A f lowering plant (or two) that bugs bunnies
What to do in the garden this month Finish harvesting asparagus and rhubarb. Sprinkle a tablespoon of allpurpose fertilizer around each plant, as well as around rose bushes and the locations of last spring’s flowering bulbs. Start harvesting the three types of peas to keep them producing. Pick sugar snap peas when the pods are plump, but harvest snow peas before the pods fill out. Don’t eat the pods of English peas at all; shell them instead. Plant any leftover pea seed in August for a fall crop. Continue planting on cloudy days, deeply watering inside the planting hole before setting in the new plants after the water sinks in and then backfilling. Move houseplants outdoors to a shady location for the summer. Water container gardens of annuals daily in hot weather and garden plants, including trees, weekly. But you can save money by allowing lawns to go dormant until fall and temporarily suspending mowing services.
Q. What flowering plants would keep hungry rabbits out of my flower garden?
P.M., Westwood A.
Everyone is complaining about rabbits this year, so this must be another bunny baby boom. In my neighborhood, new neighbors are cutting down groves of trees and substituting low-maintenance “hardscaping” — such as concrete patios, tennis courts and swimming pools — that vastly increases their carbon footprint. (Concrete production is responsible for 8 percent of global warming!) Such hardscaping also decreases the predators that control rabbits, such as foxes. I grow flowers critters find distasteful: Try daffodils, nicotiana, zinnias, and members of the onion family, such as chives. Rabbits also disdain aromatic plants with silvery or fuzzy leaves like lavender. You can also spray with animal repellent. I use Deer Out and Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent. Both are harmless and have long-lasting scents that repel animals but are not noticeable to humans. I spray the rabbits’ favorite foods, such as lilies and hostas, about once a month. It’s a little surprising when people get upset that animals are nibbling on their plants or squirrels are eating their birdseed. After all, the garden is a peaceable kingdom, not a war zone. Provide extra and share.
Q. I enjoy your column very much. I noticed your reply about over-seeding with white Dutch clover (“Ask the Gardener: Want to replace your lawn? Here are three alternatives,” May 7). After consulting with my daughter’s fiancé, who is a landscape architect, I over-seeded with pelleted microclover (Trifolium repens Pipolina). The pelleting supposedly helps the seeds germinate faster. The microclover is more petite — blends in more with grass — and doesn’t attract as many bees. It is coming in very nicely.
N.F., Newton
A. Some readers wrote that they were seeding clover this spring. It’s too late for them to try this year. Maybe next spring? Thanks for writing.
Q. As we learn more about how fungal structures of the understory support plant and tree growth, are we “cheating” the plants we grow in raised beds?
J.B., Marblehead
A. A fungus manages to spread almost everywhere, so I don’t think it would be thwarted by a few extra inches of topsoil, assuming the raised bed is not emptied out each year to start fresh. Instead, cut off the old plants at soil level, leave the soil in the bed, and add compost and soil amendments on top each year, like new layers of a lasagna. This keeps intact the mycelial network that helps feed plants. (No more rototilling!) For more about fungi, read “Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake or stream the 2019 documentary “Fantastic Fungi” (https://fantasticfungi.com/film/).
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