Are ladybugs are good for your garden?

Sid

Greensboro, North Carolina

They sure are. They eat aphids and many other plant pests, so gardeners do encourage them. You'll need to go easy on the insecticides or stop using them though, or you'll lure and kill them off.

Is there a list of edible flowers a person could grow? I’d love to add them to my dining menus.

Seth and Julio

Guthrie, Oklahoma

Pretty, edible flowers are actually more common than what you would think. Carnations, Chives, Daylilies, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Pansies, Roes, Squash Blossoms, Sunflower (seeds) and Violets are only a few that come to mind. In Oklahoma particularly, Bachelor Button, Calendula, Dandelion, Lilac, Bee Balm, Mint and Impatient are among a few native edibles that would be of interest to you. Two websites that I found very informative, educational and instructional were http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm and http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/edibleflowers.pdf. The latter website has a great map you can click on to find out what edible plants are available in each respective state.

My African Violet is flowering and growing quite well, but I’ve noticed that the leaves have started turning yellow. I give it plant food about every other month, but could I possibly be over feeding it or is there another problem?

Sidney

Templeton, California

If the leaves on your plant are turning yellow, that’s usually a sign of over watering. African

Violets don’t like too much water, so this may be your problem. They love steam baths though so try standing the plant in a pot on a brick in a large bowl, then pour boiling water into the basin just below the level of the pot. Leave to stand until the water cools.

I have a miniature Bamboo Tree and when we moved into a new house and in the last few months leaves have been turning yellow and falling off more so than it should be. It looks healthy enough, but should I be concerned?

Fransisco

Poncha Springs, Colorado

Sounds like you might have changed this plants environment more than you realize. The most common cause of the leaves turning yellow and falling off is too much water. Let the plant dry out well before watering it again and move it into stronger light as well. Be cautious as well for drafts on this plant, as that will cause the leaves to wither. Just like your move, plants need time to adjust to their new surroundings as well.

I’ve grown carrots in the past but sometimes they end up looking great on top, only to be deformed on the bottom. Sometimes I even come up with a bitter crop. Any advice?

Katrina

Ames, Iowa

There are numerous carrot seeds on the market and depending upon where you live and your weather, some varieties are best suited in one area of the country than the other. Carrots are in the root crop family and grow best in cool weather. They’re all so hardy that you can plant them in the spring and leave them in the garden until fall. However, proper watering is what makes the difference between getting good carrots or poor carrots out of your garden. Wet the soil deeply. There is no value whatsoever in watering the surface and doing so can often stress the root development --and it all goes down hill from there. Sandy soils, of course, require more frequent watering, but you don’t have that problem in Iowa. If your roots are deformed or forked, it’s probably because your soil is rocky, full of stones or just heavy soil. If you get all tops with small or no roots you probably planted the seeds too close and didn’t thin them. The bitter tasting, pithy carrot is usually attributed to hot weather and dry soil or even just harvesting them too late.

How do I keep chipmunks out of my planters?

Bradley

Bedford Hills, New York

Some people use black pepper or tabasco sauce on their plants to discourage them. I’ve used straight cayenne pepper and recently discovered Hot Pepper Wax, which is a combination of hot cayenne pepper, other natural repellents and a highly refined food grade wax that makes the pepper stay put for up to two weeks or more. It’s biodegradable and, of course, contains no harmful chemicals, so I was pretty excited about the find. It’s concentrated, so it goes a long way on your pocketbook as well. The key is to start treating the area before they set in and keep applying it as part of your garden maintenance.

Chrysanthemums are always a part of my garden every year despite my success with them or not. Many of my repeat performers seem to grow too fast and get leggy before they are actually ready to bloom. I’d like them to be more compact but I’m not sure if there is an answer to this.

Heidi

Fairfax, Virginia

The big secret to a compact Chrysanthemum is to pinch them back or trim them to about half of their new growth as they start growing. You can repeat this until about the first week in July. Your plant will be lush as a result. Be sure to water and fertilizer them during this period as well.

I had some beautiful Coleus last summer that I used as border plants along my walk and was wondering if they would make good houseplants?

Nelson

Fairfax, Virginia

If you’ve got the room Coleus make nice houseplants. Coleus is treated like outdoor annuals but they are actually fragile perennials. The King Coleus variety as a rule doesn’t do as well as the small leafed varieties like “India Frills” and “Inky Fingers” who favor sunny window sills. Make sure you perform a regular routine of pinching them back to keep them from becoming leggy and floppy. They like bright, indirect sun (or artificial light) and keep them away from cold drafts.

Do You Have a Question about What’s going on in your garden or greenhouse?  Submit your question for Barbara Sue (include your city and state) by contacting us at: phone (563) 557-7571, fax (563) 557-7641 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or write us at Garden and Greenhouse, 6170 Forest Hills Drive, Dubuque, IA 52002.  Barbara Sue will do her best to publish your question with an answer in the next available issue.

Barbara Sue Schubert is a marketing professional, free-lance writer and a garden and plant enthusiast from southern Wisconsin.  “To me, my sales and marketing background and my gardening have a lot in common, both feed my family!  Writing, on the other hand, feeds my soul.”