Anchorage Daily News

When we have a prolonged period of rainy weather broken by brief periods of sun, readers ask questions that usually begin with "Is this a good time to ...," as if we might never have a chance to get outdoors again. I can understand the feeling, trust me!

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In the past week I have had a lot of good questions that center on timing.

For example, is this is a good time to trim a cotoneaster hedge? As it happens, this is a great time to clip not only cotoneasters but caraganas as well. These are the two key hedge plants we use, though some folks make hedges out of goatsbeard, which also does well with a clipping this time of year.

The reason certain plants are used for hedges is because they grow fast and thick. Clipping them causes them to branch out even more and get even thicker. Spring and midsummer are the two times to clip a hedge. Use a sharp electric or hand clipper and get creative. Gather all the clippings and put them under and around the hedge plants as mulch.

A second hedge question: Is too late to deal with cotoneaster leaf rollers? As it turns out, I was going to mention leaf rolling caterpillars today, but in the context of seeing them on lilac leaves, which seems unusual and unfortunate if it becomes a trend.

Leaf rollers, be they on cotoneasters or lilacs, are caterpillars, and the longtime reader knows these are easily controlled using anything that contains Bacillus thuringiensis, which when ingested by the caterpillar stops the digestive system, ultimately resulting in death.

The problem is that the "Bt," as it is known, has to be ingested. However, once the caterpillar is all rolled up, it is done eating. This means you will have to judge whether your caterpillars are still eating by looking at a few leaves to spot activity. A sunny day helps.

Is this a good time to plant a hedge? Here, the answer is a definite yes, though you can usually get the plants cheaper earlier in the season when they are sold bare-root. Still, planting now means you will have a nine-months-taller hedge than any you buy and plant next spring.

Just make sure to fill the receiving holes with water and let them drain before you plant. Sprinkle a mix of ectomycorrhizal fungi on the roots, and use the same soil you took from the holes. If you want to improve the soil, add a half inch of compost (or the soil from the pots) on the surface. You do not have to prune the plants, as is often advised. You do have to mulch with leaves. You kept some from last year? If not, use small to medium-size bark, very thinly placed around plants and then supplemented by leaves in the fall.

Next, is it time to collect seed from irises that have finished blooming? No. It would be much better to let the seeds mature in the pod while still attached to the plant. When the pod browns and starts to open, you can collect the seeds and plant them in pots, which you should then bury in the ground to soil level and mulch over. Next spring, you should have iris seedlings.

Is it time to thatch? I don't believe in thatching anymore, as soil food webbies don't get thatch. Those who do use chemical lawn fertilizers that kill the microbes that would decay the thatch. Anyhow, this is the time to thatch, but only if you have a thick, almost impenetrable layer of dead leaf stems impeding the growth of your lawn. If the lawn is doing well, forget it. Really. It is a lot of work.

If you do need to thatch, you will need a thatching rake, lots of time and lots of energy. Or you could have microbes do their job. An application of granulated molasses (from feed stores) and compost tea to the area will set things off and running. One 25-pound bag of granulated molasses will cover a subdivision backyard. One gallon of compost tea will be sufficient for the entire yard -- just dilute it.

It is also the time to start harvesting kohlrabi if it is the size of a Glacier Pilots hardball. It is not the time to harvest brussels sprouts, which need exposure to frost to develop enough sugars to offset the bitters. Potatoes should finish flowering, so it isn't time to harvest them either. If you do have flowers, you can steal a couple of young spuds, but they won't have enough starch and sugars to be worth doing that again.

It is time, of course, to wander in your gardens, cut flowers and pick lettuce. Enjoy them. Rain, shine or cold, we are at midseason.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. Reach him at gardenerjeff.googlepages.com or on the "Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR 700 AM.

Garden calendar

• STATE FAIR: Entry time. Check out the Web or the supplement in last week's Daily News.

• LAWNS: Don't worry if they get a bit long during wet weather. This is your excuse. The truth of the matter is a 3- to 31/2-inch lawn is the right height. We tend to scalp ours because they grow so fast.

• GREENHOUSES: You have to be the bees this summer. It is too wet for many to fly into your greenhouse and pollinate those tomatoes for you.

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