| |
RAIN AND MOSQUITOES PUT DAMPER ON SUMMER GARDENING
Even the most dedicated gardeners had to think twice in recent weeks before stepping outside to pull weeds, thin vegetables or tackle other projects. With mosquitoes thick as smoke and rain a daily visitor, a person's passion for doing everything right in the garden tends to wane.
When the sunny, cool, breezy weather returned, I did some catch-up work on annual weeds that have grown fast and are setting seeds. Removing weeds before they mature is the preferred alternative to allowing mature seeds to scatter in garden soil, where they will sprout for many years to come.
Container soil mix
I have had excellent results this year with containers and hanging pots. The main reason, I think, is because I started from scratch with a special soil mixture. If your containers of flowers or vegetables aren't performing up to your expectations, your soil medium could be to blame.
I prepared this year's soil mixture in a wheelbarrow using equal parts of sphagnum peat moss, sterilized topsoil, compost, and composted sheep manure. All ingredients were purchased from a garden center. Peat moss and compost help retain moisture and keep the soil mixture loose. The topsoil and composted sheep manure provide plant nutrients during the growing season. Purchased ingredients contain fewer disease pathogens and weed seeds than soil left over from last year's containers or taken direct from the garden.
Regardless of soil source, containers need almost constant watering. Daily watering is not too frequent on hot, dry, windy days. It's a good reason to place containers near the water hydrant or within reach of a hose.
Heat and tomatoes
It takes the heat of June for tomato and pepper plant growth to really move into high gear. I transplanted my tomatoes and peppers early in May and they seemed to stand still until overnight temperatures began to warm up. I learned recently that too much heat can be as detrimental to tomato and pepper development as cool temperatures.
High temperatures, according to Ohio State University research, can cause blossom drop on tomatoes when daytime temperatures are above 90 degrees and nights are above 76 degrees. When night temperatures are above 70 degrees, the flower's style grows past the anther cone, preventing normal self pollination. Unpollinated flowers will fail to set fruit and will fall off.
Peppers grow best when daytime temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees, and nighttime temperatures are between 60 and 70 degrees. Fruits that set at temperatures above 80 degrees may be undersized and poorly shaped due to heat injury to flowers. Irrigation and mulching vegetable gardens with straw might provide some relief to garden plants, the research indicated.
Just when my pepper plants had really taken hold and had begun to blossom and set fruit, I discovered a half dozen plants chewed off at the soil line. It could have been cutworms or some other insect, but I'm suspecting a four-legged critter. I fenced the remaining plants and so far, so good. Strange things happen in the garden at night!
Hail damage
I had a new experience recently. I golfed in hail. My golfing foursome was right on the edge of the passing storm, with sunshine to the west and rough weather to the east. We hit our shots to the green, then sat under umbrellas until the downpour and hail stopped.
My second shot landed so beautifully on the green that I couldn't wait for the rain to stop completely before walking to the green, putter in hand. My ball hopped and bounced among the half-inch hailstones as it approached the cup.
Hail has been reported throughout the area in recent weeks and can do extensive damage to garden plants. The stones can lacerate leaves, defoliate branches, remove twigs, bruise or break the bark of small branches, and even kill small trees. In extreme cases, bark may be pounded off on the windward side of stems.
In last year's storms, hail knocked needles off spruce and pine and bruised bark all the way down to the lowest whorl of branches.
Bruised bark may crack after a storm as a result of drying and mechanical stress from wound-wood growth at the edges of injured areas. Bruises or wounds result in dieback of twigs and branches if tissues around the injuries dry out.
Severe hail wounds may coalesce and kill all the bark on one side of a stem. Dieback and infection by decay and canker fungi are move likely if injury occurs during dormancy rather than during the growing season. Severely damaged trees may also become susceptible to invasions by various insects.
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
 |
| |
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
 |
 |
| |
|
