Summer Gardening Tips
by Michael J. McGroarty
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Summer gardening tips . . .
Don't be afraid to trim those flowering shrubs and trees that
need it. Failure to prune is probably the biggest gardening
mistake a person can make. I spent 20 years landscaping homes
and businesses, and I watched people make the investment in my
services, then they failed to prune when the plants needed it,
and before you know it their landscape looks terrible.
If you make a mistake pruning, don't worry about it. It's
like a bad haircut, it will grow out. Of course use common sense
and read the previous articles that I've written on pruning.
Summer gardening tips . . .
Along with summer time comes high humidity. High humidity can
cause a lot of problems with the plants in your garden and
around your house. One of the simple things you can do is don't
water just before dark. Make sure your plants are nice and dry
when you tuck them in for the night and you can cut down of the
chance fungus being a problem.
One of the more common fungi that I get asked about a lot is
powdery mildew. This appears as a white film on the leaves of
ornamental plants. Dogwoods and Purple Sandcherry are often the
victim of powdery mildew. Powdery mildew isn't extremely harmful
to the plants, it's just that the foliage is damaged, and little
growing takes place once it sets in. Your local garden center
will have a general fungicide you can spray if you'd like to try
and control it. Usually once the plant defoliates in the fall
the plant is back to normal.
Summer gardening tips . . .
If you have Perennial Rye Grass in your lawn, and you
probably do if you're in the north, you must be careful not to
leave your grass wet at night. There is a fungus known as
Pythium Blight that appears in very humid conditions. This
fungus attacks and kills perennial rye grasses. Here in the
north most of our lawns are a blend of fescues, perennial ryes,
and Kentucky Blue Grass.
If you have problems with pythium blight you will lose the
perennial rye grass in large areas of your lawn, and even though
the other grasses will still be there and fill in, your lawn
will have areas that are much darker green than the rest of the
lawn because you will then have concentrations of Kentucky Blue
grass.
You can see this fungus in the early morning. It looks like
white cotton candy laying on top of your lawn. It usually
appears along walks and driveways where the soil is the wet if
you have been watering. To prevent pythium blight, water as
early in the day as possible.
Summer gardening tips . . .
Another nasty little blight that likes summer time is Fire
Blight. Fire Blight attacks ornamentals, especially Apple trees,
Crabapple trees, Cotoneasters, and Pyracantha. You know you have
Fire Blight when a branch on one of your plants dies and turns
almost red. The leaves usually hang on but turn reddish brown.
The damage usually starts out near the end of the branch and
works its way toward the main stem of the plant. There is
little you can do except prune out the affected branch, cutting
it as far back as possible.
Fire Blight is very contagious to plants so you should burn
the branches you prune out. You should also dip or wash your
pruning shears in rubbing alcohol after each cut to keep from
spreading this deadly fungus.
Summer gardening tips . . .
Unfortunately, I've got one more summer time culprit to warn
you about. It's a handy little fungus that grows in mulch.
Actually there are all kinds of fungi that tend to grow in
mulches, and most of them are really disgusting looking. But
this little gem is unique in the fact that as it grows it tends
to swell. Then somehow it manages to explode, and it will
spatter your house with tiny brown specks. The experts have
appropriately named this one “Shotgun Fungus”. Isn't that a
cute name?
These tiny little brown
specks will fly as high as eight feet
into the air, and once they stick to your house or windows, they
stick like glue. I know that right now there are people
hollering across the house at their spouse, “Hey, remember
those brown specks all over the house? I know what they are. It's
from the mulch!” Tell me I'm wrong, but I know I'm not.
A lot of people are victims of this nasty little fungus, but
they don't know it. All they know is that there are tiny brown
specks on the house that look like paint. So far they have blamed
everything from spiders to aliens.
There's not a lot you can do to prevent this fungus. I have
found that if you keep the mulch loose so air can circulate it
is less likely to grow fungi. Don't just keep adding layer after
layer to the mulch around your house. You should skip at least
every other year and just loosen the mulch you already have
down. If you loosen it and then rake it flat it will look like
you've just mulched. Mulch is great, just don't let it get
packed down hard. Loosen it up at least once a year.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his
most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com
and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter.
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