Live garden Q&A Thursday, June 4, 1-2 p.m.

Q&A
A reader asks:
Does something like Dawn dish washing soap get rid of the worms?
Carol replies:
The inchworm hatch in trees and eat their leaves, especially oaks, maples and fruit trees. They also like blueberry bushes. I have my tree leaves professionally sprayed with Spinosad, a fermented bacteria which gives the inchworms a bad tummy ache. So now I have no inchworms. I suppose dish washing liquid might be useful in washing lawn furniture that you find dropping on, but you may have confused this with "insecticidal soap" which kills insects and which you buy at garden centers or on-line. If you are going to do your on spraying, you would have more success with Monteray Spray.

I will be on-line live at boston.com the next two Thursdays from 1-2 to answer you gardening questions. Or you can post them on this blog as "comments." You can also post fund raising gardening events like the followin as "comments."

Garden event:
The Aptucxet Garden Club is having a PLANT and BAKE SALE on Saturday, June 6 from 9am until 2pm. The sale will be held at the Pocasset Community Building, Barlow's Landing Road, Pocasset, Ma on Cape Cod. Perennials, annuals, herbs, raffle, bake sale and soil testing will be available.

What to do in the garden now:
Keep planting.
Even now, seeds will do better if you plant them in individual peat pots and start them indoors, where it is warmer, until they sprout. Then move them outside first in the daytime and then after a couple of days, full time. Park them in a sheltered place and keep them moist until they have grown a couple of true leaves. At that point, transplant them to their permanent position. If you you grow them in peat pots, you can plant them in the soil with their pots without having to disrupt them, but make sure the edge of the rim is covered with garden soil or it could wick away water.