This Week's Gardening Tips from the Savvygardener
Missouri Organic Mulch, Compost, Bulk Soil
 
In This Issue
~ Controlling Critters On Your Cukes ~ Give 'Em Room To Breathe ~ Disappointing Turf?
~ Dividing Daylilies ~ New Trees From Cuttings ~ This Week's Photos
~ Monitor Those Melons ~ Dividing Ornamental Grass ~ Inspiration
 
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~ All About Composting
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~ Houseplant Care
~ When to Start
Seeds Indoors
~ Seed Starting Indoors
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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
~ 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
~ Planting Trees
~ Deer Resistant Plants
~ Trees that Survived the Storm
~ Stump Removal Options for the Homeowner
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This Week's Photos

~ June 3, 2009 ~

Off To Market...
If you are a member of the Savvygardener Community, you probably read my blog yesterday about getting too much rain. Actually, there were moments of torrential downpours but for the most part I would have to say that yesterday was the quiet, rainy day I was looking for. Everything in the garden is so beautiful today - fresh, green and alive! The flowers are enjoying the cooler weather and I don't have to water :-) It sure would be great if we could have a least one day a week like yesterday. Our gardens would get the moisture they need and our water bills would be lower. I sure like the sound of that!

Noah, our oldest son and I visited the Farmers Market in Overland Park this morning. I was disappointed by the number of vendors present. I know that it is still a bit early for some vegetables and fruits grown in our area, but in the past it seems as if every stall has been filled. I know times are tough for everyone and it looks as if our local growers might be feeling the pinch as well. I can't stress how important it is that we support our local economy. Buying fruits and vegetables at the grocery store is convenient but nothing takes the place of interacting with people who grow or raise what we put on our tables. I will continue going to seek out home grown fruits and vegetables because after all, isn't that what makes summer so enjoyable?

~ Shelly   

Controlling Critters On Your Cukes...
The striped cucumber beetle is a serious threat to cucurbits, such as squash, cucumber, melon and pumpkin. The larvae will cause severe damage to roots and beetles can do a real number on an emerging plant by feeding on the lower surface of its leaves. These menaces also spread bacterial wilt, cucumber mosaic, and squash mosaic virus.

Although there are several insecticides that control the cucumber beetle, only a few chemicals can be used on cucurbit plants because of their sensitivity to chemical injury. Hand-picking is an organic approach and should be done in the early morning when most feeding occurs. These beetles are easy to kill but reinforcements arriving on the plants make this a very time consuming job.

Insecticides labeled for vegetables containing pyrethrum, rotenone, methoxychlor, or carbaryl (Sevin) should control the beetles. As always, follow directions and warnings carefully when using chemicals.

Dividing Daylilies...
One of the reasons we love daylilies is their fuss-free nature. Generally they don't need to be divided as often as many other perennials. However if you want to increase the number of your favorite cultivars you may want to divide them once in a while. Savvygardeners should be able to get four new plants from a healthy, 4-year old daylily. Divide them immediately after flowering, and replant them right away.

Monitor Those Melons...
Recent and upcoming warmer temperatures are sure to give watermelons a growth boost. Keep an eye on them! As vines from different plants begin to intermingle, and the canopy becomes thicker, the chances of developing anthracnose increase. It's a good idea to scout watermelon patches once or twice a week for this disease. Look for multiple small brown to black spots on leaves. These spots are typically associated with leaf veins. As the spots coalesce and dry out, the leaf may appear tattered.

Crop rotation and the use of resistant cultivars are your best non-chemical preventive measures against anthracnose. If you want to use chemicals it's a good idea to implement a preventive fungicide spray schedule, especially during rainy periods. Available fungicides change yearly so check with your local garden center and follow the directions carefully.

Give 'Em Room To Breathe...
Just because your plant is wilting don't assume it's due to lack of water. Plants can wilt from lack of oxygen too! Soil can become over-compacted and cause root systems to suffocate. The problem is often made worse by assuming the plant is thirsty and adding water unnecessarily.

Improving the soil for better air and water circulation is easy. Simply add peat moss or other loose organic material in and around the root area of your plants. Everyone will breathe easier!

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New Trees From Cuttings...
Now is a good time to start new trees and shrubs from existing ones. Many ornamental trees and shrubs can be reproduced by taking cuttings from new growth that occurred this spring. Though these softwood cuttings root relatively easily, they are susceptible to wilting and need close attention to watering and relative humidity.

  • It is best if cuttings are taken after a rain or several hours after the plant has been well watered.
  • Stems should be mature enough that they snap rather than bend when placed under pressure.
  • Cuttings should be about 6 inches long with cuts made at an angle just below a node, the area where a leaf joins the stem. The angle provides a larger cut surface and more area for the cutting to callus and root.
  • Strip off the lower leaves and place the cutting in a moist rooting media after it has been dipped in rooting powder. Several rooting mediums are suitable including sand with peat moss, sand with vermiculite, perlite with peat moss, and perlite with vermiculite. A suitable medium should provide good moisture-holding capacity and be open enough to provide good aeration to the roots.
  • Relative humidity should be kept at a high level by enclosing the container or containers in a plastic bag. Use wooden dowels or a similar object to keep the plastic off the top of the cuttings.
  • Place the rooting container in bright, indirect light and check often for watering needs.

Though some plants can be rooted directly in water, roots formed in water do not adapt well to soil.  When roots are about 1 inch long, cuttings can be removed from the propagation chamber and potted.

Source

Dividing Ornamental Grass...
If large clumps of ornamental grasses such as maiden grass have hollow centers, this is a sign they need dividing for best growth. Large clumps can have massive roots and be quite heavy, so we find it easier to just divide pieces off the sides rather than to lift the whole clump. A square-tipped spade works best for this. You may even need to get such divisions started with a hatchet!

Source

Disappointing Turf?
If the appearance of your lawn after mowing is not what you expect there are a few things worth evaluating.

  1. Check your mowing height. You should mow as high as possible for the specific grass type (2½ to 3 inches is a healthy height for most lawn grasses).
  2. Consider your mowing frequency. A higher mowed turf will need to be mowed less frequently and scalp less often than a closely mowed turf.
  3. Probably most importantly, check the sharpness of your mower blade. Dull or damaged mower blades do not cut cleanly and leave ragged leaf tips. These ragged wounds are very stressful to the turf plant, and provide an excellent opportunity for some disease pathogens to penetrate and infect the plant.

Finally...
"Mistress Mary worked in her garden until it was time to go to her midday dinner. In fact, she was rather late in remembering, and when she put on her coat and hat, and picked up her skipping-rope, she could not believe that she had been working two or three hours. She had been actually happy all the time; and dozens of the tiny, pale green points were to be seen in cleared places, looking twice as cheerful as they had looked before when the grass and weeds had been smothering them. "

~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

 

 


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