Garden Landscape Guide

Horticulture 142 365 days. Rain and more rain in Boise, Idaho

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:09:12 +0000

Friends and readers, I don’t remember the last time under this cold and rainy in the Boise. (Well, our spring oppressively, say four years ago.) It caused shades giants, just leave a tip. We are approximately 20 degrees below normal times and raining cats or dogs. No, really good dogs hung on the couch and bed.

Telling the truth, I find this a bit disheartening because is still being pulled tomatoes and patio dining room.I have a car full of plants of wholesaler and has grass to family highlighting different there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.I perlite and potting mix whole House kitchen sink and dribbled. This makes look ugly when garbage back.

So, I ordered some vids Netflix, Wolf Hall of the gazillion page reading (Henry VIII tale), and that’s it.

However, if someone has some armloads rhubarb, I’m desperate for more information. Why yes, this is good reason to drink!

Enter a bonus: dog gone wild

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:53:12 +0000

This is the kind of things that you can find yourself doing when pouring down rain. In the desert. When you must be a tomato cultivation on a beautiful spring day.

Horticulture 365-May 22 coolest 143 in the registry.

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:37:12 +0000

Where is my smile “rolling on the floor laughing” when really needed? But that assumes that plants annual competitions until the snow off the Hill Shafer. HAHAHAH!

In the upper-left corner of the image: Hill Shafer.

Only tell.

may 2010 virtual tour: an open day slideshow

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:21:12 +0000

RAIN HAD BEEN FORECAST, BUT DIDN’T SHOW. About 250 nice people did (which is actually a pretty quiet tour day here!), and so did a lot of nice plants, who managed in spite of wacky spring weather to hold out for their moment of glory. Second-best to an actual garden visit is a virtual tour, and you’re invited. No excuses! See you there.

The questions outnumbered the people, of course, including “What’s that pink flower?” (above). You’ll have to watch the show to find out.

Start the slideshow by clicking on the first thumbnail, then toggle from image to image using the arrows beside each caption. Enjoy!

Note: A list of links to profiles of the plants I’ve mentioned is just below the thumbnails, if you want to learn more than I can fit in a caption.

Profiles of some featured plants:

Astilboides tabularis Euphorbia palustris Geranium macrorrhizum Geranium phaeum Hakonechloa ‘All Gold’ Hostas (including ‘June’) Japanese painted fern Lonicera sempervirens (honeysuckle) Taxus baccata ‘Repandens Aurea’ (golden yew) Viburnums

Plus:

Underplanting how-toHosta pot? Why not?

doodle by andre: oh happy day! (and a giveaway)

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 21:05:12 +0000

OH HAPPY DAY (OH HAPPY DAY…). That Edwin Hawkins Singers song from 1969 is what this doodle by Andre Jordan reminds me of, though my gospel here on the blog is gardening, and our shared church–yours and mine–is the outdoors. To celebrate the feeling of gardeners in sunshine (oh happy day!), I’m adding a little incentive to comment on this week’s gorgeous doodle: a giveaway of three copies of Andre’s doodled memoir, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.” How to win one of my favorite books ever:

Simply comment below, telling us what aspect of Andre’s work touches you (naughty? nice? wacky? wonderful?–use your own words). If you’re not sure, review all his doodles (!!!!) at this link.

As the holiday weekend ends at midnight Monday, May 31, I’ll select three winners at random using random.org’s random-number selector.

By the way, Andre’s wife, Mrs. Andre, says this doodle would make the nicest wallpaper, and she is just exactly right. Oh happy day! (Which see, below. Or more precisely, which hear.)

podcast doubleheader: ‘real dirt’ and robin hood

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:49:12 +0000

THIS PODCAST THING IS CONTAGIOUS. Thanks to Robin Hood Radio and the weekly podcast they produce with A Way to Garden, I have also been reconnected across the radio waves to my old friend Ken Druse (whose weekly ‘Real Dirt’ program airs on Robin Hood Radio, too, among other places). As a result, this week I recorded a radio-podcast doubleheader. Want to listen in?

On Real Dirt, where I was the guest this week, Ken and I talked solid gold–as in the color, and its uses in the garden. We both have a passion for gold-leaf plants, in particular. Care to listen in?

On the weekly A Way to Garden program (also available on demand and at iTunes), the subject was container gardening tips and tricks. Stream or download it starting here. Enjoy.

tomato-troubles faq’s

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 08:33:12 +0000

Q. I am worried about another outbreak of late blight, after 2009’s epidemic. Can I do anything to prevent tomato disease?

