This week in the garden, let’s start with powdery mildew that is starting to affect certain plants like squash vines. It looks like talcum powder sprinkled on the leaves. This fungus can attack most plants, especially lilacs, but rarely does…
This week in the garden, it seems a new pest is coming to our area. This is the Japanese beetle which will lay eggs on grass. The eggs hatch and feed on grass roots then hatch into adults. Like grasshoppers,…
This week in the garden, some people who bought or raised pepper plants from seed are getting different types of peppers than they anticipated. They call this Jalapenogate, Peppergate, or the Great Pepper Mix-up of 2023. This happened when a…
In the garden this week some vine crops, especially cucumbers have been forming brown to black spots on the leaves. This is a fungus disease called anthracnose. Usually, the disease shows up after the plants have mainly produced their season’s…
In the garden this week: as it gets hotter, water your newly planted trees and shrubs more remembering they need more water than watering your lawn will give. For the first year or two most of the roots are contained…
Aphids are becoming a problem this week. If the plants (vegetables or flowers) are becoming deformed, look underneath the leaf and see if you have tiny green, black, or reddish “bugs”. If so, use Neem oil or insecticide soap to…
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…
If you are working in the garden this week, here are a few things to consider. Crabgrass is now germinating and growing. If you have a lot of this grass, use a post-emergent crabgrass killer as long as the plants…
A few things to be concerned about in the landscape/garden, starting with any shrubs or tree branches that have not leafed out should be pruned to a live stem or branch. If the shrubs produce canes, prune them to the…
As fall is coming to the garden, it is time to prep it for winter. Start by clearing off all of the debris and remove it by bagging, composting, or burning. This reduces the number of disease spores and insect…
Success and Failures in the flowerbeds. Success: the tulips out bloomed the daffodils. The daffodils seem to be more prone to early heat and late freezes than tulips. The crocus and allium (flowering onion) did great. The mainstays like four…
Fall tilling in the garden and annual flowerbed is the best time. When you are ready to plant in April with the early spring crops the soil is ready with reduced weed interference. In the fall the soil is dryer…
Spring is tough for gardeners in South Dakota. We get the twitch when temperatures get to the upper 70’s and think it could not possibly freeze now. But how wrong we are forgetting the last frost date is usually May…
Breaking winter this weekend is supposed to get toward 60 degrees Sunday, and I am thinking of spring. Then looked at the forecast for next week, back down to 30 degrees. I guess spring will wait. But here are some…
The growing season ended for the flowers and vegetables, what were you pleased to see that? was surprised to see? was disappointed to see? I’ll go first. I was pleased to see my new asparagus plants grew like crazy! By…