HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
MASTER GARDENER
JEAN LAIRD

Stop! DON'T CHOP THE CREPES! These are the words uttered by the Spartanburg Men's Garden Club in South Carolina. These men are valiantly trying to save the crepe myrtle from being lopped, chopped and reduced to stumps or hat racks. Now is the time to TRIM the majestic crepe myrtles. Below are some guidelines:

Prune in late winter. February is ideal. Remove suckers at the base of the tree(with clippers, not weedeater, please). Remove any crossing or rubbing limbs, and branches growing toward the center of the tree. Cut back to another branch. It is okay but not necessary to cut off old seed heads.

There is much more information about pruning such as: Buying the right size of crepe for the right place(myrtles love the sun), and how to plant crepes and much more. You will find that information on AOL. Just type in "Southern Living.com Stop! Don't Chop the Crepes!", Also, you can type in "Crape Myrtles: Four Seasons of Beauty". This is the very interesting article written by the Spartanburg Men's Garden Club,(notice the different spelling of the word crepe), It covers all aspects of selecting, growing, and pruning of crepe myrtles. It also reveals how to restore a butchered crepe.

You can enhance your landscape with other beautiful early flowering spring trees like: Saucer Magnolia which will be covered with tulip-like flowers in pink and white. The next wave of blooms is the Mexican Plums, redbuds, and flowering peaches such as: Red Baron which has double red blooms and good fruit. For our part of Texas, consider the lovely Forest Pansy and, of course, the grand Dogwood. You can transplant the dogwoods now.

Mack says it is time to prepare your seed potatoes for planting in your vegetable garden. Cut them in individual pieces that have at lease one or more eyes. Let these dry before setting rows in your garden. Each seed piece should be set at least 4 to 6 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches apart. MAKE SURE THE EYES ARE POINTING UP.

Mack shared this story with me about how he learned to plant potatoes with the eyes up. Mack worked at the farm with Mr. Claud Gatlin out in the Joy Community near Liberty City. Mr. Claude who retired from the Post Office, was an elderly farmer.. He and his hard-working wife, "Biddy", farmed their small acreage for a few years before they joined with Mack in farming together. Mrs. Gatlin was definitely her husbands' helpmate, for she would cut out the eyes of the potatoes and see that they were dried and ready to plant. She would walk behind Mack and Mr. Claude who would just throw the potatoes in the rows, and she would turn the eyes up if they failed to land in the proper way. When she wasn't helping them in the field, she was in the kitchen cooking a huge meal for her husband and Mack and any others that were hungry. When she finished the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, she would sit down and quilt. She had a quilting frame suspended in the family room area, and it was her joy to gather her friends around to quilt and visit. In her spare time, she loved working in her flower garden. Her gardening is still prevalent at the old home place. They don't make many women like Mrs. "Biddy" Gatlin anymore. She left a legacy of being a Godly, industrious, loving woman.

Now go, help your husband plant the potatoes, turn the eyes up, and ejoy the fruit of your labor in the future.
The Happy Gardener
She (or he) who plants a seed beneath
the sod and waits to see a
plant, believes in God.
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