Nursery cuttings can share a pot if there’s room

Q: I recently purchased several camellias. Each of the camellias seemed to have two trunks. I investigated and was able to separate the tangled roots into two plants. Is it OK to have them planted so close together?

JAMES GALT, E-mail

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JAMES GALT

It’s common practice for two rooted cuttings to be grown in the same pot to make a fuller shrub.

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A: This is a common nursery practice. In order to make sure that they have at least one strong plant in a pot, the nursery folks will stick two cuttings in it. Sometimes one dies but often both form roots and grow well. I saw a ‘Yuletide’ camellia last week that had three rooted cuttings in it. There’s no harm in having the plants grow close together. There’s also no harm in separating them, carefully, so you have multiple plants.

Q: Now that I have rescued my large green tomatoes from the Iceman, what now? How do I ensure that they will continue to ripen?

BEVERLY KINNER, Muscogee County

A: If a tomato has just a bit of pink showing on the blossom end, it is capable of ripening fully. If you have a lot of “pinkies,” wrap some in newspaper and store in a cool place. Put a few of the pinkest ones on the kitchen window sill to finish ripening. If the tomato has no hint of pink, cut it into quarter-inch slices, dredge each one in seasoned cornmeal and fry in bacon drippings for a true Southern treat.

Q: This past summer I put down Meyer zoysia sod but one area was not well plowed and as a result is not growing as well. After the sod has gone dormant, would it harm the sod to take it up, redo the soil bed and put it down on the new surface?

TOM TUCKER, E-mail

A: It would be a good idea to soften the soil as you describe, but the best time to do it is in late May after the zoysiagrass has turned green. Taking up the sod now will expose it to cold temperatures and drying winds that it will not survive.

Q: We have a home built in the 1800s but would like to design with trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants used from 1900 to 1920. Can you give me a list of landscape plants for that period?

THEA ARNETTE, E-mail

A: The Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center serves as an educational resource center for those interested in Southern gardening, landscape design, garden history and horticulture. The library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the library is free, but plan to purchase tickets to tour the rest of the history center, including the Tullie Smith Farm Gardens and the Swan Woods Trail.

Q: I have a dry stream bed with stone and dwarf mondo grass that has some weeds in it. How do I control them?

JOHN URBAITIS, Ball Ground

A: Imazaquin (Image for Nutgrass) kills many broadleafed weeds plus fescue, ryegrass and crabgrass. Sethoxydim (Vantage) kills bermudagrass. Both are labeled for use on mondo grass.

Q: Recently I saw you on “Gardening In Georgia” on Georgia Public Broadcasting. You showed a lady how to turn wood chips into compost in six months vs. two years. What was the recipe that you used?

DAN MALOY, E-mail

A: We scattered 10-10-10 on top of the wood chip pile after leveling the top and making it slightly concave. As I explained on the show, fertilizer provides nitrogen to the fungi and bacteria that break down the chips. The indented crown channels rain water to the center of the pile. I used a seat-of-the-pants calculation to determine how much fertilizer to use: Add the height and longest width of the pile together to denote how many cups of fertilizer to scatter. Our pile was 5 feet high by 12 feet long so we used 17 cups of 10-10-10. I suggested that the homeowner wet the pile thoroughly afterwards to start the decomposition process. You can watch this and other shows at our archives: www.gardeningingeorgia.com.