Anchorage Daily News

It is mail time. I am getting lots of questions, as is to be expected this time of year. There is only one more month of this inside confinement before we can venture outside and start hardening off plants.

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Garden calendar (4/16/09)

FLOWERS TO START: Asters, nicotiana, cleome, ice plant, zinnia, salpiglossis, schizanthus, nigella, phlox, nemesia, marigold, nasturtiums, Achimenes (tuber), brachyscome(15C), dianthus(5), stock(10L), larkspur (20C).

VEGETABLES TO START: Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, head lettuce, pepper.

HERBS TO START: Sorrel.

GEESE, GULLS AND THRUSHES: This is the week the geese come back. Sightings of gulls have been made as well as thrushes and robins. Welcome back to our gardens and yards.

CLASS ON ROSES: 10 a.m. Saturday at Alaska Mill, Feed and Garden, 1501 E. First Ave. "Growing Roses in Alaska" is presented by Dani Haviland of Chill Out Roses. The class is free but class size is limited. Call 276-6016 to register.

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Let's start with a few questions about fruit trees. The first: When to prune?

Generally fruit trees should be pruned in the late winter, just before the buds begin to really swell and before they open. Right now it is still technically late winter so it should be safe to prune. Wait much longer, however, and you will be pushing it. After all, we are gaining 6 minutes of daylight every day.

Next, readers have asked about fruit trees they bought recently from a large box store selling "bagged and burlapped" trees at a great price. It is too early to plant them outdoors because the ground is frozen, so what should one do with them?

The ground will thaw in about three weeks but that is too long for the trees to stay indoors inside their bags. They need to be potted up in the meantime. Use a small pot, just big enough so the root ball has 2 inches of soil around it. Keep this slightly moist. If you use compost, there should be plenty of nutrients to feed the tree for three weeks. While they're inside, grow them in a cool, sunny room. When transplanting them outdoors, shake off the soil, roll the roots in an ectomycorrhizal tree mix and use as much native soil as possible.

Some have asked if it is time to remove mulch from perennials. Removing the mulch allows the soil beneath to warm quicker, giving your plants a head start of a week or so.

Unless your garden beds are dry, the answer is no. First, the lawn has to be dry so when you walk on it out to the garden beds you don't compress the soil even more than it already is. When things are dry (including the mulch) gently remove it by hand or using a garden rake (not a leaf rake). The idea is not to injure any emerging perennials. Keep any mulch removed to put it back once things do emerge.

Of course, you don't have to remove most mulches. You can wait for nature to do her thing, thus saving yourself some very dusty -- and this spring, ashy -- work. However, it is particularly important to always remove mulch over peonies. These plants tend to "move deeper" as a result of mulch decaying over their roots, and that stops the plant from flowering.

Next, some are complaining that I encouraged them to plant leeks early and now the plants are not only spindly and flopping over but the tips are browning.

If you grow leeks from seed, both of these are common occurrences. The solution to correct both symptoms, as well as preventing both, is to cut off an inch or two of the tips with sharp scissors. This will not affect the bulb part of the plant nor the bottom stem of the leek, and these are what you eat when you harvest leeks.

A good question for this time of year: What temperature is best for seedlings bought from the nurseries once they are home?

The answer to this one depends, of course, on the plant. Generally, however, cool temperatures will produce stockier plants and the plants will have an easier time adjusting to the outdoors when transplanted. A temperature around 55 during the day and 5 degrees cooler at night would be ideal. I would keep begonias 10 degrees warmer.

Next: Is it best to roll roots in mycorrhizal fungi spores (or propagules) now or when things are transplanted outdoors?

It is a good idea to put mycorrhizal fungi on roots as soon as possible. These fungi go out and bring nutrients back to plant roots. The sooner they start, the better. Certainly when you transplant from one container to another, indoors is a great time, especially if you are using compost, which always lacks these all-important fungi, as does most potting soil. Outdoors, the fungi may already be present but not if your soil has sustained lots of chemical fertilizer use, has become compacted or has been rototilled. It takes a few years up here for these fungi to come back, which they will naturally. So if you can't expose roots to the fungi now, do it when you transplant outdoors.

Finally, if I had a dime for every time I've been asked if daffodils and tulips forced to bloom indoors grow and produce flowers next year, I would be wealthy.

Unfortunately, forced bulbs don't usually reflower when planted outdoors later. They do make great compost, however.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at teamingwithmicrobes.com or by calling 274-5297 during "The Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR AM-700.

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