Across the Director’s Desk

Recycle Easter Baskets

After the eggs and candy are gone, the baskets still remain. They're too good to throw away, so they go to the attic, garage, or basement to join generations of other stuff that's too good to throw away. Occasionally, they'll get out for a garage sale where they trade one attic for another.

This year, use those old Easter baskets for container gardens. If the basket is loosely woven, line the inside with old newspapers so the soil doesn't sift through. Fill the basket with a soil-less potting mix available at most nurseries and garden centers. This is the stuff that most growers use in their hanging baskets and is well worth the added expense.

Space plants about half their normal distance when you plant. If the tag says to plant six inches apart, go with three instead. This will give you a "finished" look more quickly. Water is the limiting factor in the garden, but in containers, you'll be watering almost every day in the heat of summer, so plants will thrive.

Since frequent watering may leach nutrients from the container, you may also need to use a fertilizer. Slow-release fertilizers work well in containers if used according to label recommendations.

A container garden will also give you an opportunity to try out some new plants. Petunias, marigolds, or impatiens are nice, but how about trying bacopa, angelonia, and nemesia? There are literally dozens of new plants that weren't available just 5 years ago. Read the label, ask questions and take a risk. You may be pleasantly surprised.



How Fast Does It Grow?

Everybody seems to like a fast-growing tree. But telling someone how fast it will grow is risky business at best. Soil conditions, moisture, weed or grass competition, and more all play a role in how fast a tree will re-establish and grow once it's planted. Fast, medium, and slow (in relation to similar trees) is as good as it gets.

There is an easy way to tell how much growth a tree has made in the past though - if you know where to look. First, look at the tip of a branch where a large bud or bundles of buds are ready to begin growth. That's the terminal bud. A bit down the branch you'll notice a crescent-shaped arc below each smaller bud. This is called the leaf scar. It's where the leaf was attached last year.

You may even be able to see small dots on the scar. These are vascular bundles - the "plumbing" for last year's leaf. Now follow the stem down until you see a ring of wrinkled bark that surrounds the stem. This is the terminal bud scar, where the tip of the branch was last year. The distance between the tip of the branch and the terminal bud scar is how much it grew last year. Follow the branch down further and you'll probably be able to see terminal bud scars for previous years.

But a fast-growing tree is not necessarily the best. They're usually weak-branched and short-lived. To get a tree to grow quickly, they require good care and site conditions. Contact the Extension office for more information.