Q: My Christmas cactus has a seed pod on it. Should I break it open and plant the seeds or should I just let nature take its course? Pat Kuby, Decatur, Alabama
A: One source says to wait until the pod is mature (bright pink). Snip the narrow end, squeeze pulp into a little sand in your palm, and rub around to separate the dark seeds. Sprinkle onto moist mix of one part perlite to three parts peat in small pots. Keep shaded and moist. Seeds germinate in about a week.
Q: I am planning to do some container gardening this spring due to an over-active digging puppy. What can I plant and on what schedule? Kathy Cerny, Buford
A: Container gardening is much easier now that smaller varieties of vegetables are available. Pepper, tomato, okra and cool-season crops are perfect for containers on a sunny deck or patio. Choose light-colored containers. Dark ones absorb summer heat and cause root damage. I found a great resource for vegetable container gardening and a very useful calendar of when to plant in a publication from North Carolina that is perfectly applicable to our region. Details at http://xrl.us/containerveg.
Q: In various magazines this time of year are ads for zoysia lawn plugs. Is ordering these plugs beneficial? Is it a hardy grass? Carolyn Watson, Marietta
A: Zoysiagrass is perfectly hardy and makes a superb lawn, but buying it locally makes more sense than ordering it from afar. Buy sod from a local nursery or sod supplier and chop it into three-inch wide pieces. Plant them six inches apart. Zoysiagrass is a slow grower but it will eventually grow so thick that it will choke out weeds.
Q: I have a pussy willow that has been in the ground for nine years. I have just removed the best canes with catkins for interior decorating and would like to take this thing down to bush size. Am I going to kill it? Taylor Donnelly, e-mail
A: I’m impressed that your pussy willow is so old. Most die from twig blight, leaf spot, aphids or leaf beetles after only a few years here. That said, if a pussy willow is happy, pruning won't kill it. Remove limbs back to the trunk or to a side branch and enjoy the catkins each year.
Q: I had my back yard graded and seeded last fall with fescue. The landscaper used an enormous amount of wheat straw to cover the seed. The wheat seeds have germinated. Will the wheat shoots die off this spring? Colin Tumy, Cobb County
A: Yes, the wheat seedlings will eventually die. Wheat is only an annual grass while fescue is perennial. Regular mowing helps the process along. Straw should only be spread at a rate of one to two bales per 1000 square feet. Any more than that is overkill and will inhibit fescue seed germination.
Q: We had a lot of acorns falling into our lawn this year. Some have begun to take root. Is there something I can do to prevent the others from rooting? Stan Wilkerson
A: There’s nothing you can do except pull them by hand or spray them with a broadleaf weed killer as they germinate for the next few weeks. Mowing will control the sprouts and they will gradually deteriorate.
Listen to Walter Reeves Saturday mornings on AM 750 and 95.5 FM News-Talk WSB. Visit his website, www.walterreeves.com, or join his Facebook Fan Page at xrl.us/wrfacebook for more garden tips.
