Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friends of Disabled Adults celebrates 25 years; sustainable gardening, and more
Today on Patch: See what people are saying about the Troy Davis execution; check back in at 10 a.m. to read all about how Friends of Disabled Adults and Children has helped improve folks’ lives for 25 years; see if you agree with our high school football predictions at noon; and at 4 p.m., we reveal the Player of the Week. Sustainable Gardening: A DeKalb Extension Lunch & Learn will be held today at 12 p.m., 4380 Memorial Dr. in Decatur, on sustainable gardening. Bring your lunch and go learn something new -- and valuable! The weather: Chance of rain 30 percent, high of 86, low of 64. OK, summer, you’ve only one more day to hang around... Cheapest gas: Here are the top three cheapest gas prices in Stone Mountain as reported within the …
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Calcium and water for tomatoes; updates on Kudzu bugs; a class you might enjoy.
Tomatoes - Water and calcium Averil, does putting crushed eggshells into the soil help with the calcium levels? Also, is it possible to water tomatoes TOO much? (a question from Diane Loupe following a Q&A on blossom-end rot - July 9, Decatur Patch) Adding eggshells to soil will eventually add a little more lime, but it takes a very long time for the shells to break down to the point where calcium would be available to plants. Tomatoes should be watered regularly, especially at fruiting time. If watering is inconsistent resulting in periodic wet and dry soil, blossom end rot can occur in developing fruit. A heavy rain after a dry spell will cause ripe fruit to split and, similarly, heavy watering after letting the soil dry out will …
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Gardening in the Heat - tips for you and your plants!
It already feels as though we’ve had a couple of months or more of August weather - and now, instead of heading into the milder days of September, we still have another full month of August! We’ve worked hard to keep our gardens looking good, and here are a few things that you can do to get your plants - and yourselves - through the heat: For you and your plants: Consider the time of day when your gardening tasks are best done. Chores that must be done in sunny areas should be done in early morning or late afternoon whenever possible - not during the midday heat! Most watering, pruning, dead heading, etc., is better for plants when done in early morning - and certainly better for you. If you must apply chemicals, many of them, especially …
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Low-water gardening, bats and blossom-end rot.
Every year I run into lots of plant losses or lawn damage due to drought conditions. Do you have some good suggestions to reduce these losses? Yes – look at converting your landscape to a Xeriscape or a low-water-use landscape. There are seven steps included in this conversion some of which you may already be using. Steps include: planning so you use the right plants and locating them well; reducing the size of your lawn and using the right grass for your situation; building better soils that will drain well yet retain water for plant growth; mulching wherever there is bare soil to improve water retention and to reduce soil erosion; installing an efficient watering or irrigation system that does not waste water and gets the water to where …
Saturday, July 9, 2011
All about trees - questions from the Extension Master Gardener desk.
My large oak tree has lots of sprouts or suckers developing. Why is this happening and what should I do? Sometimes these new shoots develop when a tree is very stressed and its top is beginning to die back. However, if the top still looks good, with nice, dense, normal-sized leaves, maybe it’s because you removed other trees nearby? If you open up an area and thin out trees, the increase in light on tree trunks can also encourage the formation of new branches. Dependent upon your situation, consider pruning off all or some of these new shoots (often referred to as water sprouts or suckers). Be sure you cut them off well just behind the bark ridge and branch collar areas. - Gary Peiffer, DeKalb County Extension Horticulture Agent My …
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Weed control, garden areas for dogs and hydrangeas.
Some very interesting questions this week! I have recently cleared an area of vinca and various weed trees. How do I keep them from coming back? How do I get rid of wisteria? - Cindy Smallwood To keep weeds from coming back requires vigilance. Pull the weeds as you see them, and especially don’t let them go to seed. Keep areas mulched and/or install other plants to shade out competition. Weed species are very competitive, so make areas less suitable for their growth. The best way to get rid of wisteria is to cut all woody vines and side shoots back to stumps and then treat the fresh cut stumps with a woody brush control herbicide such as Triclopyr. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to control these invasive climbing type vines …
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Almost July! Some gardening tips for next month; and some weather-related issues.
A gardening problem from Hilde Friese: I raised cucumbers from seeds. When the plants were about 12 inches tall and very healthy looking, one day, two out of three plants got “weak” spots at the soil level and fell over and withered away within hours. I could not detect a critter that might have chewed on it. I have grown cucs in large pots on my deck with great results and good harvest and never had that problem. Hilde, it is often not easy to diagnose a problem without seeing the plant - or at least some photos. This spring has been particularly hot, which has resulted in some problems showing up earlier in the growing season. One possibility would be that the early heat prevented you from “hardening off” your seedlings, and they were …
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Help to Grow a Better Community!
Grow a better community through volunteering! Become a Master Gardener! Debra of Stone Mountain says she heard me speak recently, and would like to be put on my mailing list for the next Master Gardener classes. Here is some information for anyone else who might be interested: Every year DeKalb Extension trains a class of volunteers to become Georgia Extension Master Gardeners. We begin taking applications in September of the previous year. Anyone on the “interested” mailing list is invited to an information meeting, and if they are still interested, they can pick up an application at that time. The meetings are open to anyone, and the dates for this year are already set - September 2, Sept. 7, and Sept. 8 - all 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon at …
