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.
Q. What are everbearing and day-neutral strawberries? Will they do better or worse in my garden than the kinds you see growing on pick-your-own farms?
A. The strawberries you pick on local farms grow on plants that produce flower buds when days are short in early fall. The buds flower and fruit late in the following May and into June.
The everbearing and day-neutral types form flower buds throughout the growing season if the temperature doesn't exceed 85 degrees. In Maryland, this means that you usually get a good spring and fall berry crop, but just a handful of fruit during the summer months.
Most home gardeners seem to prefer the higher yields and reliability of the May- and June-bearing cultivars. Some recommended cultivars are 'Earliglo,' 'Annapolis,' 'Allstar,' 'Cavendish,' 'Delmarvel,' 'Primetime,' 'Mohawk' and 'Latestar.'
Q. I'm having poor luck growing vegetable plants indoors. My cabbage and tomato plants have flopped over and died. I'm growing them under fluorescent lights, and I planted them in a mixture of garden soil and potting soil. What went wrong?
A. Your seedlings were attacked by one or more very common water molds (fungi) that thrive in moist conditions. Damping-off is the common term used to describe this condition.
Put the garden soil back in the garden and thoroughly rinse off the pots and flats. Then submerge them in a 10-to-1 water-to-chlorine bleach solution for one minute. Rinse them well. Then go out and buy a soil-less potting mix containing peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. Start your seeds again and keep the growing media moist, not soaking wet.
THIS WEEK'S CHECKLIST
1. Use the "bounce test" to determine if your soil is dry enough to work. Squeeze a clump of soil into a ball and bounce it up and down in your hand. If it easily breaks apart, you're ready to go.
2. Remove gypsy-moth egg masses from trees, rocks and lawn furniture. Dispose of them in the trash.
Garden tips are provided by the Home and Garden Information Center of the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Maryland. For additional information on these questions, or if you have questions of your own, call the center's hot line at 800-342-2507, or visit its Web site at www.agnr.umd. edu/users/hgic.