Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus usually appear when the summer heats up. Powdery mildew starts with a whitish cast on the surface of the leaf. It turns the leaf brown and the leaf dies. Rusts can appear on either the tops or the undersides of leaves and, as the name indicates, are brownish red in color. Other fungus manifest as gray or black discolorations on leaves, stem or branches. All are treatable. A 1% solution of sulfur and water, with a little dish soap mixed in, works well. Common hydrogen peroxide is also a potent fungicide, which can be used straight up or diluted with water up to 50%. Be sure to test a small portion on the plant first when using hydrogen peroxide mixtures and, as with all sprays, never spray a plant when it is sitting in direct sunlight. Controlling water application is critical when you have fungus problems. Never get the leaves wet. Always water at the base of the plant, preferably in the morning. Roses in particular suffer from a lot of fungus problems and may benefit from trimming out crowded growth in the interior of the plant to increase air circulation.
Archive for the ‘Avant Gardening Series’ Category
Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Snails and Slugs
Friday, August 14th, 2009Snails and slugs have come out in force with all the rain. They’ll carve large raggedy holes in your plants and can consume entire seedlings in a night. There are many strategies to control them. Small bowls of beer,especially yellow bowls, will entice an drown them. Planks placed throughout the garden will give them a place to hide. In the morning flip them over and use an old spatula to scrape them off the bottom of the plank and into the trash. There are baits such as Sluggo, which are effective but not toxic to people or animals. But one of the best defenses against slugs and snails are ducks. They are merciless in their pursuit of the little buggers and they’re highly entertaining as well.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 12 - Manure Tea
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009One of the easiest and most efficacious ways to fertilize your plants is with manure and/or compost tea. Purchase an inexpensive plastic trash can and fill it with water. Take an old pillowcase and fill it with one shovel full of manure, one shovel full of good-quality compost and a tablespoon or two of Epsom salts. Tie off the open end of the pillowcase, toss it into the water and let it steep for a few days. Once the water has turned a medium brown color, take a sauce pan and pour it all over your plants, leaves and all.
Pouring it on the leaves takes advantage of what’s called foliar feeding, in which plants absorb fertilizer through pores in the leaves. It’s most effective when done first thing in the morning, when a higher percentage of the pores are open.
You’ll get terrfic growth with manure tea because essential nutrients reach all parts of the plant quickly, without going through the roots.
Controlling Deer
Monday, June 1st, 2009There’s nothing more frustrating to walk out the door to find a deer destroying your garden handiwork. Some deer repellants, such as Bobex, work quite well but repeated applications can be expensive. The most basic strategy is planting plants that deer won’t eat.
A complementary use of fences and barriers can prevent deer damage, Putting a curve in the fence seems to puzzle the animals, so that even if they can jump the fence they usually won’t. Another trick is to leave some slack at the top of the fence, so that it moves in the breeze-deer don’t like the motion and won’t jump the fence. The most affordable way to protect plants is with black nylon netting.
The simplest compromise is to plant deer-inedible plants on the fringes of your property and leave the more edible plants to more defensible areas near the house. Deer do have good memories and can even pass their knowledge of repellant-protected plants to their offspring.
Manure Tea
One of the easiest and most efficacious ways to fertilize your plants is with manure and/or compost tea. Purchase an inexpensive plastic trashcan and fill it with water. Take an old pillowcase and fill it with one shovelful of manure, one shovelfull of good-quality compost and a tablespoon or two of Epsom salts. Tie off the open end of the pillowcase, toss it into the water and let it steep for a few days. Once the water has turned a medium brown color, take a saucepan and pour it all over your plants, leaves and all.
Pouring it on the leaves takes advantage of what’s called foliar feeding, in which plants absorb fertilizer through pores in the leaves. It’s most effective when done first thing in the morning, when a higher percentage of the pores are open.
You’ll get terrific growth with manure tea because essential nutrients reach all parts of the plant quickly, without going through the roots.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 11 ~ Herbs
Thursday, May 28th, 2009Herbs-Basil.60 days. From seed, two per planting, 3 inches apart. Keep soil damp consistently damp during germination. Basil is a paradox: it needs warm soil but begins flowering in June. Once that happens, the flavor falls off the table. So the best strategy is to grow a lot of it in a very short window of opportunity, then dry or freeze it. There are dozens of varieties from all over the world. Genovese is the classic wide-leafed sweet basil great in pesto. Thai basil is truly potent stuff with a hint of cinnamon. And spicy globe has tiny rounded leaves and a sharp flavor. There are also red and purple basils, some ruffled and some not.
Chives: 60 days minimum, from seed planted 1″ apart. Chives are without a doubt one of the easiest herbs to grow. Related to onions, they grow in much the same way. Keeping soil damp through germination is the key. Although an annual, chives will continue year after year if you let some of them go to seed. Their pink flowers are edible.
