3jedi: Good Morning! Hot enough for you?

Doug Oster: It's tough on the plants. I was on KD TV this morning talking about watering. Once a week for plants that are in the ground. they only need an inch of water a week. Water in the morning and soak them.

3jedi: The blanket flowers love this heat (gaillardia) Everything else looks a little peaked.

Doug Oster: especially mid day. I'm about to go on vacation, so I've got some perennials to plant. This is the worng time, but what can I do?

3jedi: Keep them in the shade in pots? Pay some kid to come over and water?

Doug Oster: I'm going to plant them tonight when it cools down and cross my fingers. They've been out in the greenhouse too long.

3jedi: The coneflowers look OK yet, everything else is taking a breather. Lilies are done.

Doug Oster: Tomatoes and peppers will like this hot weather along with my Sicillian oregano.

3jedi: I've got asters like mad---they are still green of course, but I cut them back early in spring and they are almost jungle-ish right now. It is going to be AWESOME when they start blooming.

Doug Oster: I wish I could grow them. I just don't have enough sun.

3jedi: Do you have irrigation? I would think keeping them watered would imporve their chances.

Doug Oster: Not really, somebody is house sitting, but they'll have their hads full with dogs, cats, frogs and chickens.

3jedi: Yea, coworkers are starting to bring in tomatoes.

Doug Oster: a lot of people are complaining that the tomatoes are slow this season.

FrontYardGardener: Doug, I have some dogwood trees that need significant pruning. Should I wait until fall to trim them?

Doug Oster: Actually I would wait until they were done blooming next spring. This is a bad time to prune with all this hot weather, and if you prune them later they will put on new green growth that won't harden off before winter. Also anything pruned now will affect flowering in the spring, can it wait until then?

3jedi: Tell me about garlic if you will. I think I want to try. I know you are the garlic king. Do I plant in September?

Doug Oster: No, second week of October. Get garlic from a local grower or a garlic farm online. I've been dealing with Bobba-Mike's for over 10 years and think they offer the best value for quality garlic. It's www.garlicfarm.com

3jedi: Chickens? Wow! for the eggs? or just for slug/bug eating? Or pets?

Doug Oster: Just for eggs, you can't eat them. City chickens have names!

3jedi: I got a little rain last Thursday. Have to pull the hose out again though, if Jeff V is correct. Jaime O on the forum called this too.

Doug Oster: I'm glad I've got the garden mulched, that helps.

Doug Oster: Take the garlic heads, split them into cloves and plant them a few inches deep about six inches apart. I like to mulch the bed with hay after planting. The greens pop up with the crocus and are tasty (don't eat too many they give energy to the bulb).

Doug Oster: Then the scapes will come up, they are seed heads which need to be removed. They make an incredible pesto!

FrontYardGardener: Yes, it can wait until spring. In general, is that the best time to do any pruning? I have a couple of pear trees in the same situation.

Doug Oster: Most trees are pruned in late winter. Exceptions are maples, pines and spring flowering trees. you don't want to prune those until they are done blooming, becasue you don't want to cut off the buds. If you look at the dogwood, it's already forming buds for next years blooming.

Doug Oster: One thing that's important right now is to make sure young trees get watered. They often get overlooked. It takes three seasons for a tree to catch, and this type of weather can bother them. Especially first year plantings.

FrontYardGardener: Another problem: Is this a bad year for poison ivy? It seems to be everywhere. And are there any products that are effective in eliminating it from your yard?

Doug Oster: Yes, it's a bad year and this weather is only going to make it worse. I recommend an organic herbacide called Burn Out, that uses clove oil as its active ingredient. You can find other brand names that use the same stuff, it's as effective as the chemical herbacides, maybe even more so and it's safe for the environment.

Doug Oster: Another thing to do for poison ivy is to keep it cut to the ground. If you keep weed wacking it, you'll exhaust it. The plant needs the green leaves to keep the roots alive.

Doug Oster: What else do you have growing Front Yard?

3jedi: Re: the garlic--is it harvested in fall? How do you tell when it's ready? Do the scapes wither and then you know?

Doug Oster: No, the scapes need to be cut as soon as they curl, that forces energy to the bulb. The garlic is harvested around the second week of July when more than 50% of the leaves turn brown. Then it's cured for three weeks in a warm dry place, so that it stores all winter.

3jedi: I think I may have heard it from you, but I coud be wrong--I read "The 64$ Tomato". What a hoot. "garden amnesia" is something I understood right away.

