Controlling late blight on tomatoes


Wed. Jun. 9, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Controlling late blight on tomatoes

Ugh… late blight.

If you lost your homegrown tomatoes due to a nasty disease called Late Blight, will the disease affect this years crop?  Not likely, the pathogen doesn’t survive our winter.  It’s generally brought in from elsewhere.  It can only survive on potato culls or tomato fruit that are sheltered in soil or a warm compost pile.

For now, our humidity has been low in spite of HOT weather. But we know  … [Continue reading]

Vegetable garden tips for June


Tue. Jun. 8, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Vegetable garden tips for June

June is an exciting month for vegetable gardeners!  We’ve got our warm season plants in the ground and we’ve already been munching on salad greens!

You can start successive plantings of beets, peas and shorter season crops. Also fans of broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts can plant them in June for a Fall harvest.

The first few weeks of a vegetable plant’s growth are the “critical period” for weed control, they’ll have the  … [Continue reading]

Annuals for punctuation


Mon. Jun. 7, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Annuals for punctuation

Punctuate your landscape by stuffing some annuals in with your perennials!  Annuals make great transitions for filling in those “holes” in our perennial gardens.

As the tulips and daffodils fade, don’t pull them out, just put some pretty annuals around them!  Either right in the ground or in pots.

The ‘Wave’ petunias are some of my favorites for sun.  They fill in very nicely, offer a wide variety of colors and generally don’t get as  … [Continue reading]

Wasps are back! Good or bad?


Fri. Jun. 4, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Wasps are back! Good or bad?

Wasps, the bane of the summer time picnic and those nests! Ugh, don’t get me started.

BUT, and it’s a big BUT, they’re good for our ecosystem. Dang it! I mean, that’s good, but their sting is not fun. However, they don’t really want to sting you but they’re not all that pleased with you either. How to treat a wasp sting. 

Wasps build honeycomb nests under the eaves of a  … [Continue reading]

Trees and shrubs for pollinators


Thu. Jun. 3, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Trees and shrubs for pollinators

I talk a lot about pollinators, often mentioning perennials and annuals. Last week I talked about planting extra herbs for pollinators.

Today, I discovered a great new resource from the University of Minnesota Extension regarding planting trees and shrubs for pollinators! Here is a link to the full article. Depending on what you plant, they provide a habitat, food and pollen.

Roses come to mind. One in particular is called ‘Purple Pavement  … [Continue reading]

Creeping Charlie


Wed. Jun. 2, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Creeping Charlie

When I became a Master Gardener in 2003, there was a group of MG’s that formed a group called “Friends of Charlie” because nearly every other question asked by home gardeners was, “How do I get rid of Creeping Charlie”?

Some people love it, claiming creeping Charlie provides food for bees and a savory, minty smell. Others wage war against this weed as though their lives depended on its eradication.

With a Latin name I won’t  … [Continue reading]

Dame’s Rocket – flower or weed


Tue. Jun. 1, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Dame’s Rocket – flower or weed

Oh such pretty flowers blooming in ditches, along railroad tracks and in large stretches of farm yards. Oh but what evil those beauties bring upon us. Dame’s Rocket looks like a native phlox but it’s not!

It is an invasive species of the mustard family that has spread like gangbusters throughout the Upper Midwest. It is on the ERADICATE list for Minnesota and RESTRICTED in Wisconsin. South Dakota’s not too thrilled with  … [Continue reading]

Memorial Day – and the poppy


Mon. May. 31, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Memorial Day – and the poppy

Garden Bite would like to thank all those who serve in the United States Military and their families.  We honor those who gave everything.

Today is the day we reflect and remember our Soldiers.  Memorial Day, which is celebrated every year on the final Monday of May was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union andConfederate soldiers who died.  By the  … [Continue reading]

Deer resistant plants


Fri. May. 28, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Deer resistant plants

Did you know deer LOVE hosta? That’s a rhetorical question!

Those graceful marauders are lovely to watch in winter but once you feed them, they expect the buffet to stay open.

What WON’T a deer eat? A hungry one will eat whatever, but there are deer resistant plants. Check out The Best Plants for 30 Tough Sites (page 14)

Some plants that come immediately to mind include coneflowers and columbine, yarrow and sage.

 

For  … [Continue reading]

Feeding your shrubs


Thu. May. 27, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Feeding your shrubs

 Another area I’m not so consistent at is feeding my shrubs. Yesterday we established that it’s a good idea to feed your container plantings and your other herbaceous plants, just don’t burn them. 

As for shrubs, well, they could use some food too but there are some caveats, we’ll get to those.

Keeping plants healthy also helps lower opportunities for disease and insects to do damage.

A caveat to fertilizer response is the environment your  … [Continue reading]