Timely Tips from Over the Garden Fence
You can catch George Wedel on Over the Garden Fence, 9:05 am Saturdays on AM 590 WKZO.
And return here each week at www.wedels.com for the latest in Wedel's timely tips.
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TIMELY GARDEN TIPS FROM OVER THE GARDEN FENCE JULY 20, 2002 In the garden center business, summertime vacations are more often two to three days instead of the normal seven to fourteen day variety. This past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Joyce and I enjoyed a mini-vacation. Our days were full to be sure; a morning bluegill fishing, the Tigers game on Tuesday, and many enjoyable hours in the garden. When the temperatures are high like this week, we weed, trim, and cultivate for a couple of hours, then kick back in the shade and enjoy looking at our accomplishments. What pleasure it is to have the vegetable garden weed-free, all the perennial and annual flowers dead-headed, the yarrow and larkspur staked, potato plants hilled-up, the lawn fertilized, and all thirsty plants satisfied. How enjoyable and fulfilling gardening is to me and to so many of you, our “Over the Garden Fence” listeners. Irrigating has taken up much of every gardener’s time this summer. But we shouldn’t overlook some other very important chores. Be on the lookout for cottony aphids on rudbeckia plants. Control with Pyrethrin or Orthene sprays. Colorado potato beetles are very numerous this season. Check your potato plants daily. When Colorado potato beetles are present, spray plants with Pyrethrin or Rotenone to control. Check cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and other cole plants often for cabbage worm damage. Sevin, Rotenone, or Pyrethrin will control cabbage worms. Mildew is rampant in many gardens this summer. Roses, phlox, monarda, and lilac shrubs are favorites for mildew. Control mildew with sprays of Funginex. America’s number one favorite garden plant is none other than the tomato. Tomatoes might arrive at our tables round, pear-shaped, red, orange, or yellow. One thing is sure, there will be more tomatoes to enjoy from each plant this summer if these cultural tips are followed. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and need a steady supply of fertilizer throughout the growing season to assure maximum production. I recommend applying one-quarter cup of Tomato Tone high organic granular fertilizer cultivated in to the soil each month and Schultz 20-30-20 low-salt, water-soluble plant food sprinkled on the foliage each week. This combination of fertilizers will provide all the essential nutrients for healthy, productive tomato plants and also include calcium, which helps prevent blossom end rot. Be on the lookout for those big, hungry tomato worms. Give them an inch and they’ll take a whole tomato or potato plant in no time. Control tomato worms with Rotenone dust or Dragon Pyrethrin Rotenone spray. Tomato diseases can be controlled with Daconil 2787 spray applied every other week. Continue to plant. As perennials die back, insert some fresh annual bedding plants to provide garden color throughout the rest of the season. Now is also a good time to remove and replace. If you had perennials that did not perform well this spring and are beginning to die down, it is best to remove them now because it’s so easy to forget their location later. Dig them up and replace them with new varieties. At Wedel’s Garden Center, we have hundreds of perennial varieties in excellent condition just waiting to be a part of your garden. This is also the perfect time to dig up and divide some perennial plants. Poppies, iris, wildflowers, and any other plants that are dying back now can be dug up and divided. Share them with a friend or plant more in other areas of your garden. When planting perennial flowers, always prepare the new planting site in advance. First, mix into the soil to the depth of ten inches, a mixture of sphagnum peat moss, composted cow manure, Plant Tone, and bone meal. Mix the soil thoroughly, then set the plant into the prepared soil. After filling in the planting hole with the mix, soak the planting site with Schultz Liquid Plant Starter. This recipe will assure that your perennial flowers will be a blooming success! Remember, whenever spraying or dusting pesticides on flowers, ornamentals, or vegetables, be sure there is adequate moisture in the soil and apply when temperatures are below 75 degrees. Will the bug killer I bought three years ago and stored on the garage shelf still be effective? At the garden center, we are asked this question almost daily; “What is the shelf life of a pesticide?” This question is best answered by Fredric Miller from the University of Illinois. Pesticides used in the landscape are manufactured, formulated, and packaged to specific standards. However, when stored improperly, they can break down, especially under conditions of high temperature and humidity. Some pesticides can lose their active ingredients through chemical decomposition or volatilization. Dry formulations can become caked and compacted; emulsifiable concentrates can lose their ability to form emulsions. Some pesticides become more toxic. Given proper storage, some pesticides may remain active for a number of years. By following these guidelines, you can maximize their shelf life and your investment. Pesticides can have an extended shelf life if the storage area is cool, dry, and out of direct sunlight. Protection from temperature extremes is important because heat or cold can shorten pesticide shelf life. At temperatures below freezing, some liquid formulations separate into their various components and lose effectiveness. High temperatures cause many pesticides to volatize or break down more rapidly. If you use any pesticide or herbicide that has been stored over the winter and you do not achieve the desired results, be sure to dispose of the product properly. Pesticides should be stored in a locked cupboard or storage cabinet out of the reach of children. Pesticides packaged in paper or cardboard containers should be stored on shelves to keep them away from water or dampness on the floor. To prevent cross-contamination, separate herbicides from pesticides. On the lighter side, here are some clips from a M.S.U. rural newsletter. We’ve all heard of “Murphy’s Laws”, following are a few Murphy’s Laws for gardeners making the point that anything that could go wrong…will! · Planting cool-weather crops invariably causes a heat wave. Planting warm-weather crops generates a cold snap. If you set out frost-sensitive plants before the local frost-free date, they will freeze. If you wait, it will be one of the earliest springs on record. · No matter what extraordinary measures you resort to, someone else will always have the first ripe tomato. If you have the first ripe tomato, it will develop blossom end rot. · Two or three plantings of snap beans at ten-day intervals will all produce a crop at the same time. · Early tomatoes aren’t. Late tomatoes always are. · Seed your crops at the recommended spacing and the majority of the seeds won’t germinate. Seed them thickly, and they’ll all germinate. · Robins are better than you at telling when strawberries are ripe. · Any fast-growing, bug-repelling, high-yielding, easy-to-grow plant that sounds too good to be true, probably is. · The greater cost of seeds or transplants, the more likely they are to: Never come up. Be eaten below ground by grubs before they come up. Be eaten by rabbits, groundhogs, deer, or beetles after they come up. Come up and contract a fatal disease. Get stepped on. Be killed by frost. Be drowned by too much water. Die of drought. · Garden problems multiply fastest when you have the least time and energy to deal with them. Gardeners, and everyone else subject to Murphy’s Laws, need a sense of humor, so I hope you have enjoyed these “anything can go wrong” laws. George Wedel |
Timely Tips
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09/21/02 |