Q: You answered a Q&A last week about brown marmorated stink bugs on a house. I haven’t seen any of those, but I have seen many kudzu bugs over the past three years. Katharine Hilliard-Yntema, Decatur
A: Yes, there are LOTS of kudzu bugs around now. Like the marmorated stinkbug, they aggregate on houses in fall. The treatment is the same: seal cracks and spray garden insecticide on them when found outdoors.
Q: I recently relocated from central Florida. Our back yard has a slope where I want to plant bulbs but it is solid packed red clay. It is like cement! I’m used to sand! Is there a way of breaking the clay up? I did find a bulb planting auger that would attach to my drill. Carol Channer, Lawrenceville
A: When it comes to softening clay soil, there are no shortcuts. You have to physically introduce something between the tiny clay particles to separate then and allow plant roots to freely grow. If you’re not up to working up the entire hillside, use the bulb auger with an electric (not battery-powered) drill and spend an hour making successive holes in the hard soil. Use a shovel to remove the soil as it’s loosened and put in a wheelbarrow. Try to excavate to a depth of 10 inches. To the clay in the barrow, add a 2 inch layer of soil conditioner or compost and mix it thoroughly together. Put a 3 inch layer in your planting bed, put bulbs in place and cover with the rest of the mixture, mounding it slightly. If you have areas you’ll plant in spring, use the auger to drill lots of holes and fill them with the excess soil you have in the wheelbarrow. These spots will be ready for a more thorough tilling when April arrives.
Q: I put pre-emergent on my common Bermuda lawn a couple of weeks ago. My pine trees drop a ton of pine straw. Would raking interfere with the action of the pre-emergent? Jen Marion, email
A: I don’t think you’d have a problem raking up the pine straw. Several studies have shown that even aerating a lawn does little to diminish pre-emergent activity.
Q: A friend told me he read in your vegetable book that we should cover the dirt with a board after planting spinach seeds. How long do we leave the board on? Darleen Jarman, email
A: Spinach seed are notorious for sporadic germination. They sprout best when surrounded constantly by moist soil at 65 degrees. A board helps shade the soil. Remove the board every day to gently but lightly water the seed row, which helps keep everything cool on warm fall days. If things are to the seeds’ liking, they willl germinate in five to seven days.
Q: Does North America have an indigenous pear? Or did all of our pears originally come from Europe? Rick Sellers, Buford.
A: Pears are native to a broad swath of Europe and Asia; they did not originate in North America. Despite their country -specific common names, I found other interesting plant origins: English walnut is native to the Balkans, African marigold is from Mexico, Cherokee rose is from China and French mulberry is another name for American beautyberry, which isn’t a mulberry and certainly isn’t French! And I’m sure you already know that the tomatoes in Italian recipes came from South America and that the Confederate rose blooming now is not a rose but a hibiscus.
