Grabbing a shovel? Call before you dig
If you have a lot of digging to do in your garden, it’s important to have your utilities located before starting work, even if you are planting perennials with a shovel. Planting with a hand trowel poses little risk to cutting a cable. Cable television lines tend to be buried at a shallow depth. I have even cut a cable television line while edging a bed. Cutting a cable line is annoying … but cutting a gas line (as I have) can be dangerous.
In the suburbs, call J.U.L.I.E. at (800) 892-0123 or 811 to have your yard marked for underground utilities (this is a free service). Their website is illinois1call.com. In Chicago, search 811 Chicago for the website. It generally takes three working days for these services to locate your utility lines, so allow plenty of time before digging.
Pre-mark beds with marking paint where you will be digging and use white flags to mark individual digging sites if you are installing individual trees or shrubs.
These locating services will not mark any lines you have installed yourself (such as a gas line to a grill or wires for landscape lighting). I cut a gas feed line to a swimming pool heater that was not marked — it was a big leak.
Dig carefully by hand if you are working within 18 inches of either side of any marked underground utilities. Also, be careful when digging in gardens with underground sprinklers.
Be like a farmer; rotate your crops
Rotate the crops in your vegetable garden to control pest problems. This is the easiest way to practice organic, integrated pest management gardening. Many insects and diseases attack vegetables within the same plant family.
By planting vegetables from a different family in a problem area, you minimize the chances for a repeat infection. The basic families include the cabbage family (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, radishes and turnips); cucumber family (gourds, melons, squashes and cucumbers); nightshade family (eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers); goosefoot family (spinach and beets); onion family (leeks, garlic and onions); legume family (all peas and beans), and the carrot, celery and parsnip group.
Check new plants for dryness
As the weather becomes warmer more consistently, start monitoring any new plants that you installed this spring for dryness. Check any plants that were installed last year, especially if there have not been good soaking rains. New grass seed needs to be kept moist to germinate, and frequent light watering is best. Grass will typically germinate in 10 to 14 days, after which you can switch to less frequent and deeper watering.
• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.