FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF DEC. 27, 1999:
Encouraged by pictures in garden design magazines, I underplanted several bulb-companion groundcovers – including rockcress and artemisia – beneath my mid-size and tall perennials last spring. Once the perennials came up, however, they seemed to shade or smother the underplantings so badly that by season’s end the rockcress and artemisia had largely vanished. I’m reluctant to replant bulb-companion groundcovers next spring – unless there’s a way I can keep them alive. What do you suggest?
It sounds like all those healthy perennials are way too much competition for the bulb companions, says JoAnn Robbins, University of Idaho extension educator. She suggests lightly applying an organic mulch, such as bark, to tidy up the ground while your bulbs are blooming in spring.
"The mulch will then serve to enrich the soil through the summer," Robbins says, "although all those old dead underplantings might do the same!"
I’m worried about my mother, who is still driving at 83. Some of her driving habits scare me. How do I know when it’s time to encourage her to quit?
According to a PNW Cooperative Extension System publication called "Driving Decisions in Later Life," it’s time to assess the situation when any of these signs appear. Your mother:
"If your family member is putting others at risk by his or her driving, you need to take an active role in the decision," say the publication’s authors.
For more information on age-related changes that can affect driving safety and on things to consider when approaching an older person about his or her driving, order the 28-page booklet, PNW 510, from University of Idaho Ag Publications [telephone (208) 885-7982, fax (208) 885-4648, e-mail cking@uidaho.edu, web site http://info.ag.uidaho.edu, or U.S. mail at Ag Publications Building, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-2240]. Cost to Idaho residents is $3.10, which includes tax and shipping.
I’m hoping to plant strawberries for the first time next year and plan to cover them with a protective screen or netting. How can I make sure that the bees have access to the flowers – for purposes of pollination – while at the same time protecting the ripe fruit from birds and squirrels?
If you’re planting June bearers, you needn’t be concerned, says Danny Barney, University of Idaho extension horticulturist: simply put on the netting before the fruit begins to ripen. By that time, the flowers will largely have been pollinated.
With everbearers or day-neutrals, however, you’ll need to avoid dense nettings like window screens, which effectively fence out the domestic and wild bees that pollinate berries. On these strawberry types, ripe fruit coexists right along with blooming flowers for much of the growing season. Use commonly available nettings that have 0.75-inch or 1-inch square holes and thus allow "plenty of room for the bees," Barney says.
While today’s strawberries are predominantly self-pollinating, the scattering pollen may miss some of a flower’s pistils, or ovaries. For maximum size and perfect shape, researchers have found that each of a berry’s hundreds of pistils must be pollinated. Skipped pistils lead to irregularly shaped berries and to disappointingly small "nubbins." That’s where the bees come in: their activity spreads pollen on more pistils.