Archive for the ‘General’ Category:
July 28 – Surprise! The Lilies Have Arrived!
Surprise Lily in Shirley's Perennial Garden
Several species of surprise lilies are featured in many nursery catalogs, but it is the lycoris squamigera that does well here in our Zone 5/6 gardens. They are easy to grow, aren’t picky about the soil but would appreciate full sun or nearly so. They multiply, so every five years or so they can be dug and separated after flowering. Go ahead and plant even the tiny ones, even if it takes a few years for them to reach blooming size. Plant the bulbs four to six inches deep.
Subscribe to the comments for this postJuly 24 – Spider Mites Can Take A Garden!
I’ve waged many a battle with spider mites in my gardening career, especially the two-spotted mite that loves to suck the life out of my butterfly bushes and burning bushes. Some seasons it is almost a losing battle. So far this year, they have been a no-show, but the season is not over yet. While they have their favorites at the dinner table, they will settle for about anything when hungry, except the conifers/pines.
They are tiny, pale green or yellowish, and if your eye sight is up to par, you can see two dark spots, one on each side, hence the name.
The white paper test works well on cedar trees. Hold a stiff sheet of paper below a branch and tap the branch. Mites will fall off on to the paper and can be seen as tiny specks moving about. You may have to wait a minute before they have gained their senses enough to start running.
Shirley's perennial Border
From egg hatch to adulthood takes only about ten to fourteen days and there can be as many as ten to twelve generations in a season. That is a lot of mites!
Mites are usually feeding on the underside of the leaf. They don’t eat holes, but rather stab the leaf with their piercing mouthparts, sucking the leaf cell dry. A white stippling appears on the top of the leaf. Severely infested leaves may dry up and fall off the plant.
All the miticides we have used in the past have been pulled from the market. Kelthane was my favorite. Although now there are several miticides listed for control of mites, it is vital to actually hit each mite with the chemical. Since new eggs are hatching continually, follow-up treatments must be applied every three or four days. Almost as effective as a chemical spray is just plain old water. A forceful spray of high pressure water forced through the plant dislodges and interrupts to life cycle of the new hatch coming on. This must be done faithfully, at regular intervals throughout the growing season to keep the populations under control. Whether you choose chemical controls or horticultural oils or soaps, spider mite troubles can throw a monkey wrench in an otherwise enjoyable gardening season.
July 20 – Can An Apple Pie In A Jar!
Veteran canners know putting up the summer/fall fruit in pie mix form is mighty handy all winter long. Although this may be new to some of you, canning pie mixes is easy and done in a boiling water canner. Sugar and spices can be adjusted to suit your taste. Do not adjust the lemon juice. That is in the recipe for safety and must be followed to the letter. I just canned a load of apple pie mix and the recipe follows.
Photo courtesy of cobornsdelivers
Apple Pie Filling for 7 quarts
Blanched, sliced fresh apples 6 quarts
Granulated sugar 5 ½ cups
Clear Jel 1 ½ cup
Cinnamon 1 tbsp
Cold water 2 ½ cups
Apple juice 5 cups
Bottled lemon juice ¾ cup
Nutmeg (optional) 1 tsp
Use firm, crisp apples. If apples lack tartness, use additional ¼ cup of lemon juice for each 6 quarts of slices.
Wash, peel, and core apples. Prepare slices ½ thick and place in water containing ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh) to prevent browning. Blanch 2 quarts at a time for 1 minute in boiling water. While blanching other batches of apples, keep blanched apples warm. Combine sugar, clear jel, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large kettle with water and apple juice. Stir and cook on medium heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Drain apple slices. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in apple slices immediately and fill jars with mixture without delay, leaving a ½ headspace. Adjust lids and process immediately. Adjusting for altitude here in western Kansas, boil for 30 minutes in boiling water bath. Remove jars from hot water and cool. Remove rings, label and store in a cool place.
July 19 – Aphids Are Arriving!
Aphids are not one bit picky at the dinner table, just about any plant material tastes good. Lined up, nose to tail, you could put about eight of them in an inch. They come in many colors; green, black, gray, yellow and even red. Aphids don’t chew holes in the leaves, instead, they suck juices from buds, twigs and developing fruit. Leaves look stunted and twisted. Aphids also carry a number of plant viruses, diseases that will take out a plant while you are wondering what happened.
Photo courtesy of Sarrachnia.com
Some aphids ooze a sticky goo gardeners call “honeydew”. Cars parked under trees infected with aphids get covered with a sticky residue. Several generations grow up during our growing season, meaning we often contend with them from April to October.
One plus on the gardeners side is that aphids have lots of enemies. Weather can reduce their populations with down pours and cold temperatures. Other bugs love aphid lunches. Ladybugs will stay around as long as you provide the aphids to eat. Since nature does such a good job keeping the aphid counts down, think long and hard before you resort to insecticides. Try washing off aphids with a forceful spray of water. However, if push comes to shove, use malathion in the veggie garden or acephate in the flower border. Reapplication is almost always necessary because new bugs are hatching all the time.
July 16, 2010 – It’s Squash Beetle Season
An early morning walk through the garden this morning in the mist (Yes! We had a misty wake-up!) got the day off to a slow start. The gardens are beautiful in the morning, so sign of the mid day wilting from heat and wind. We missed a two inch rain yesterday. Just five miles away, two inches fell and we didn’t even get the dust settled. It was disappointing, to say the least.
Shirley's misty morning garden
Continuing our discussion of problem insects that trouble us here in western Kansas, the squash beetle is near the top of the list. These hard shelled beetles are impervious to insecticide applications unless you get after them when they are young. Squash bugs target pumpkins as well, in fact, they often cause more trouble in the kid’s pumpkin patch than Mom’s zucchini. They live through the winter as adults, coming out of hiding to lay clusters of brownish-red eggs on the undersides of squash and pumpkin leaves. Newly hatched babies are small and greenish with black legs. The first generation hatches in late June to early July and the second generation hatches in August, guaranteeing bugs until frost.
Effective control of squash bugs means timely insecticide sprays and thorough coverage. Scout for egg masses, removing the clusters, even if you have to pinch a hole in the leaf. The eggs get darker in color just before hatching. Placing pieces of board or shingles on the ground near the plants invites a bunch of insects to a small area, easier to zap them with spray.
In the veggie garden, Sevin works best on the baby bugs. If you have left them to grow up, you are in trouble. Using a duster to apply ten percent Sevin dust will also work. Five percent dust is not as effective.
But herein lies the crux of the problem…you have probably provided them with comfortable quarters during the winter, failing to clean up the garden down to bare dirt. Right after you pick the last pumpkin, remove all old plants, foliage and fruit and work the soil up. This deprives the babies of the necessary food source to grow up. The grown ups are denied a dinner table and have difficulty surviving the winter. This works well for isolated gardens (farm situations) but if your neighbor across the alley fails to clean up the fall garden, you may end up with some illegal immigrants next summer.