.’

This is good advice for any tomatoe grower where Aug. weather may be cool and damp — for sure where you live in Vancouver!

Hi Mark

Is corn gluten meal really effective as a preemergent herbicide? Will it inhibit growth of established flowers, lawns, etc.? Is it available in Canada?

Thanks

Mark Cullen: There are various opinions of how effective corn gluten is as a pre-emergent for lawn weeds. Most of the evidence that I have seen is anecdotal. The producers are still working on registering the product as a natural herbicide with Ottawa. This takes time. It will not, based on what I understand, inhibit the growth of flowers etc.

I know that it is available at independent garden centres — Sheridan Nurseries in Toronto for example have it. Also I have seen it many Home Hardware stores. They will order it for you.

What's the optimal grass length for water conservation?

Mark Cullen: 3 inches or 7 cm.
Great question, “The longer the grass blades, the deeper the roots. The deeper the roots the greater the drought resistance and better able the grass plants to compete weeds out of existence.”

Hi Mark,

Can plants really tell the difference between the nutrients they get from chemical fertilizers and those they get from compost?

Ralph

Mark Cullen: No.
However, plants derive their ‘nutrients’ from the soil, not fertilizers.

It is through microbial activity, primarily, that plants feed themselves.

Therefore, it makes sense to feed your soil with generous quantities of compost, fallen leaves etc. in an effort to build up the organic content of your garden soil.

Fertilizers contain the primary nutrients that plants crave the most — e.g. nitrogen, potassium, potash. These elements are helpful to plants, but not a ‘full meal’ over the long run.

We have just broken ground for a vegetable garden. It is heavy shale based ground which I have dug to a depth of about 2' and removed all the rocks. We have put in peat moss and some compost but things are growing slow. With our drilled well being about 40' away could we add in manure or should we stick to leaves and the like for fertilizer.

Mark Cullen: Wow. Sounds like a lot of work!
The mix of soil/peat moss/compost should be about 1/3 each. [triple mix]

Adding fallen leaves this fall will help add carbon — ‘fiber’ — to the soil which is always good.

Finished compost — organic matter that has rotted down — added this fall will also help.

Also, fallen leaves make for a great water retaining mulch: perhaps this helps with your well?

Can I divided an Hemerocallis (day lily : pink flower) at this time?

It is very close to my shurb...would like to relocate part of it...can it be done?

N.B.: The plant has buds...no flowers yet.

Mark Cullen: Mid summer is not a good time to move just about any plant in your yard. Mind you, it is hard to kill a day lily!

If you are determined to move it then go ahead and keep the newly transplanted day lily well watered for the next 3 to 4 weeks. An application of 5-15-5 transplanter fertilizer would help too.

If it is in blazing sun, shade it with a bed sheet or something for the first week.

Best time to move a herbaceous perennial: Mid Sept. to late Oct.

How do I prune my roses to keep them blooming all summer?

Mark Cullen: Remove the spent blossoms with about 5 or 10 cm. of stem.
Fertilize now: not past the first of Aug.

Mark

I have just starting making my own compost, how do you prevent weed or grass seeds from surviving in the compost and then growing in your garden when you apply the compost?

Mark Cullen: The secret is in getting your compost to heat up to 160 degrees or so.

You do this by layering ‘green’ material with ‘brown’ material about 1 parts to 4.

Turn you compost every 4 to 6 weeks.

Use a compost starter when you start.

The weed seeds will literally burn off.

What should I plant as green manure on an urban vegetable garden I'm preparing?

Mark Cullen: Something quick?

Wheat. Buckwheat. Sudan grass.

Longer term? Red Clover works wonders but needs the whole season to root down and fix nitrogen into the soil. I sow mine in April and til it under in late Oct. just before hard freeze up.

We need help with our lawn! Everyone around us uses the Weedman and we would like to achieve the same effect but without the chemicals. Do you have any advice as to how to make your lawn carpet-like and "weed-free" without the biochemcials?

Mark Cullen: Forget ‘carpet like’ if that means only a couple of cm. thick and think in terms of a thick green shag carpet.

Recipe:

-cut your lawn at 2 ½ inches or 3.
-Water deeply for 2 or 3 hours once a week only.
-Fertilize with your choice… I use slow release Golf Green as it does not leach nitrogen due to the sophisticated formula – but it is not organic. Look for Green Earth or Natura for good, natural alternatives. Apply 3 X year.
-Be sure to fertilize in late fall – the most important application of year!
-Thicken your lawn with fresh grass seed and triple mix in Aug/Sept.

I've planted some flowers and vegitables like branch tomato, red pepper and green chilli's in my condo balcony. Since last 2 weeks, I've noticed on vegitables there are lot of very tiny white clour bugs are there and eating the plant. Leafs had white spots and not very healthy as well.
Please suggest me should I use any kind of pesticide (If yes, then which will be good. I've about 10-15 plants) or any other precustion is required.
Thank you very much for your help.

Mark Cullen: Could be white fly? If so, spray with AIM ready to use botanical insecticide once week for four weeks.

The white spots would not be an insect but likely related to too much water.

Allow your plants to dry out before watering.

Allo,
My garden is being eaten away by slugs. I have tried crushed shells, slug bait (non-chemical), beer traps, weed barrier covered in mulch and picking the slugs off manually but still can't seem to win the battle. Any advice? Merci!

