The Green Resistor’s Garden Report

Jan. 6, 2012

Another gardening year is rapidly approaching. Unseasonably warm weather throughout the country may be the harbinger of an early Spring. It’s time to start getting ready for it.

Get started on your dormant season pruning. Normally we have until mid-March to get this chore done but this year maybe not. Fruit trees, flowering trees, lilacs, anything deciduous may need your firm but gentle touch. And after the pruning is done and cleaned up, a thorough dormant spray application or two for insect and disease control.

I was out pruning my apples yesterday and I noted a much larger than usual number of tent-caterpillar egg masses. It has been several years since we had a serious tent-caterpillar problem and maybe it has come around again. Keep an eye peeled for this damaging pest!

The Co-Op will be using a new plant vendor this year and will have a variety of new plants arriving in March. I am excited about having a nice selection of flowering vines, grapes, hops, and several other new items.

Seed potatoes were ordered today for a March delivery. 700 pounds spread amongst eleven organic varieties. The most popular varieties always go quickly so mark your calendar so you won’t be disappointed.

There will be lots of nifty new items arriving soon in the Lawn and Garden department. We will have some really slick pop-up greenhouses, 9ft square by 8ft tall. I’m getting one of those! Also a “grow cage” that fits over your plants to prevent bird damage, and 3 styles of “grow tunnels”.

Fungus among us

In case any of you have been watching, the pseudo-summer of 2011 has been unusually damp and cool. This kind of weather, while preferable to the scorching heat of other areas, creates its' own special problem. Fungus loves this kind of weather.

This year has brought us record crops of powdery mildew on a wide variety of plants, and lots of rust and black spot. Controlling these problems is very difficult as the weather is the major contributing factor. Using fungicides can help but they must be re-applied on 1-2 week intervals during damp weather. Fungicides won't cure the damaged leaves but prevent the fungus from infecting new healthy growth. Other things you can do to help include not watering through the foliage of fungus-susceptible plants, handpicking and disposing of diseased materials, and pruning to increase light penetration and air circulation into the foliage.

Another bumper crop in our summer-that-never-was is a high population of slugs and snails. Poison baits work well for these pests and there are pet safe brands available. Slugs and snails like cool, dark, damp areas so in addition to baiting around your precious plants, also bait around woodpiles, stone walls, or other places these mollusks can hide. If you live next to the woods, throw some bait in there and kill them before they get into your yard.

If you don't like using poison, try this trick. Take a piece of plywood, half a sheet or bigger, and lie it down in a shady area. Moisten the ground underneath, prop up one corner with a rock or stick, and place some pieces of fruit under the plywood. The slugs will love you for creating a damp shady spot with ample food. They will collect themselves under the plywood and in the evening you can go out with a shovel and chop chop chop. Leave the bodies there as slugs are enthusiastic cannibals. You can make a big dent in the slug population quickly, easily, safely and in an environmentally sensitive manner.

The weather gods have finally relented and granted us the start of warm weather, so now is the time to get started on your warm weather vegetables. We are getting a late start this year and there is little time to waste. There are a few tricks that you can employ to make up for some of the lost time.

Growing tomatoes outdoors in our area is always a roll of the dice. Will it get warm enough? Well, it's not so much the lack of heat during the day that handicaps tomato production but the overly cool nights. You want to keep those little babies as warm as you can.

I grow my tomatoes in above ground planters, half whiskey barrels in fact. The soil in an above ground planter warms faster and the whiskey residue imparts a piquant smokey oak flavor to the tomatoes. I have cylinders of 4' tall fence wire that fit just inside the rim of the half barrels. I secure those cylinders using landscape staples, and then wrap them with clear plastic leaving the top of the cylinder open. This little greenhouse protects the plants from the cold wind and helps to hold in the heat. Then I paint black a couple of empty gallon milk jugs, fill them with water, and place them in next to the tomato plants. These jugs absorb heat during the day and give it back at night. Any dense, dark colored object, such as bricks, an anvil, or a bowling ball will work as a passive solar collector.

