Do you have a community garden or are you thinking of adding one?
The DE Master Gardeners have started a Community Garden News bulletin. In this issue: Spring is a great time to start thinking about when to transplant seedlings into your garden.
If you haven't already, sign up to receive this email regularly below.
|
|
What's Bothering My Plants?🤔 |
|
In our last update, we spoke about the unpredictable weather in late winter/early spring and the challenges for our gardens. Well, this spring has thus far been a poster child for crazy spring weather with snow squalls often bookended by sunny days, and now the heat of summer seems to be upon us! Cool and cold season plants, as expected, ‘weathered’ the varied conditions well, with potatoes, peas, radishes, and greens growing nicely. By mid-May the soil was finally warm enough for tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper plants, and seeds for beans, squash, and cucumber. |
|
With the warming of our gardens comes an increase in activity of both our garden pests and beneficial insects. Indeed, there was one warm March afternoon when seemingly every wasp, hornet and bee species was buzzing around, appreciating the sudden warmth! More worrisome was one cool Monday morning in early March as a group of us were establishing the broccoli, cauliflower and other brassica plants in the Demonstration Garden, what flew by but a cabbage moth! A very early appearance, and we’ve been on the look-out for eggs and larvae since.
This leads us into a discussion on Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with the most environmentally friendly pest control methods, is used to limit pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment (Ref. Here).
|
|
What does this mean to the backyard gardener? Well, for a simple start, visual inspection of your plants for signs and symptoms of pests goes a long way to prevent serious damage early. Early identification of chewed leaves, egg cases, and larval infestations can give us a leg up on treatment. Depending on which side of the “organic gardening” fence you are on, you may choose to utilize synthetic pesticides and fungicides or employ more natural methods including hand-picking, crop rotation, and use of treatments from natural sources including pheromone traps, insecticidal soaps and oils, biological controls like Bacillus thuringiensis, and floating row covers.
Of course, most treatments will require identification of the problem so that the correct treatment can be applied, and so we don’t “treat” something which doesn’t need to be. This may require a little detective work, maybe searching the internet for pictures or descriptions (such as iNaturalist) or contacting our own Garden Helpline ((302) 831-8862) for help.
|
|
]Other problems can ‘crop’ up if the same plants are grown in the same place year after year. Granted, sometimes in a very small garden crop rotation becomes difficult. However, insects or disease on a particular plant can potentially overwinter so when you plant the same crop in the same place the next year, you can be risking a reappearance of last year’s problems. As possible and indicated, consider moving your plants around each year, or switching to a more resistant variety to get ahead of your pests. Good record keeping of what was planted where, what did well and what can be improved upon next year, can help any backyard gardener.
|
|
Companion planting can be part of your pest management efforts! Some plants grown together can lower pest problem or even act as sacrificial plants by diverting pests from our more desired plants (the latter are often called “trap crops”). Many herbs for example planted around plants prone to insect attack can discourage infestation. Here’s a good reference to get you started: Companion Planting. And in addition to companion planting, anything that increases the habitat for beneficial insects can help deter those not wanted: Pollinator flowers (such as Allysum) close by will attract many beneficial predators and parasitoids which help control pest populations.
Rusts, mildews and fungi, oh my! As warm weather and humidity kick in, diseases often follow. One very simple and easy first step is to be careful when watering. Water splashing up from the soil can easily kick up soil borne diseases so let us not use a hose at full throttle when watering. With some plants, especially tomatoes, trimming the lower branches to avoid soil contact and splashing can go a long way towards inhibiting diseases. In addition, as the weather warms, mildews will begin migrating from warmer southern areas and start hitting many of our cucurbits (cukes, melons, squash, etc.). There are some home remedies, more resistant plant varieties, and other possible treatments, but staying on top of the disease by removing affected leaves etc. can go a long way to slowing the inevitable. Again, our Garden Helpline ((302) 831-8862) can be of help; good quality pictures are very useful for diagnosis.
Thanks for being a gardener! Please share what you know about growing vegetables and healthy eating with your friends and family, and as always, consider planting an extra row or two for crops to donate to the community.
|
|
Prepared by the Community and School Gardens Subcommittee of the New Castle County Master Gardeners
For more info on starting a garden in your community, please contact Carrie Murphy.
|
|
Please share this link with anyone who you know who may want to receive this newsletter |
|
This program is brought to you by University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, a service of the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, a land-grant institution.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. If you have special needs that need to be accommodated, please contact the office two weeks prior to the event.
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
