Q: Many of my pines were covered in English ivy. On several trees I've clipped the vines on the trunk but the leaves still seem to be thriving. — Piet DePree, DeKalb County
A: It can take several weeks for English ivy vines to die. English ivy is not parasitic, so it draws no nourishment from a tree. The waxy leaves do an excellent job conserving the last bits of moisture available in the vine stem. Just be patient: The ivy leaves will turn brown after a spell of hot weather.
Q: I've been researching Powderblue blueberry bushes. I need four plants to get a good harvest for my family. Do I need to also purchase a different variety for cross pollination? — Barry Watkins, email
A: 'Powderblue' is an excellent choice. You'll get better yield if you have another variety nearby. Since 'Powderblue' berries ripen in mid-summer, a variety that ripens later would extend your harvest. How about two 'Powderblue' and two 'Ochlockonee' blueberry shrubs? Both bear heavily.
Q: We have found baby copperheads in our yard. I am very afraid of snakes and worried about my two small children playing there. I'm afraid that we have a nest of them. — Jenni Baesman, Atlanta
A: Copperheads bear live young so they don't have "nests" per se. The best you can do is make your landscape inhospitable to them. If you see a snake, there is probably an attractive habitat nearby. This might be a stack of firewood, a stone pile or a pile of lumber. Stack firewood on a rack 12 inches off the ground. It also is important to ask what the snake is eating. If you control your mouse and insect population, snakes will move away. Mowing your grass regularly will keep them away by giving them no place to hide as they move.
Q: I grow Roma tomatoes every year. How can I get them to ripen all together? I make my own marinara sauce, but it's difficult to do when I can't get all the tomatoes to ripen together. — Daniel Mullinax, email
A: As you know, paste tomatoes are bred to have more meat and less juice, perfect for marinara sauce. 'Roma' is a "determinate" tomato plant, meaning that it should ripen all of its fruit at once. The other popular paste tomato is 'San Marzano', an "indeterminate" variety that bears tomatoes over a longer period. But there are several other paste-type determinate tomatoes, including 'Belstar', 'Viva Italia' and 'Plum Dandy'. Try them instead of 'Roma'. You'll have to look on the Web for seed sources.
Q: Do you know of any business that sells quality topsoil by the bag rather than the woodchip-filled debris presently available? — Gary Vogt, Forsyth County
A: Like you, I've been disappointed by the "dollar-a-bag" topsoil products I find at big-box stores. You can make an acceptable topsoil yourself by mixing ground pine bark or other organic material with your native soil. Many experienced gardeners swear by the Mr. Natural line of bagged topsoil products (greenstripe-products.com). They are usually found at independent garden centers.
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