Garden hacks

In the Garden this Week (July 17)

In the garden this week, sometimes insecticides and fungicides do not work well this time of year. The use of a surfactant helps the pesticides cling to the plant. The same with herbicide use in the fall.

A few pictures of the tips dying on branches of Ponderosa and Austrian pines. This is a tip blight fungus. This time of the year, just prune off the tips and discard them. Also, clean up the needles and pinecones on the ground. Spraying with a systemic fungicide early in the spring helps reduce the browning.

If your tomatoes are setting on, wait. When the temperatures get above 90 degrees the pollen becomes sterile. They will set on when the temperature cools down.

There are several insects that burrow holes into the ground. One is the ant lion, also called the doodlebug. This insect digs a hole with the dirt sloping down into the hole. An insect not watching what it is doing falls down into the hole to be grabbed by the ant lion for its dinner. These are good holes to have around your garden. Their favorite food is ants.

The “weed” of the week is the wild licorice. We have all seen this growing on roadsides and ditches with the cocklebur type of seed pods. Roots were used as a fever remedy for children. Powdered roots were used to make root beer.

Garden almanac

This Week in the Garden (July 10)

This Week in the Garden (July 10)🌱 There are a lot of little grasshoppers hopping around in the grassy areas right now, and keeping them out of the garden is a real challenge. The best defense? Mow a 6-foot-wide strip around the garden as low as possible. This helps break up their habitat and discourages them from moving in. There are some baits you can use, but be cautious if you have pets nearby. In the garden itself, neem oil is a great option; it’s natural and effective.

Now, as much as grasshoppers can be a pain, I think there’s an even worse pest: the squash vine borer moth. It looks like an orange wasp (but it’s actually a moth) and lays its eggs right at the soil line where the stems meet the ground. Once those eggs hatch, the larvae bore into the plant stems, causing the plant to wilt and die seemingly overnight. Not fun.

To fight back, spray the lower stems with Sevin, Permethrin, or Spinosad. Do this before the moths start laying eggs. Another helpful tip? Rotate your squash and vine crops to a new spot each year to disrupt their cycle. If you catch the wilting early, you might be able to slit the stem carefully and remove the borer, but it’s a bit of a gamble.

Over in the flowerbed, I’m seeing quite a few leopard moths lately. These come from the woolly bear caterpillars you probably spotted last fall. Interesting little life cycle there!

A new intruder we’re starting to see creeping in from Nebraska is the jumping worm. These look like regular earthworms but are darker and have a white band, not the usual tan. When you disturb them, they thrash around wildly—kind of startling! The big concern is that they outcompete earthworms and strip nutrients from the soil really quickly. Not a big problem yet, but definitely something to watch.

On the lawn front, many yards are showing off those white to purple flowers—unfortunately, it’s field bindweed. This tough, noxious weed has roots that can reach 20+ feet and seeds that stay viable for decades. Your best bet is to hit it hard in the fall (September to October) with a 3-way herbicide like Trimec or Weed-B-Gon Max. It will take repeated applications over multiple seasons to get it under control.

And if your vine crops have little fruits turning yellow and shriveling up, don’t panic—it’s often just poor early pollination. That usually clears up as the plant matures and more male blossoms appear to provide plenty of pollen.

Garden almanac, Garden Pests

In the Garden (June 27)

If you’re seeing small grasshoppers in the lawn, keep an eye on your flowerbeds and veggie patch—they like to wander. Lawn insecticide might help in town, but it’s usually less effective out in rural areas. If they’re creeping into the garden, mowing a 10-foot strip around it down to an inch can create a barrier. For control in the garden, Sevin or other insecticides labeled for chewing insects can help—but don’t spray during the heat of the day, especially when bees are out and about. There are grasshopper baits available, but use caution if kids or pets are around.

Noticing light-colored bumps on your tomato stems? No need to worry—those are just root nodules. Tomatoes sometimes grow these little aerial roots when conditions are just right (or a bit too damp). They’re harmless!

With summer heat settling in, it’s a good time to raise your mower height to around 4 inches. Taller grass helps shade the soil and reduces stress on the blades. If your lawn looks ragged after mowing, it might be time to sharpen or replace your mower blades. Also, try to water in the early morning—less is lost to evaporation. Aim for about an inch of water a week, depending on rainfall. Hold off on fertilizing or weed spraying until the weather cools down again.

And if your spinach bolted early this year (as it often does), give Malabar spinach a try! It’s not true spinach, but it tastes similar and thrives in summer heat. It’s a vining plant, so give it something like chicken wire to climb. You can enjoy the leaves raw or cooked!

I have been noticing this attractive orange flower in the pastures. I never knew what it was until I ran across it in a magazine. It is a Globe Mallow. A drought-tolerant plant that spreads by seed and rhizomes.