Q: We replaced our grass with Kurapia, but the weeds were overwhelming! Do you have any suggestions?
A: When planting plugs to establish a ground cover, the secret to success is proper ground preparation. When researching this subject, I found little information on soil prep, but this is crucial to success. We have a buffalo grass lawn that was started with plugs, so I’m writing from experience.
After removing the sod, rake the soil surface to remove any rocks (or construction debris such as tile fragments, nails, beer cans, etc.). Thoroughly water the soil and wait for the first round of weed seeds to germinate. Brace yourself because this part can get ugly.
Once you have a lush carpet of weeds, remove them with a rake, hoe or rototiller. Smooth out the soil and water again. The next crop of weeds should be smaller. Again, remove the weeds, smooth the soil and water. This third round hopefully will be fairly sparse.
Repeat applications of glyphosate (Round Up) can be an alternative to brute-force weed removal. Round Up does not remain active for long (usually several days), so a weekly application may be preferable.
Once the lurking weed seeds have been taken care of, you can begin installing the plugs. Since ground cover plugs can be expensive, many gardeners will try to stretch each flat to cover as much area as possible. This is not worth it! Closer-spaced planting will result in a much quicker cover. Pulling any errant weeds while waiting for the ground cover to establish is tedious and not worth the money saved by buying one or two fewer flats.
Q: My tomato plants have yellowing leaves with brown spots. What is causing this and how can I fix it?
A: When the lower leaves of a tomato plant are yellowing around the edges with scattered brown spots, this is likely caused by early blight, a fungal disease.
Since the newer growth looks healthy, I recommend removing the lower leaves and tossing them in the trash (don’t compost them). Avoid overhead watering since this can spread the spores to new leaves. A weekly application of a copper-based fungicide can be helpful in preventing reappearance. Consider rotating your vegetable planting for next year’s garden.
Q: Should I fertilize my tomato plants? I heard that they are heavy feeders.
A: Tomatoes are one of the ‘hungrier’ vegetable plants. An early application of an all-purpose fertilizer can give you large, lush-looking plants with beautiful dark green leaves. This extra foliage is helpful in protecting the fruit from sunburn. After this initial flush of growth, occasional light fertilization is helpful. Use caution: Too much nitrogen can give you beautiful plants with no tomatoes since all the plant’s energy will go into growing the leaves instead of flowering and fruiting.
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