Home And Garden

Tiny red bugs are crawling on my window sill. When I wipe them up, they smush red. Now what? Clover mites often show up in spring in buildings and homes until the natural checks and balances of predator insects in a healthy landscape keep their numbers under control. This year, their numbers seem to be up generally. They do not warrant pesticides. You can tape around the window until they disappear. Ellen Nibali, horticulture consultant, works at Maryland Cooperative Extension's Home and Garden Information Center, and David Clement is the regional specialist.

You've decked the halls, now deck the walls, with new wallcoverings from a variety of manufacturers. You can banish winter blues with a bower of flowers, or brighten a kid's prospects for spring with a border of baseball heroes. Or borrow a motif from a stately mansion, or bring in the fresh look of the French countryside. Here are a few of the new patterns we've seen; all are from major suppliers and should be available at stores that specialize in wallcoverings.Home Front welcomes interesting tidbits of home and garden news.

Anyone who attended the first Taneytown Home and Garden Show last year will not recognize the second and much bigger one scheduled for May 22 at Memorial Park.Last year's show featured about 12 vendors selling plants on the Jubilee grocery store parking lot, said Pam Harlow, a resident who is co-chairwoman of the event.At least, that's what she has been told. She didn't go last year."I didn't even know about it," Harlow said.This year, she and co-chairwoman Melissa Harris expect close to 70 vendors selling plants and crafts, demonstrations on bed planting and building a pond, and rides in a tethered hot-air balloon, weather permitting.

Q. Two shade trees came down during Hurricane Floyd. I've never had to deal with stumps. Should I remove them to plant replacements in the same area?A. Yes, check with your neighbors or consult the phone book to find businesses that grind stumps. They can usually give you an estimate over the phone. It pays to be home during the grinding to help the operator spot the large, deep roots that extend 1 to 2 feet out from the base. All large roots should be ground. But don't pay extra to have the wood chips hauled away.

A frog table, an angel table and a desk whose drawer pulls are a frog and three bugs are among the whimsical creations of Berlin artist Patti Baltrotsky, who embellishes odd pieces of furniture with lively motifs from the natural world.Baltrotsky's work is on view this month at the Art League of Ocean City. It includes furniture, decorative items and mosaic wall paintings. Half of the proceeds from each sale will ben-efit the Worcester County Humane Society and the Art League of Ocean City.

Q. I usually have lots of weeds in my asparagus bed, and I'm wondering if the old-time solution of sprinkling salt on the bed is really a good idea?A. It really isn't; some of the salt usually gets on the asparagus and burns it. Instead of spreading the salt directly on the bed, mix 2 pounds of table salt with 1 gallon of water in a plastic sprayer and apply directly to the foliage of unwanted plants. Be careful not to let the solution make contact with the young asparagus spears or ferns.

Limestone mantelpieces are among the new items designer Darryl Savage is importing for DHS Designs, 86 Maryland Ave. in Annapolis and 6521 Friel Road in Queenstown. The mantels, some fairly simple and some quite ornate, are from manor houses in the Loire Valley. Prices range from $10,000 to $75,000. The shops also are offering imported decorative objects such as candlesticks, mirrors and paintings, and garden items of carved French limestone such as fruit baskets, lion statues, fountains and urns.

Bob Timberlake, a popular realist artist whose paintings, furniture and textiles re-create the casually chic atmosphere and tints of his home and its Lexington, N.C., setting, has developed a line of paints for the home called the Bob Timberlake Coatings and Colors Collection. There are four color collections in the line of interior and exterior paints and stains: Garden Path, Summer Day, Harvest and Cabin. They are available in the Baltimore area at Budeke's Paints in Fells Point, Owings Mills, Timonium and Perry Hall.

Q. Some of the plants in my beautiful flower and herb garden (sage, coreopsis, thyme, salvia) are dying even though they are well-watered and fertilized. The stems turn black and they just PTC fold up. Is this a disease problem? What can I do about it?A.Sounds like Southern blight, a significant soil-borne fungal disease of annuals and perennials that is encouraged by hot, humid weather. Affected lower stems turn brown or black, and foliage wilts and dies.Tan-colored fungal fruiting bodies, the size of a small seed, may be seen on affected stems.

Q. Parts of my lawn have been invaded by some kind of small bee. No one's been stung yet, but I'm worried about my pets and children. Any suggestions?A.Your visitors are mining bees, also known as ground bees. They are small, fuzzy, solitary bees that nest in underground burrows. They fly low over the ground and make [-inch holes in loose soil. The females will lay their eggs in these holes.The bees are not aggressive and the males have no stinger. Their presence this year does not mean you'll see them in large numbers every year.

