Tips for gardening success

As July 4th arrives and the heat is turned on, I thought I would write about some gardening tips for both new and seasoned veterans.

Hopefully you have everything planted and if not you still have a couple weeks to find or replace those veggies and fruits that may have been lost to insects or heat and improper watering.

The warm temperatures are great for getting things to grow! Here a few things to watch as your crops grow to keep them flourishing and producing a great harvest.

Feed those plants, I love Espoma brand garden-tone applied every 6 weeks to those veggies. This product is all organic and provides 15 of the 18 essential nutrients to not only survive but thrive. Sun water and air are the only thing that’s lacking and thank fully Mother Nature provides that be it good or bad .... Just sprinkle a handful around the bottom of your plants. This stuff works on everything. With the pandemic and reduced operating hours and everyone on the planet seemingly gardening this year, this product is becoming in short supply. If you can not find garden-tone, plant-tone is equally as good.

We all should want to eat healthy and growing your own produce is the way to achieve that. I’ll never forget my wife bought some broccoli at a local grocer. I had picked mine that morning. We compared the two and mine was 20 times darker green. Years of producing commercially grown crops have depleted the nutrients from the plants. They are fertilized to push top growth so their crop will get to market quicker. Thus the true nutrient levels in commercially grown fruits and veggies are typically lower than home grown.

Watering is key to survival of plants in the garden. The key is to deep water so roots go deeper. This way when temperatures peak, that root mass is already formed and in abundance and will tolerate those temperatures with little effect of exceedingly hot days. What does this mean? I like to water in the morning. It’s a little cooler and plants can take up more water then and not lose so much water to evaporation. A watering wand is the best way to water by hand. I go over all plants 3-4 times with water, let them soak it in and redo it one more time. Water, soak, repeat. This is a great way to deep water.

Timing of day is important too. Try NOT to water during the evening. This breeds disease. This week I have had a steady stream of clients bringing me samples of yellowed, discolored, spotted curling leaves at the bottom of tomatoes. My first question always is when do you water? Evening is the typical answer.

Now don’t get me wrong, if a plant needs water, I want you to water it regardless of the time of day. It’s better if you manage your watering so leaves will dry before darkness falls. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

So on to the cure. A good general fungicide to use for the garden is Fertilome’s Organic Copper Soap. It works for powdery mildews (White powder like substance on leaves) as well as blights and other diseases in the garden.

Many of my clients also are experiencing insects attacking their plants too.

Eight by Bonide is a great general insecticide which works for 100’s of insects. Make sure you read the labels on any product you use to see how many days it can be used before harvest.

Some products exist which are combination products of both fungicides and insecticides. Bonide Dragoon Dust with copper contains sevin dust for insects and copper for diseases. Just dust on your tomatoes and vegetables and you will easily be protected.

Another product for gardens I like is Fertilome’s Triple Action. This combination spray controls insects, diseases and mites and can be used up to day of harvest. They even list herbs on the label which NOT many products do.

One more product which is great for tomatoes is Fertilome Yield Booster. If you experience your tomatoes forming a black leathery patch on the bottom of them, this is called blossom end rot. This is caused by lack of calcium in the soil as well as improper watering. Yield booster is essentially liquid calcium which you spray on your plant and is taken up through the leaves. Spray about every 7-10 days when the conditions are favorable for the appearance of blossom end rot.

Now that you’re covered on all bases in the garden, it’s time to move on to the landscape. My least favorite insect has just arrived to say hello. This is the small black flea beetle. This insect hops from plant to plant and eats holes in leaves like there is no tomorrow. It loves dark purple foliage and hydrangea leaves. It seemingly has a shell of armour. I caught one in between my finger and thumb the other day and squeezed with ALL my might .... I swear I heard it laugh as it hopped away!

So I grabbed some Fertilome brand Spinosad soap and sprayed my plants. No more beetles but knowing how they are, they will be back so I plant to spray every 10-14 days now.

This pests also like to munch on iteas or sweet spires and dark colored sedums or stonecrops. They really can be devastating so getting a preventative spray on is worth doing.

Emerald Ash borers are out this week as well as Japanese Beetles will be paying landscapes a visit. A drench of Fertilome systemic tree and shrub in spring or fall will help prevent damage from being done on ash trees as well as any other trees or shrubs Japanese Beetle may munch on. If you were not able to get this product on, beetle traps are available. Make sure these are placed AWAY from desirable plants. There is no sense in attracting more of these insects to favored bushes. Instead place them far away at the edges of property.

Sprays of sevin or Bonide eight work well to cure beetles as well as does Spinosad.

Keep your eyes open and check your plants periodically to avoid a shock to your landscape. If you see something strange, bring is a photo or sample so we can analyze what’s going on and steer you in the right direction. Wishing you a bumper crop and huge harvest!!