Doug Oster: Yes, it's a great book. I was able to interview the author on our Sirius radio show on Lime 114. Very wonderful look at gardening and everything someone goes through in a season.

FrontYardGardener: Mostly dandelions from the neighbor's yard!

Doug Oster: You know you can eat those! They are one of the most nutritious plants on the planet. I love them on pizza and I'm not kidding.

3jedi: And "Superchuck" who took the bite out of six individual tomatoes and endured the electric fence cause he knew the jolt would be worth it.

Doug Oster: I'm in the same boat and I've loaned out my Havaheart trap. One or two bites out of tomatoes, just take the whole thing.

3jedi: Only, I think he had way more than some of us---it sounded like he has a small farm!

Doug Oster: Right

3jedi: Hee Haveaheartattack trap!

Doug Oster: It might be raccoons too, they've been all over this year.

FrontYardGardener: No kidding about the dandelions? How do you prepare them?

Doug Oster: Here's some info, you need to pick them at the right time.

3jedi: My son said he spotted a groundhog near the house, but I have not seen anything eaten. Just my little varmints this year--voles I think.

Doug Oster: That groundhog will find the garden, especially this time of the year and they can't be fenced out.

FrontYardGardener: By the way, we didn't get any strawberries or pears this year. I guess that late frost killed them.

Doug Oster: Yes fruit trees took it hard this year, the strawberries should bloom later though. Did you see them bloom? Sometimes slugs can eat the berries as soon as they are on the vine.

3jedi: I was slightly encouraged last weekend--some honeybees showed up on the clover. Not many though.

Doug Oster: I was at my radio partner Jessica's garden last week and saw lats of honeybees, which was a great thing to see. Not many here though.

3jedi: Yea, I keep a sharp eye out there. I had one a few seasons ago. I thought they only wanted vegetables WRONG. coneflower and rudbeckia seemed to be tasty to him

Doug Oster: Yeah, they'll eat anything green, or red or orange

3jedi: I spotted some butterflies too. No hummingbirds this year though. I tried. I'll try again next year.

Doug Oster: Keep trying, they are still around. Yes I've seen some butterflies along with the hummingbird moth which is really cool.

3jedi: Do you think we are too urban for many honeybees?

Doug Oster: We shouldn't be, I think it's just a declining population. I'd love to have a hive. i might think about adding one next year.

3jedi: I had a hummingbird moth last year visit the tall phlox. That is one cool "bug"

Doug Oster: That's where I see them too. I've got lots of tall phlox right outside our pool (headed there next) and I love to watch them buzz from flower to flower.

3jedi: I spoke with the beekeeper at the Home Show (you were tied up-a whole group) and he told be I didn't have enough acreage here in the city. They need the wide open spaces to forage. So, no hive for me, but I will keep planting the flowers they like. And more clover. I like it better than grass anyway.

Doug Oster: That's a good idea, I wonder if we will ever see bees like we used to as kids.

Doug Oster: I've got a great gig this weekend, I'm speaking at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Missouri. They have a big festival and I'm speaking Sunday and Monday. I've been growing seeds from them for years, so I'm excited to see the place.

Doug Oster: The clover's going to hold up better than grass in this weather, that's for sure.

FrontYardGardener: Hey Doug. Not strictly gardening, but we have what my daughter calls "ground bees." However, they're really yellow jackets that are nesting in a chipmunk hole. How do I evict the yellow jackets. Actually, I wouldn't mind getting rid of the chippies too!

Doug Oster: Forget the chipmunks, you'll never defeat them. The yellowjackets can be beaten. Wait unitl night to do whatever you decide to do with the nest, all the bees will be back from foraging. You can use an organic insecticide and pour it down the hole at night, or you can cover the hole with a big log, that will take care of the problem. They don't fly at night so don't worry, they can navigate to a flashlight so bee careful.

3jedi: I think you mentioned that on the radio. Have a great time! Will you visit the Botanic Garden? That must be a great place--they have a wonderful website.

Doug Oster: I'm not sure, I'm going to have a table to sell Grow Organic, so I'll have to staff that most of the time.

3jedi: Nice chatting with you--gotta run--the boss is beginning to orbit.

Doug Oster: No chats until 8/23, I'm out of town until then. Hope to see you then.

Doug Oster: We're almost out of time, anything else?

FrontYardGardener: Thanks for the advice. I'll bee careful for sure. I also have to run.

Doug Oster: Thanks for stopping by.

First Published: August 2, 2007, 4:30 p.m.