Garden almanac, Garden Pests

This Week in the Garden

This week in the garden. There have been questions about why my vine crops like cucumbers and summer squash are blooming but not setting fruit. Vine crops have male and female flowers and only the female flower produces fruit after being pollinated. The first flush of flowers is usually male then followed by female flowers. If you look at the flower, the female flower has a little fruit behind the blossom and the male flowers have a straight stem connected to the vine.

Some of the fruits may have a rotting end on the fruit. Most likely this is caused by improper fertilization, particularly in vine crops. This should cure itself in time.

Now let’s talk about cross-pollination between like a pumpkin and a cucumber. The answer is no. The plants have to be in the same Genus to cross-pollinate. For instance, different varieties of cucumbers will pollinate together as will squash. I planted yellow and green zucchini and got a few striped fruits, which was still good. Some varieties of melons will cross-pollinate among varieties. The odd fruit will show especially if you save the seeds from the fruit and plant the seeds next year or if a volunteer plant germinates and grows producing the odd fruit. That is why you buy new seeds every year or use up what is left from last year.

If your grass tips turn brown after mowing, this is most likely due to a dull or chipped mower blade. Sometimes mowing during the heat of the day causes the cut tip to dry out quickly.

Black spots on rose leaves is a fungus that spreads rapidly among certain varieties of roses. Use an ornamental fungicide to protect against the spread of this fungus. There are rose varieties resistant to this fungus.

Iron chlorosis is showing on some shrubs and trees. Some varieties show yellowing leaves with green margins. Our high soil pH sometimes ties up the iron (and magnesium) in our soils especially when the soil is dry. Treatment of liquid iron to the foliage or soil helps. Silver and Amur maples are particularly susceptible to this condition.

It is still not too late to plant or replace most vegetables in the garden due to hail or insect damage. Hopefully, we have at least 100 days till frost.

Astronomy

Night Sky this Week

Venus cannot be missed in the western sky and get brighter as the “evening star” is the brightest object in the night sky beside the moon in the night sky this week. Venus sets around 12:07 AM. It is as high above the western horizon and will start to set earlier each day.

Mars, the red planet, is much dimmer than Venus to the upper left of Venus. Mars sets around 12:19 AM this week. Venus along with the dimmer Mars, dominates the western skies after sunset.

Jupiter, which rises after Saturn around 3:14 AM, is the brightest object in the early morning sky except for the moon.

Farther to Jupiter’s upper right is Saturn rising around 1:01 AM in the constellation Aquarius. It is easy to spot in the southeast a few hours before sunrise since there are no bright stars around the planet.

On Thursday and Friday, the waxing moon slides through Scorpius the scorpion. Scorpius is one of the constellations that look like what is supposed to be, a scorpion. Scorpius sits on top of the southern horizon through the summer months. The Sumerians were the first to see these stars as a scorpion over 5000 years ago. The Greeks told the story of the scorpion stinging Orion the hunter. So, as Orion sets the scorpion rises chasing the hunter across the skies. The red star that makes up the heart of Scorpius is called Antares the super-giant red star. If you were to place Antares in our solar system, the outer diameter would be beyond Mar’s orbit.

Looking southwest the Summer Triangle is rising with three of the brightest summer stars: Vega (the Lyre), Deneb (the swan), and Altair (the Eagle). These three stars shine even with the moon close by.

Through the week of June 30th.

Garden hacks, Garden Pests, Shade Trees and Shrubs

This Week in the Landscape

Where to look out for this week in the landscape: deadhead your spent flower heads, especially the ones in containers to keep them bushy and flowering. Fertilize every couple of weeks in those containers because of the limited root area. I like to use a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro.

In your pine and spruce trees, you should be seeing new growth (candles) at the tips of the branches. If not, the branch is dead and should be removed. A lot of tops broke out of the trees last winter. Hopefully, there is a branch pointing upward to become the leader. If not, you may have to create a branch going upward by tying a stick or broken broom handle to the branch and trunk. Same way with young broken fruit and shade trees. For large pine or spruce trees, you might just wait to see what happens.

There have been a lot of herbicide injuries showing up in tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Do not use grass clipping as mulch until after the 3rd mowing if you used a Weed and Feed product. The plant may grow out of it, however, if the plant just looks too bad for wear, you still have time to replace it with a short-growing variety. Another reason the tomato leaves may curl is aphids which you can see underneath the curled leaf.

Cabbage caterpillars will be showing up soon damaging the Cole crops along with cucumber beetles on vine crops. Use a pyrethrum or Sevin spray when do see the damage.