Fall is a great time to replant your vegetable garden, transplant perennials and reap what you have sown. Cooler temperatures mean less watering and weeding. And you can get a head start on next year as well.
Archive for the ‘Flowers’ Category
Fall Planting Tips:
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009Earwigs
Monday, August 24th, 2009Earwigs have been driving people nuts this summer. They’re brown insects with pincers in the front and a double tail. They favor green leafy crops in the vegetable garden and new growth in the flower garden. They work at night and can really carve up your garden in record time. You can treat the ground around your plants with diatomaceous earth which will kill them. You can also use rotenone powder, low toxicity pesticide, awhich is effective but also has the potential to harm beneficial insects as well. Or you can join the “acceptable losses” school of gardening, in which you adjust your parameters to the reality of gardening: every season it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Powdery 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.
Watering Stress
Saturday, July 25th, 2009Watering stress cuts both ways when growing plants. Too much water and they yellow and die. Too little and they shrivel and brown. But letting them get a little stressed can have benefits. Letting the plants go a little limp drives their root systems in search of water, resulting in a stronger plant. If you let your carrots go a little flat they’ll send their taproots deeper, resulting in longer, straighter carrots. One thing to keep in mind is that when you set out your seedlings is that their roots have been literally running around in circles in the inside of the pot. Teasing the roots out a bit will get them going out into the larger garden faster. On the down side, plants like cauliflower and broccoli tend to develop aphids when not given enough water.
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.
Friday Flowers: Buy 1, Get 1 Free, Every Friday!
Friday, April 24th, 2009
Every Friday on select cut flowers, get two stems for the price of one.
flowers
