Posted on 06/05/2008 10:10:48 AM PDT by Gabz
Please remember folks --- this article is from 2006!
June is here, and along with it, summer. Gone are the soft pastels of flowering vines such as jasmine and wisteria. The bolder, brighter summer colors of orange trumpet vine and the tropical colors of mandevillas are on their way. The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves. Crepe myrtles and gardenias and hydrangeas are showing off their colors. Now that the things we hate about warm weather are back in full force-all the mosquitoes, sand gnats, yellow flies, and various other nasty biting insects, along with the heat and humidity and scads of weeds—we’re once again questioning our sanity. Why, exactly, is it that we have another garden planted? Didn’t we promise ourselves last year that we weren’t doing this again next year? Somehow, in the long span between springs, gardeners always forget the bad things about gardening and remember only the taste of that first ripe tomato, or the joy of a freshly cut bouquet. The scent of warm soil calls us, compels us to dig and plant, as seductive as any siren’s song.
Among the vines that will be blooming are the wild roses. The white one that smells like cinnamon and spices blooms early, perfuming the air. Too bad the flowers aren’t much. Another one is a pretty little hot pink rose, one that seems to haunt ditch banks and other wetter areas. Do not feel sorry for this rose and take a piece of it home. No matter how cute and lonely it seems, like throwing scraps to a stray dog, once given any attention, it will never leave. Almost impossible to kill, it has thorns that proclaim it to be an escapee from the impenetrable wall around Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
The cool weather lasted much longer than we expected and crops will be correspondingly delayed. Tomatoes and other warm season crops will be coming off later, but all they need is some really warm weather, especially at night, and they’ll take off. Watch them for insect pests, they like warm weather also.
Ever check on your tomato plants one day and they’re fine, only to go out the next day to find the vines defoliated and most of the tomatoes almost completely eaten? The culprit is often huge, green caterpillars, called hornworms. Look closely, they’re masters of camouflage. Usually bright green with white stripes, they have a very distinctive horn on one end. If they’re on tomatoes, they’re called tomato hornworm. If they’re on tobacco, they’re called tobacco hornworm. Go figure! Same pest.
Guess what hornworms turn into? Hummingbird moths! If you’ve never seen one, the moths are truly delightful. They resemble a baby hummingbird and are just a little larger than a bumble bee. Hummingbird moths are tan in color, unlike their colorful namesakes, but they fly just like a hummingbird does. They can usually be spotted around flowers early in the morning or late in the evening. Sometimes they will come out during the day if it is cloudy, so if you see something that looks like a baby hummer, look closer. It might not be what you think it is!
One other word about hornworms. They aren’t hard to kill, simply pick them off and squish them. If you see white, rice looking grains on the hornworm, don’t kill it. What?! That’s right, don’t kill it. The rice grains are the eggs of a parasitic wasp. Guess what it eats? Tomato hornworms. Pick it off, certainly, and move it far away from your garden, into the edge of your yard or woods. The wasps will hatch and go find another hornworm to start the process all over again.
Mid June is time to plant pumpkins and gourds and winter squash. Winter squash? Winter squash is a term that means a squash with a hard shell that will keep during the winter. Butternut squash is a good example. Butternut will often keep a year or even longer. Summer squash is a term used to denote softer squash, such as yellow straight neck or crookneck. There’s nothing wrong with planting butternut earlier, it just keeps better if it’s planted later. The cooler weather of fall helps harden the shells.
If you planted Vidalia’s early, June is usually about the time to dig them. Wonderful sliced in quarters or eights and microwaved until tender with a little salt and butter, they are equally delicious stir fried with summer squash. Add a little zucchini and some eggplant and… Technically, the only onions that can be called Vidalia’s are the ones grown in Vidalia. The onions themselves are actually yellow granex. These can also be grown in the fall if you can find the plants. They don’t keep well because of their high sugar content, so enjoy them while they last. Hard to believe that Vidalia’s have about the same sugar content as a large orange.
Yes I know.
Before I sold my last house and moved here I had beautiful roses.
Every year we had the aphid invasion on them, then soon as I got these licked here would come the Japenese beetles.
Can’t wait to have pretty roses again. I guess I’ll wait till fall now to plant them, or maybe next spring. Haven’t seen any pretty roses in garden centers. I’m going to go for unusual roses in this garden, and be very selective about which I plant, as the space isn’t that large.
A few years ago I went to an outdoor writer’s conference in Little Rock, and the hotel/convention center had a rose growers convention there at the same time.
I spent more time at the rose displays than at my own convention events, noticed a lot of the outdoor writers (mostly men) spouses at these displays also.
Diana I meant to order some things from your employer, but like I said, I fell behind schedule and had to grab what I could. I did, however, go on that website several times, and the graphics on the page froze my computer up (I am on dialup).
I think I did order a catalogue (sp), but I haven’t seen one.
That could be because Wayne is hiding them from me. He claims my flower addiction is going to bankrupt us (LOL). Seriously, if I have $100 in my purse and pass a garden center I leave broke.
