This Week in the Garden (Sept. 6th)

Flowering cucumber vine

This week in the garden, a plant called the wild cucumber has been noticed mainly in pastures along creeks climbing on plum thickets. It is an attractive vine with large white flower panicles growing over 25 feet over everything. You can buy the seeds online, however, take care of these plants. They produce thousands of seeds. If you do grow this plant, keep it trimmed and remove the fruit after blooming. It is an annual grown from seed. Some people like the fruit, however, it is a bitter-tasting cucumber.

Corn smut used in cooking

Speaking of eatable food, I was watching the Food Network and they were cooking with corn smut. I found out this fungus can be bought at some stores for over 10 times the value of the corn itself. Use as you would do for any mushroom white in the white stage. In the black stage use in gravies or sauces.

Grassy sandburs

Grassy sandburs have been a huge problem in some lawns and gardens. At this time of year, there is not much you can do but remove the plant, so it does not set seed. In lawns, use a pre-emergent (the same as crabgrass) to prevent germination. With sandburs, you need to apply this later than with crabgrass, which would be around mid-June for two applications.

Yellow jacket wasp and a European paper wasp

As this week’s insect as I mentioned last week is the wasp. The wasp we have in South Dakota is the European paper wasp that makes the paper nest under the eaves and in the corners of the house. The true yellow jackets are more aggressive and make their homes underground. Therefore, wasps are not aggressive as long as they do not perceive you as a threat to their nest. If you are allergic to stings or the numbers are high, call a professional to get rid of these wasps.

If you have some bare ground in the garden like where you remove the onions and have some early crop seeds left, try a fall crop. Seeds like lettuce, radish, turnip, and pea can grow well in the cooler fall temperatures and take a frost.

This Week in the Garden (Aug 29)

This week in the garden is the proliferation of the monarch and swallowtail butterflies along with the dragonflies. These are good things; however, it also has been the week of squash bugs. These fleshy bugs run along the squash vines that suck out their juices causing distortions in leaf growth. It is hard to control these bugs because they hide underneath the leaf and near the soil line. Some use glue boards but that can bring in a host of problems especially if you have a dog or cat that goes into the garden. The use of Neem oil is becoming popular because it does not harm beneficial insects along with some Pyrethrins. For a heavy infestation, use Carbaryl (Sevin) spraying at night to protect the honeybees. Late in the fall, remove all debris from the garden.

Squash bugs on a summer squash
Squash bugs on a summer squash

Some people find a lot of wasps in the garden or around fruit trees. Wasps generally have a high-protein diet in the summer and when fall comes along, the diet changes to a high-sugar diet. They are eating the rotting fruit so now you find them around. They are not harming anything so if you remove all the rotting fruit from the ground, the wasps will most likely leave.

Wasps on overripe grapes
Wasps on overripe grapes

Mushrooms like the shelf mushroom and jelly mushroom are growing on tree trunks. They are not causing any harm to the tree but are a symptom of the tree’s health. With the winter we had and the heat of the summer, trees are struggling. Give plenty of water and do not fertilize. Fertilizing this late causes premature growth delaying the hardening-off process for the coming winter. Also, do not prune, wait until March or April.

Shelf mushrooms on a tree trunk
Shelf mushrooms on a tree trunk

I notice the garden centers have their offering of fall mums now. If your containers look worse for wear, plop a mum into it. After they bloom, you can try to place them into the perennial bed to see if they make it through the winter. You do not ever know their variety so therefore you do not know their hardiness. Cushion mums are easier to grow than the more upright ones.

Fall blooming mums
Fall blooming mums

This Week in the Garden (Aug. 21)

This week in the garden is the squash vine borer showing up. A black and orange moth lays its reddish eggs on the undersides of the leaves. The larvae hatch and burrow into the stems (usually where the stem comes out from the ground to around 1 foot up the stem) causing the whole stem to die. You can usually see the hole and some debris. Sometimes you can remove the worm with a vertical slit made into the stem. The use of silver plastic mulch is used to prevent this, confusing the moths. Using Malathion as a drench along the lower foot of the stem in the soil may help. The borers do not attack cucumbers or melons.

Squash borer damage
Squash vine borer damage
Picture of the adult squash borer moth.
Squash borer moth

If late blight is showing up on the tomatoes on the lower leaves, start by removing the dead tomato leaves and use a garden fungicide to prevent infestation on the newer leaves. Leaves will eventually die on determinate tomatoes like Celebrity as the plants mature, this is natural. Determinate varieties bear all at once and the plants are much shorter.

Late blight starting to develop on tomato leaves.
Late blight fungus starts to develop on a tomato leaf.

Some people see a lot of ants on flowers and shrubs. The ants cause no problem. They are following the aphids (which are a problem this year) and herd them like cattle collecting the honeydew the aphids secrete. Honeydew is that sticky substance that gets on your fingers and car sitting under the tree.

Ants taking care of their aphids.
Ants taking care of their aphid herd.

Do not be surprised if your apples and other fruits are ripening early this year. We have had more degree days (days when the temperature is above 80) than usual.

Keep watering newly planted trees. They usually need a couple of gallons twice a week to apply to their roots. Even bigger trees will need additional water especially if they are showing burnt leaves. Keep watering up to soil freeze, especially evergreens. Maples and honey locusts will also benefit from this since having thinner bark, they will desiccate in the winter.

If your beans and cucumbers are soft and little, give more water. Melons and cucumbers are mainly made up of water.

Do not spray weeds in the lawn or use a weed and feed until it gets cooler. The state extension service recommends waiting until the end of September through October.