Battling The Morning Glory: It's A Jungle Fight Out There
Q "Morning glories have my garden buried; what can I do?" A All of the Northwest would probably be tangled in bindweed - or wild glories - if we didn't battle valiantly. "Sneaky" best describes morning-glory roots: They creep under mulch (which they choose as a tender blanket), run parallel to buried landscape timbers, and twine themselves within roots of perennial flowers and berries.
Seeds can blow into your garden from untended areas; roots store nutrients over winter and leap into wild growth when weather warms again. You may not notice them until the top of your cherry laurel hedge suddenly sprouts white trumpet flowers - the insidious, obnoxious morning glory.
A combination of steady tugging and some herbicides will rid your garden of this pest, but it's not easy. If the morning glory invades your lawn, treat it carefully with the amine form of 2,4-D (this won't harm the grass). Keeping it mowed off helps, too. If it is scrambling up from an alley or other waste place with no desirable plants nearby, you can pull it out and spray the re-growth with 2,4-D or glyphosate (sold as Round-up, Kleen-up, or Knock-out).
The worst situation is the entangled mess of bindweed leaves, stems, and roots among rhododendrons or other cherished plants. Carefully untwine all the growth and pull up as many of the roots as you can. You'll have to poke carefully for them, feeling with a garden fork to pry up as much of the root length as you can. They
will break off; brittleness is one of the plant's defenses, since it re-sprouts from even the smallest bits of root left in the ground, like some mythic creature with infinite re-birth potential. You pull, it breaks, it re-grows.
When the new growth develops 4 to 6 leaves, paint on the glyphosate getting it ONLY on the bindweed leaves, not on any ornamental plants. Do not let the re-growth get established, for it will feed the root and perpetuate the plant. You may have to keep pulling and keep painting for a whole growing season or even beyond. Pulling it out may seem futile, but if you do not let it re-grow, the plant will be weakened. Honest!
Isn't weed control absorbing?
Q I had a very nice spring garden but, except for the tomatoes, squash and beans, everything is about done now. What can I plant where the spinach, peas and other early crops were?
A There are lots of crops that, planted now, can give you an extended harvest season. If you can sow them right away, there is still time for bush beans, beets, Chinese cabbage, collards and kale to mature before frost. Leaf lettuces, mustard, regular spinach and turnips can go in until mid-August. You can plant radishes, rocket (argula), savoy spinach, Swiss chard and turnip greens as late as early September. We have such a long frost-free season in the Puget Sound area that there is no excuse for your garden not to stay productive until at least November.
Be sure to leave room for garlic: it's planted in late October, winters over, and gives a crop the next summer. Keep in mind that seeds need to be kept moist to sprout, so you will want to plant a little deeper and water more frequently than you did in the spring.
Check with your local nursery
for transplants of fall vegetables. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower can all be put out during the first half of August if you can find seedlings.
Q I'm a beginning gardener. Where can I see examples? A Watching experienced gardeners struggle with and solve problems can be encouraging. Washington State University Master Gardeners in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties spend hundreds of hours each summer preparing Demonstration Gardens.
In King County, Master Gardeners work at 15680 S.E. 16th St., Bellevue (Lake Hills Green Belt, intersection of Southeast 16th Street and 156th Southeast). Bring your plant questions to a Master Gardener on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through September.
Next Saturday a summer celebration - including strawberry tasting - is planned between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. If we have a ripe tomato, it will be on display as a rare specimen.
In Pierce County, the WSU Western Washington Research Station, in Puyallup, features a large volunteer-maintained garden. An "Herb Experience" is planned for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 591-7180 for details.
In Snohomish County, visit the garden in Jennings Park in Marysville. Call 338-2404 for details.
In Seattle, several other gardens draw summer visitors, including the Tilth Garden at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.
P-Patches also teach: the Picardo Farm P-Patch, Northeast 80th Street and 25th Avenue Northeast, offers experimental tomato plots. Call 684-0264 for details.
Gardening runs Friday in the Scene section and Sunday in Home/Real Estate of The Seattle Times. It is prepared by George Pinyuh and Holly Kennell, Washington State University/King County Cooperative Extension agents, Mary Robson, Master Gardener program assistant, and volunteer Master Gardeners. Send questions to: Gardening, The Seattle Times, PO Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Questions of general interest will be answered as space allows.