FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF FEB. 1, 1999:
I planted a flowering plum and flowering crab apple right in the middle of a large area covered with mature juniper bushes. A friend said the junipers are too toxic and the trees will die. Any advice? Jim Miller, Moscow
Provided the plum and apple are properly watered and fertilized, there shouldn’t be a problem, says Danny Barney, University of Idaho extension horticulturist. Junipers are often used as groundcover and foundation plants under and around deciduous trees and shrubs. Their roots aren’t toxic to neighboring plants, although they do compete aggressively for water and nutrients.
In fact, planting trees among your junipers actually poses more threat to the junipers than to the trees, says Barney. "Be careful not to overwater the junipers. They need less water than trees, and overwatering can kill them."
Second, junipers grown in shade usually begin to look "open" and even downright ratty. As the trees grow and begin shading them out, you might want to remove some of the junipers and redesign the landscape.
Should I have my garden soil tested this spring?
Stuart Parkinson, University of Idaho extension educator, recommends soil tests about every five years for pH, phosphorus, potassium and organic matter. "Then you know if your soil fertility is staying in line, how it’s changing over time, and how much good you’re doing when you add compost. You want to track trends," he says, "and you really want to raise organic matter."
Suspect soil fertility problems if your garden’s productivity drops, if plants are stunted, or if leaves are purple, yellow, spotted or otherwise discolored, Parkinson says. Bring a sample to your county Cooperative Extension System office for diagnosis.
On the other hand, if your garden has been performing well, that’s your clue to continue your current fertility program. You might try to squeeze out additional production by fertilizing optimally for each separate crop, but Parkinson doesn’t encourage it.
"If you’ve got a 40-by-40 foot garden and 15 different crops, I don’t think you could accurately fertilize for every one of them," he says. "Every one of them has a different nutrient requirement and uses nutrients from various depths of the soil. Figure out the average fertilizer requirement and use it throughout the garden."
Help! Our power was off for several days and the food in our freezer is either partially or completely thawed. Can we refreeze it?
You can if it still contains ice crystals or if the freezer hasn’t risen above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho extension food safety coordinator.
Fish, seafood or vegetables that have been thawed less than one day in freezers that are still 40 degrees or colder can be safely refrozen, says McCurdy. So can fruits or meats that have been thawed less than two days under the same conditions. The texture and flavor of these foods may be compromised by refreezing, she says, but they’re still safe to eat.
Isn’t it simply inevitable that we’ll gain weight as we get older?
Not if you incorporate strength training into your exercise regimen and eat small meals throughout the day, says Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition specialist. Strength training–weight lifting or working out on resistance machines–reverses the trend of losing muscle tissue over time. By adding muscle–a very metabolically active tissue–just two or three 40-minute strength-training sessions a week can increase metabolism by as much as 10 to 15 percent. The result: 10 to 15 percent more calories burned each day.
Another calorie-burner is breaking meals down to 250 to 500 calories at a sitting, rather than 1,000. A USDA study at Tufts University showed that women averaging age 72 burned the same amount of fat as 23-year-old women if they ate four to five moderate-size meals during the day instead of one or two large ones.