July 23, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

From Kim Willis

http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-detroit/kimberley-willis

http://www.examiner.com/country-living-in-detroit/kimberley-willis

These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners

I’m back.  My father is home from the hospital and recovering nicely and I can now concentrate on writing and gardening again.  I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter.

I woke up this morning to a rousing thunderstorm but it didn’t leave behind much rain, only 2/10 of an inch.  I am hoping for more later today.  But it did bring the humidity back and that I don’t want.  Rainfall has been spotty in our area.  I saw the lawns in Caro last week were brown and crunchy, ours was still green.  Some people in the state got lots of rain, others very little.

The corn on July 10.

On July 10 we had a brief little storm roll through mid-afternoon with heavy rain and straight line wind.  It flattened my beautiful sweet corn, 5 feet tall and beginning to tassel.  It also blew over some hollyhocks and tall lilies but that wasn’t a big deal.  I spent 5 hours the next morning trying to straighten the corn with a bunch of stakes and string.  Field corn will sometimes right itself after being blown over but this corn was closely planted and I worried that lying in a pile in the heat and humidity would rot the plants.

My hard work did pay off – I managed to get a good deal of it back up and it is now 6-7 feet high and forming nice ears.  My husband says that if you count the time and effort spent on this corn each ear will cost us about $3 but that’s ok.  

The corn on July 21, standing again.

The heat and humidity plus my family problems kept me from doing much gardening for about 10 days and I found that it’s very hard to catch up this time of year. I have been weeding like crazy the last few days and my husband has been mowing.   My pumpkins went from vines about 3 feet long to vines over 20 feet long in just about 10 days. My tomatoes have grown so large this year that they out grew my heavy duty cages and I had to spend a couple hours tying them up to the fence behind them.  They are loaded with fruit but this awful humidity has caused the beginnings of septoria leaf spot on some of my plants and I am scrambling to keep on top of that too. 

In the garden color is everywhere.  Phlox, daylilies, Rose of Sharon, beebalm, lavender, and many other things are blooming.   My dahlias are blooming as well as zinnias and sunflowers.  Make sure to use some liquid fertilizer on your container plants to keep them blooming well, but don’t do it when the plants are wilted or when the temperature is over 90 degrees.

Color in the garden..

The fireflys are abundant this year.  Make sure you get outside one evening and see them flashing.  Mosquitoes are abundant too, so use repellant when you go out.  And I am happy to say that I have been seeing more frogs and even a few baby toads now.  And one big fat toad, the first I have seen this year, is living in our one remaining dog kennel with a dog.  For the last week it has been staying right around her food and water dishes, maybe catching flies. This is the inside portion of her kennel, in the barn.  It hides between the water dish and the wood rail at the bottom of the run.  She doesn’t touch it, of course, as toads make dogs sick.  And it doesn’t seem concerned about me filling the food and water either.  It can get outside if it wants, but I guess inside where its cooler is preferable.

Diseases and pests in the garden

A shout out to everyone- late blight has been found on a potato field in Allegan County, Michigan.  Conditions are very favorable for late blight and tomatoes get the same strain as potatoes.  You may want to start spraying your tomatoes with a fungicide.  There is no cure for late blight and your whole planting will die in just a few days if it arrives at your place.  No organic products work on late blight- none.  Homeowners should use a product that contains chlorothalonil ,( Daconil) and follow label directions exactly.  This will also control the other fungal diseases like early blight and septoria, which are having a field day in this weather.

Tomato hornworms are plentiful this year.  The best way to control these is to simply scout your plants early in the evening and morning and pick them off.  I also saw some of those pesky Japanese beetles on my dahlias in the last few days.  They have not been plentiful this year and I hope that isn’t going to change.  Check your plants for them- all kinds of plants- because getting an early start on control is important.

 Also

 powdery mildew is on the rise on many garden plants from squash to phlox.  Fungicides are your best bet at control.

My potatoes are loaded with the larvae of Colorado potato beetles.  The adult beetles are yellow with black stripes and an orangish head and are much like a lady beetle.  They lay orange eggs in clusters on the backs of leaves which hatch into fat red worm-like larvae with a dark head that get more yellowish as they grow.  They can become beetles in about 10 days in warm weather and several generations will occur each summer.  The last generation will pupate in the soil over winter to start the cycle again next year.

I am not going to spray as my potatoes are about ready to harvest.  I am picking them off, which isn’t fun.  Insecticides will work if you want to use them.

At the farm market

It’s a great year at the farm markets with abundant produce and a wide variety of produce is on the market.  Cherry and raspberry harvest is slowing down, but blueberries are on the market.  Some areas have peaches. Tomatoes small and slicing are becoming more abundant, you’ll also find peppers, summer squash, early cabbage, new potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, greens of many types, carrots, green beans and even some early sweet corn. Melons, grapes, and apples are still not ripe locally.

