Control slugs, make cuttings, grow herbs

1 Tasty slugs and bugs:

Greg, who gardens in Long Beach, sent an email touting turtles for slug control: “Two box turtles In my little 150square foot garden keep the slug population at or near zero at the cost of a strawberry here and there. The turtles get a few treats from us (grapes, melon) but they’re on their own to forage, essentially.” Other recommended practices for slug (and snail) control include: trapping them in trays of beer or under boards, creating barriers of copper tape, sprinkling diatomaceous earth, and applying organic slug control products such as Sluggo, which comes in pellet form. Speaking of box turtles, their calming presence enhances the garden environment in addition to their pest control. As Greg observes, they do enjoy dining on fruit growing near the ground and on most leafy greens, for that matter. If you have succulent plants in your garden, you will want to fence them in, too, since turtles also have an appetite for sedums, echeverias and yuccas.

2 Keep things light:

Vegetable gardens require excellent light. Full sun exposure — meaning eight hours of direct light — for most vegetables is essential. To ensure proper light exposure for your crops, plant tall ones on the north end of your vegetable patch with increasingly smaller ones as you move south. Tomatoes and other solanaceous fruit crops (bell and chile pepper, eggplant, tomatillo) can grow well with as little as four hours of sun exposure if they are situated in a location with reflected heat, such as on a concrete patio or close to stucco walls. If you have less than full sun, root crops should still grow for you, in addition to asparagus, lettuce, potatoes, parsley and most herbs.

3 Making the cuttings:

Now is the time to make softwood cuttings, and chrysanthemums are ideal for this procedure, especially if you want a garden full of chrysanthemum blooms with the arrival of late summer or early fall. Fill flats or pots with moist perlite. Early in the day, take 4-inch tip cuttings with at least four leaves. Remove leaves from the bottom half of the cuttings, which are then inserted in the perlite, making sure the lowest remaining leaves do not touch the perlite. Keep cuttings out of hot sun and make sure the perlite stays moist. Within a month, roots will form, at which time — as long as roots are an inch long — each cutting can be placed in its own small pot with soil mix. In another month, these more robust cuttings will be ready for planting in the garden. You can also make tip cuttings from these new plants to increase your chrysanthemum stock. Other plants whose softwood cuttings are easily rooted in perlite include Marguerite daises, Euryops daisies, pelargoniums/geraniums and ornamental sages (salvias). The new growth of winter pruned roses also serves as excellent softwood cutting propagation material. In fact, most woody shrubs that have been winter pruned down to within 2-3feet of the ground will produce new growth suitable for softwood cuttings. The closer new stems and leaves are to a plant’s roots, the easier it will be to root softwood cuttings from that new growth since closer proximity to roots means a higher concentration of root growth hormones will be present.

4 Herb tips:

Ann Christensen, who gardens in Manhattan Beach, wondered about growing basil and dill in containers with a western exposure. I recommended robust basils with a strong vertical growth habit that reach 3feet tall. They include varieties such as Everleaf Emerald Towers, Everleaf Genovese and Everleaf Thai Towers. Dill will thrive with western exposure since it appreciates a solid dose of sun — six daily hours at least. By the same token, it needs protection from strong winds. Plant dill at intervals so you have a supply all summer long. Flowers are yellow umbels, umbrella in form, proving their kinship to cilantro, parsley and fennel. Dill attracts beneficial insects such as hoverflies, ladybugs and parasitic wasps that make life uncomfortable for insect pests. Dill also provides a flavorful pickling enhancement since its seeds, flowers and foliage can all go into the jar with cucumbers or other vegetables.

5 Cut the grasses:

Now is a good time to cut back ornamental grasses before their flush of spring growth. They absolutely must be groomed at least once a year. Otherwise, they end up disheveled and weedy-looking. If you are looking to plant ornamental grasses, here are a few suggestions. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon species) is a wonderful selection for fragrance when its foliage is crushed and, of course, enlivens many cooked dishes. When young, it requires shade, but the longer it grows and the larger its clumps become, the better it handles the elements. I have seen enormous clumps of lemongrass growing in full, all-day sun. Blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus), a California native, is a cool addition to gardens where the summers, such as those we experience, are long and hot. If pink is your passion, choose ruby grass (Melinus nerviglumis variety Pink Crystals), pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) or both.