Articles by Dr. Francis Gouin

Pansies Add Color thru Spring

Here’s how to plant them

Pansies give the garden fall, winter and early spring color. Breeders have provided us with a great array of colorful varieties to choose from. These hearty flowers are one of the few plant species with light- and dark-blue flowers. In addition to solid colors — yellow, brown, purple and reddish-brown — my favorite cultivar, the Pacific Giant, includes blooms with brown monkey faces in their center. Pansies grow best in deep, well-drained, organic-rich soil....

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 10/4/12

Plant Tulip Bulbs Deep

Follow my advice, and you’ll get years of big flowers

In New Hampshire where I grew up, tulips were a perennial crop. A single planting would last many years, producing large, beautiful flowers year after year. Here in Southern Maryland, tulips are generally grown as an annual crop. Tulips originated in the Mediterranean region, but the bulbs are grown in the Netherlands and in northern states such as Michigan where there are long cool springs. The cool springs allow the foliage to replenish the metabolites and grow the...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 9/27/12

Plant Spring Bulbs ASAP

Big flowers spring from well-developed roots

Don’t wait for the ground to cool before planting spring-flowering bulbs. The sooner you plant in the fall, the longer they will survive and the better they will bloom. Gardeners who wait to purchase their bulbs at end-of-the-year sales are likely to see smaller flowers and smaller plants next spring. If buying from open bins, you are also likely to be purchasing smaller bulbs because the larger ones have already been taken. The larger the bulb, the bigger the flower. Time to plant...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 9/20/12

The Reader

Plants of the Chesapeake Bay

In Plants of the Chesapeake Bay, John Hopkins University Press has just published what I consider the most comprehensive and well-illustrated field guide. Lytton John Musselman and David A. Knepper’s 217-page book has outstanding color pictures and descriptions of wildflowers, grasses, aquatic vegetation, trees, shrubs and other flora. It also organizes the plants in communities within the Bay region. The communities include hyper-salinity, maritime, brackish and...

Article - Books; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 9/13/12

A Bean that Can Stand the Heat

Gita is my recommendation

A Bay Weekly reader complained to me that she has not been able to harvest string beans all summer long. First, I reminded her that saying string beans is showing her age. When I helped my mother prepare green beans for canning, I had to snip the end followed by pulling a long green string from the inner curve of the bean. Strings have not been a problem with green beans for the past 45 years, and the name was changed to snap beans. Call them what you...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 9/13/12

Suicide in the Garden

Here’s how to help your plants avoid self-strangulation

When I visit friends’ homes, being asked to diagnose plant problems is not uncommon. I entered one friend’s front door only to be escorted outside to diagnose the cause of a groundcover juniper’s death. My friend had planted three junipers in 2009; one had died in June. I told him that I would have to dig it up and perform an autopsy. He found it hard to believe that I could not diagnose the problem by simply looking at it. I replied that I could give...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 9/6/12

Not Planting a Fall Garden?

Save your soil with a cover crop

If you are not planning a fall vegetable garden, it’s worth your while to consider a cover crop of rye or winter wheat. Your corn, beans, tomatoes, lettuce and pepper plants may not have used all of the nutrients in the soil. Even if you did not apply more fertilizer than the plants needed, even if you are an organic grower, there is organic matter in the soil that continues to decompose, releasing nutrients until the ground freezes. Unless these nutrients are absorbed...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 8/30/12

Now’s the Time to Improve Your Lawn

Get a soil test, and I’ll write you a free prescription for what to do next

If your lawn is just so-so and you want to make it look like a professional lawn next year, now is the time to take action. A soil test of the existing lawn is of utmost importance. A good lawn requires a pH of 6.2 to 6.8 with medium to optimum levels of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. If the appearance of your current lawn is uniform, then only one sample should be adequate. However, if the front lawn is better than the side or back lawn, submit samples for...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 8/23/12

How to Dry Tomatoes

They’ll taste great come winter

Are you being flooded with tomatoes? My neighbors are willing to take their share but they can take only so many. If you enjoy canning, make catsup, salsa, tomato juice, stewed tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. I have and still have tomatoes to spare. I fry green tomatoes by dredging them through a mixture of corn meal and Old Bay prior to frying in olive oil. Fried red tomatoes are also a favorite for some. If you have a food drier, try drying tomato slices...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 8/16/12

How to Fight Back Brush

If you’ve got to use weed killer, now’s the time

Spraying weed killer is generally a bad idea. Spraying must be done with great care and careful targeting when the wind is calm. But if you need to spray to kill underbrush, late August and September is the time. When foliage is mature, photosynthesis is in high gear and the roots are being resupplied. In other words, the sugars being produced by the leaves are now translocating back to the roots. Root resupply generally begins in mid-July and is at its peak in August and...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 8/9/12