July 27, 2006
|
The Know, Hoe, Sow, Grow and Show Guide | Volume # 5 | July 27/06 |
|||||||
Wow! The article last week about pests ignited a firestorm of emails. I simply couldn’t get to them all. I think it was the largest mailing of subscriber emails I’ve ever seen over a week’s time. My apologies to those who I haven’t responded to. There are a few great posts below! * * * * * * You want to check out the blog of the week this week if you have pest problems in the garden. (insert big grin here) * * * * * * There will NOT be a newsletter next week. I’m taking a bit of a holiday so I won’t be filling your mailbox as usual. * * * * * * But immediately after that, I’ll be able to tell you of the really interesting things I’m doing – another interesting download for subscribers!! Have a great week in your garden Doug
Doug's Blog is at http://doug-greens-gardening.blogspot.com Doug's lens is at http://www.squidoo.com/beginning-gardening/ You can download Right now, there's one on "A Dictionary of Gardening", "Plant Thugs" and "Gardening with Children".
Picture of the Week
Growing Sweet Pea Flowers http://www.beginner-gardening.com/sweet-pea-flowers.html What a Successful Compost Tea Maker Has to Have (home built or otherwise) http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/compost-tea-maker.html Growing Tradescantia http://www.water-gardens-information.com/growing-tradescantia.html A list of taller growing perennial flowers http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/tall-perennial-flowers.html Growing Eranthis or Winter Aconite in the bulb garden http://www.flower-garden-bulbs.com/growing-eranthis.html
Please do a search here. Search Here If you don't find what you're looking for - HIT REPLY ON THIS NEWSLETTER TO ASK YOUR QUESTION (that's easy isn't it) Your email address will get through my spam filters.
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * ** Hi Doug, I have a maple tree, just a normal green maple (Norway I think) that the city planted about 18 years ago, and is surrounded by periwinkle. It has suffered mold spots for the last 3 years, except last year it was good, but it seems that the very crown of the tree for 3 seasons? is dying and the spots are back (just recently I might add) Also it is producing very long branches with even shorter than normal side branches. It looks like it's on a diet or something! Whereas my maple out back is full and HUGE and has suffered the mold too, but seems to not notice it. It is literally 5x larger and fuller than the one out front. I ask this- should I trim these long, spindly branches severely back to the? trunk or just a little bit to encourage bushiness? Also, when do you trim a maple, if at all? I am in Waterloo Region. Zone 5, right? I have clay soil too. If it has verticillium, in the crown of the tree, is it savable or will the city be responsible to take it down at some point? I admit it doesn't get watered as much as the tree out back where all my amazing?perennial garden is. :-) Any thoughts on my next move? Thanx, Marie
A: The black tar spots are one of the black-spot fungal problems that have been on many trees (particularly maples) over the past few years. The weather has been perfect for the development of this problem. Luckily it doesn’t really bother large established trees because as you note – it tends to come on later in the season and the tree has the energy to shrug it off. It’s ugly but not a major tree problem. Die back usually relates to a root problem. (Problem with the tops are directly tied into the bottoms) Sometimes it can also be a graft problem but if the tree is a non-grafted variety, this is not the case. Why die back? Take your pick. Excessive heat – lack of moisture – soil compaction – whipper snipper disease – fungal disease. Most often the growing conditions of the tree (above) lead to infection of poorly growing trees and the tree succumbs. (I note verticillium is not one of the leading contenders for killing maples – there are much more likely candidates but all controls are almost equally ineffective against larger trees) We stick a tree in a few feet of soil – pave over its roots (the ones that collect moisture and food) smash its roots with ongoing pressure from cars and trucks – pick up all the leaves so the soil fungi it needs to live can’t fully develop. And then we wonder why the tree in the backyard is doing much better? (insert wry grin here) Having said that – stretching of branches is usually a low light indicator – a high nitrogen indicator, a struggling lack of fertility indicator. If this were my tree, I wouldn’t prune it. I wouldn’t reduce the struggling leaf surface – I want all the photosynthesis I can get. I’d be tempted to compost the heck out of this one (several inches deep) and if water is an issue – run the hose down there once a week for a few hours of trickle time. I’d try my best to replicate natural conditions. Oh yeah, I’d cross my fingers as tightly as I could. Does the city cut it down? Depends on your local bylaws I suspect. I have no idea who gets this firewood if/when it goes.