I honestly believe I have been in the wrong business all these years. I do love gardening. I am not an expert like you, but I am learning by trial and error (mostly error).
**wish we had gradual change like when I was a kid.**
Sure seems like we did, doesn’t it? Now you’re right—someone flips a switch and —BAM! One or the other, with no in between.
What part of Ohio? Grew up around Peebles. Have lots of folks around Dayton/Jamestown.
Hate ticks! I can’t remember the last time one actually attached itself to me, because I can feel them crawling, even the seed ticks. Will come out of a dead sleep with the culprit pinched between my fingers. Hubby laughs at me and says I have sensitive skin.
Any of y’all remember there being seed ticks when we were little? I don’t, and I spent all my free time in the woods/creek. Now it seems like you can’t go outside witout encountering the nasty devils.
Don’t know about garlic, but I have read that skeeters don’t like bananas and if you eat lots the skeeters will leave you alone. Shudder. I’d rather rub down with garlic!
If you do get one embedded, sometimes you can put something on the tick, kind of to smother it, and it will pull out. We’ve used nail polish—not mine, had to borrow some!—vaseline/baccitracin, alcohol, hairspray—not mine either—with varying degrees of success. The leftover head will itch FOREVER if you don’t get it out.
Yes, I'll have you know I did sterilize a needle and worked diligently to remove the head. No go. Why? Those darned heads have millions of tickler arms surrounding the head, which is why the heads are so hard to remove. The experts say one should see their doctor to have the head removed if it seems an infection is brewing.
My "tick head" hasn't itched. But what I have kept doing is, keeping the area clean, and occasionally ripping the scab off, in the theory that the head becomes attached to the scab, ipso, head removal. This also means I will have a scar. I figure it to be a badge of remembrance for myself on how NOT to remove a tick. (I removed plenty from pets over the years; I was half asleep when I found that tag, eyes closed, and snapped it off.)
Available now also, are commercially sold "tick remover" tweezers.
And at every place I researched, lots of warning about Lyme, Spotted Tick Disease, etc.
So, no fever or infection here, which probably means I will wake up one morning hungering for blood, and growing spines out of my head...looking for a mammal to latch onto.
I'm going to have to check out this Epsom Salt and Elephant Ears thing. I've had zero problems with my "ears" and so I've never had to look for a solution. Yet.
In re what happened to the one 'ear' not growing like the other. Well, maybe it just didn't want to get grow'd up yet. :) Yes, probably not as healthy a bulb as the other one.
I noticed you were still talking about stinging insects and mentioned yellow jackets. I had an encounter with those last weekend. I had to work on the JEYSKI, and there was a small sapling near the hitch. I got the lopping shears and cut it away.
Just as I was walking away, I turned around and there were about 15 yellow jackets flying around the hitch. They had built their nest just behind the ball hitch. They didn't last long, since I keep wasp and hornet spray in the garage. If it hadn't been for that sapling, I would have picked up the trailer by the hitch and you know what the outcome would have been.
Toledo area, almost in Michigan. One thing that did great this year were the peonies-truly magnificent. And last year, it was the tulips that were outstanding. Just the right combo of everything for winter and spring decides it, I guess.
Our ‘normal’weather in this area went to hell for good (in most years) after The Blizzard of ‘78. Nothing has been consistent since.
**I will wake up one morning hungering for blood, and growing spines out of my head**
I know the feeling! Shudder. I don’t remember them on me when I was a kid. The dogs always had them—we used to pick them off when they got swollen with blood so we could squish them and make then pop, or fed them to the chickens.
I know what the experts say—from their nice ac offices in the middle of downtown somewhere!
We had to deal with Ticks when we had our place on the Klamath River and we were told by a Native up there to smother the Tick with Vicks Vapor Rum. It would kill them and then we would “unscrew” them by turning them counter clock wise I believe. We always carried a jar of Vicks in the vehicle because the kids would discover one or two on the way home...
Hope they don’t ignore your gardening column.
**you know what the outcome would have been*
Been there done that—with ground hornets! Nasty devils! Good thing all of them except the queen die off every year. Gives us a running start, at least!
Too cold! Tulips are pretty much annuals here. Anything the coles don’t get, the heat eventually will.
**Vicks Vapor RUM**
That could be interesting! It would definitely cure your cold! Or at least you wouldn’t care/remember.
So far, I haven’t been anywhere close to the Africian killer bees. I know they are in our area. Most are to the SE of Austin, but there were some further north of here.
Yikes! If they’re anything like hornets, i want nothing to do with them!
Coles, schmoles. VOLES! I meant voles!
They are MUCH worse than any hornet, wasp or yellow jacket you will ever encounter. When agitated, the entire colony will attack a person, dog, farm animal or anything else in sight.
There was an incident here in Central Texas several years ago where someone was mowing their grass with a riding mower. The noise got them started, and the person mowing the grass and his dog both died from the numerous stings.
FAT FINGER SYNDROME... we all suffer from it! When I see a typo I always look at the key board and say, yep I’ve been there and done that
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