September-October-November

As you're enjoying your billionth tomato and generous portion of peach cobbler, are you thinking ahead of how the weather will be the next three months? You guessed it, I'm thinking about it too so am sharing NOAA's three-month precipitation and temperature outlook maps. They've been pretty accurate so far this year - we'll have to see what happens. Please - can we have some more rain.


Sep-Oct-Nov 2018

 

Internet Photos from NOAA

Got Tasty Tomatoes?

Homegrown tomatoes may very well be the number one reason people garden at all. It's all about the taste. Store bought tomatoes are so inferior that I won't even spend writing energy thinking of adjectives to describe them. How about yucky and we'll call it good.
 

'Big Boy' and 'Black Krim'

An experienced, discerning panel of tomato judges at a tomato judging event may know a bit more what constitutes a winning taste in a tomato (we'd all like to be at that table). They will prove it this Saturday, August 25 at the 2018 Taste of Tomato Event in Boulder from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. It will take place at the Growing Gardens Barn, located at 1630 Hawthorne Avenue. Presented by Harlequin's Gardens and the Boulder County Extension office, it's loads of fun to enter your own tomatoes for judging or to learn more about successfully growing and saving seeds for next year's delicious crop. Read all the details at this link - Taste of Tomato.

Also, check out Carol O'Meara's description of this annual event - "Attack of the Juicy Tomatoes hit Boulder with Taste of Tomato." She knows how to use all the words to describe homegrown tomato taste, plus she shares names of her favorite tomatoes.

Japanese Beetle Late Summer Myths and Sensible Strategies

Damage to grape vines in my neighborhood

The unproven and varied strategies for managing Japanese beetles and their larvae each summer gets more and more interesting as they spread out and gain more dining opportunities along the Front Range. It is understandable that gardeners and homeowners are desperate for any fix to make them go away or reduce their numbers in yards. 

Let's face it, these insects are horrible. Most of us have no problem using another "H" word to describe our feelings. Hate, with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "D" which stands for Disgust, Detest and Despise. I could use stronger words, but this is a family friendly blog.

Those of us in central and south Denver neighborhoods who have been dealing with Japanese beetle summer invasions in fairly high numbers for five years or more can offer some sound advice as to what works or not. We've had lots of practice. Plus there are some newer resources from local CSU entomologists and Colorado Department of Agriculture experts with effective management practices and products to use on adults and lawns for larvae.

Our local experts and research universities know well what to recommend for Japanese beetle management. They've had the benefit of learning from other experts in these same fields who have been dealing with Japanese beetles for over one hundred years. Japanese beetles arrived in Riverton New Jersey in 1916. Hey, it only took them a little under one hundred years to make it to Colorado.

Here are some myth controls I've heard or read of late. I won't qualify the use of the first three bullets with how or why they are being used because I believe they could or will harm plants, the soil, beneficial insects pollinators and who knows what else. 

• Powdering plants JBs eat with baby powder.

• Dousing the whole lawn with diatomaceous earth.

• Eviscerating dead beetles in a food processor to make a slurry, then sprayed over plants as a repellent. Mix in catmint foliage (must be for fragrance to mask the horrific smell of dead beetles)... "and really...the kitchen Cuisinart food processor?"

Save your money - no traps!

• Putting out traps work (yes they work) - comments from me - "Do you believe a random posting recommendation on a local community Internet bulletin board or perhaps from a co-worker or a sales clerk in a garden center that putting up a Japanese beetle trap will reduce J. beetle numbers and damage to your plants? Or do you believe decades of researched university and agricultural studies that say that traps draw in more Japanese beetles to the area and surrounding plants? 
• The lures are highly attractive and will draw in beetles from long distances. Hmm, I smell fresh baked apple pie - and there's a la mode too. It's free pie, wonder how many neighbors will show up for a piece or two, then invite some of their friends to join the eating party. And then what happens - they never leave, just like cousin Eddy!
• If you buy into using traps then you should have very happy neighbors because their beetles will be coming to your yard and eating more of your plants. They should send you a thank you note or leave a bottle of wine on your front porch. Better yet, they ought to leave you a few bucks each week to cover the trap baits that you have to replace often. I wish I lived next door to trap users!!"
• Will plants like Virginia creeper serve as trap plants to keep beetles occupied and not interested in other landscape plants? The answer is highly unlikely, no. As the summer progresses and plant sources get eaten, they will seek out other plants they like (or will try) in the landscape. 
• If you plant onions right next to roses, will beetles leave roses alone? No, they know exactly where the roses are growing and will ignore the onions (or any other plants they don't like) and go straight for their preferences. Consider and research new plants added to your landscape carefully. Click HERE for my like/dislike plant list (a work in progress).  

What are the best controls to use now that it's mid-August on both adult beetles and larvae in lawns (next year's generation)?

