Well, I finally did something I had not done before. I fell and broke my right wrist! It is really a pain in the "you know what"! It is amazing what we do with our hands; I am finding out! I am going to skip the small talk this week and get into the questions.. Happy gardening everyone.

GARDEN QUESTIONS FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Q) I have planted some new evergreens, but I am afraid it will take a long time for them to fill in to match the surrounding plants. Can you suggest a fertilizer to speed up this process? A) Though you might be able to do it by using an over-dose of nitrogen, pushing your plants into unnaturally fast growth isn't a good idea. The new growth that has been forced this way is tender and succulent, highly vulnerable to insects, disease, and winter damage.

Newly planted evergreens often appear to "sit still" for the first year. They're spending their energy underground, getting their roots established. That is as it should be; treat them well now, and you'll be rewarded with more (and more rapid) growth in the future.

Make sure they get plenty of water, an inch a week of slowly allowing the water to sink into the ground. Feed them once in the spring with a balanced fertilizer formulated for acid loving plants; and mulch the ground underneath them so weeds do not compete.

If the gaps are very wide, you can plug them with tall annuals or inexpensive deciduous shrubs. When it is time to get rid of the fillers, cut them down to ground level rather than digging them up; you don't want to hurt the roots of the finally large-enough evergreens.

Q I'm going to be planting trees in the near future, so I am wondering is it O.K. to just leave the burlap around the root ball? A) Like other things in life that aren't what they used to be, burlap has changed. A single layer of plain old untreated burlap, now almost a thing of the past, rots away nicely and lets roots wander freely out of their soil ball. But you are just as likely to run into a plastic-like burlap material, or into burlap that has been treated with a rot-resistant chemical. Both are popular in the horticultural industry for the same reason: they stay intact longer, through sunshine and watering, as the tree make its way from the growing site to you.

But that perseverance presents problems for growing roots trying to find their way into new surroundings. Rot-resistant burlap takes years longer to decay than untreated does, and even untreated burlap presents a formidable boundary if wadded down in layers and left in place. In some instances the tree may even die.

To avoid such problems, after placing the tree in that nice extra-wide-but-no-deeper-than-the-ball hole, untie the twine around the trunk and cut away the burlap.

Q) I want my garden to have a natural look-and I don't have much time. Is deadheading really all that important if I don't care how tidy things look? A) Deadheading is not simply a matter of keeping things neat. I know I have touched on this topic before—but I think it is worth repeating. When you remove spent flowers promptly after they bloom, you direct the energy of the plant away from the seed making. Most annuals (asters are an exception) will, when deadheaded, use that energy to bloom and bloom, since making seed is their whole mission in life.

The more you deadhead them, the harder they bloom. And don't wait until the blossoms look tired. As a general rule, annual flowers signal: "mission accomplished" shortly after they're pollinated, so get the longest season of bloom if you cut lots of bouquets. It does pay to let a few seeds form; many annuals will self-sow for next year, among them nigella, alyssum, nicoitiana, calendula, cleome, larkspur, and poppies.

Q) How and when should clematis be pruned? A) Those which bloom on old wood (such as C.florida, montana, and patens) need little or no pruning beyond removal of dead or diseased wood. The lanuginose, jackmanii, and C.virginiana (commonly called autumn clematis) types bloom on wood of the current season, and may be cut back in the spring before growth begins.

Q) When can I divide my daylilies? (A) August is the ideal time to divide perennial flowers such a bearded iris, and spring-flowering bulbs including tulips, daffodils and crocuses. These plants tend to become overgrown and crowded after a number of years, reducing growth and flowering. The hardest part of dividing bulbs is finding them.

Q) A fellow gardener told me that my tomatoes look like they have come down with a nasty case of something called Verticillium Wilt. What is this and how can I cure it? A) Verticillium wilt is a long-lived soil-borne fungus that affects a variety of plants in the nightshade family including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Infected plants wilt (hence. the name) and may turn yellow. There is no cure per se, but it can be controlled by regularly rotating your plants, watering at the base of the plants (in order to limit the amount of soil that splashes up on the leaves), and choosing wilt-resistant plant varieties. You can also try soil solarization on new plant beds for next year. This entails loosening up the top layer of soil with a spading fork, then watering it heavily and allowing the bed to sit overnight. The following day, cover the soil with a layer of clear plastic, covering the edges of the plastic with soil so that the bed is air-tight. After the bed has set for a month or so, remove the plastic and plant in the bed.

The solarization process has been found to pasteurize the soil while leaving many beneficial organisms alone. As for your current tomato plants, remove them from the garden and place them out with the trash to avoid infecting other plants in your garden.

If you have any horticulture questions, call the U of I Extension office 345-7034. Volunteer Master Gardeners are in the office on: Monday—2 to 4 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday—9-11 a.m.

This column is based on information and materials at the University of Illinois Extension office, located at 707 Windsor Road, Suite A., Charleston, 61920; phone 345-7034; or web site: www.extension.uiuc.edu/coles/