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May
8, 2002
Feeling
A Little Waterlogged...
Well we wanted some rain and by golly we got it! We
have had about 3½ inches in the last three days.
Enough already! The ground needs some time to dry out.
Of course you know how it works. We will receive all of
this spring rain and then in late June and July we will be
begging for a few drops. Oh how the Midwest weather is
becoming so predictable. It may be predictable but not very
conducive for gardening. It is way too wet to be planting
anything unless it's in pots with dry potting soil. I know
how hard it is to wait. Kevin and I picked up some
spectacular plants (photo)
Sunday at The Sweet Onion and they are just sitting outside
patiently awaiting a new home. Patience is not one of my
virtues. So for now the waiting game is the one we are
forced to play.
Hopefully the weather cooperates for The
Kelly Gallery's "Gardens In Bloom" this Saturday
May 11th from 10AM to 3PM. I am sure that proprietor Kelly
Daniels is keeping her fingers crossed as well. Please join
us for this fabulous event. Those of you who have been to
The Kelly Gallery in the past know that this is truly a place of
beauty. May I also suggest shopping for that perfect
Mother's Day gift at The
Barn. I know that I would love anything from there
(hint, hint Kevin). Kevin and I will be on hand to tour the
gardens with you or simply help you pick out that special gift.
The Kelly Gallery is always such a fun event. Hope to see
you there! (Also, I'll be promoting the event on KCTV-5
this Saturday between 8:00 and 8:30 AM).
It was a pleasure seeing several Savvygardeners at The Sweet
Onion's 1st Annual Garden and Music Festival (photos).
The music, food and atmosphere was so much fun. Needless to
say the shopping was great as well.
Fair
warning - next week's issue of this newsletter will arrive on
Tuesday morning (instead of Wednesday night). Our regular
schedule resumes the following week.
To all of you Mom's out there, have a terrific Mother's Day!
~
Shelly
A Word
About Your E-mail Privacy...
Just a quick reminder that we do not use your e-mail address for
anything but the sending of this newsletter and related items
(frost alerts, etc...). If you are receiving spam or
other unsolicited e-mail we can assure you that it is not because
of your association with us. Our privacy
pledge spells that out and we stand by that pledge every day.
Unfortunately
spam has become an unavoidable reality for anyone using
e-mail (you wouldn't believe how much we receive each
day!). That doesn't make it any less annoying but it helps
put things in perspective. Remember - the best response is
no response. Just make regular use of your delete
button.
Tip Top
Tools...
Here's a great way to keep your gardening hand tools clean
and free from rust. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with play sand.
Moisten the sand with mineral oil or even motor oil.
Plunging your tools into the sand/oil mix several times before
storing them will remove the dirt and leave a protective coating
of oil on the metal surface.
Jurassic
Plant?
Savvygardeners with a sense of science and history will enjoy
this - Researchers at the University of Florida have stunned the
world with the discovery of the fossil remains of the oldest
known flower. At 125 million years of age this flowering
plant is probably an extinct ancestor of every plant we grow in
our gardens today. Read the full story here...
Share Your Gardening Knowledge!
Learn From Other Gardeners!
It's SavvyChat!
It's Free!
It's
Here!
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Got
Irrigation?
We stumbled on this tip and couldn't resist passing it along:
Here's a
use for those used gallon milk containers - seep irrigation.
Simply use a large nail to punch holes in the sides of a jug,
spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bury the jug, leaving
the neck protruding from the soil. Fill the jug with water
(solutions of liquid fertilizer may be used to water and
fertilize at the same time) and screw the cap on firmly.
The water will gradually seep out, providing a slow, deep
irrigation for surrounding plants.
Source
Battling
Blight...
Early blight and Septoria blight are the two most common
foliar diseases of tomato. Early blight produces brown
spots (up to ½ inch in diameter) on infected
leaves. Concentric rings of darker brown often appear in
the leaf spots. Septoria blight produces small brown spots
(approximately 1/8 inch in diameter) with tan or gray centers and
dark edges. Both diseases cause heavily infected leaves to
eventually turn brown, die, and fall off. Lower leaves are
infected first with the diseases progressing upward during the
growing season.
Savvygardeners
can reduce blight problems on their tomatoes with good cultural
practices. Here's some tips:
- Start by
selecting stocky, healthy plants at a garden center or
greenhouse.
- Plant
your tomatoes in a different location in the garden each
year. Rotate crops so that tomatoes and other solanaceous
crops (potatoes, peppers, and eggplants) are not grown in the
same area for at least 3 or 4 years. Obviously this may
not be feasible for those with small vegetable gardens - just
try to rotate as much as possible.
- When
planting, space tomatoes approximately 3 feet apart.
Adequate spacing allows good air movement and promotes rapid
drying of plant foliage.
- Grow
tomato plants in wire cages. The foliage of tomatoes
grown in cages will dry more rapidly than those sprawled on
the ground.
- In early
June, apply a 2 to 3 inch layer of mulch around each tomato
plant. Shredded leaves, dry grass clippings, and straw
are excellent mulches. The mulch reduces the splashing
of fungal spores onto plant foliage.
- Avoid
wetting tomato foliage when watering. Apply water
directly to the ground around plants with drip irrigation, a
soaker hose or slow running hose. If a sprinkler must be
used, water in the morning so the foliage dries quickly.
- While
cultural practices may help control tomato blights, fungicides
are often needed. Apply fungicides (chlorothalonil,
maneb, or copper-based fungicides) at 7 to 14 day intervals
beginning 2 to 4 weeks after transplanting. Thorough
coverage is essential. Be sure to spray both the upper
and lower leaf surfaces as well as the centers of the
plants. Spray to the point of runoff.
- If blight
occurs, remove and destroy infected leaves as they
appear. Prompt removal of infected leaves may slow the
progress of the blights. At the end of the gardening
season, remove and destroy all infected tomato plants.
Clean up and dispose of as much tomato plant debris as
possible.
Source
What's
Hot On The Hotline...
This pattern of heavy rain followed by periods of sunshine
really have lawns growing fast. Don't take that vigorous
growth for granted however! Start using good lawn care
practices now for a healthier lawn through the season. Our
Hotline staffers cover the basics in this
week's What's
Hot on the Hotline...
The
Arthur Murray School of Mowing?
Most of us are creatures of habit. When it comes to mowing
your lawn you probably follow the same back and forth pattern
every time you cut the grass. Unfortunately this regular
practice will eventually wear ruts in the lawn where the mower
wheels repeatedly follow the same path. To avoid this
problem try a four-way rotation of cutting patterns.
Picture your lawn as a sheet of paper and try these patterns.
Next week - tango lessons:
- Horizontal
- left-to-right, turn, right-to-left across the lawn.
- Vertical
- top-to-bottom, turn, bottom-to-top across the lawn.
- Diagonal
1 - bottom-left to top-right, turn, top-right to
bottom-left. Work toward corners.
- Diagonal
2 - bottom-right to top-left, turn, top-left to
bottom-right. Work toward corners.
Finally... "My
mind is a garden. My thoughts are the seeds. My
harvest will be either flower or weeds." ~
Mel Weldon (submitted by Savvygardener mmellow) |
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