The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Are you interested in gardening, but don’t have a suitable site? Do you already have a garden but need additional space for corn, squash, melons or some other crop?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, then perhaps you should consider reserving a spot in the Carrington Community Garden, located just east of the parking lot at Bethel Chapel.
The 10 feet by 20 feet plots will be tilled and ready to plant as soon as conditions allow.
A water line at the site makes it possible to keep crops growing if the weather turns dry.
The Community Garden Project is a collaborative effort between NDSU Extension and the Carrington Garden Club.
For more information or to reserve a plot, please contact me in the Extension office (652-2581, jeff.gale@ndsu.edu).
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One hundred and twenty-two pounds. That was the size of the winning entry in Foster County’s pumpkin contest last year.
Twenty-five gardeners entered 33 pumpkins in the event.
The contest will return in expanded form this year. In addition to pumpkins, we will determine which gardeners grew the largest potato and the largest onion in the county.
The weigh-off will occur at The Market, Carrington City Park on Sept. 17.
There will be both adult and youth divisions.
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The soil is warming up rapidly, and our lawns will turn green soon.
It’s too early to apply fertilizer. Plants need time to reestablish their root system. If we fertilize now, the plants will put their energy into producing leaves, and the roots will not develop properly.
Memorial Day, not earlier, is the best time to fertilize our lawns in spring.
A fertilizer application rate of one pound of nitrogen per one thousand square feet is sufficient for most lawns. Shady areas grow slower and require less fertilizer.
To calculate the amount of fertilizer that needs to be applied, divide the desired nitrogen rate by the nitrogen percentage in the bag.
For example, if the goal is to apply one pound of nitrogen to 1000 square feet of lawn and the nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio on the label is 25-5-10, then divide one pound by 0.25. The correct application rate is four pounds of fertilizer per 1000 square feet.
Thirty to fifty percent of the nitrogen should be in slow-release form. Slow-release nitrogen may be listed as water insoluble nitrogen or WIN on the package label.
Apply the fertilizer in two directions so that coverage is uniform, and then irrigate the lawn to increase the fertilizer’s effectiveness.
Additional fertilizer can be applied around the 4th of July and again at Labor Day.
It’s tempting to apply “Weed and Feed” products which contain both herbicide and fertilizer. It seems like we’re solving two problems with one pass over the lawn.
However, the herbicide concentration in these products is generally too low to give effective weed control.
Better results are obtained when weeds are spot sprayed using the appropriate herbicide in liquid form. Always follow label directions.
