Encouraging native plants and bolting lettuce

Q: How do we encourage native plants like lupine, Oregon grape and arnica for a natural yard? We keep an area unmowed, and we also need to think about fire resistance.

A: I am assuming that you have some native plants in the area now, that you want to have more of what you have, and possibly more variety. The existing plants obviously like their growing conditions, so it should be fairly easy to encourage them to spread. The ones that you mentioned like some sun, some shade. Wherever there are trees or shrubs nearby to provide shade for a few hours every day, these plants should be happy.

As with most local wildflowers , these plants are perennials which will live for years. They will increase both by spreading their roots and by starting new plants from seed. You can speed the process by letting all the plants you now have ripen and drop their seeds. (You can tell when seed is ripe because the seedpod changes color, usually turning from green to tan.) As long as you want seeds to drop near the parent plant, you need do nothing. If you want to start seedlings in different places, catch the seeds before they fall.

Before a seedpod ripens, cover it with a nylon stocking, or tie a paper bag over it. After the seedpod opens and releases its seeds, carry them to the spot where you want a new plant. Drop the seeds on the ground, being sure that they touch the dirt. Leave the seeds on the surface or barely cover them. Some will be eaten, some will die, but some should sprout next spring. Remember that wildflowers grow slowly. Some seeds may not even sprout until the second year.

To keep grass from crowding out all the native plants, and to reduce the risk of fire, mow the area once a year. The best time to mow is in the fall, after the flowers have dropped their seeds. Imitate natural conditions by leaving all the dead plants on the ground. Do not fertilize, either. Wildflowers like lean soil, and fertilizer would encourage only weeds. Do not irrigate unless an unusually hot and dry spell makes the natives look as if they were suffering.

Growing wild flowers from seed can be a complicated process. To add different plants, it is easier to buy them at local nurseries and transplant them to your wild area. You may also find plants of your own which you can dig and move. I recommend watering all transplants every day for the first week, then every other day for the second week, while they are trying to expand their small root systems. After that, rainfall should see them through.

You will need to do some weeding. Cut off weeds at the soil line as soon as you notice them. Do not pull or dig them, since that would disturb the soil and expose more of the weed seeds which are hiding there. Some weeds will have to be cut down more than once before they die, but you will succeed in starving their roots to death. Regrettably, there always will be more weed seeds which blow in on the wind. Your weeding chores will decrease with time, but they will never go away.

Q: What can I do to prevent my lettuce from bolting?

A: You can't stop it from trying to flower, but you can keep planting it. I start new lettuce from seed every three weeks all summer. I use small pots--the size of yogurt cups--in the house, moving the lettuce outdoors as soon as it sprouts. Then I transplant the baby lettuces to the ground when they have four leaves. Lettuce seed will not sprout when temperatures are hot. It just sits there, dormant, until the weather cools off. However, it will sprout easily at house temperatures and can immediately move outside, no matter what the weather is like.

Because lettuce prefers cool weather, I put midsummer plants where they can be shaded by bigger vegetables, or I give them a roof of shadecloth.

Hackett welcomes reader questions related to gardening, pest management, plants, soils and anything in between. Submit questions to mhackett@centric.net, call 406-961-4614 or mail questions to 1384 Meridian Road, Victor, MT 59875.