Mark Cullen: Alternatives:
DIO dust — diatomaceous earth. Must be dry.

Copper tape –—placed in the soil about 1 or 2 cm. deep around each plant. An effective barrier as the copper provides an electrical charge.

I have horsetail. What can I do about this?

Mark Cullen: Move.

There is nothing worse … even poison ivy is easier to get rid of!

Honestly — roots go down 4 ft, every time you split them off they multiply. I don’t have an answer. Does anyone else?

Sorry.

Bishops Gout weed has taken over my flower bed, and covers my other plants, all perennials. this happened because I was not able to work in the garden for a season. Now, what can I do, without digging it all up??

Mark Cullen: NOW you will have to dig it up.
However it will die when sprayed with Roundup or WipeOut [works in ½ the time ] when they are emerging from the soil in spring. Late April through May usually works in most parts of Canada.

Reccently i purchased some bulbs form a supermarket garden centre.
When is the best time to plant them?
I also saw some bone meal that was being reduced in price. Is this good for the garden and for palnting the bulbs?
The names of the bulbs are:
Gladioulus Traderhorn
Liatris Spicata
Iris Hollandica
Anemone De Coen Mixed
Oxalis Deppel
How close can I plant them to each other? Will they come up in the spring next year? I would appreciate if you can offer any suggestions as to planting and/or soil preparation. I am limited to space.
Is it possible to plant them these bulbs in a palnter? Will I have the same results?
Your comments and/or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thank You
Gill Evenstein

Mark Cullen: All of these are ‘summer flowering bulbs’ not to be confused with fall planted bulbs — these should be planted now. Best time is May/early June.

What is your opinion about shredded bark mulch? It forms a barrier to water and I have had conflicting advice about using it: (1) apply when the soil is both warm and wet and then the soil will remain moist but weeds will have not have a chance to grow throw it; (2) never use it since the effect of the barrier could interfere with normal soil activities possibly promoting disease, use bark chips instead and pull out the few weeds that might manage to grow.

Mark Cullen: I love finely shredded pine or cedar bark as a mulch on all of my flower beds: perennials, roses and veggies especially. Apply it when you feel like doing it.

It is — over the long haul — GOOD for soil health as it will break down and add needed organic material to the soil Replenish every 2 or 3 years to keep fresh.

My flowering crab flowered last year then lost all the leaves. this year there are lots of leaves but it never flowered. Is there something I should do in the fall or spring.

Mark Cullen: Crabapples tend — like most fruiting trees — to flower/fruit heaviest in alternate years.

Nothing that you are doing wrong. Just the way Nature works.

We have a problem with wild fern which seems to be invading my vegetable garden. What can I do (without any chemicals) to get rid of them except of pulling them out every other day.

Mark Cullen: A layer of 6 mil. Black plastic between the rows will fix them. Leave it in place for at least the next 6 weeks.

We have a fairly large backyard which we've never used herbicides on. It is now mostly dandilion, creeping charlie, some kind of thistle, in other words, very little grass. We would like grass again, but aren't sure what to do short of round up and starting over.

Mark Cullen: #1 problem here is thistle. The others you can take care of.

I would spray with Wipe out — the thistles at least.

Low in toxicity — but still a chemical. If you really don’t want to use it, dig them out with as much of their root by hand as possible.

Cut the area down with a scythe or a lawn mower set at it’s highest height [whatever works].

Cut again — this time with your lawn mower — in a couple of weeks— at it’s second highest height.

Mid Aug. top dress the entire area with 5 cm. of triple mix. Sow quality grass seed at rate of one pound /400 sq. feet.
Water. Watch it grow and compete the nasties out of existence.

Fertilize in Oct. with quality food.

Hi Mark,

What's the best way to kill off a tree stump?

Thanks.

Mark Cullen: Call a tree-cutting professional and have it ground out with a mechanical stump grinder.

Or, put a bird bath on it.

I am in the process of putting in an irrigation system to water my Rhodo's,trees (such as Magnolias and Dogwoods) and other plants. I am not sure how often I need to water (and how long). Direction on how to figure this out would be terrific! Thanks!

Mark Cullen: The good news is that Rhodos’ and Dogwoods like a fair bit of water.

Put your finger in the soil and when it is dry about 2 cm. deep — time to water.

The magnolia may not be happy with this over time as it does not like so much water. If it is old, it will be okay. If it's young I would consider moving it.

How do you get clematis to continue blooming throughout the summer?

Mark Cullen: Remove the spend blossoms now.
Ferilizer with a clematis food now — not past the first of Aug.

I have Iris and Hyacinth bulbs and I was wondering if I should plant them in the Fall or in the Spring. I was also wondering about how deep and how far apart I should plant them. I would also like to know, if I am to plant in the Fall, should I cover them with leaves to protect them from the frost?
Thank you!

Mark Cullen: Plant Hyacinths in the fall- 2 to 3 X as deep as the bulb is thick [12 to 15 cm.]

A mulch of leaves about 3 to 5 cm. thick is a good idea. You may need to move them come spring to allow the bulbs to push through

How do i get rid of the clover and ground ivy in my lawn?
Is there an eco-friendly product that i can spray or apply to my lawn to kill them?

Mark Cullen: There is no eco-friendly herbicide for your lawn weeds — but there is a very effective way to eliminate them by competing them out of existence.

Mid Aug. – Sept is the best time to do this.

Full instructions on my web site www.markcullen.com