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 27, 2002 One of the most interesting attributes of a good garden is change. Yes, change! Every day the view is slightly different, changing as the seasons progress. There is a new emerging plant almost daily. New flowers opening with the morning sun. Spent blooms fading at sunset. Colorful birds and butterflies, changing watch at different season. Unlike an attractive picture on the wall, our gardens offer an eye-refreshing, changing picture every day. Are you enjoying the sights, sounds, and fragrances a garden can provide? If you would like to add some more beauty to your life, you can today. Just step out the door into your landscape. Gardening is so easy, affordable, fun, good exercise, and close to home. No other outdoor activity is this convenient. Need help planning your next garden or landscape project? Stop at Wedel’s Garden Center any time and visit with one of our ten Michigan Certified Nursery Specialists or Master Gardeners. I guarantee their knowledge, ideas, and excitement about landscaping and gardening will be contagious. Whatever your dream project may be, a shade garden, garden pond, Japanese garden, wildflower garden, waterfall, butterfly garden, vegetable garden, rose garden, ornamental tree plantings, or perennial garden; they are all possible just a few feet away – in your outdoor living area. As we walk through our gardens this morning, be on the lookout for the following concerns. Many black raspberry plantings are infested with anthracnose, cane blight, and leaf spots. After the last picking, prune out and destroy all of this year’s fruiting canes. Spray with Diazinon and Liquid Copper. Cultivate your berry patch and eradicate all weeds. Then fertilize with Plant Tone and irrigate thoroughly. Be sure to pick up a free raspberry spray schedule at Wedel’s Diagnostic Center. Juniper scale crawlers are emerging and are active on many juniper plants. This scale can cause extensive damage to junipers. It creates off-color needles and eventual death of branches and the plant. Examine junipers closely for little white scales. If they are found, spray with Horticultural Oil spray mixed with Malathion or Insecticidal Soap. If using Insecticidal Soap, several applications will be necessary. Encourage new growth with one feeding of Tree Tone now and another feeding early in October. Earwigs, earwigs, and more earwigs – they seem to be around in greater numbers than ever before. Earwigs hide in damp, dark places during the day and feed during the night. Earwigs are dark brown to black insect with pincher-like appendages at the tail end of their bodies. They will grow to three quarters of an inch long. When summer weather is warm and humid with adequate rainfall, earwigs multiply like rabbits. Earwigs are scavengers, feeding primarily on dead plant and animal material, but also on flowers, ripening fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, and garden plants. They are active at night and are often found around doorways, decks, and under plantings in mulched areas. The more rain, the greater number of earwigs we will have to contend with this summer. If earwigs have been a problem in your garden or house, the following measures will help reduce their numbers. In the garden, use Bug-Geta Plus bail pellets. Bug-Geta pellets attract and kill the earwigs. Spray around building foundations with Diazinon or spread Concern D-E Diatomaceous Earth, an all-natural crawling insect killer bait. Indoors, eliminate any damp storage areas; earwigs especially like damp basements. Spray basement areas with Bayer Home Pest Control or use Concern D-E bait. In many gardens, squash and melon plants are experiencing severe mildew infestation. Mildew can reduce fruit size, number, storability, and flavor. Control mildew on squash and melon plants with sprays of Daconil 2787. Look for the following insects in your vegetable garden and control them with Dragon Rotenone Pyrethrin spray. Squash bugs, corn borers, tomato fruit worms, white flies on potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant, soldier beetles on potatoes, cabbage worms on all cole plants, Japanese beetles, and sap beetles on all ripening fruits. Late season sweet corn that has yet to tassel out would benefit from a side dressing of urea at this time. First cultivate, apply urea, hill up stalks with three to four inches of loose soil, then irrigate well. Blossom end rot is a problem many tomato growers experience. Blossom end rot is caused by insufficient calcium when fruits are forming and is characterized by a large dark brown, leathery area at the blossom end of the tomato fruit. Calcium deficiency often is the result of excessive nitrogen fertilization, fluctuations in moisture levels in the soil, or a lack of calcium in the soil. Remove all green and ripe fruits if found. Spray tomato plants with Tomato Blossom End Rot ready-mixed spray three times, each seven days apart. This autumn, work ground gypsum into the soil where tomatoes will be planted next spring. 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. These could be the “dog days of summer” all right, but that’s not a reason to slack off on good lawn care practices. I’m pleased when hearing from some of our customers who have excellent lawns during some very trying weather conditions this summer. They have a good, thick green turf by providing one-half inch of irrigation twice a week applied at mid-day, feeding with Scotts Lawn Pro fertilizer, mowing at 3 to 3 ½ inches, and using Scotts Lawn Disease Preventer to keep lawn diseases in check. If your lawn is looking weak, bring a turf sample into Wedel’s Diagnostic Center for analysis. One of our eight Scotts trained Lawn Pros will help guide you to the lawn of your dreams. For more information on how to have a great-looking lawn in the summer, Wedel’s lawn pros will be putting on a seminar next Saturday, August 3rd, at 10:30. We’ll cover insect and disease control and more. Bring in a 6-inch by 6-inch sod sample and some soil from any troubled areas you may have. George Wedel |
Timely Tips
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09/21/02 |