If you venture out into your yard this hot, muggy afternoon, you'll probably see some of what I saw in the field today: droopy leaves. I tell ya, I felt just as droopy as those leaves looked! You'd think we'd all be used to it by now, but with 8 weeks of low/no rainfall - it reminded me, it's time to check the soil moisture.

So I've been going around, digging into gardens, fields, pots, root balls - anything that might need my help with some water.

I'm going to suggest you do the same, especially on your trees that have been in the ground three years or less and those that have been growing in place for decades. Since we only have about a 40% chance of rain for the week, now is the time to get these trees good & wet, if you haven't recently. Our moisture monitoring tutorial can help you get the hang of checking the soil, and our watering instructions will tell you how to put the water on.

Now if your tree's root area is already wet, it could still show some sign of wilting this afternoon. That's just because it's darn hot. If you look at the tree in the morning, before the mercury rises much, you should see that the leaves have perked up quite a bit overnight. Another hot day might influence trees to use more water than usual, so don't be afraid to check on them a couple times this week.

Some newly-planted trees - anything moved within the last three years - are displaying a bit of their fall color. That could just be a "normal" part of the transplant recovery process - or it could indicate some other issue. So feel free to comment here if you have any concerns! We'll step you through some care and yard questions that can help clear things up.

Honey Lavender Lemonade

Wow, I just went to beverage Heaven! I made my first drinkable batch of lemonade. Like so many, I've tried a few times to make lemonade from scratch...only to pour it down the drain because it was either bitter, or way too sweet. I'll tell you what made the difference this time. Two things: raw honey and lavender water.

So...what the heck is lavender water? It's where you take a handful of organic lavender and steep it in a quart of boiling water. In my case, it was ten long-ish stems with the fully blooming flowers still on. After about ten minutes, strain the lavender out, and voila! You have lavender water, also known as an infusion of lavender. By the way, when using lavender for cooking you do need to make sure it's organic, or culinary grade. Any lavender marketed for crafts may contain chemicals that you do not want to put in your mouth.



In case you want to try it yourself, here is what I did to give myself a rush of YUM:

5 cups water, not quite tap-cold
3/4 cup raw honey
Juice of 3 lemons, plus chopped peel of one
1 1/2 cups lavender water, chilled
Ice to fill pitcher to 2 quarts

Add honey to the water, and shake it up - it might take a couple of minutes for the honey to dissolve. Warmer water will dissolve the honey more quickly. Then, add the lemon juice and lavender water. Follow those with ice cubes to make 2 quarts, and the chopped lemon peel. Give it another good shake, and pour over ice.

My lemon peels are still in the pitcher - it's only been a half hour so far. I'll let you know when I take them out. If you're trying this, I'd love to hear how long you leave in the peels. Or what else you like to use lavender in!

Spring Tree Care: Mulching and Fertilizing

Thanks to Tom & Dawn for asking me the following question last week about their trees:
The Autumn Blaze Maple & Aristocrat Pear trees buds are appearing. Is it time to remulch and fertilize?

Well, yes. And maybe not, too! This wishy-washy answer really applies to everyone's trees as we head further into spring and are enjoying (finally!) some warmer weather. The fertilizer question is the easier part of this to answer: Sure, go ahead and apply your starter/root-stimulating fertilizer now on your new trees. New trees are those that have been in the ground for three years or less; starter fertilizer has a low nitrogen content and higher phosphorus for promoting root growth after transplanting. Tree roots will grow whenever the soil temperature is above 40F, so even early April would have been an ok time to put on the root stimulator. Nitrogen based fertilizers, on the other hand, should only be used for trees after a soil test indicates it's needed. If you want to have your soil tested, talk to the MSU Extension Office about how they can perform those tests for you.

Now for the mulch half of the question. There are a few variables here that need to be addressed. The first is - does the tree actually need more mulch? If the existing mulch has decomposed to 2" depth or less, the answer is yes. In that case, now we want to consider whether the soil is starting to dry out from all these massive rainfalls we've been having. Soils that are still pretty wet under the surface should probably wait a week or two before they get any new mulch. Damp or dry soils can definitely be treated with mulch now. What's best to use? Bark mulches - hardwood or red pine - for their acidifying and health promoting qualities are my favorites.

And here's a thought about adding to size of the mulch area - I like to increase the size of a mulch bed around evergreen trees every couple of years, to keep mowers away from the branches. Now is a good time to do that, again thinking about how wet the soil is below. You can use your favorite lawn-removal method: newspaper, roundup, or a shovel - and add up to 4" depth of fresh bark-based mulch. A one-foot strip around the perimeter of the tree does wonders for its branch safety!