Dayton "Dirt" - June 13, 2014

The warmer nights and not so cool days have the vegetable gardens accelerating in growth. Some fungus problems are occurring but seems to be limited as of yet. Fungus problems on Maple trees are occurring with the incident of diseases such as tar spot and anthracnose which is causing leaf drop although in general it is not detrimental to the trees health in the long term. 

 Again for the umpteenth time, gardeners must be proactive in order to control fungal diseases on susceptible roses and vegetable plants that are prone to the white powdery mildew. Bi-carb is organic and very effective, especially against mildew. 

 It was such a pleasure on Monday evening that I was able to speak to a young couple from Wadsworth that was really into vegetable gardening. They were attempting to produce a varied and bountiful harvest on a limited amount of land and then I related to them to read the book American Intensive Gardening by the Poissons in New Hampshire about creating a most productive garden of a continual harvest throughout the year. The authors’ system is the adaptation of the Marais system developed because of the demands of the Sun King, Louis the XIV. Another aspect of successful gardening that I relayed to the Wadsworth couple was the importance of a soil test in order to perform at least a biannual check on the chemical aspect of the soil. In all, I think I talked too much and might have confused them with too much information but it was difficult to contain my excitement when I realized finally that all persons under 40 are not only interested in mobile phones, Facebook and other daily pursuits besides gardening. 

 The focus is, now on the greenhouse pest to control is spider mites. Even though I have not seen any by scouting, I know they are there. The European two-spotted spider mite female is able to lay viable eggs without the “service” of a male so that when the eggs hatch all of the young are males and mate with their mother to produce mites of both sexes! The mite system of reproduction makes it all that much more difficult to control them. 

 In the perennial house, the dinner plate Hibiscus were cut back half way so that better branching will occur but to inexperienced gardeners, the plants appear as “damaged” goods. The knockout roses in the 3 gallon size are just about ready to explode in bloom that will create a sea of red and pink mimicking the tulip fields of Holland in early May.

At the end of June, the Owl barn will open with fresh produce from Marietta, Ohio to be followed by local produce from the Seiberling Farm. Chuck Seiberling and Norma Nice (Chuck’s cousin) will be joining me on the radio program this Saturday on Ready-Set-Grow on 1590 WAKR A.M. The focus will be on what’s going on “down on the farm.” 

The good word for today is that as an author once wrote: “The human race survives because of 6" of topsoil and the fact that it rains once in awhile.”

Tom