If gardeners are ever truly green, it is probably with envy, an emotion that commonly overtakes them when they see someone else's garden. That's never more true than on garden tours, when you pay for a ticket to see gardens that are nicer than yours. Home and garden tours clutter the calendar in late May and early June, when the weather might still be mild and the gardens are at their peak of color and freshness. Saturday and Sunday in Reservoir Hill, Charles Village and Annapolis' Murray Hill neighborhood, many "little gems" will be on display on self-guided walking tours.

Can I transplant my dogwood while it is blooming? I planted it too close to the house two years ago, but it is flourishing. Dogwoods are forest understory trees, so choose a new location that is at least part shade. Spring is the time to transplant your dogwood, but wait until the soil is workable, i.e. dry enough that a ball of soil squeezed in your hand will crumble when you bounce it. Working with soggy soil that contains a high percentage of clay could turn it into cement. When you transplant your dogwood, prepare the transplant hole ahead of time.

A week ago, Bill Snell and Lew Shipp were awaiting what they hoped to be the last blast of winter, hunkered down in their Columbia homes, unable to pursue their respective outdoor passions - gardening and golf. "I was laying in supplies," Snell recalled yesterday with a hearty laugh. "I made sure I had toilet paper, bread, milk and everything." The toilet paper might not be gone, but the snow - nearly a foot in some places around the state - is. With temperatures in the area reaching a balmy 76 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, Snell and Shipp and thousands of others in the region were able to participate in activities they hadn't experienced in months.

What kind of light bulb is best for starting seedlings indoors? We recommend using a fluorescent, shop light-type unit containing two standard 40-watt fluorescent tubes or one cool white and one warm white tube. This provides adequate light for growing transplants and is more economical than special lighting. Suspend the unit so the lights are 1 to 2 inches above the tops of the seedling plants and raise the lights as the plants grow. Adding some natural light also improves results. For more detail, call us or go online to read our publications on starting and transplanting vegetable seedlings.

Can vegetable seeds from last year still be used? The life expectancy of vegetable seeds depends on the species and the conditions under which you saved them. Ideally, cucumber seed can last five years; tomato and eggplant, four years; bean, three years; corn, two years; and so on. Test your seeds by sprinkling 20 on a moist paper towel. Roll it up and place in a plastic bag in a warm place. After five to seven days, check for germination. Adjust sowing rates accordingly. If the rate is as low as 50 percent, discard the seeds and buy fresh seed.

Is it possible I saw a coyote the other night? I would swear it was. Were they introduced here, or did they extend their range naturally? Originating out West, coyotes have been migrating east since the early 20th century. Though shy, coyotes have been sighted in every Maryland county. Their main western predators, the gray wolf and cougar, have not followed them east. Eastern coyotes have adapted well, sometimes growing larger and heavier than their western ancestors. Small pets make easy prey, along with our plentiful squirrels and other wildlife.

My New Year's resolution is to improve the environment, starting in my own backyard. How should I begin? Make your yard a Bay-Wise yard! Choose from three University of Maryland Bay-Wise Yardstick programs: Landscapes Without Lawns, Landscapes With Lawns or Vegetable Gardens. Earn "inches" for each action you take to make your piece of Maryland healthier and bay-friendly. Then call the Master Gardener Program in your county (mastergardener.umd.edu ) to find out how to have your yard certified and receive an attractive sign to display in your front yard.

In nightly invasions of my deck, an animal gets into my squirrel-proof bird feeder, scatters seed, pulls down my suet cage, takes the suet, digs in my flower pots, destroys the flowers, and lastly defecates on my deck. I'm sending a photo. Please advise! The scat photo suggests raccoon scat, though it could be opossum. Scat may change drastically depending on what the animal eats. Raccoons will repeatedly use the same site. They are extremely strong and can pull open even tightly wired suet cages.

Can you recommend a gardening book specifically for Maryland or this region? We just moved here. Our daughter has lived here for years but didn't know a good book to suggest. Just in time for holiday giving, a new edition of the University of Maryland's Master Gardener Handbook has arrived with a host of improvements. Nine new chapters include Weeds, Pruning, Invasive Plants, Composting and Wetlands. This is the book used by University of Maryland Extension to train Maryland master gardeners.

At first glance, it is hard to see where gardening and blogging intersect. You imagine a gardener outside in the sunshine, hands crusted with dirt, face glistening with a sheen of sweat, a little breathless, smiling, grateful for the solitude. You imagine a blogger wearing pajamas, typing furiously on the computer in a home office overflowing with old newspapers. Someone with a lot to say and no one to listen to him, firing streams of words off into the ether of the Internet. But that is exactly where they intersect - on the Internet.