Miscellaneous

• To reduce mosquito populations, make sure bird baths and pet bowls are changed frequently. Mostquito larvae in garden ponds can be controlled with cakes of Bacillus thuringensis or by introducing populations of damselfly and dragonfly.

• Scout for pillbugs and earwigs and treat as necessary.
  

• Many watering recommendations mention plants receiving one inch of water a week. Put a rain gauge in your garden to help measure this.

• Attractive pails or baskets placed around the garden make handy places to dispose of the results of quick deadheading, weeding, and cleaning sessions. These can be emptied when you have time.

• Daylily flower pods are edible -- they can be stewed or added to stir-frys. They have a slightly bitter, but pleasant, flavor.

• Make a home for insect-eating toads in your garden.
  

• Look carefully at your garden. Is there a place for the whole family in your garden, including the kids? Are there any holes that are begging for something new? Take note, and then plant and transplant in the fall.

• If you know someone who is "turning over a new leaf" by starting an exercise program or going on a new diet, give them flowers or a houseplant as a visual reminder of your support for their effort.

• Fish add natural fertilizer to the water, so when you change the water in your aquarium, use it to water your plants.

• Remove the cloth or plastic cover from an old umbrella, open the frame, and place the handle in the soil near a plant for an instant trellis.

• Use an old pair of jeans to make a sack or carryall. Cut below the knee, and sew the cut leg to form a small sack. Cut two, 18-inch pieces of twill tape for ties. Sew ties to the open end of the sack. Tie the sack to your lawn mower handle for carrying sticks, cans, and other trash. For a large sack, sew at hip level and use a rope through the belt loops for carrying.

• When your soil tests "high" in a nutrient, it means that nutrient should not be included in the fertilizer you add. The soil already has enough of that nutrient to supply plant needs. For example, if your soil tests high in phosphorus, plant needs will be supplied by the phosphorus already in the soil. Adding phosphorus will not increase plant performance and is a waste of phosphorus. Excessive levels of some nutrients actually harm plants. Too much phosphorus in the soil can induce an iron deficiency in plants.

• The praying mantis is a generalist predator that eats both "good" and "bad" insects, nonselectively, so it is not particularly effective as a biological insect control. Other predators are better investments.

• Mushrooms or toadstools usually grow in decomposing organic matter, such as a buried root, stump, or board. These fungi are beneficial because they help to break down woody debris and add humus to the soil. But mushrooms in the lawn can be a nuisance, and the decayed organic material can result in depressions in the yard. There are no chemical controls for toadstools since the fungus often grows so deep that chemicals do not penetrate entirely. Sooner or later, the infestation exhausts its food supply and dies out.

• Fox lure, sold in sporting goods stores, is reported to keep raccoons out of corn. Wafers impregnated with fox scent are sold as rabbit repellents.

• Begin to cut and dry herbs and flowers.

• This month is a good time to take cuttings from indoor plants, herbs, and ground covers.

• Organic mulch materials decompose rapidly in hot, moist weather. Add additional mulch where needed.

• Pull and compost spent crops. Turn the compost pile and wet it down to hasten decomposition. Leave the pile with a depression in the center to catch rainwater.

• Train and trim plants on arbors. Take care to ensure ties do not girdle branches.

• Red or yellow lights attract fewer night-flying insects than white or blue bulbs. Use them on your deck or patio.

• While on vacation, visit a public garden, such as the Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech, to make observations on pleasing planting schemes and the newest releases.

• A few buckets strategically placed in the garden will help you deal with garden refuse. Use one for compostables and another for things destined for the trash.

• Unlike other cut flowers, roses last longest when cut late in the day.

• The larvae of fireflies (lightning bugs) aid gardeners by eating mites, slugs, snails, soft-bodied insects, and larvae.

• Ouch! Thorny rose stems are a problem when arranging cut flowers, but leave the thorns on to get maximum life from cut blooms. Research in the Netherlands revealed that removing leaves and thorns from the bottom six to eight inches of rose stems decreased their vase life as compared to deleafed, but not dethorned blooms.

• Hot, dry weather brings out red spiders mites. Inspect roses, evergreens, and marigolds in particular for pale-green coloration. Hold a white sheet of paper underneath a leaf and briskly tap it. Tiny, crawling mites will drop onto the paper if they are present on the leaf. If infestation is light, discourage mites with a forceful, direct spray of water from the hose. Severely infested annual plants should be removed and destroyed. Mild infestations can be controlled with pesticides. Consult your Extension agent for current pesticide recommendations.

• A non-toxic approach to Japanese beetles: remove all flower blossoms as soon as they begin to fade and all fruit as soon as it is ripe. Japanese beetles are especially fond of overripe fruit and deteriorating flower blossoms. After taking these preventive steps, go out to your garden daily and knock the insects off their perches and into a wide-mouthed jar of soapy water. That will gum them up and prevent them from flying away.

• July is a good time to begin looking for native and cultivated plants from which you can collect seed pods to use for decorating this fall and winter. Be on the lookout for such material as thistles, cattails, dried corn tassels, and seed pods from locust, redbud, and chaste tree.

• Check the soil moisture of container-grown vegetables and flowers daily. As the temperature rises, some plants may need watered twice daily.

• Water your plants several hours before applying pesticides, especially during dry weather. Drought-stressed plants have less water in their plant tissues; the chemicals that enter the leaves will consequently be more concentrated and may burn the leaves.

• Continue attracting insect-eating birds to the garden area by providing them a fresh water source.

• Dry flowers now for use in arrangements next winter. Early season blooms are better for this purpose than those that develop in late summer. Flowers for drying should be cut during midday, in the late-bud or early bloom stage.

• Store pesticides in a safe place in their original containers, away from children and pets. Use pesticides carefully in your garden. Read the labels and follow the directions. The warnings and precautions are for your protection.

• Certain pesticides have a waiting period of several days between the time of the last spray and harvest. Read and follow directions on all labels. Be sure to wash all produce thoroughly before use.

• A cool basement will work for temporary cut flower storage. Remember to mist arrangements several times a day.

• High temperatures accelerate respiration and evaporation from cut flowers. Your refrigerator may be used to temporarily hold floral arrangements if the temperature is no less than 40 degrees F, and if no fruit is stored in the cooler. Temperatures below 40 degrees F and ethylene gas given off by ripening fruit can injure the petals of many flowers.

• Control mosquitoes by eliminating all sources of stagnant water.

• Do not use ester formulation weed killers, such as 2,4-D, when air temperatures are over 75 to 80 degrees F, as they may volatilize and drift causing damage to ornamentals. Nonvolatile chemicals, such as amines, are safe to use at higher temperatures. These post-emergent herbicides are most effective when the soil is moist and temperatures are high.

• If you can't water during hot, dry spells, then "do nothing." Don't prune or apply fertilizer or pest controls. Plants compensate for stress by relative inactivity. Cultural practices that encourage growth, instead of being beneficial, can induce further stress.

• Consider joining a garden club. Some of the best-informed people on horticultural subjects are those belonging to a garden club. There is a constant flow of ideas from fellow members and from "experts" who speak to members.

• Michigan State University reports that over a 50-year lifetime, a healthy tree can generate $31,250 worth of oxygen, and recycle $37,500 worth of water. It also provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control and $31,250 in soil erosion prevention.

"Where but in a garden do summer hours pass so quickly?" -- Author Unknown

Want to

Get back to where you were?