Friday, June 19, 2015

Dayton "Dirt" - June 19, 2015

No shortage of rainfall here in June when normally the average for the month is just about 3-3½ inches.  For sure any gardener even with limited experience knows that in the vegetable and flower garden, powdery mildew, black spot on roses, brown rot (botrytis) and lawn disease can or will appear.  Weekly application of Bi-Carb fungicide will keep mildews and brown rots at bay especially if applied before the occurrence.

In the veggie department, squash, melons and cucumbers are all susceptible to powdery mildew so that preventive sprays make good sense.  Tomatoes are susceptible to early blight which will attack and kill them especially if nights and days are cool.  Sprays of copper and chlorothalonil (Fungonil) are effective control as long as they are applied at the first sign of disease.

At the nursery flower planting on the grounds has been delayed with the heavy rains.  Beds that were rototilled last Friday filled with water so that again they must be worked before the planting can begin.  Our new Hosta selections for this year have just become available as they were only potted early this spring and some time is needed for the plants to root in.  Even more Butterfly bushes are now done “cooking” so that Purple Haze and Blue Chip Jr. are added to the growing list of varieties.

 No doubt the sweet corn and other crops at the Seiberling Farms are growing like mad so that soon the market will be open in late June although it will start out with fresh sweet corn from Marietta, Ohio.   The farm in Marietta where the sweet corn is grown operates on a system of picking the sweet corn at night so that it is delivered to distributors by 10 to 11 a.m. that same morning to guard its freshness.  How strange that Marietta sitting at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers is of such as different climate that the growing season is at least 2 weeks ahead or more of our season here in the north of the state!

Tom

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