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * **
Doug, my husband had a lot of Japanese beetles on his roses. He was spraying them with systemic bug killer. But by the time the beetles ate enough to kill them, they had eaten into the buds. So he bought some Beetle bag traps and that did the job. He placed one on each side of his rose garden and within the week there were no beetles. There were hundreds in the bags. He placed new bettle bags out and now no beetles to catch. A: Thanks for this testament to the power of organic controls Delores. You gotta love success stories and there’s nothing nicer than a “guy” who finally “gets it”. :-)
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * ** Hi Doug, Thought I'd try to help on the Japanese beetle issue. So far my experience has been that the "rascals" are attracted mostly to plants with "problems" ie. diseased, weak, underwatered, under-nourished, weed infested, etc. The beetles seem to have "radar" for them. I also learned from 2005 (while observing my new surroundings) that they are DEFINITELY attracted to Canna Lilies because cannas are notorious for leaf rollers resulting in them being sickly all the time. Chemical treatment or not (for either the Cannas' leaf rollers or the beetles) the Japanese beetles love them and will end up on them. Frankly, I'm getting rid of mine * whereas my gardening philosophy is that if you have to spend too much energy to keep something alive, you can't enjoy gardening. The Cannas are "history" one way or another; either the beetles will eat them to oblivion and continue to lay eggs in and beneath the Cannas root systems only to re-appear and be annoying while threatening other plants (and shrubs) the following year. Or dig them up and destroy them. I'm digging them up Spring '07. Bye-bye Cannas ... Fall '05 I also cut down all my fruit trees while replacing the Plum trees with good old Leyland Cypress. The peach trees were not replaced seeing as to how they were near my vegetable garden. I've had less Japanese beetles this year and the ones that appeared went straight to the Cannas. I just used common sense, and placed a "trap" in the middle of the Cannas to lure them away from anything else. But if I'd had time when the Cannas began coming up and had dug them up to bag and throw away, my "educated guess" is that I wouldn't have had ANY Japanese beetles at all this year. * Japanese beetles also prefer to breed and eat in direct sunlight. I may decide to leave my red Cannas that are in part-shade since I noticed the beetles went to the Cannas that were in full sun. Japanese beetles also like Zinnias (Lilliput variety) but don't swarm to them. Pick the one or so off that occasionally get on them (while Not allowing them to fly away) and stomp them which is the best pest control ;-) and more economical too ;-) I'm not sadomasochistic, but I do admit I enjoyed it ;-) My conclusion? Get rid of any plant that has drawn Japanese beetles to your property. There's a "rumor" thorough the local Agricultural Extension Office that the Japanese beetle population will lessen during the next few years. I certainly hope for everyone's sake that the rumor turns out to be fact. But I'm not willing to wait it out. I want relief immediately. I'm not going to stand by and watch those "metallic, sex addict demons" destroy my hard work. Therefore I am sticking to my plan of completing "phase #2" and ridding my land of those "full sun" Cannas and that in theory should do it. I know others who have agreed while also noting that there are plenty of other shrubs, trees and flowering plants that flourish that don't attract Japanese beetles, so plant and enjoy them. Pretty simple - eh ?! But I will continue to experiment by (finally) planting my Hollyhock seeds 2008 (suppose to attract them) once during '07 I see if ridding the landscape of the Cannas has eliminated any Japanese beetles during '07. In closing, recently I discovered a couple of dead Japanese beetles underneath my Giant Marigolds in my vegetable garden. Hmmmmm !?! May have something here !?! I've had "mixed emotions" about whether Marigolds actually deter bugs in a garden spot but this is certainly evidence that apparently there could be "something to it". Japanese beetles also like Four O'Clock leaves. Good. They are poisonous. And I will examine this area (away from my immediate surroundings) to see if there are any dead beetles. Hope this helps, Vickie Happy Gardening !! A: It's a great posting - we can all learn from Vickie and posts like this with practical experience. I'm working on a system that will let us do this on the website - that will let us all share even more practical info. :-))
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * ** Hello Doug, My Diablo ninebark was totally eaten by aphids. I was debating whether to cut the branches down to about a foot and see if it will come back healthier. The shrub is has been in it's location for 4 years. Help! Carol A: If the leaves disappeared, it wasn’t aphids. They suck the life out of the leaves but not chew them. So you could actually have two pests there. Insecticidal soap or strong jets of water control aphids easily. Other pests – diatomaceous earth or rotenone are also broad-spectrum effective. READ THE LABELS before using. But yes, you can chop this plant to the ground or as much as you have the nerve for and it will come back up. Good luck.