Almanac stuff

I didn’t do any almanac stuff this month but just so you know, the full moon this month, which was yesterday, is called the Buck moon, because deer bucks start popping out their new antlers this month.  And farmers sometimes call it the Hay moon. It’s  National Blueberries, Eggplant, Lettuce, Mango, Melon, Nectarine and Garlic month as well as National Hotdog and Vanilla Ice Cream month.

This month’s flower is the sunflower and the birthstone is the ruby.  Good days to make jams and jellies are 23-24 and 26,27, 30-31  and for canning, 25-26-27.

Crop rotation

Farmers have practiced crop rotation since at least Biblical times.  Crop rotation is planting a different crop in a field each year. Around here the rotation includes wheat, corn and soybeans, and sometimes alfalfa and sugar beets are added to the rotation.  Farmers know crop rotation works; they can see the difference in a crop from year to year.  But lately some farmers have been betting on technology, new genetics and high nitrogen fertilizer to grow corn in the same spot for several years in a row, because corn prices have been high.  It’s called continuous corn cropping, CCC.

The newest research, however, shows that this is probably a bad tactic. We have known for some time that different types of plants use nutrients from the soil differently and that’s one basis for crop rotation, to prevent depletion of certain nutrients.  Crop rotation also prevents pest insect build ups to some extent. But research done in the UK and published in Nature's The ISME Journal has also showed that each type of crop changes the soil profile of microorganisms.  

Soil is a complex brew of many living organisms, which each have a job to do. Until recently it was very tedious to analyze soil for all the various organisms working in it.  A new method uses the RNA of things living in the soil to provide a snapshot of what is there quickly and reliably and across a wide range of living things from bacteria to fungi.  The research shows that wheat causes the least change in soil organisms from “virgin” soil and corn shifts the soil profile toward more protozoa and nematodes. Crops like beans and peas shift the soil profile to more fungal organisms.

While it seems like such a shift might benefit a crop grown there a second year, it doesn’t.  Soil needs a balanced mixture of all types of organisms to be healthy and for plants to be able to use the soil nutrients efficiently.   Each year one type of crop is planted in the same spot, the soil profile is shifted some more to favor some organisms over another.

Additional recent research at Pennsylvania State University found that farmers who were following CCC instead of crop rotation were as successful as those who did practice crop rotation only if the weather was perfect and that was only for an additional year or two.  Each year corn was planted in the same field the yield dropped, even if fertilizer and pesticide use was increased.  And if there was a weather problem corn planted in a rotation schedule always did better than CCC.  The old ways are the right ways.

This has some implications for home gardeners.  Many of you resist crop rotation because your garden is small or because you like things a certain way.  Some of you think that extra fertilizer and pesticides will do the trick just like the farmers.  But when you change the soil profile of microorganisms by planting the same plants in the same spot year after year, you will ultimately ruin the soil and then no plants will grow well in it.

Frogs in milk

Since we are on the subject of old ways here’s an interesting tidbit for you.  There is an old Russian folk remedy to keep milk from going sour so quickly and that is to put a frog in the milk.  Scientists have said for years that this is an old wives tale, but then, for some reason, they decided to do some research on the practice. A study published in the ACS' Journal of Proteome Research recently details what the researchers found.

Researchers tested Russian Brown frogs, a common species in Russia, and found that the frogs secreted 21 substances that had antibiotic or other medical properties through their skin.  It is believed that these substances protect the frogs from disease organisms found in wet, dirty environments.  The research found that some of the secretions killed Salmonella and Staphylococcus bacteria, (organisms that would cause milk to spoil) as well as prescription antibiotics did.  So maybe the peasants weren’t so dumb, but I’ll stick with pasteurization.

Ticks

No one wants to get a tick on them but recent findings about these sneaky blood suckers are quite alarming.  Cases of Lyme disease, carried by ticks, are steadily rising as are cases of other tick caused diseases, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Powassan encephalitis.  This week researchers traced a new potentially deadly disease to tick bites, called Heartland virus or HRTV.   Lone Star ticks, a common species, carry the disease.  So far the disease has only been found in northwestern Missouri, but researchers speculate it will be found in other areas of the country.  Another newly emerged tick transmitted disease has recently been discovered in China.

Powassan encephalitis( a brain-nervous system disease) is becoming a problem in New York State and babesiosis  in Connecticut . ( It causes blood problems similar to malaria.)  There were 35,000 cases of Lyme disease in the US last year.  Most tick carried diseases can cause serious illness and even death.  Researchers are worried because the range of ticks and their populations are expanding and there seems to be an “uptick” in emerging diseases and variants of old diseases carried by ticks.

