The annual Mt. Carroll Garden Walk will be held from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, July 14.

Six gardens have been scheduled for this year's event showing a wide range of gardening interests. Garden stops include: John and Nancy Gmitro; Deb Myers; Jason and Becky McGinty; Dick and Ruby Handel; Robert and Cindy Sisler; and Terry and Donna Bausman.

Two presentations will be given; one by Robin Fisch, University of Illinois Extension Family and Consumer coordinator, on "Herbs" and one by Patt Caldwell, Carroll County Master Gardener, on "Container Gardening". In addition, Diane Manikowski's "Garden of Quilts" will be featured.

Courthouse Square will feature garden art/items and plants for sale.

Tickets are $5 per person and will be available that day, along with a map, at Mt. Carroll City Hall.

The event is sponsored by the Mt. Carroll Chamber of Commerce with assistance by the Carroll County Master Gardeners.

University of Illinois Extension is once again presenting the Four Seasons Gardening program. Three seminars for each of the four seasons are offered. Each seminar features a color slide presentation accompanied by the voice of the instructor as people from all over the state participate. The topics and dates for the July Series are:

Landscape Maintenance presented by Sandy Mason, U of I Extension horticulture educator. Not sure when to fertilize the lawn or prune the forsythias? Sometimes it's confusing when, or what, to do to maintain the landscape. This seminar covers basic aspects of caring for the home landscape including flower maintenance, lawn fertilizing and seeding, and tree and shrub planting and pruning. It will be presented at 1 pm on Tuesday, July 17 and repeated at 7 pm on Thursday, July 19.

Rain Gardens: A Wise Way to Use Runoff presented by Duane Friend, U of I Extension natural resources educator. A rain garden, designed with wildflowers and native vegetation, collects runoff from roofs and allows the water to filter slowly into the ground rather than end up down the street. This session shows you how to properly design a rain garden to enhance the beauty of the yard and provide habitat for birds and butterflies. It will be presented at 1 pm on Tuesday, July 31 and repeated at 7 pm on Thursday, Aug. 2.

All seminars will be presented at each County Extension Office. There is a fee of $3 per session and pre-registration is required.

Future presentations include: Controlling Garden Weeds; Vegetable Insect Pests; Household Insect Pests; and Growing Grapes.

Master Gardeners in both Carroll and Jo Daviess Counties have begun their Help Desk hours. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer your questions from 9-10 am on Mondays and Thursdays in Jo Daviess County and from 1-2 pm on Mondays and Thursdays in Carroll County. This is part of the Master Gardener Mission to "help others learn to grow" and is offered annually throughout the growing season.

With the popularity of ornamental grasses and their use in the landscape, it is a good idea to understand how these plants grow. This understanding will lead to better use of these plants and often avoid disappointment or frustration.

Grasses respond and start to grow based upon temperature. Some grasses will start to grow in early spring when temperatures are still cool and others will wait until the soil is warm and temperatures are more stable.

Cool Season Grasses

Cool season grass will start to grow early in the spring and may even remain semi-evergreen over the winter. Cool season grasses also seem to do better and have better foliage quality when temperatures are cool or if the are given sufficient water during drought periods. If they are not watered during drought, they tend to go dormant resulting in brown foliage. These grasses may require more frequent division to keep them healthy looking and vigorous. If not, they tend to die out in the center. For the ones that remain semi-evergreen, you should only cut off the brown or winter injured foliage in the spring. Some of the more popular cool season grasses include, Fescues, Blue Oat Grass

(Helictotrichon), Tufted Hair Grass, (Deschampsia), and Autumn Moor Grass (Sesleria).

Warm Season Grasses

Warm season grasses will do better during warmer times of the year and remain good looking even when temperatures are high and moisture is limited. Warm season grasses do not begin to show growth until the weather becomes stable and the soils warm. The previous seasons growth usually browns out in the fall requiring the cutting back of plants to about 4-6 inches in the spring. Warm season grasses usually do not require as frequent division as cool season grasses. Some warm season grasses include Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium), Japanese Silver Grass (Miscanthus sp.), HardyPampas Grass (Erianthus), Perennial Fountain Grass (Pennisetum), and Prairie Cord Grass (Spartina).

Growth Habits

Before planting you should also understand the growth habit of the grass. Grasses can be either clump forming or rhizome forming. The latter is often call "running" grass. The clump forming grasses will grow in very nice, neat mounds or clumps. They tend to mix very well with other perennials and will not become invasive. They will increase

in girth slowly over time. The rhizome forming grasses spread by underground stems and can become very aggressive and invasive. These grasses have their place but it may not be in a well-tended perennial border since they can soon take over an entire area. Before selecting a grass, be sure to understand how it grows so you won't be planting a future problem. Some attractive, but aggressive, grasses include Blue Lymegrass, Cordgrass, and Ribbongrass.

