ArcaMax

Q: I have a neighbor who says she gets a better "pumpkin" pie by using butternut squash. My squash vines grew a lot of fruit this year, and I was planning on storing some for the winter. I have had trouble getting pumpkins to grow in my garden, but the squash almost always produce a lot. If she is right, I may stop trying to grow pumpkins and ...Read more

Q: I brought my houseplants indoors for the winter, and I have saucers under the pots. When I water some of the plants, water immediately flushes out of the pots and overflows the saucers. When the plants were outdoors, I used a garden hose to water them, and I never gave a thought to water flooding out of the pots. In fact, there weren't any ...Read more

Q: My lawn is getting lumpy, for lack of a better word. It is mostly shady, but I don't think it is tree roots. There are grass plants and bare spots plus little worm dirt piles. What would be a good way to smooth it out? It is getting hard to mow and to walk on.

A: There are several causes of lumpy lawns, and you hit on two common ones. Lawns ...Read more

Q: Help! I planted my tomato plants late, and then we had a lot of hot, dry weather, so there were no tomatoes. Now there are dozens of green tomatoes, but our average first fall frost is coming soon, so I think that many of the tomatoes are still going to be green when the frost comes. Can I cover the plants? Can I spray water on them like in ...Read more

Q: When I was a kid, my mom and the neighbor ladies would gather seeds from the marigolds and other plants. They spent the afternoon doing something to them, and then in the spring, they replanted them with great success. I want to do that with my daughters; what do I need to do?

A: I hope your daughters have as great of memories of gardening ...Read more

Q: For the past month, we have had several hummingbirds using our feeder. It hangs in front of my office window, and I notice them all day long. Yesterday, there was only one. I assume they are leaving for migration. How long should I leave the feeder up? I don't want to have them not migrate because the feeder is up.

A: This is a common ...Read more

Q: With the drought conditions we experienced this summer, what should we do for watering this fall to help our plants make it through the winter? Especially for some new perennial flower beds we planted in the spring.

A: The answer for this fall is to not stop watering until the ground freezes. If your area doesn't freeze at all or only for a ...Read more

Q: I bought several beautiful tropical hibiscus plants in the spring. They are thriving. However, they were outside all summer, and they are now too tall for my kitchen garden window. I don't have room for plants that large, so I wonder if and how I can cut them back -- and will they still live and bloom?

A: Congratulations on growing your ...Read more

Q: How and when do I trim my butterfly bush?

A: There are several species of plants commonly called butterfly bush. The most common ones are in the Buddleia genus. The most common one is Buddleia davidii, and it is also sometimes called summer lilac.

It flowers on the ends of the new growth from midsummer until frost. In the northern states, ...Read more

Q: I saw an article online where you mentioned applying a thin layer of compost to the lawn each spring. I have used compost to mix with soil when planting perennials, and it has a very wet and almost claylike consistency. Perhaps this is because the compost is stored in bags that are piled on top of one another in a pallet.

I am wondering if ...Read more

Q: I hope you can give me some advice on my privet hedge. The hedge is about 25 years old and runs about 250 feet around my yard. It was very healthy last year but did not come back very well this spring. I had them cut back to 2 feet. I have always covered the base with leaves each fall. I have been watering them with Miracle-Gro each week, and...Read more

Q: I just finished reading your article on strawberry pots, and I have a few questions. This is my first year growing strawberries. I started with four plants in a 14-inch pot, pinched off all blossoms as they grew and grew more plants off the runners. I have a total of 18 plants. I built three of my own type of container box and transplanted ...Read more

Q: My red maple has lost a lot of leaves and seems to be growing pine cones. What could be the cause?

A: The "pine cones" are probably bagworms. They can be a serious pest. Bagworm caterpillars create protective bags from bits of leaves from the plant they are living on, so a maple, elm or linden bag will look different than a spruce, ...Read more