Because we are off to a late start this year there will be a temptation to over-fertilize to try to make up. Don't fall into this trap! Over fertilizing tomatoes will result in lots of luxurious foliage but reduced fruiting. Whatever fertilizer you use, you will get the best results by following the recommendations on the box.

Now that the trees and shrubs are leafing out, the insect pests are starting to appear. Take a stroll through your yard and examine the new foliage for unwelcome guests. Catching the the little stinkers early, before the soon-to-be-warmer weather causes a population boom, will pay enormous dividends later on.

Here in the Lawn and Garden department we have several choices in pest control. We still stock several of the familiar chemicals, including malathion and sevin. These products work very well but, more and more; environmentally conscious gardeners are switching to organic products for pest control.

We have an excellent selection of natural or organic pest control remedies. Many of the newer organic products use essential oils as their active ingredients. We have a ready-to-use fruit and vegetable spray from Dr. Earth, which uses oils from rosemary, cinnamon, clove, and garlic. Organocide uses sesame oil and Yardsafe Insect Repellent contains cedar oil as its active ingredient. We also have a new granular insecticide from EcoSmart that uses a clove extract, called eugenol, along with thyme and wintergreen oils. This product uses peanut shells as a carrier. It is labeled to both kill and repel carpenter ants, ticks and fleas, earwigs, and a bunch of others.

We also have Neem oil, a very effective broad-spectrum insecticide/miticide/fungicide derived from an Asian tree. Other choices include BT for young caterpillars and mosquito larvae, diatomaceous earth, and a product called Spinosad which was first discovered under an abandoned rum distillery in the Caribbean.

. Many of these products are approved for use up to the day of harvest so you can confidently go out and nip the little beggars literally right in the bud.

Spring has sprung, or so we all hope, and we need to make up for lost time. If you planted an early garden, as I did, and then watched as it rotted in the chilly gloom of a soggy March and April then get out there and replant. You still have lots of time to create a productive garden and the Co-Op has just what you need.

We still have a supply of seed potatoes although they are going quickly. Our seed racks have been resupplied and are brimming with potential produce. Our good friends at Burkhardt's Herb Garden and A New Leaf nursery have provided an excellent selection of tomato plants, including our favorite Early Girl and Oregon Spring varieties.

Our supply of Mothers Day flower baskets arrived Monday and they are exquisite! A colorful choice of begonias or fuchsias await you. Get'em while you have the best selection!

We are getting fresh supplies of annual and perennial bedding plants on a regular basis now. We still have a good selection of rose bushes to replace your winter losses and the magnificent deciduous azaleas will be blooming soon.

It's time to get growing again, so come on down!

First, let me apologize for my tardiness in updating this blog. I recently underwent surgery to remove 2 potato-like tumors from my ears and I fell behind in my duties. I'm much better now, thank you.

The annual snowpack report is very promising, measuring 190% of normal. This means we will have plenty of water for gardening and landscaping. Check your garden hoses for wear and damaged ends. Out-of-round ends will leak no matter how tightly they are fastened. Here at the Co-Op we have a nifty little machine that will attach new factory-type ends to most hoses.

As your blueberries get closer to blossoming it is a good time to check the soil pH around them. Blueberries like a very acidic soil and sulfur granules are an easy way to adjust the soil.

While you are in our Garden Center check out Dave's newly expanded Power Equipment section. Dave has brought in an expanded line of Echo products, including the powerful and versatile Pro Attachment Series.

Chickety-Doo

Another exciting new product we have, if chicken manure is what excites you, is Chickety-Doo. This is a granular product and much easier to spread than standard chicken manure. Chickety-Doo has all the same nutritional values as regular chicken manure so your lawn or garden will just love it! Chickety-Doo is sold in the handy 25 pound bag or the economical 40 pounder.