A. Some surprising late-blight facts and tactics to try:

Assuming 2009’s last blight was the same strain normally seen, it can only overwinter on live plant tissues, not dead, in a cold zone like the Northeast, which would mean just one potential host: potato tubers overlooked during harvest. Dig and destroy (trash) all overwintered potatoes as they resprout.Volunteer tomatoes that sprout in the garden or compost can be the carrier of various other diseases (though not late blight). Always remove volunteer tomatoes as they appear, to prevent other tomato afflictions.Seed that was saved is not a potential transmitter of late blight, which cannot get inside a seed or survive on it outer surface. (Some other tomato diseases do taint seed.)Other fungal diseases are soil-borne and do overwinter even in a cold zone like mine. A three-year rotation sequence is the best control—not replanting the area with tomatoes and potatoes and their relatives for that time (though peppers and eggplant are less readily infected).Some such diseases (not late blight) can even contaminate cages and stakes and tools, which should be disinfected with a 1:9 bleach:water solution. First wipe or brush off any caked-on soil; soak the implements for 10 minutes.Resistant tomato varieties such as ‘Mountain Magic,’ ‘Plum Regal’ and ‘Legend’ can offer some protection from late blight, says the University of Massachusetts Extension on their great late-blight fact sheet. Investigate appropriate resistant varieties to offer some protection against other diseases; this chart of disease resistance by tomato variety may help.Tomato grafting, as we have discussed—using a more vigorous rootstock to support less-robust growing heirlooms in particular—is another possible tactic, but not as easy as merely sowing seed.Cornell’s late-blight fact sheet answers many other questions about this disease; a great reference, should you wish to know more.At plant-shopping time, buy local (trucked-in seedlings sold at big-box stores were implicated in the spread of the 2009 late blight outbreak) and carefully check seedlings for any spots on stems or leaves. Even better, grow your own.

Q. What are those giant green caterpillars on my tomato plants?

A. Be vigilant about watching for tomato hornworms and their telltale droppings or first signs of their chewing damage. The droppings are easier to see than the green caterpillars, who normally start their eating at the tops of plants. Pick them off and destroy them.

Q. My tomatoes flowered but didn’t set fruit. What’s up?

A. Sometimes, despite all the love you give them, tomatoes fail to set fruit. Assuming you did not give the plant too much Nitrogen, it may be weather-related: Nighttime temperatures that remain above 70 or temperatures below 50ish interfere with pollination. Fruit set can also be hampered by over-feeding with Nitrogen or by irregular watering.

Hot, dry conditions at blossom time prevents proper pollination and can causes buds or tiny fruit to drop. If it’s early enough, hopefully a next round of flowers appears during more favorable weather. I know some gardeners who hose down their plants if the weather is inhospitable, hoping to encourage fruit set.

Q. My tomato plants are sick or the fruit is disfigured (or both). Help!

A. There are so many potential tomato problems it’s a wonder we ever ripen a red fruit…but we do. Here’s the barest minimum of explanation to why some tomato problems occur, followed by links to expert diagnostic sites that may help you get even more specific.

Rot on the bottom: The bottom of a tomato fruit is the blossom end, where the blossom used to be before the fruit expanded. Blossom-end rot can appear as leathery and sunken, or be watery-looking; the end is discolored, and dark. The cause: not enough calcium, caused by water stress. Some gardeners work lime or calcium into the beds as a preventive measure, but does it help?

Green on the top: On the top or stem end, problems such as “greenback” can occur when areas around the stem remain hard and green, unripened. Too much sunshine can sometimes be the culprit there.

Seeing spots? Various fungal diseases, cankers, viruses and bacterial conditions can show up as spots on tomato skin, whether red or green. If your tomatoes get anthracnose (sunken round spots that then go dark in the middle, sort of a bull’s-eye effect), alternaria canker (also known as blight, with numerous sunken gray-brown marks on fruit, both green and red, and lesions on plants, too), or black mold and ghost spot (watery spots with dark centers), crop rotation might have helped prevent it, and is a must next year.

A three-year cycle is ideal; two is good; skipping a year helps with some conditions and not others, but is better then no rotation.

A barrier of clean mulch applied at planting time can reduce some spores that splash up from the soil onto plants. Heirloom tomato expert Amy Goldman is using a new (reusable) material, ground cloth, the stuff of greenhouse floors and nursery pathways.

Tomato foliage can also experience all manner of spotting, and many such afflictions are symptoms of the same cankers, blights, fungi and viruses above. Sometimes leaves start to fall off after yellowing, moving up the plant, other times it’s top-down. Bacterial wilt is a top-down deal; fusarium and verticillium begin at the bottom of the plant.

