Readers share their tips for first-time gardeners, killing weeds, controlling pests

This month marks for me five years of writing about gardening in the Bangor Daily News. The most rewarding part of this job without a doubt has been hearing from readers like you. You’ve offered your advice, your opinions and simply news on how your garden grows.

Educating others has itself been educational. I’ve found over the years that people who garden are equally as happy to share their knowledge as they are to receive knowledge from others.

Over the past month I’ve requested your gardening tips and have been very pleased with the response. Thanks to all who sent tidbits gleaned from years of gardening and learning about horticulture. I am happy to share with you some of those suggestions. Although some of the techniques offered by readers haven’t been proved or disputed through scientific study, I (and those who sent them in) offer them to you in a neighborly manner. You can try them and decide for yourself if these tips work for you.

For those who are just getting their feet wet (or hands soiled) gardening, J.V of Orrington offered this: “My advice would be not to buy a dozen or so garden books, but instead go to the library and if you find some you can’t live without, purchase them. The other thing that I did that was really wrong was to plant my plants too thick thinking that I would get a sea of blooms, but what I got was a lot of rust and mildew.”

P.M. of Milbridge offered advice along the same lines. “I’d advise those just starting out not too get too overwhelmed with learning everything at once or overdoing it with a super-large garden in the first year. I found that learning the basics slowly allowed me to build on what I knew without getting too mired down in the details.

“I’d suggest to the new gardener: Get out and see what’s happening in your community. Take workshops, join a garden group and learn by doing in your own garden. Start with a few simple books and then pursue more specific instruction once you’ve got your bearings with the basics.”

An e-mail from Pat (location unknown) provided these handy tips: “If you have a stone or brick walkway and you want to prevent weeds or grass from growing up in the cracks, just pour a little vinegar in the cracks a few times per summer. This has worked perfectly for me and it is a great alternative to chemical herbicides.

“Also I control my slug problem with the old standby of placing a pinch of salt on them as I walk around the yard and garden after a rain. Too much salt can of course be detrimental to soil, but just be careful with the amounts and make sure you don’t spill any on the ground around the creatures.

“Used coffee grounds placed around the stems of rhododendrons is a cheap and effective method of giving them the acidity they need in order to bloom well.

“Bare branches which have blown down in storms can serve as supports for peas, beans and other climbing plants in the garden. I am still using some 4′ branches which came down in the Ice Storm of ’98 as pea supports this year. Just press them down into the ground beside the peas as you plant. The shoots will twine around the branches immediately and the look is very natural in the garden.”

On the topic of gardening in comfort, the following tips were sent in by readers:

“Mosquitoes and black flies are a little less active if one wears light-colored clothing,” wrote C.H of Rockland. “I’ve never figured out why the Bug Baffler products are black or dark green. That may all be an old wive’s tale — the light clothing — but then, I am an old wife.”

From D.W. of Hermon, “I’d recommend to the novice gardeners in the audience that they go ahead and spend a few extra bucks on good gardening tools. I spent a small fortune running through cheap ones over the years, and most fell way short of my expectations and needs. Most fall apart, rust easily and don’t fit or work properly. Now that I’ve resigned myself to buying up-scale tools (most made by Maine’s own Snow and Neally) I’m thoroughly pleased and a lot less broke!”

“After a lot of backbreaking work weeding my garden,” T.H. of Orono wrote, “I’ve found the ultimate weeding solution: a hand-held propane torch. I read an article about farmers who use flame weeders to kill weeds in their fields and I scaled the whole system down to fit my small garden. Now instead of spending the summer with a sore back, I spend it sitting in my lawn chair enjoying my garden.

“Flame weeding is easy. Just buy a small torch in the local hardware store and when your weeds are about 2 inches tall, flame the leaves. It doesn’t take much to kill the little buggers. And then just leave them there in the bed or row. The dead weeds act as a mulch cover and help prevent more weeds from coming up.”

Next week I’ll feature more tips from Maine gardeners in my column. If you have a gardening tidbit you’d like to offer others, please send it to the address below. I’d like to offer your suggestions periodically in future columns, so gardeners throughout our area can benefit from the knowledge gained from our individual experiences. Thanks!

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR 1 Box 2120, Montville, ME 04941, or via e-mail to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.