Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

How and when do I train and prune thornless blackberries?

February 19, 2022 • Leave a Comment

How do I trellis thornless blackberries? I have several 2- to 3-foot-tall plants that have many hard-to-tame shoots pointing in every direction. I planted them last spring and none had fruit last year. I wound the longest ones around the wire between the metal fence stakes, which are about 3 feet high. How and when do I prune?

Thornless blackberry primo canes tend to grow along the ground like a vine for the first two years after planting. They also do not produce a large crop the first season. Proper pruning and strong wire support are needed. For thornless blackberries, you need two wires at heights of 3 feet and 5 feet from the ground between posts 20 feet apart. Because of the vine-like nature of this bramble fruit, individual plants should be 10 feet apart.

Now for pruning. Cut back the main trailing canes at the top by several inches in late winter to 4 to 6 feet. That would be roughly March, before bud swell. This pruning forces development of sturdier, more fruitful canes. Keep them tied to the upper wire. For wild lateral shoots, select only those parallel to the wires, trimming them back to about 12 inches. Guide and tie them to the lower wire. Remove cane shoots that go out perpendicular from the wire trellis. This forces the plant to concentrate its energy on the remaining canes for healthy growth and better fruit production. Make sure you prune out any damaged or weak, spindly canes. Proper pruning and trellising will bring your thornless blackberries to an enjoyable production level.

Can I grow ivy groundcover under trees?

February 16, 2022 • 1 Comment

We have a beautiful 32-year-old maple tree in our backyard and a city locust tree on the boulevard in the front yard. It is difficult to grow grass under both trees. If we planted ivy as a groundcover, would it hurt the trees if it climbed up them? My neighbor had some voracious vine grow up his mountain ash and the tree died.

The age of your maple tree suggests a large trunk and root flare with heavy shade. Turf grass needs sun and water, both of which the maple tree takes first with its mature canopy and characteristic surface root system. Give up on growing grass under it. Apply two inches of composted mulch between the root flares out to the canopy drip line. Keep the compost and mulch away from the trunk and off the root flares. You can then “pocket plant” shade-tolerant perennials like hosta and liriope, which will grow comfortably in those conditions, offer seasonal bloom, and give you an interesting, low maintenance groundcover.

One can grow grass under a locust although they too are shallow-rooted. If you thin out the canopy to allow more sunlight to reach the ground, a shade turf seed mix can work if the area is properly prepared. However, a boulevard takes heavy abuse from vehicles and weather. You may be better off applying the mulch method to the locust as well. The liriope is both sun- and shade-tolerant and will handle some road salt applied in winter. There are also creeping junipers that hug the ground and give you conifer presence all year. The key is to plant away from the tree trunk.

Any kind of climbing ivy is difficult to control. Their accelerated rise within a tree’s canopy crowds out the tree leaves. The tree loses its food production source that feeds its roots, which in turn feed the branch scaffold. The tree literally starves and dies, as witnessed in your neighbor’s yard.

Why doesn’t our garden have earthworms in the soil?

February 11, 2022 • Leave a Comment

Our several-year-old vegetable garden is high in organic matter but has no earthworms — none at all. What are possible reasons and potential solutions? If the soil is not healthy for worms, is it lacking something important? Our lawn adjacent to the garden has plenty of worms.

A productive garden thoroughly depletes the organic matter to produce those prize-winning squash and tomatoes. So we correctly add organic matter annually. The problem may lie in the method.

There are also different kinds of earthworms. Some live closer to the surface as evidenced by those living in your lawn. Epigeic species live in or near the surfaceplant litter. They are typically small and are highly adaptable to variable water and temperature conditions associated with lawn culture. Endogeic species are more mobile, making temporary tunnels, and live in the upper soil layers feeding on soil and organic matter. Then there are the deep-burrowing anecic species, which we often call “nightcrawlers.”These guys drag surface litter down into their burrows which can be several feet down below the soil surface.

The nightcrawlers are much more common in the north and east where there are clay and loam soils. Something that gardeners do not realize is that continuous tillage or disturbance of the soil will cause most earthworms to vacate the premises. Remember your lawn soil is rarely disturbed. If you mechanically rototill organic matter into your garden every year or vigorously deep dig your soil before planting, you may be chasing the worms away. They don’t get the chance to do their job. You keep destroying their optimum working conditions.

Examine your garden prep and add compost into the top 6 inches instead of deep tilling. The vegetables will still take all that they need. Cultivate it in by hand rather than mechanical means. Continue to practice good crop rotation.

Digital Editions