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * ** Good morning Doug I have been gardening for many moons, but this time I's starting to loose patience and forget about growing vegetables, all the efforts you put in it, it gets cheaper to buy at the store. I have doubled my garden by another 550 square feet, all dug by hand, I was slicing only 3 inches at a time, shaking it well the earth and I tought I was on the good path, grass and dandelions are a charm to get rid, you dig 12-15 inches and they are gone for ever, just do the daily weeding. After well organizing my planting, in a matter of 10 days to 2 weeks the new garden was full of crawling wine leaves, even if you delicately dig deep, get the leaves, the white long stem, expect the pull the full plant, even digging 18-24 inches you don't get the roots, the roots break at a much lower depth, still you dig. The following week, again the same story it grows like crazy, and it's full all over the garden, but if we could eat this garbish I would not mind leaving it grow, it is a cancer.
I now spend more time removing these weeds then taking care of my garden, Doug do you have a solution. I would understand if I would have followed the bright idea of the "professsional gardener" who was to drop 12 inches of earth on top of my present grass and later plant, but no I dug out the full garden inches by inches, remove everything, and now I have such a result. Doug, your advisesssss will be appreciated. Sincerely yours Philippe
A: Man, I can understand that frustration. You should see my own veg patch right now. Not a pretty sight either. 1) Putting top soil down on top of weedy ground rarely works. Really noxious weeds that have extensive roots come right up through. 2) If you really want to get rid of stuff like that (you don’t say how deep you dug – I usually go down 18 inches) then use the soil solarization system. Cover the area with clear plastic. Seal the edges so no air can get underneath. Let it sit all summer. It will initially grow like stink under there but the heat and the lack of moisture will kill off all plants. Also seeds and soil pathogens in the top 3 inches or so will be killed off as well. You’ll have clean ground the following season. 3) Or you can keep on keeping on at it.:-)
*** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** * ** I recently lost 16 out of 18 goldfish. They were 6 yrs old and I've never had a raccoon in my yard before. They made a mess, and left decapitated fish everywhere. I was heartbroken. I read about some sort of powder made from coyote urine that is suppose to deter them from coming around if you shake it on the ground around the pond. Have you heard of this or its effectiveness??? Bonnie A: Keeping raccoons out of the garden is almost an impossible job and no coyote urine is going to do it. Those monsters will take on all smells and dogs. I’ve seen a city-raised German Shepherd get torn apart by a big old ‘coon – stupid dog didn’t know it was beat. Raccoon just waddled calmly away afterwards. One solution is to make deep ponds and put fish hiding spots in there. Raccoons won’t wade into the deeper areas to get the fish and if there are hiding holes (big round tiles work well) then the fish have a sanctuary. If the pond is shallow – there’s no hope at all for the fish as the animal will wade in for dinner. If any readers have “solutions” to this problem – we’re all waiting for it.
