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July
11, 2001
Surfing
Without The Internet...
I must tell you that the weather here on the east coast is
fabulous. When we arrived in Baltimore on Friday the
temperature was in the mid 70's with no humidity. It was
somewhat of a shock and oddly enough I was a little chilly.
I was used to all of the heat we had been experiencing and was pleasantly
surprised by the change. Kevin's mother Mary has such a
fantastic garden! All of her flowers were in great shape -
nice full blooms and so much color! It is breathtaking and
Kevin and I always enjoy getting to see her garden. When we
arrive the first thing I want to do is take a tour. Of
course Mary is always willing to oblige. She is proud (and
rightly so) of all the beauty she has created. She has
quite an eye for creating beauty in unique spaces. She has
a tool shed that is perfectly aged with window boxes full of wave
petunias, flowing vines and double impatiens that are in full
bloom. A feast for the eye.
We
presently are in Nags
Head, North Carolina and the heat and
humidity have caught back up with us. It is OK since we are
at the beach. A little easier to tolerate. I hope
that everyone in the Kansas City area is surviving the heat spell
we are reading about on the web. I did talk with the
young man taking care of the house for us while we are gone and
he shared the hopeful information that we did get a little rain. I am sure it was
not enough and hopefully more relief will come soon. Kevin and I
will venture out this week to visit the Elizabethan Gardens so I
will write about our experience in next week's editorial.
Vacation is great and I feel as if I am getting a chance to relax
but am missing my own garden and the care I am sure that it is
needing.
Home soon!
~
Shelly
Nurturing
Nature's Night Lights...
Some
things just mean summer to me. Fireflies (lightning bugs to
some of you) fit that category nicely. My kids could spend
hours catching these magical creatures and putting them in a jar
or cage. Before calling it a night however, I make sure
they let the fireflies escape. Anglers call it catch and
release. I call it good
gardening. You see, the larvae of fireflies dine on
cutworms, mites, slugs, snails, soft-bodied insects and the
larvae of other insects. They apparently have voracious
appetites and quietly do wonders keeping pests at bay.
How To
Handle Hail...
Our perpetual nemesis in the Great Plains are sudden, severe
summer storms - many of which generate hail. Sometimes the
hail is small and does little damage while other times the
hailstones are large and can severely damage crops.
Hailstorms can often damage plants in one location while just down
the street there is no damage at all. Although there are no
general 'rules' to follow in assessing hail damage, here are some
things to consider:
- Don't be
too quick to assess damage. Immediately after the hail
the plants might look poor, but a day or so later can make a
difference. Wait 3-4 days before deciding whether to
replace hail-damaged plants.
- Plants
can rapidly develop new leaves, but stem damage is much more
serious. Consider replacing plants only when you have a
lot of stem damage or breakage- not just leaf damage.
- Usually
hail comes with rain, so adequate soil moisture will help
recovery. Give plants a little TLC for a week or so to
speed things up.
- A general
protective fungicide might be important because high humidity
usually follows a hail storm, and diseases can develop quickly
in warm, humid conditions on damaged tissues. A general
all-purpose fungicide such as Maneb, Ortho Liquid Fungicide,
Fertilome Liquid Fungicide, or products containing the active
ingredient chlorothalonil are good for general foliage fungus
protection following a hail.
- When in
doubt, allow the plants to remain rather than replacing them.
You are usually time and money ahead to allow plants to
recover rather than starting fresh unless plant damage is so
severe that recovery might not be possible.
Source
Timing
Is Everything...
Some of
us are morning people, others need more time to get going every
day. The same is true for garden vegetables! The time
of day you pick your vegetables can actually have a dramatic
effect on their taste and texture. For instance, your
lettuce and cucumbers will be crispier if picked early before the
hot sun has had a chance to wilt your crop. On the other
hand corn and peas will be sweeter if you wait until later in the
day when their sugar levels are highest. Yum!
Shake It
Up...
Although tomatoes are self-pollinating, they need movement to
transfer pollen. If it is hot and calm for several days you
may need to gently shake your plants to assure that pollen is
properly transferred. Very hot temperatures can also
interfere with blossom set. One solution is to mist the
plants periodically throughout the day. Careful here!
Wet leaves can promote other diseases. If you choose to
mist do it during the day when plants will have adequate time to
dry out before nightfall.
Spittle
Bugs On Red Buds...
Just outside our dining room window is our lovely Eastern
Redbud - one of my all time favorite trees. Lately the
redbud has been host to a strange little pest - the two-lined
spittlebug. This pest derives its name from the white,
frothy "spittle" the nymphs produce and the two red
stripes that go crosswise across the back. The eyes and
abdomen are bright red. Though the nymphs resemble the
adults, they are smaller and wingless. Color varies from
yellow to white to orange but the eyes are always red.
Here's the
weird part. Spittlebug nymphs suck plant juices like
aphids, but they remove so much water and carbohydrates that
excess fluid is produced. They cover themselves with this
fluid and then produce the spittle by bubbling air from the tip
of the abdomen into the liquid. The spittle mass helps
protect the nymphs both from drying and from predators.
Spittlebugs
normally do not achieve high enough populations to cause
damage. If they do, you can usually control them with a jet
of water from the garden hose. For really bad infestations
carbaryl (Sevin) will do them in.
Source
What's
Hot On The Hotline...
Now
that heat and humidity of summer are replacing an unusually rainy spring,
callers to the EMG Hotline are raising questions related to both
phenomena. To repeat an oft-heard expression, "There's fungus
among us!" Fungi of all sorts thrive in warm humid conditions.
Have they popped up in your yard or garden yet? Find out
why they do and what you should do in this
week's What's
Hot on the Hotline...
Dormez
Vous Fescue?
We've had a number of Savvygardeners ask about letting lawns go
dormant during summer. This time of year many cool-season
grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescue and perennial rye will
naturally go dormant and turn brown due to lack of water or too
much heat. Remember, the lawn is not dead - it's only
dormant and will green up again when the weather is more
favorable in the fall. Mow it regularly to about three
inches and water during extended dry periods.
Now, we've
been around long enough to know that most of you can't stand the
idea of brown grass all summer. If you wish to keep the
lawn green you will need to follow a regular watering routine before
the lawn begins to brown. Once the lawn goes dormant
watering will not generally green it up until fall. You
will need about 1 inch of rain or irrigation per week. It
is better to give the lawn a good soaking (to a 6 inch depth)
once a week than frequent light watering. Always water
early in the day to reduce disease occurrence.
Finally...
Rest
is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer
day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds
float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." ~
John Lubbock, (1834-1913), English Naturalist |
