Q: When is the correct time to plant turnip, mustard, beet and radish seeds? — Jesse Flowers, Greene County
A: You can start thinking about it around Aug. 15, completing the effort by mid-September. Wait for a day when rain is in the forecast so the seeds are immediately comforted by warm, moist soil. I have a big list of University of Georgia gardening publications plus a fine planting calendar at bit.ly/UGAgardening.
Q: I received a plant from my grandmother called "Hens n Chicks." Some of the hens seem to be dying and the chicks are still going strong. What should I do? — Phillip Langley, email
A: Hens and Chicks, Sempervivum tectorum, is native to mountainous areas in southern Europe. A single plant (the hen) sends out numerous runners with small plants at the tips (the chicks). It's normal for the original mother plant to die after flowering, typically when it's a few years old. Put the base of each chick in soil and it will soon have babies itself. Plants do best in full sun, in soil that contains lots of grit or small gravel.
Q: I ate a Honeycrisp apple that was not organic, so I'm assuming it was probably GMO. Seeds inside had tiny sprouts, so I planted and they are growing fine. Will these produce fruit that is GMO? — Kimberly Little, email
A: I know of only two genetically-modified-organism apples. 'Arctic Gold' and 'Arctic Granny' were developed with a GMO process to have nonbrowning flesh. I very much doubt your Honeycrisp is a genetically modified organism. Your apple seedlings will develop normally.
In a larger sense, it is difficult to avoid food that doesn’t come from GMO plants. The majority of U.S. soybean and corn crops are grown from varieties bio-engineered to resist disease and increase yields. If you encounter high fructose corn syrup, present in huge numbers of foodstuffs, it likely was manufactured from GMO corn.
Q: We have a garden that is surrounded by deer netting. Black rat snakes keep getting stuck in the netting and strangling themselves to death. Is there anything I can do to prevent it? — Kendall W., email
A: This is not uncommon. The poor snake thrashes about and fatally tangles itself. Likewise, songbirds are often killed by bird netting on blueberries. You can line the bottom of the deer netting fence with solid material, like wooden boards, to deter errant snakes.
Q: A huge black grasshopper settled for a rest on my Japanese maple. Any idea what it is? — Eric Krohne, email
A: It's a lubber grasshopper. Their "skin" varies in color as they grow from nymph to adulthood. Black ones are not unusual. Their wings are so small that they travel by clumsily crawling and making feeble hops — "lubbing" along. They are generalists, feeding happily on crinum lily, poke sallet and vegetable leaves. Hand picking is usually the best control.