Dill: 60 days minimum, from seed. Dill plants are lovely, fernlike and up to 4′tall. They germinate well when planted in warm soil and kept watered. By seeding out they can return year after year, and the seeds themselves have some culinary value. The larger varieties tend to be less flavorful. Use fresh or dried.
Oregano: Grown from starts. Classic Greek oregano is probably the best, though there are dozens of varieties. Oregano will grow into a small perennial shrub over the course of a few years. It has more flavor before it flowers, so cut your year’s worth of oregano before then and dry it in the shade. Oregano is one of the few herbs that taste better dried rather than fresh. Mexican oregano comes a completely different plant, a tropical shrub, but from the culinary point of view it has a fabulous flavor.
Parsley: 60 days minimum from seed. Plant 8″ apart in mid-spring. Parsley can tolerate some cool weather so you can sow it out a little earlier than most herbs. It can take up to two weeks to germinate. It is a biennial, meaning that each plant grows for two years, flowering and going to seed in the second. Parsley can survive the winter and can also be dried. Moss or curly parsley is the most common variety, but many people think flat-leaved Italian parsley has better flavor. Keep an eye out for parsley worms or maybe plant a little extra for them. These distinctively pretty caterpillars morph into one of our prettiest butterflies, the black swallowtail.
Rosemary: From starts. Usually grown as an annual and planted in a container. “Arp” rosemary is a perennial here but, just to be on the safe side, plant it in protected spot on the east or south side of the house. The most important factor in growing rosemary is drainage. They don’t like soggy soil. Water only when the tips of the plants start to droop.
Herbs in containers: When planting container herbs keep in mind that there are short-term and long-term herbs. Short-term herbs like basil, chives and parsley typically don’t last more than a year and should be planted together. Long-term herbs can live for years. They include oregano, rosemary and thyme and should be planted together.
To read all of Todd’s Avant Gardening posts, see the Avant Gardening Series category.
Tower Gardening
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Limited Space? Try Tower Gardening!
If your garden is limited by space, try going up. As you can see, you can pack a lot of garden into limited space. You’ll need pots or five-gallon buckets with drain holes, good-quality potting soil and a commitment to building a safe, strong structure. In the first photo, you can see that we’ve packed 25 pots into 16 square feet. In the second photo, twenty-five pots are attached to a ladder, also taking up 16 square feet. You can grow anything in a pot that you can grow in the ground, but it makes sense to stick to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and melons. Water as needed and fertilize every two weeks. This is an ongoing project, so stay tuned for updates.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 10 ~ Sunflowers
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Sunflowers: 75 days. Planted in late May 24″ apart. One of the best ways to introduce children to gardening is to plant sunflowers, particularly the mammoth varieties. To see such a glorious flower develop from such a small seed is guaranteed to induce wonder. Sunflowers can hit 10 feet in height. There are also double sunflowers, like Teddy Bear, which resemble giant marigolds. They come in a wide array of colors and patterns. Sunflowers exhibit heliotropism. They swivel their flower heads to face the sun. Seen from the east in the morning, a field of sunflowers will be overwhelmingly yellow. By afternoon it will be green, since the flowers are facing west. Over the course of the night the flowers reset themselves back to the east, awaiting the sun.
To read all of Todd’s Avant Gardening posts, see the Avant Gardening Series category.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 9 ~ Warm-Weather Vegetables
Monday, May 18th, 2009Snap Beans: 60-80 days. Planted 8″ apart in warm soil in late May. There are two varieties: pole beans and bush beans. Pole beans are vines which can reach to 6′ or more, but need netting or a trellis to support them. They begin producing a little later but can bear pods for up to 2 months. Bush beans are freestanding and earlier but produce only for 2-3 weeks. Solve this problem by planting more than once. Most people harvest their beans too late-pick them when they are the diameter of a pencil or less. In full swing they can be picked every three days. They come in many colors.
(more…)
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 8 ~ Tomatoes, Squash, and Pumpkins
Monday, May 11th, 2009Tomatoes: 45 to 120 days. Grown from starts planted around Memorial Day. Few plants engender such passion as tomatoes. They’ve traveled the world from their origin in northern South America. And the best thing that ever happened to tomato lovers was the collapse of the Soviet Union. When the Wall came down dozens of terrific tasting varieties came running out. Tomatoes are classified as either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes produce all their fruit at once. Indeterminate tomatoes produce their fruit over an entire season, with clusters of fruit ripening sequentially. Indeterminate plants tend to produce more fruit.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 7 ~ More Cool-Weather Vegetables
Friday, May 8th, 2009Lettuce: 40-90 days. From seed in April and every two weeks thereafter until mid May. Start a fall crop in mid-late August. Plant 1″ apart and harvest every other immature plant for microgreens. Finish with plants 6″-8″ apart. Or simply designate an area, sprinkle seeds evenly and use a rake to integrate seed into soil. Few vegetables vary as much as lettuce. From the almost inedible iceberg to the tiny butter crunch to a delicious red romaine, lettuce’s looks, tastes and textures are all over the map. It thrives in cool weather.
