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September
5, 2001
Ahh-Choo!
Boy am I suffering! It is not the heat this time but my
allergies. I could hardly bear to be outside gardening this
past weekend. Then to top things off I opened up the house
so that everyone could enjoy the cooler air and ended up
unbelievably miserable. When will I learn? I am
always so eager to enjoy the cooler weather that I forget that my
nose and Mother Nature seem to be at odds with one another.
I guess you just have to be a true gardener to be planting with a
trowel in one hand and a tissue in the other!
Kevin
overseeded our lawns last weekend. The front was a real
mess - largely due to the backhoe that was parked there
supporting our chimney earlier this year. Now's the time to
do your own overseeding. To help you out we've published Overseeding
A Lawn in our Features
section. Check it out!
I have
started to cut back all of my perennials so that I can make room
for my fall blooming flowers. Asters, Sedum (Autumn Joy,
one of my favorites) and this new little blue flowered plant
called Plumbago. I picked it up at The
Sweet Onion in the spring and it is in full bloom. The tiny
blue flower is particularly attractive against the back drop of
its dark green leaves. I am pleased to have discovered
it. Most of my other perennials are done producing and look
a little tired. I have started preparing them for their
long winter nap.
After many
hours of contemplation I have decided not to switch out my
pots. I normally plant mums and pansies this time of year
because everything always looks so wilted. However this
year that is not the case. My pots still look great and I
think that I am going to take a risk and hope that they will
continue to flower once the cooler weather arrives.
Decisions, decisions. Who said it was easy being a
gardener?
Rain is on
the way and that's always welcome. After that I will
continue to enjoy the weather now that the humidity levels are
tapering off. I will also remember to not travel far from
the house without a tissue in hand. Fall is slowly on its
way!
~
Shelly
Tomato
Trickery...
With summer gradually coming to an end you may want to try a
couple of tricks to get the most out of your tomato
plants.
- By
removing some of the leaves more sunlight will be allowed to
reach your tomatoes. The shady protection they provide
is not needed as much now that fall is closing in.
- Lopping
the tops off the plants will help ensure that the plants'
energy will go into finishing existing fruit production rather
than the now hopeless task of producing new fruit.
The
Great Divide...
Thank goodness the temperatures have fallen. There's work to be
done! Those perennials that seem to be bursting from their
beds need some relief. If they are done blooming for the
year it's time to divide them.
You'll know
your plants need to be divided if:
- They are
spreading beyond your desired range for them.
- The
flowers are not producing as well as in the past.
- The
center of the clump of of flowers is dying.
- The lower
areas of foliage are sickly.
For a quick
but effective description of the dividing process you can read "Dividing
Spring Blooming Perennials" in our Features
section.
You Can
Hear A Needle Drop...
Savvygardeners may be starting to see very noticeable natural needle drop on
pines. This is a process where 2- to 4-year-old interior
needles turn yellow, then brown, and eventually drop off.
Those who aren't familiar with this process often are concerned
about the health of the tree. This is a natural phenomenon
that occurs every year and does not hurt the tree though some years it is much more noticeable than others.
If you are concerned be sure
to check that only the older needles are affected. The needles on
the tips of the branches should still look fine and there should
be no spotting or banding on the needles that are turning yellow.
If spotting or banding is apparent take a sample into your local
county extension office for diagnosis.
Source
Root
Burlap: Friend or Faux?
If you are planting a balled and burlapped (B&B) tree or
shrub this fall pay close attention to the material of the
"burlap". Many B&B's are now sold with
synthetic burlap that will not decompose in the ground. If
this plastic burlap remains around the roots the plant will
become root-bound and and will not grow properly. Since
some of this new material closely resembles traditional cotton
burlap you need to be careful. If you have any doubt at all
cut it away from the root ball once it's in place.
Yellow
Vine On The Horizon...
According to K-State Research & Extension we have a new
garden enemy in town. Yellow vine disease was found
on pumpkin samples from the Wichita and Kansas City areas this
past week. The identity of the disease was confirmed by Dr.
Jacqueline Fletcher at Oklahoma State University. Although
the vine decline has been present in Oklahoma for several years,
this is the first report of the disease in the Kansas City
area. Affecting pumpkin, squash, watermelon and muskmelon
this disease has been responsible for substantial damage to
watermelon and pumpkin plants in Oklahoma and is potentially a
very serious problem for us as well.
Symptoms of
the disease vary depending on host and time of infection.
Plants infected soon after fruit set may rapidly wilt and die
within a couple of days. These symptoms may be confused
with bacterial wilt (seen on muskmelon but rarely on pumpkin and
squash). Other plants may not show symptoms until a few
weeks before harvest. Then, leaves on the vine turn yellow
with the older leaves also developing a scorched
appearance. The youngest, or terminal leaves tend to stand
in a vertical position and curl inward at the leaf margin.
Symptoms of the later stages of vine decline may be confused with
Fusarium crown and root rot. The disease is caused by a
phloem-limited bacterium and is apparently transmitted from plant
to plant by squash bugs.
Further
studies on the epidemiology of the disease are in progress in
Oklahoma. Right now there are not a lot of control
options. Maintain a program to reduce squash bug
populations in the field. Once the plant is infected there
is no control. If you have seen or heard of any unusual
declines of pumpkins, squash or watermelon in the area, please
contact Ned Tisserat
at K-State Research & Extension.
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What's
Hot On The Hotline...
Many calls and visits to the K-State Research and Extension
Master Gardeners' Hotline now concern trees showing the
cumulative results of environmental conditions to which they have
been exposed over the past two to three years. It often
takes this long for them to respond visibly. The stress
shows itself in scorched and curling leaves, and is aggravated by
hot winds and irregular supplies of rainfall. The reasons
vary but they, and the appropriate solutions, can be found in this
week's What's
Hot on the Hotline...
Turf
Tips by Chris Karcher
It's definitely lawn season again! Those of us with
cool season grasses (bluegrass, tall fescue, etc...) will find no
better time to improve our lawns. This month Chris Karcher
addresses the all-important practice of core aeration. As a
bonus he has also included his tips for the care of newly seeded
lawns. You'll find them both in Turf
Tips...
Finally...
"Winter
is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and
autumn a mosaic of them all." ~
Stanley Horowitz |