• For the most immediate control flick adults into soapy water in the morning or evening when they are sluggish and easy to flick. Keeping the numbers down actually reduces more beetles from joining the eating party on your plants. What attracts them to plants are the plant oils released by beetle chewing (called congregation feeding), so less beetle chewing means less beetle visits. The research on Japanese beetles says that it is fine to squish or pinch adults on the spot. Their smushed parts do not attract more beetles to the area - it's the chewed plant oils that put out the welcome sign. 
• A good mail order, organic spray for adult beetles is beetleJUS!™ beetleGONE!^® Different names from different suppliers. 
• Try to mow less often - keep the lawn on the tall side which adult females don't like. Their preference for egg laying is moist, low cut grass. Keeping the lawn on the drier side during egg laying (June through August) is also effective on egg mortality. Just use care to keep any trees in or near lawns watered so they aren't stressed.  
• There are a handful of grub control products recommended, but get going, most of them are more effective when put down earlier in the summer. Organic Btg grubHALT!™ or grubGONE!^® can be used now into September, as can beneficial nematodes. 
• Don't waste your time or money on Milky Spore (scroll to page 7), it doesn't work well here, try GrubEX, nematodes or Btg. Click HERE for information on all grub products - found on Dr. Cranshaw's Fact Sheet.

Smile (but I should have sat up straight)

And when the final beetle has fallen dead sometime in September (hopefully) - smile. There is hope on the far horizon to battle this ravenous foe with beneficial predator insects and a new spore pathogen for larvae. Stay tuned and I'll write more as I learn more.

Flower Power - CSU Flower Trial Garden

You may remember the phrase and movement from the mid 60s into the early 70s named "Flower Power." It all had to do with the counterculture youth interpretation of war, peace and freedom. The era included wearing all things flower related - from screen printed or embroidered flower logos to dandelion blooms tucked behind the ear or in a headband. Flowers were THE style of the times - it certainly was groovy. Those days have passed, but flowers are still very much in style today.

Internet Photo from CSU

If I were to write two flower words to describe this weekend's public event at the CSU Flower Trial Garden in Ft. Collins it would be something like Flower Cheer, Flower Spark, Flower Verve and for sure - Flower Life!  

Consumer Day at the Annual Trial Garden, August 11, 9:00 am to noon in Fort Collins is THE place to see hundreds (or more) of flowering and foliage annuals in one location - some are not even in the market place yet...but your input will help decide and select recipients of the Colorado Garden Foundation Consumer Choice Awards. The event is free and open to the public. 

The exciting morning includes - refreshments, guided hourly tours of the gardens (10:00, 11:00 and noon), children planting activities (yes, bring the kids, pets need to please remain at home). And the best part is you get to help select Colorado's top varieties of flowers (they'll explain how). There will be plenty of free parking and shade available for those that just want to view the activities and breathe in three acres of color and flower life!

The address is 1401 Remington Street in Fort Collins, CO.
   
FROM I-25 take exit #268 and head west on Prospect Road for 3.8 miles to Remington Street. Turn right (north) on Remington Street and go one block to the intersection of Remington Street and Lake Street; the garden will be on your left. There are also perennial trials to the right, on the east side of Remington Street, in front of the Colorado State University Center for the Arts.

Enjoy lots of flower life this weekend! 

Dog Days of Summer - Insect Edition

Ah the Dog Days...hot, sunny days that seem to go on forever. The short break of monsoon weather a week or more ago was welcome by most, not the gardeners who were hailed out. We've been in your garden clogs many times.

The cicadas are crooning by ten in the morning while Ferris is just settling in for his first nap of the day behind the patio sofa on the cool concrete - he knows where to take life easy. Speaking of cicadas, what interesting insects have you noticed this summer?  I've come across a couple of new ones, at least to my eyes - they may have been here before but they didn't catch my attention until this summer.

Agapostemon Sweat Bee

A metallic green bee stands out in any crowd of bees. This one stood out as much as the André the Giant sized bumblebees who are dominating our garden this summer. He was around in late June for several weeks. He's a sweat bee, Agapostemon in the large group of five hundred or so species found in North America.

I'm pretty sure this one is a male because of his metallic green head and thorax, with a yellow and black striped abdomen. Females are entirely green or blue and are super fast fliers. Males fly slower looking out for females who seem more serious about finding flower pollen. They can be solitary bees or nest in communities with others. They dig deep nests in areas with sloping soil. And not only are they good looking, but they aren't aggressive as their common name suggests - he was more interested in posing for me (this time) than seeking my gardener perspiration.

On first glance I thought this bug seemed like he might be a good bug - perhaps a predator of an insect that was chewing a plant that shouldn't be chewed. I was hoping he liked grasshoppers. He wasn't camera shy while he was resting on a stack of Smart Pot containers that I was shaking out and getting ready to plant. 

A camera photo text to a couple of garden friends led to the correct identification (thank you Susan and Peggy). He wasn't a good guy assassin bug, but rather a bad guy leaffooted bug who was probably nibbling on some close by developing tomatoes. If you check out this fact sheet from The University of California you will see photos of all the life stages of this nuisance Leptoglossus clypealis. I know without a doubt I've seen eggs and nymphs in our garden. I'm not too worried about on-going damage, but I'll keep an eye out for group feeding and wake Ferris for help if they get out of hand.