Cracks in the fruit often develop when soil moisture is uneven, and lots of moisture becomes available suddenly after not enough. Fruit swells faster than the skin can expand. Too much Nitrogen can bring on cracking, as can some fungal diseases and even merely plant genetics (large-fruited beefsteak types are said to be more susceptible).

Other damage to fruit can come from hail, from sucking insects, maybe from fire and brimstone, huh? It really is endless. So much so that there’s a whole annual conference called the Tomato Disease Workshop for breeders, farmers, and other professionals to try to work on problems together. This year’s event, the 25th edition, coincides with the third international version and takes place in Italy. Think pomodoro!

My favorite diagnostic sites: The University of Maryland, as well as Texas A&M and also Cornell University, each has a great, photo-driven diagnostic tool that you will want to bookmark. Rutgers has a great PDF on fungal diseases of tomatoes. And Maryland’s chart of the disease resistance of various tomatoes was one of the most extensive I could find.

Лучший Shrubs, лучший оттенок Lighteners раскрыты

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:17:12 +0000

A whole lotta сад коучинг происходит на более чем на сад центр блоге я пишу для.

Во-первых, я показать мои любимые и рекомендовал большинство shrubs для превращения двор в сад с большой, showy те, большинство из них быстрорастущих. Дешево, слишком.Как Weigela выше – “Белый рыцарь” на левой, общих розовый справа.

Я также составил, мой любимый perennials и кустарников, которые ярче даже мрачнейших тенистые пятна.Как речь “Эмеральд отдых’ вверху слева или Бакай Bottlebrush справа.Рекомендуемый perennials включают в себя молочай amygdaloides, Соломон в печать, Харди Begonia и Hakonechloa травы.

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“I believe” weed “, to be politically incorrect term”

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:01:12 +0000

One of the many “weedy” spots And, although I think that is at least one of them home. Much worse, but do not find images and, I thought I met in the last expression “politicallyincorrect”, which became almost as easily combustible, as “liberal.” But simply asthere was against the ‘ political correctness, “it seems that amini nor against movement of plants native, in articles oneSusan wrote a few posts back, and once published in the Boston Globe Wednesday. This is not yet weed thus scientist Peter Del Tredici, (quoted in my title) as heextols “emerging forest” and “spontaneous” urban jungle vegetation, praising plants like dandelions, chicory, mugwort, toadflax, phragmitis, as well as and, of course, AILANTHUS (as many of you know, the tree grows trees and inBrooklyn). Tredici Del argues that race is not native species of andcommends town, which stubbornly escapes from sidewalk cracks, gravel beds, vacant lots and untended patch for carbonsequestration, producing oxygen, feeding wild animals, preventing soil erosion — and more — without any support. His book is called urban wild plants in the North. Iplan to buy and read it, if only correctly identify many plants and havebeen mechanism And neighborhood beautification project work. I tend to agreethat urban Habitat so differs from the original forests can see which toinsist away historical, is irrelevant. But takes much changes ofmindset vacant lots are filled with plants it displays nothing but blighted aboutseem. And getting rid of them — if nothing else-isdefinitely to perform the actual people in aerobic conditions, also I still … these fascinating plants, in particular, which grows from theones seem completely inhospitable environment. Issomething there to admire in this.

PMP is worth all the hype?

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:45:12 +0000

My PMPs, still somewhat traumatized from maritime transport. What all teams now that these are shelves kindergarten? Now I get the message, some of them with proven winners (as many writers garden) and is used for other gardeners recently planted them. Still Not naysayers. Growers sector seems Excited: “only if the oglądanymi any form of Petunia that are available, something new comes:” Pretty much Picasso, ‘ “says greenhouse grower. Note then that device is a product of traditional breeding, genetic modification. These establishments were showstoppers package attempts 2009 Images this month from Petunia interwebs were everywhere and I now say that it looks cool. It combines in a single flower planting Favorites mixed container purple with vine petunias Chartreuse sweet potatoes. I tried it myself this year just to see how it looks in itself – that is, to be quite strong. We displayed. (For me, lots of petunias start right from the steam Solstice, when you need them most.)Always already I liked petunias, regardless of their Ubiquity. Their frilliness is nice and once upon a time, many former petunias lovely fragrance. This, however, already been bred from almost all new varieties. You can still find some old fashioned fragrant petunias — often are white and larger than normal. Not only floriferous and not quite as “disc”, but the pool can be the whole Szent, especially in the night garden.