Sometimes in the middle of the summer I’m not sure what to write about in the garden. I wander out there, see all the plants in bloom and figure that you folks are doing the same thing. What in the heck am I going to write about when everything is doing so nicely? Do I write about problems in the garden confessing my sins? Or, do I wax poetically about some gorgeous yellow rose that just started throwing sweetly fragrant blossoms? I could even run on the rampage because of a bush rose I bought this spring that has turned out to be mislabeled. What was supposed to be a tall rugosa rose in red has turned out to be a short ground cover rose in pink. I’m not overly impressed with this latest development I can assure you. But if that’s the worst thing I have happen to me this gardening season, I can live with it. But is it? This rose, and a bunch of other plants, will be moved this fall after they are dormant. As soon as the leaves come off the plants, they’ll be picked out of their current location and wheelbarrowed someplace more appropriate. While I’m comfortable moving some of the perennials, I’m just not quite sure where that ground cover rose is going to wind up. The perennials need more space and a better sense of plant combinations. I currently have a perennial blue Geranium next to a slightly different shade of blue Veronica and the combination is either quite inspired or quite sickly, depending on how I’m feeling that day. I’m moving the Veronica to get rid of the question. A week’s holiday did what every week’s holiday is supposed to do. It turned the vegetable garden into a weedy nightmare. That garden is almost a lost cause in some parts; who knew that pigweed could grow that fast. The tomatoes are holding their own as they were fairly clean before I went away. However, let us not consider the pea patch. The annual pull-up-the-peas, vine and all, will happen this week and I’ll get rid of as many weeds as peas I’m sure. You may recall that this section of ground wasn’t doing very well to begin with so I’m going to declare it a lost cause and start double-digging in there for next year. I’ll likely go for some fall crops of broccoli and other cole crops by digging now and planting next month. The holiday also killed off a few shrub cuttings (well, more than a few) because the automatic system that was going to keep them damp decided to not be an automatic system. The holiday was worth it though, even though I collected far too much sunshine this past weekend. Both my plants and I are sucking back water in an attempt to rehydrate. And I note that the new Hydrangea ‘Forever & Ever’ that I wrote about a few weeks back is still in lovely bloom but that it does demand a fair amount of water. Sometimes in the late afternoon, it will wilt and the flowers will be hanging down but within an hour of being soaked, it will be standing straight up and looking perky. The first time this happened, I thought the flowers would disappear because of the wilting. They recovered as quickly as the shrub did and I’m delighted. I can’t begin to recommend this plant highly enough for its summer appearance; that’s assuming of course that you water more regularly than I do. Speaking of this Hydrangea bed, I’m reminded how weedy Campanula persificolia or the peach-leaved bellflower really is. This darn thing is all over my garden as a former owner must have liked it or found it all too easy to grow. Seedlings are popping up through 3 inches of bark mulch they are so eager to see the sunlight. I’m whacking them out as fast as I can. I did a few minutes of pulling to get me in the mood to write this morning and I now understand that this is going to take more than just a few minutes to get this plant under control. This is by way of saying that I’ll be deadheading all the nice campanula in my garden this week as their flowers are starting to fade so they don’t even think about doing the same thing. Those cuttings are going into the garbage too, and not into the compost barrel as I don’t want them to even think of surviving in my garden. I’ll nip those weeds in the bud so to speak. So this is my week to weed and deadhead in the garden. I’ll be cleaning it up and getting rid of as many weeds and seedling weeds as possible. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Given I have some gardening folks coming this weekend, the garden has to look at least presentable. By the time you’re reading this, we’ll have wandered the garden and discussed all the plants. A little extra mulch and a few hours of weed pulling should do the trick.
Don’t you just love the motivation of having company to get you to do all those little chores you’ve been putting off? Sometimes I think it’s the only way I’ll get any work done. At the height of the perennial season in mid-July, the report card on this brand new garden is barely a passing grade. I knew it wouldn’t look great and that the new soil would take some time to get going so seeing the reality of that isn’t overly surprising. While I confess I was hoping for a plant miracle and lush growth the first year, I do understand that developing great soil will take a few years. But the plants are mostly alive and growing and a little work on my part will put them in good stead for the fall root-growth season so I’m happy with that. Now if I can only get those weeds under control this week.
|
|||||||
|
Parting Words
“What shall I learn of beans or beans of me? I cherish them, I hoe them, early and late I have an eye on them; and this is my day’s work.”
Henry David Thoreau
| |||||||
