Flowers (annual and perennial), Gardening & Landscape, Vegetable and Fruits

Powdery Mildew

If your plants’ leaves have a white or gray dust on them, powdery mildew is probably attacking your garden. It’s a common disease, and different strains of powdery mildew attack a wide range of plants. This problem usually occurs toward the end of the season in August or September. This year (now) powdery mildew is a problem because of the warm humid conditions late in the summer. Factually most of the garden is mature or ripening.

Since these mildews attack several different types of plants, the fungus from a disease plant may infect other types of plants in the garden or flowerbed. As some of you know (myself included)) mildews can spread in a matter of a few days.

The bad news is that there’s no good treatment of powdery mildew. Happily, though, you can control powdery mildew if it happens earlier in the year.

How to Control Powdery Mildew

Keep Your Garden Clean: Powdery mildew spores can overwinter in your garden — so remove all affected fallen leaves from your garden during and at the end of the season. If you see leaves that are just beginning to show the disease, pluck them off the plant and throw them away to help keep powdery mildew from spreading to healthy plants.

Encourage Air Flow: Powdery mildew loves still, humid conditions, so keep spaces between your plants for air to flow through. Divide perennials every few years to keep them loose and open and prune trees and shrubs so they don’t get too thick. Also: Consider airflow when you choose spots for your plants. Avoid planting mildew-prone plants in especially sheltered spots.

Apply Fungicides: Fungicides can effectively control powdery mildew from spreading, but they’re not as good at killing the disease once it’s established. So, use fungicides — either traditional or organic — in wet, humid periods before you see a problem or just as the plants first start to show symptoms especially if you had the fungus this year. Look for these products at your local garden center, nursery, or online.

Garden Pests, Gardening & Landscape

Dandelion Control

Most people think about trying to control their dandelions in the spring when they see them in bloom. However, this is not the best time to try to control them, particularly if they plan to use a broadleaf herbicide to do it. Dandelions are in their most active growth stage in the spring and are actually somewhat resistant to the herbicide at that time. Yes, you can curl up the flower stems and the leaves a bit but will probably not really kill that many dandelion plants at that time of year. Another larger concern is that there are so many other broadleaf plants actively growing at that time of year too, most with lots of soft, succulent foliage that will easily take up the herbicide. The result is “collateral” damage to trees, shrubs, perennial flowers and often garden vegetable plants. Dry, granular weed and feed products that contain a fertilizer as well as a broadleaf herbicide may be somewhat safer than a liquid herbicide because it is less likely to drift. But the efficacy of a weed and feed product may not be as good, particularly if it is not applied correctly.

Fall treatment of dandelions is a much better option for a number of reasons. First, dandelion plants are much more susceptible to the effects of the herbicide in the fall. They are actively storing carbohydrates in their roots which makes it easier for the herbicide to be translocated to the roots as well. Secondly, plants of all ages will be susceptible. Spring treatments will not affect the seed that is flying around at that time of year. Once that seed lands, it starts the next generation of plants that will have avoided the spring herbicide application. So, the next spring, dandelions will still be there in the lawn. Treating in the fall is much more likely to break the cycle of new plants growing up from seed because there are usually only a few flowers forming in the fall. While most garden vegetables will be damaged by the frost, dandelions are cold tolerant enough that they can withstand freezing temperatures and still be susceptible to control with herbicides. If they are still green, you can probably still spray, but it will be best to do it on a day when the temperature is above 50°F.

Dandelions are not all bad however, I recall mother putting the flowers in a big crock to ferment with a dish towel over the top. I do not remember how the dandelion wine tasted however, probably not very good to a young child of six or so. Dandelions can also be eaten, particularly in the early spring when they are not too bitter tasting or mixed in salads. The young leaves as well as the crown of the plant can be used in salads. The leaves are often blanched to reduce the bitter flavor. The roots can be dried and ground up to make a coffee substitute. The roots are sometimes used as a component of root beer. Dandelions are credited with various medicinal properties as well.

Flowers (annual and perennial), Gardening & Landscape

Cosmos an Annual Flower that is Ridiculously Easy to Grow

Cosmos are freely flowering annual plants that are ridiculously easy to grow. If you’re looking for a flower that will stay in bloom for months and can be grown by simply scattering seeds, cosmos is a great choice.

The flowers sit atop long slender stems and form a cloud of color that not only looks attractive throughout the summer but also attract bees, butterflies, and birds to your garden. Cosmos grow as easily in beds as they do in containers and they also make great cut flowers.

Cosmos can handle drought, poor soil conditions and general neglect. They even self-sow, but not to the point of becoming a nuisance. This is a truly low maintenance plant.

I stopped growing the plant because I found most that you find in the greenhouses are rather small and prone to breakage met as container plants.

That is until I found the Indonesian Cosmos, A popular plant in Indonesian cuisine and is used as a garnish. The lovely 3” flowers are bright yellow and orange; this variety blooms till frost and is very colorful. I started to be disappointed because I did not have a bloom through mid-August. But now they have bright yellow blooms that you can see at the end of my driveway. With thick stems and leaves, grasshoppers, deer, rabbits, and wind do not pose a problem.