Q: My neighbor gave me an Oriental poppy. How do I plant and care for this perennial?

A: Oriental poppies do best in a full sun site and in soils that are very well drained. Do not plant them in heavy, wet soils as they then become short lived. The first year after planting they like to be mulched. After planting and establishment, they tend to like to be left alone as they become hard to move due to their very fleshy tap root system.

After flowering the old flowering stems and foliage starts to decline. Many gardeners will cut the old stems and foliage to the ground after flowering or you can leave it in place and then remove it around the end of July. Cutting back after flowering will sometimes encourage new but smaller growth for the remainder of the summer. The new leaves should be left for the winter and help act as a winter mulch for the crown of the plant.

Q: What do I need to do to get rid of moles in my lawn?

A: Tough problem to deal with and there is no one solution. Still the best way is to find an active burrow and set traps. While they may be feeding on soil insects it is usually not practical to treat the soil and kill off their food source as it may be anything from grubs to earthworms.

You've planted the seeds, watered the plants and waited for your crop to come in. The real test for the home gardener is to know when to pick the fruits of the labor.

A home gardener can harvest at the moment of ripeness when the vegetables are highest in vitamins and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron.

"For the best flavor and storage capability, pick your crops first thing in the morning," Ferretti says. "They will be cool and firm and will not have absorbed any natural field heat."

Tomatoes. Tomatoes should be picked when they are firm and have reached full color – crimson, red, yellow or other colors depending upon the variety. "It's probably a good idea to pick a range of ripening tomatoes every few days even though the ripening tomatoes will have slightly less amounts of vitamins and minerals than the fully ripe fruits," Ferretti says.

Peppers. Green peppers are picked and used before full ripeness, so Ferretti recommends gardeners gauge ripeness by the size estimate on a seed packet or in a seed catalog. Firmness also is a ripeness indicator. If the pepper feels as though it has thin walls, it is not ripe. "When green peppers are allowed to ripen, they can turn into a rainbow of colors depending on the variety. Use peppers ripened to full color quickly because they have only a few days of shelf life at that stage."

Zucchini. Zucchini tastes best when harvested at lengths from 6-10 inches. "I wouldn't let them grow longer than a foot, after that zucchini gets tough and develops more seeds. Longer zucchini that escaped your attention during picking can be grated, or breaded and fried."

Cucumbers. Pickle cucumbers should not be gown beyond approximately 4 inches. Other types, such as some burpless or Oriental varieties, can reach ripeness at nearly 15 inches. Ferretti says the long cucumber types are ripe when they retain a hint of the ridges and spinyness associated with immature cucumbers. "Think of a cucumber as a balloon, if it's inflated to a perfect smoothness, it's too far gone."

Eggplant. Estimate ripeness by comparing the crop to the size and shape described on the seed package or catalog. It should be shiny and glossy. The stem and cap should be mint green or purple, depending on the type.

Melons (muskmelons and cantaloupes). Most melons are perfectly ripe when they separate from the vine easily...a small tug should be enough. Other melon types are ripe when they turn from a greenish hue to a more yellow or orange color.

Watermelons. Each watermelon will have a pigtailed tendril of growth near the stem. As that tendril browns or dies, look at the underside of the melon. The underside should be slightly yellow. Inside, the seeds will be deep brown to black, not light tan.

Leaf Lettuce and Spinach. Although gardeners can harvest the entire plant head early to thin the crop, Ferretti recommends removing and using the outer leaves of the plant as you need them. The plant will keep producing leaves until a killing frost. You can harvest chard and rhubarb the same way.

Onions. Because most onions are grown from sets, which means many of the plants grow too close together, Ferretti recommends thinning out the plants. Onions are ready for final

Snap (green or wax) Beans. The key to harvesting snap beans is to pick them before the pod shows any seed development. There sould be no swelling where you can see the seed in the bean. Also, the bean should literally snap when you break it. If they're over the hill, the bean will be rubbery.

Broccoli. Broccoli plants produce a large central head comprised of tightly bound buds. Ferretti says the head should be harvested before any hint of yellowing appears and before the buds separate. Some broccoli varieties will continue to produce large shoots even after the central head has been harvested.

Flat Edible Pod Peas. These crops, known as Chinese peas or snow peas, should be picked when still flat, before the pod reveals the outline of the internal seeds. Check the size description on the seed packet or catalog as well.

Round Edible Pod Peas. Also known as snap peas. Ferretti says these varieties are the sweetest and most tender peas. They should be picked when fully round and smooth. The color should be mint green.

English Peas. The pod should be shiny and swelled enough to suggest the outline of the peas. All pea varieties should be cooled immediately after picking, because their sugars will turn to starch.

- Pete Ferrettis, a vegetable expert at Penn State