Savvygardener.com


 

Visit Our Website
Previous Issues
Buyer's Guide  
Tell A Friend  

Donations

Send A Postcard!

Bookstore  
Magazines 
Gardening Catalogs

Site Search
Contact Us
Submit A Tip

Feature Articles

~ Houseplant Care
~ When to Start
Seeds Indoors
~ Seed Starting Indoors
~ Vegetable Garden Calendar
~ Seed Starting Tomatoes

~

Shrub Pruning Calendar
~ Pruning Clematis 
~ Gardening in the Shade
~ Summer-Flowering Bulb Care
~ Drought-Tolerant Flowers for KC
~ Preparing for a Soil Test
~ Changing the pH of Your Soil
~ Growing Herbs
~ All About Composting
~ All About Mulch
~ Worm Composting
~ When to Harvest Vegetables
~ Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
~ Organic Pesticides & Biopesticides
~ Cold Frames & Hot Beds
~ When to Divide Perennials
~ Dividing Spring Blooming Perennials
~ Forcing Bulbs Indoors
~ Overseeding A Lawn
~ Pruning Trees
~ Pruning Shrubs
~ More...

Rose Tips
What's Hot... 
Nuisance of the Week
Turf Tips...
Winter Wisdom
Gardener's Glossary 

SavvyChat
~ On-Line Gardening Forum

Books We Love
Great Products
Web Resources
Event Calendar

Local Sponsors

~ Bradfield Industries
~ Family Tree Nursery
~ The Kelly Gallery
~ The Lawn Ranger
~ Missouri Organic Recycling
~ The Sweet Onion

Subscribe

Tell A Friend

Privacy Pledge

 

 

 

Click Here for Great Soil and Compost!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lawn Ranger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 16, 2003

Crazy In Love...
How ironic that this week's inspirational quotation would be about me! Not only is gardening a true passion of mine but it also makes me a bit crazy. Crazy in a funny kind of way. Weeds are the vain of my existence and I am imprisoned by them. This time of the year is all about keeping the garden free from weeds. Although there is a lot of work that goes into keeping everything alive in this scorching climate I would still rather be weeding as opposed to doing anything else. Now how crazy is that? Weeding brings a sense of satisfaction to me. It makes me feel like I am needed. Needed in the sense of making sure that every weed in the garden has been pulled and there is nothing but sheer beauty left to gaze upon. So the next time you are at a party or a friend's house and stop your conversation to "help" them out by pulling a weed, think of me.

Make sure that you are watering smart these days. If you need to refresh your memory when the best time for watering during this hot, humid summer check out our annual watering issue. Stay cool!

~ Shelly  

Invigorating Irises...
To promote growth, vigor and optimum flowering, iris clumps may be raised and divided every three years or so.  Dig up the rhizomes carefully to avoid damage to rhizomes and their roots.  Examine them for the presence of worm-like insects called iris borers, which may seriously damage or destroy the plant.  If they are found, remove them, cut out the affected tissue and dust with a garden insecticide, such as Sevin, before replanting.  Select sound rhizomes with two or more growing points.  Rhizomes may be cut apart with a sharp knife, or snapped apart by hand.  Be sure to preserve as many rhizome roots as possible.  The best time to divide iris is in mid-summer while the plants are dormant.  Late July through mid August is preferred.

Source

When To Pick A Pepper...
Depending on what variety of bell pepper you are growing and what color you want it to be you have different guidelines to follow for the timing of your harvest.  Green bell varieties are usually picked when they are fully grown and mature - 3 to 4 inches long, firm and green.  Colored bell peppers start out green but should be left on the plant until they develop full flavor and ripen fully to red, yellow, orange or brown. 

Fall Crops Begin Now...
A fall harvest of cabbage, vine crops, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts means setting transplants in late July.  For lettuce, radish, carrots, beets, turnips, kale, and spinach, you should sow seeds in late July to early August.

Brussels sprouts are especially good fall crops as their flavor is enhanced by a mild frost.  They are hungry little guys so make monthly applications of 5-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of ½ cup per square yard from the time the plants are 4 inches tall through harvest.

 


What Are You Reading
When You're Not Reading
Savvygardener.com
?

Great Gardening Magazines
Are Only A Click Away!

 

 

The Right SPF For Veggies?
Hard working gardeners aren't the only ones subject to sunburn.  Exposure to the sun will turn your potato tubers and carrot shoulders green giving them an unpleasant taste.  This will occur when they are not planted deeply enough or have not been sufficiently mulched.  The green portions of the potato actually contain a bitter alkaloid that is moderately poisonous.  Simply cover the exposed tubers and/or shoulders with soil or mulch and they should retain their intended taste and goodness. 

Hot And Bothered Tomatoes...
This can be a frustrating time for area tomato growers.  The really hot weather we've been experiencing can cause our tomato plants to drop their blossoms before fruit sets.  Many gardeners believe that tomatoes love hot weather.  Actually they prefer daytime temperatures in the 70's and 80's coupled with nighttime temperatures in the 60's and 70's.  Our temperatures have been well above ideal lately.  Some gardeners respond by using "Blossom Set" but according to the Missouri Botanical Garden Extension Service (MOBOT) they may be wasting their time and money.   Blossom Set contains a hormone that solves the blossom drop problem when it is due to overnight temperatures falling below 60°F.  During hot weather, above 90°F, it is not effective.  According to MOBOT there is no real solution to the problem and no cultivars exist which seem better than others.  

Source

 


Tell Your Friends About
Savvygardener.com!

You Could Win A $50 Gift Certificate

Click Here For Details...

 

 

What's Hot On The Hotline...
Summer heat has a way of wearing down even the most enthusiatic gardeners.  Luckily there are some special trees that save their blooms to lift our heat-stressed spirits.  Looking for one of these for your landscape?  Read about them in this week's What's Hot On the Hotline...

Shady Characters...
Looking for a good, low exertion chore for the hot weather?  Try inspecting your shade trees and the grass below them.  They may be getting so full of branches that not enough sunlight filters through to your grass.  If your grass is just not making it under a particular tree you can stand in its shade and make some notes for future pruning.  You'd be surprised how well grass will respond to even a moderate amount of increased sunlight.

Finally...
"Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it. When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed."

~ Lewis Gannit, Author

To change your e-mail address, delivery method, or to stop delivery please follow the "Update Your Profile"  link at the bottom of your e-mailed newsletter.

Click Here for Organic Gardening Magazine!

© 1999-2003 Savvygardener.com, Inc. All rights reserved.  If you wish to copy, transmit, or otherwise duplicate any of the material from our website please ask us first.  Thank you.