In the garden

LITTLE ROCK — QSince spring is so early this year and the temperatures are above normal, is it OK to plant small tomato plants in pots to be replanted in the garden when they are a reasonable size? We live in Russellville.

AI wish I had a crystal ball and could predict that we will have no more cold snaps. Everyone has the spring planting bug early this year, but keep in mind it is still March. While tomato plants are arriving at nurseries and garden centers statewide, if you plant now, be prepared to either replant or protect them, should a cold snap ensue. I would prefer you continue to plant coolseason vegetables and hold off on tomatoes until April. Since you plan to have yours in pots, they could be moved inside if it gets cold.

QI got mulch from the city this past week. It’s beautiful this year but evidently toxic. I spent many hours today mulching. Later I walked around and looked at my beds, and my tender perennials, lettuce and herbs — in addition to some flowering plants — look like the leaves have burned. The mulch has a slight chemical smell. I can’t imagine what that might be. Perhaps there is a chemical in the mulch or perhaps the mulch is very green and what I am smelling, and what is burning the plants, is excess nitrogen. What do you think would cause this problem and do you have any ideas what I can do? Should I water my beds excessively or put something on my beds to neutralize the nitrogen? Please let me know your thoughts. I’m frazzled, frustrated and worried about my plants.

AThere sometimes can be a problem with what is called “sour” mulch. What basically happens is that if the mulch pile is large and we get a heavy rain, the oxygen levels sort of bottom out in the pile when it gets waterlogged. Toxic gases can begin to build up inside this anaerobic environment, and if applied in this state, the mulch can burn or damage tender plants. If you are applying mulch and it has a rotten-egg odor or ammonia smell, stop applying it. Turn the mulch pile, or spread it out to allow oxygen in. The condition in the mulch pile is quickly remedied, but if it has already damaged your plants, you may have to replace some of the more damaged plants. For more information, look at our “Plant Injury From ‘Sour’ Wood Mulch” fact sheet in the publications available at uaex.edu.

QWe have three large forsythia bushes that bloomed spectacularly up until about five years ago. Two of them are in full sun, and one is at the north edge of light woods. The oldest shrub is more than 20 years old, and we cut it way back about three years ago because it failed to bloom except for a few blossoms on the tips of the branches. It has never really bloomed well since although it regained its original size in two years. These shrubs have some kind of knotty, gall-type growths on the branches. Many of our neighbors have absolute thickets of well-blooming forsythia so I can’t believe it’s because we haven’t pruned our shrubs. We cut the oldest bush down to the ground this week (it had grown up around a martin house) and hope it will come back and bloom for us. Can you give me any advice on what may be wrong?

AI think you have two problems — one is that you aren’t pruning correctly and two, I think you have a disease known as Phomopsis galls. Gall symptoms on forsythia are brown clusters which encircle the stem and vary in size from one-quarter inch to more than an inch in diameter. The galls are often clustered along the stem, eventually causing twig dieback. Control consists of pruning out the galls and disposing of them. Chemicals are mostly ineffective. Severely infected plants should be cut to the ground. Remember that forsythia is a cane-producing plant — it doesn’t have a dominant trunk. For now, prune out all branches that have galls, at the soil line. In future years, if they don’t have galls, remove one-third of the older, woodier canes at the soil line every year after bloom. This rejuvenates the plants and encourages new growth, which will have more blooms. I do think the older plant that has been cut down should start to grow again, and it could be spectacular next spring, provided no new galls occur. Remember that the more sunlight, the better they bloom. If the only pruning that is done is cutting the plant at the top to make a large ball or box, all you are doing is leaving older canes that will bear flowers only on the tips where the new growth occurs.

QI have some hydrangea bushes that are 5 or 6 years old and have never bloomed. Unknowingly I cut them down the first year, thinking that was what you did with the “sticks” that were left. But after I was told not to do that, I haven’t done it since. They set buds on the old stems like they are supposed to, but even with fertilizing, they never set one bloom. Is there ever a time when you cut back the old stems or do you just leave them to continue to grow and grow from year to year? And what suggestions do you have that might help them to bloom?

AMany people make the same mistake, since hydrangeas do look like dead sticks all winter. Thus far, they have made it through the winter this year unscathed. The top buds on those “dead sticks” are the largest flowers in the summer, so if Mother Nature freezes them and all your new growth begins at the base, we won’t have blooms, which was very common last year. Remember, they do need some sunlight to set flowers — so if yours are in total shade, that could be limiting flowering, too. Have a reason to prune — too large, for instance. If your plant does need to be pruned to maintain size, do so as the flowers start to fade in midsummer. Just like the above forsythia, hydrangeas are cane-producing plants. Remove older, larger canes at the soil line to encourage new canes and reduce the overall plant size.

Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Write to her at 2301 S. University Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72204 or e-mail her at

jcarson@arkansasonline.com