Vander Giessen Nursery: August 2011

August 24, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Black-Eyed Susans looking great at the nursery!

August 17, 2011

This time of year can be a challenge for gardeners no matter how passionate you may be about plants. Annuals are beautiful and can give you months of color if you treat them right, but by late August, you're just tired. Sound familiar? Here are a few simple tips to keep things looking nice and avoid the uphill battle it can sometimes feel like.

First, make sure you're keeping up on watering. By late summer, your hanging baskets and planters are (hopefully!) burgeoning--you should have plenty of plant material falling out of your containers. Lots of plants means lots of water, though, and if you forget for just a couple of days, it might be too late to save them. Spare yourself the headache of trying to revive toasted annuals by moving any containers to a spot you're sure to notice--and water--them each day. Also, for hanging baskets, water until the water drips out the bottom of your pots. A few squirts of water might have been enough early on in the year, but not now!

Second, give your flowers a haircut. By late summer you may have annuals that have started to get "leggy" or stretch and become unsightly. For plants like geraniums, pick off any flowers and buds and chop back long stems. With warm weather they'll bounce back in no time and you'll end up with much more compact, full plants. For trailing plants like petunias and million bells, don't be afraid to give them a haircut either. Trim off 1/3 of the length, and again, you'll end up with fuller, more vigorous plants in no time.

Finally, keep up on fertilizing. This is really the most important step. Like I mentioned in my main article this month, now is the time to start using Jack's Blossom Booster or Petunia Feed if you haven't already. At Vander Giessen's we love Jack's Classic 20-20-20 as a well-balanced "staple" in fertilizing your flowers, but as we get later in the season, you don't need to encourage so much plant growth. Instead, you're likely more interested in keeping them blooming--right? That's why Jack's Blossom Booster is so great--it will still fertilize for plant growth, but it does so at a lesser rate and does more to encourage blooming. For your petunias, million bells and bacopa, Jack's Petunia Feed will help to promote additional flowering and keep the leaves from turning yellow as they're prone to do this time of year even with regular feeding.

You've put a lot of time and effort into making your home look beautiful with flowers this year. Now that the weather is finally nice, take a few simple steps to keep them looking great the rest of the season--you'll be glad you did!

Solving Common Garden Problems

Red Thread Damage

I think it would be an understatement to say the weather this year has been strange. Of course, the cooler summer has been great for keeping lawns green. Unfortunately, it’s also given us our fair share of gardening problems to deal with.

For starters, although you might have a nice green lawn, you may also be battling a fungus called “red thread.” Noted by pink-tinged brown patches in grass, this fungus does more aesthetic damage than anything else and can easily be remedied. First, make sure you’re watering properly. Fungi thrive in cool, damp conditions (welcome to Washington!) so water early in the morning rather than at night. Evening watering will leave grass damp all night long, allowing fungi to thrive. Additionally, make sure that you’re watering no more than every other day rather than daily to give red thread even less chance to grow.

A second step you can take to reduce the severity of red thread is to collect and dispose of your lawn clippings rather than mulching them back into your lawn. Although mulching helps keep nutrients recycled back into your lawn, it’s also an excellent way to spread red thread spores, so when you see the fungus show up, start bagging!

Finally, keep up with fertilizing. Yes, you can buy fungus control products for your lawn, but the results are often mixed—you’ll see immediate die-off of the fungus, but in a few weeks, it’s back. A better solution is to use Scotts Super Turf Builder to “burn” the fungus out. The high nitrogen levels in the fertilizer easily overtake and kill red thread—and you’ll get a beautiful green lawn as well.

Another significant problem I’ve seen a lot of this year is aphids. This time of year is always bad for aphids—warmer weather and plenty of new plant growth make populations explode—but this year seems to be notably worse. Look for light green or dark brown bugs about half the size of an ant clustered on flower buds or new growth; you can also keep an eye out for the white “skin” they shed as they molt.

Fortunately, aphids are easy to control, provided you take swift action. For vegetables or other edibles, try Natria, an environmentally-friendly spray that works fast and dissipates quickly. On flowering shrubs, perennials and annuals, use Bayer Insect, Disease & Mite Control, a very effective spray that also provides some systemic protection for up to a month. Your best option, though, is to treat your plants with systemic liquid insecticide or insect spikes—products like Bayer Rose & Flower Care will protect for up to two months (essentially the rest of the growing season) and can be found at Vander Giessen's.

Lastly, we’re nearing the time of year when your annuals and hanging baskets can start to look worn and tired. If you’ve forgotten to water or fertilize from time to time, your plants may be stressed and susceptible to insects or disease. Add to that the morning dew that we’re starting to see more frequently and, much like with your lawn, fungi can be problematic. Use the Insect, Disease & Mite Control mentioned above to help control common fungi like powdery mildew (noted by a white film on plant leaves), black spot or mold. Follow up with a fertilizer like Jack’s Petunia Feed or Blossom Booster to rejuvenate your flowers and keep them blooming well into fall.

Like it or not, what summer we’ve had will soon be drawing to a close. Take a few steps now to keep your lawn and garden healthy and you’ll get to enjoy it yet for months to come!