Five species of ticks are found in Michigan; Lone Star tick, Black Legged tick, , American Dog Tick, Brown Dog Tick and Woodchuck Tick, with the first 3 being common.  The highest tick populations are on the west side of Michigan but I identified several ticks each season in Lapeer County.  Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell says that tick populations are expanding in Michigan.

How do you protect yourself from ticks and the diseases they carry? Discourage deer and other wildlife from being close to your home.  Raccoons, opossums, skunks, woodchucks, and mice, as well as deer can carry ticks into an area.   Keep an area of grass mowed short around the home and make wide, mowed paths through “wild” areas you travel through on your property.  Ticks wait on tall grass and weeds near trails and jump on animals, including you.  When you travel and intend to be in wilderness areas ask what types of ticks might be found there.

Wear insect repellant and long pants tucked into boots when walking in wild areas. Stay in the middle of trails.  Inspect yourself thoroughly for ticks as soon as you get inside.  Some diseases require a long feeding period to be transmitted, but some require only about 15 minutes so check for ticks frequently when you know there are ticks in the area.  Also check your pets and horses for ticks frequently.  Dogs can be treated with insecticides that repel or kill ticks along with fleas.

Ticks don’t attach themselves to you right away so some can be easily removed.  If they are attached grab it near the head with tweezers and pull slowly and steadily to get it out.  There are tick removal gadgets you can buy if you encounter the problem frequently.  You can get a tick identified if you take it to MSU Diagnostic Services in East Lansing.  Some Extension offices may help you do that.

Doctors are starting to think about tick carried diseases more frequently when presented with odd illnesses but if you have a fever and rash and know you have been bitten by a tick tell your doctor.   Also if you or anyone in your family has an unexplained neurological or blood illness ask to be tested for tick carried diseases.  It could save your life.

Get some weeding done in this cooler weather and don’t forget to visit the honey festival Saturday.

Kim

Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information

Dill in the dark.

Growing and Using Dill

By Kim Willis, first published on Examiner.com

Dill, (Anethum graveolens), is a pleasant, common herb that is quite easy for the average Michigan gardener to grow. A few plants can be tucked into the back of a flowerbed, where they will look pretty as well as give you dill flowers and seeds. Most people are familiar with the way dill smells and tastes, you only have to open a jar of dill pickles to get the spicy aroma. Dill is native to the Mediterranean region and has been used as a flavoring and as a medicinal plant for thousands of years.

Dill has a long use as a medicinal plant to calm gas and nervous stomachs. Seeds were given to children to chew on and dill tea or a few drops of dill oil were given to infants to soothe colic pains. Dill tea can be used for heartburn and chewing on dill seeds will freshen the breath.

One caution - pregnant women can safely eat dill pickles and dill flavored foods but should avoid dill in concentrated amounts such as teas and chewing on seeds. Dill was used to start menstruation in earlier times and may, according to some herbalists, bring on contractions.

Growing Dill

Dill is an annual plant; it completes its life cycle in a season and dies. However if you let some go to seed you will seldom have to plant it again after the first time, it will pop up everywhere the next season. Dill seeds are small, hard ovals with 3 ridges on them and the seeds smell distinctively like dill. Plant the seeds shallowly, after the danger of frost has passed and the soil is warm. Thin plants to about 8 inches apart. A gardener seldom needs more than 2 or 3 dill plants for home use.

Dill grows in almost any soil but prefers a sunny location. It is tolerant of dry conditions but should be watered if it wilts and will grow larger if watered moderately. It generally does not need fertilizer. Dill has few pests or diseases but does not compete well with weeds when young.

The dill plant generally consists of a single, hollow stalk with scattered feathery leaves along it. The plant can grow to 3 feet tall or more in a great spot. If you are unsure if you are growing dill you have only to crush a feathery leaf to smell - all parts of dill smell just like dill pickles!

In mid-summer dill plants begin producing flat umbrella shaped clusters of tiny yellow flowers. These flowers quickly turn into hard brown seeds. If you want to collect the seeds cut the drying heads before they are completely brown and store them in a warm, dry, dark place until the seeds easily shake out of the seed pods. If you wait too long to cut the drying flower clusters, the seeds may be scattered on the ground and lost.

Using Dill

Dill flowers are used in pickle making as are the seeds. Whole dill flowers are picked and added to jars of cucumbers or other vegetables before processing. Dill seeds are also used in pickles and to flavor other dishes. Dill leaves are sometimes used to flavor dishes such as fish also.

To obtain dill flavor soak the crushed seeds in vinegar or add to a small amount of boiling water and let steep. You can put them in a bag and bang them with a hammer to crush or run them in a food processor for a few seconds. Dry dill seed is sometimes ground like black pepper and added to spice mixes. Commercially oil is distilled from dill seeds and that is often used in flavorings.