Home And Garden

We want to have our first vegetable garden next year. Can we do anything to get started now? Take these steps now to get a jump on spring: * Select a site for the garden in full sun where water does not stand. It should be as close to your home and water supply as possible. * Kill perennial weeds. * Take a soil test. * Dig or rototill soil and incorporate organic matter, plus lime according to the soil test. * Autumn leaves (mulched is best) can be piled on top to be worked in next spring.

This volunteer plant in my shade bed grows low like a fern, but the leaves are coarser like a palm. Each leaflet has lovely waves like the ocean. Now it's forming seeds at the ends of the leaflets and, before it spreads, I guess I'd better find out what I've got. Pull it up and dispose of it in a sealed trash bag immediately, being careful to get all seeds. You've found wavy leaf basketgrass, an invasive plant that has recently hit the U.S. and was found first here in Maryland. Eradication efforts are under way, but it's crucial for homeowners to be alert for this damaging plant, which can quickly take over an entire forest floor, smothering and crowding out native plants.

Next Saturday, look for The Baltimore Sun's new home and garden section, which will feature new content, including a gardening column by Susan Reimer, in addition to the popular Dream Home feature, gardening Q&A, Gardener of the Week and interior-design column by local designer Rita St. Clair.

Once, the intersection of Cator Avenue and Old York Road in the Pen Lucy neighborhood was so troubled that people wouldn't sit outside on their porches or walk through on their way to church. Young men were being shot and killed on the street. And the corner lot was grassy and overgrown. But 22 years ago, Emma Worrell began tending to the broken lot, trimming the grass, inviting neighbors to plant flowers and, eventually, dedicating the rectangle of green to members of the community who had been lost to violence.

My pin oak tree was struck by lightning last week and has long strips of outer bark completely blasted away. Can or should we do anything to cover these scars? There have been successful bark replacements, but they must be performed immediately after the damage. Wound dressing is not recommended because it interferes with the tree's efforts to heal the wound. Lightning either moves in a narrow line down a tree's branches and trunk to the roots or in a wide path around the entire tree cylinder.

Can you identify whether this is a weed or flower? (Photo sent through HGIC's Web site.) It looks like that invasive Canadian thistle. I'm afraid to wait any longer because that stuff takes over gardens! This plant is about to have a single large bloom. Happy news. You have a perennial poppy. It will probably be red or orange, though there are a few other colors, such as pink or white. Because of arthritis, I need to garden differently. Got any ideas? Can I grow vegetables in pots? Are tomato plants too big for pots?

I put our fall leaves and kitchen scraps in a pile to make compost. A neighbor gave me rabbit manure for the pile, too. How do I know when compost is ready to use in my gardens? This is critical when manures are used, because uncomposted manures can burn plant roots and stems. Fortunately, it's easy to tell when the ingredients are composted. Pick up a handful of your aged compost. Crumble it. It should look like dark, rich soil, consistent in texture. The original materials will be unrecognizable, except perhaps tiny twig or wood bits.

We conclude this season's Gardener of the Week feature with Tom Blanford, an employee for the National Education Association in Washington. When he moved into his rowhouse three years ago, he confronted a back yard of bare gravel surrounded by a chain-link fence. Today it is an Asian-inspired retreat from the noise and bustle of the city. You can read about his garden and see more pictures tomorrow at baltimoresun.com/gardener. To read a complete calendar of the home and garden events for this month, go to baltimoresun.