Garden Planting Trends Designed To Save Time, & Space

Every thumb is the same color when it comes to successful

gardening - dirty, said Dawson County's Master Gardeners.

The experts said garden crops are already

being planted in urban and rural plots.

Cool weather vegetables like lettuce,

radishes, onions peas, potatoes, spinach

and strawberries are in the ground.

Now is the best time to plant trees and roses with bare roots, said

Gary Foss of Elwood, one of the county's Master Gardeners.

Even with traditional gardens going in the ground around the county,

the Master Gardeners said they will be trying new methods

of planting to conserve space and time.

Waldron Heany of Lexington said he will be trying wide-row planting

in his garden this year. With this method, he will spread out seeds in a one-foot row instead of a narrow single line.

Master Gardener Norma Beans of Lexington encouraged

Heany's method because of she has tried it.

"I have a footpath between my wide rows." she said.

 "This method takes less room, less weeding and less watering

because the plants shade the soil."

In addition to the wide-row method, Beans said she will be adding

wild flowers and ornamental native grasses to her landscape.

"All over the whole United States, gardeners are adding more native flowers and grasses and getting away from the formal English garden," she said.  "But we will always have the English garden influence."

Another garden trend seen by the Master Gardeners is to grow

bush varieties of cucumbers, melons, squash and tomatoes.

The bush variety does well in small garden plots

or in containers for the patio gardener, they said.

 Since environmental issues face the whole world,

 the Master Gardeners use their own techniques of

 insect and weed control with organic gardening.

Mulching the garden with grass clippings is important for

weed control and fertilizer, said Victor Jordening.

"It saves the back from breaking, too."

Beans recommended gardeners not spray insecticide

 just because they see one bug on their plants.

Rotating crops in the garden plot also lessens plant disease.

And companion planting, growing certain vegetables

beside each other, helps control insects.

The Master Gardeners recommended trying new varieties

of plants and seeds in their vegetable or flower gardens.

"The research done for new varieties is beneficial." Heany said.

Jordening said he tries a least one or two new varieties each year.

"If it's successful, I plant it again," he said.

"If it's not to my liking, I don't plant it again."

He also encouraged gardeners to read seed catalogues and

"keep abreast of new things."

Out of the vegetable plot and into the flower bed, the

Master Gardeners find any spot suitable for some kind of garden.

 Evan a shady, cool spot will support the right

 kind of flowers, Jordening said.

Master Gardener Alma Eltiste of Lexington has gone a step further

with her flower garden. She said she presses flowers, especially

Majestic pansies, for greeting cards and book marks.

Perennial flowers may be the backbone of the beauty, but annual

flowers fill in where the perennials miss, Jordening said.

When the prospective gardener begins to plant their plot,

the Masters have some tips:

 * Don't be discouraged.

* Examine the soil for textures and don't work in it when it is wet.

* Develop a two-week successive planting schedule to

 avoid a glut of produce at one time.

* Choose healthy, green plants which are not overgrown or root bound.

* Avoid "Best Buy Bargains" at bedding plant sales.

The Dawson County Master Gardeners have been

answering horticulture and forestry questions

for the past three years.

Members are Alma Eltiste, Waldron Heany, Victor Jordening,

Norma Beans, Gary Foss,

Ilene Gengenbach of Eustis, Diann Adle of Cozad,

and Donna Burson of Gothenburg.

Starting their fourth year, they said, above all else,

 gardening should be fun. 

Article By: Pam Ackerman; Staff Writer

Lexington Newspapers

Lexington, Nebraska 68850

Wednesday, April 17, 1991