Category Archives: Gardening Tips

Gardening Tips

Posted on by

February:  Preparing to plant in the Rogue Valley

wet-soil

Soil: too wet

Grab a handful of your soil, if you can form it into a ball, the soil is too wet for planting and chances are the seeds will rot in the ground. Plant only when the soil crumbles and falls apart after you squeeze it.

Soil pH: Use a pH soil test kit to test your soil. Kits are available at most garden centers. If you soil is too alkaline, above ph7, then incorporate lime into your soil. Lime is best added in the fall, but you can still do this in early spring. Apply Lime early in February, then a week later add in fertilizer.  Both materials should be incorporated into the soil 6 to 8 inches. Wait at least a week after applying fertilizer before planting seeds.

More about modifying soil pH here…
http://www.sunset.com/garden/garden-basics/acid-alkaline-soil-modifying-ph

You can direct sow the following seeds in your garden mid-to-late February, if the soil is no too wet and temperatures are staying above 20 degrees!
Peas, non-enation resistant varieties
Early varieties radish
Spring Spinach
Fave beans
Mustard
Spanish Onions (the most common onion is the USA),

Sow the seeds listed below, indoors or in a greenhouse in February for transplanting into the garden in 6-8 weeks:
Lettuce
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Bok Choy
Pac Choi
Mustard
Cabbage
Kale
Leeks

Article by Carlotta Lucas
Reference: Gardening Year ‘Round, Month by Month in the Rogue Valley and environs, A guide for Family Food Production by the Jackson County Master Gardeners Association
Wet soil photo courtesy of The Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardeners’ Demonstration Garden, Wichita KS

Save

Save

Butterfly Gardens

Posted on by
256px-danaus_plexippus-monarch

Monarch Butterfly

Robin McKenzie, Master Gardener and principal designer for Rockbird Gardens, gave an outstanding presentation on Monday at the Ashland Garden Club meeting. Robin specializes in creating sustainable backyard ecosystems for wildlife, and for people. Monday she talked about “Planning and Growing a Butterfly Garden”,  her talking points were:

• Research the items you need to attract butterflies
• Find a sunny garden location. ( 6-8 hrs of sun)
• Create a garden plan for your yard: flowerbeds, raised beds, and/or containers
• Know the timeline needed to create a garden
• Prepare the soil for your plants, add amendments, make sure you have good drainage
• Install borders and hardscape before you plant (*see mud-puddle below)
• Decide your plant choices: purchase and/or grow your plants, then plant according to their specific directions, don’t crowd your plants!

mud-puddle-for-butterflies

Butterfly Puddle

*Butterflies need water, so make them a mud puddle!
Use a shallow dish such as a plastic or terracotta plant saucer in a sunny area of your garden that is protected from the wind. Fill the bottom of the pan with sand, gravel, and a few small stones, add water to the dampen sand.

Host plants:
Attract more butterflies by having plants for larval food in your yard, for instance:

20160618_160355

Milkweed

Milkweed for Monarchs
Tarragon for Swallowtails
Angelica for Anise Swallowtails
Violas for Great Spangled Great Spangled Fritillary
Note: Be prepared for heavy munching on these host plants, these plants are  caterpillar food!

See list of host plants here:
http://nababutterfly.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/southwestern-Oregon-butterfly-garden-guide.pdf

And here….http://extension.oregonstate.edu/4hwildlifestewards/pdfs/butterfly.pdf

How to become a Certified monarch Butterfly Station:  www.monarchwatch.org

Lecture was by Robin McKenzie www.rockbirdgardens.com
Monarch Butterfly image by Simon Koopmann‎ on Wikimedia Commons
Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

Save

Save

Dormant Sprays

Posted on by

Source:
Ross Penhallegon,Horticulturistdsc03426
OSU Extension Service

Recommendations for the least toxic sprays and treatments for fruit trees. These products are usually available at garden centers. Always follow label directions.

Dormant Oil: Apply when trees are dormant, November through March, after all the leaves have fallen. Mix with water as directed and spray to all surfaces of the trunk, branches and twigs. Apply when the temperature is expected to rise during the day; temperatures below 35 degrees can damage the bark. Dormant oil controls aphids, scale, spider mites, and many other insects by desiccating or smothering eggs and larvae.

Fixed Copper: Spray on apples, pears, cherries, peaches, and plums to control canker. Allow two weeks between applications of copper and any sprays containing sulfur. Add a spreader-sticker product to help copper adhere to the tree surface.

Latex paint: Coat the trunks of young trees with white latex paint mixed half-and-half with water. The paint reflects strong sunlight that, once the leaves fall, can cause cracking, a favorite place for pests to overwinter and can cause substantial winter damage.

Here are some tips for specific fruit trees:

Apples: Spray copper before fall rains; dormant oil once or twice from January through March; wettable sulfur just after petal fall.

Apricots: Spray copper before the fall rains and dormant oil in February.

Cherries: Use wettable sulfur applied weekly during blooming for brown rot. Information on synthetic sprays to control cherry fruit fly is available at your local county office of the OSU Extension Service.

Pears: Spray copper before the fall rains; spray dormant oil in early spring before buds open and wettable sulfur just after petal fall.

Peaches: Spray copper or a good dormant fungicide three to four times between December and bud break. Spray copper before fall rains and in spring just before bud break; apply sulfur weekly during blooming and again after all petals have fallen.

Author:Kym Pokorny

Read full article on the Oregon State University Extension Service Website:http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/use-prevention-methods-fight-fruit-tree-diseases-2

Photo by: Carlotta Lucas AGC Member

Save

PEACH LEAF CURL

Posted on by

Taphrina deformans, commonly known as Peach Leaf Curl, is one of the most common plant disease problems experienced by backyard tree growers.  This leaf curl is a fungal disease, that affects both fruiting & ornamental peach trees, nectarine and almond trees.

Peach Leaf Curl appears on tree leaves about two weeks after leaf emergence in the spring. Symptoms include curling & puckering leaves, leaf discoloration of red, yellow, orange or even purple, and leaf drop-off.  This disease can spread rapidly to healthy leaves especially in a wet spring.  Peach Leaf Curl can defoliate a tree and its this loss of leaves stresses out the tree causing loss of fruit production, and has the potential to kill a tree if left unchecked.

The best defense growers have against peach leaf curl is to buy disease resistant varieties, so ask your nurseryman for disease resistant varieties for your area. The only way to prevent Peach leaf Curl is to control it with lime-sulfur or copper-based fungicides.  To treat, spray the tree in late December then again twice more with two-week intervals between sprayings.

DIY: Aphid Spray

Posted on by

Make your own insecticidal soap: Aphids attacking a rode bud and stopping it from opening

Mix 5 tablespoons of all-natural liquid soap with 1 gallon water. 

Using a hand sprayer apply soap mixture directly on the aphids. Wait an hour then spray the roses with a garden hose to remove any soap residue and the dead aphids.

Repeat as needed.