What are Neonics? Neonicotinoid pesticides are contributing to the loss of beneficial insects, especially bees and their ability to pollinate many of our favorite food crops. Honey bees, that have come in contact with plants treated with neonics, are susceptible to disease and mites because their immune systems are weakened. The pollen collectors, the female worker bees, may become disoriented and fail to return to the hive. The entire colony may then starve. If in fact, the workers do return with contaminated pollen, the entire hive may be contaminated and the demise of the colony is eminent.
Imagine your dinner table without fruits and vegetables. Honey bees contribute to about one-third of the food we eat.
For more information about using alternative products please refer to http://www.xerces.org/pesticides.
Don’t be fooled by the racks of blooming plants outside the grocery store. It is not time to plant them. The nursery department at the store brings the plants inside every night!
Many of your spring bloomers, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips and even hyacinths may be peeking out of the soil. Carefully remove fall debris and before you know it flower buds will follow the leaves.
Hail to the rhubarb. Now is a good time to apply a slow-release fertilizer to the emerging clumps. If this is the first year for your rhubarb just let it grow. The gigantic leaves will supply nutrition for the root system and next year you can harvest the stalks without fear of depleting energy under the ground.
If you are impatient for green things in your garden consider ground covers. Vinca with it’s charming little blue flowers is a delight after the snow has melted. And the many varieties of creeping evergreen sedum seem to thumb their noses at cold weather and frost.
Just to clarify things, it is not Leprechauns that have made the trails and holes in your lawn, it is most likely voles. I know this because I have never found a pot of gold coins in any of the holes I have excavated.
The best method of control I have ever used is the neighbor’s cat. She doesn’t bother the birds but oh my, does she ever sniff out the holes where the ugly little voles come and go. If you don’t have an obliging cat you may have to rely on chemical practices. Baits registered for moles and gophers, if used for voles, must be followed exactly according to label directions.
Pocket gophers, the mound makers, not only cause damage to the roots of trees and shrubs, it seems they will eat anything in their way. It is good to disturb their tunneled dwellings when you first discover them. I have not however, found a permanent method of ridding my property of these rodents. Again, if using chemical control follow the instructions on the container. And NEVER, EVER handle these pests or the chemicals without protective gloves. Woe to we gardeners in Eastern Washington, if there is any consolation, owls, coyotes, snakes, skunks and weasels love them!
There is lots of time for gardeners in my neighborhood to continue cleaning up after winter before spring planting. When planing to purchase new plants remember how much space the perennials in your garden demanded before tucking in new varieties. Like at the dinner table, some times our eyes are bigger than the space we have to fill it.
Please contact the WSU Spokane County Master Gardeners
@http://spokane-county.wsu.edu/spokane/
or call 509-477-2181 for more information
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