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Weekly Gardening Thread -- IT's JUNE!!!!!
Garden Girl | June 2006 | Garden Girl

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 The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves.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.


TOPICS: Food; Gardening; Hobbies; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: food; gardening; june; stinkbait; weekly
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To: Gabz

I think he just threw them in whole, probably in a Walmart bag. LOL

I do not like hot pepper ice cream!

I actually like sweet peppers—they just don’t like me. :(

I can eat the flavor as long as I don’t eat the actual pepper itself. Otherwise, I taste them for about a week. Blah!


61 posted on 06/05/2008 1:29:21 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: gardengirl
I got an email that Listerine will kill or keep mosquitoes away. We may try that soon, since we have an overabundance again this year. The purple martins can't eat all of them.
62 posted on 06/05/2008 1:31:14 PM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Typical white person, bitter, religious, gun owner, who will "Just say No to BO in Nov.")
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To: Gabz; gardengirl
A couple of weeks ago I asked a question about using some bamboo I had found growing on a rural road for staking poles. It was green and I worried about it growing. Well it wont grow and "green" bamboo even laid out to dry in the sun for a week or two, no matter how thick, has no strength.

I decided to let them lay out in the sun and turn brownish before I used them. No workie! The ones I have used are very weak and break at the joints.

I found a couple of my tomato plants I used the bamboos for almost laying on the ground. The bamboo was breaking at the joints.

I think the bamboo needs to really dry out and cure to stiffen up it fibers.

Just thought I would pass this info along.

63 posted on 06/05/2008 1:35:37 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Arrowhead1952

We live on the marsh. The only thing worse than our skeeters is when the wind comes out of the east. The downeast skeeters are the size of hummers and I don’t think anything will kill them! When you swat them, they just laugh and come back for another round!


64 posted on 06/05/2008 1:41:25 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: Gabz

June is here and in a couple of hours, my garden went from winter/spring to summer. Pulled out all the pansies as they were heat beat. Also pulled out all the arugula and most of the lettuce. Will have a nice salad for dinner. In their places, planted basil, geraniums, zinnias, double impatience (looks like mini-roses) and petunias. Also, put together a planter with tomato and cucumber plants for a neighbor. Watered well as rain seems to be skipping around Virginia Beach.


65 posted on 06/05/2008 1:42:22 PM PDT by tob2 (Vote for McCain!)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Sorry your bamboo idea didn’t work! OTOH, it could be a good thing! You’d have a tough time convincing Mrs. RD to eat that!


66 posted on 06/05/2008 1:42:32 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: girlangler
I had a huge outbreak of Japanese beetles last year. I trapped, and trapped. I haven't seen one this year. They usually show up in May. Not sure if the cool spring delayed them, but I am ready this year. If you get your rose gardens going, you will know if those larvae were Japanese beetles. Just check your rosebuds. They will probably be the 1st target. The following web site has lists of both target plants and some it doesn't like. I read elsewhere they eat poison ivy and can say with certainty that they love crape myrtles. I wish they would stick to the poison ivy, LOL.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef409.asp

67 posted on 06/05/2008 1:42:37 PM PDT by USMCGunnut (Be polite, be professional....but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: gardengirl; Arrowhead1952

Skeeters are the regional “bird” of DelMarVa. I swear some of those buggers are bigger than birds.........or at least it seems that way judging by the welts on my legs.


68 posted on 06/05/2008 1:53:18 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Ticks also like to drop on you from the trees.... and since I live in the woods, we get lots, from every direction, top down and bottom up. The worst is when you step in a nest of seed ticks. It looks like cinnamon is running up your leg. They are teeny tiny, but if they bite you they itch as bad as the big guys. I finally learned to deal with them by using packing tape to pull them off.

Love your garden! As I said, I live in the woods, so I can only enjoy the gardening by proxy. We just can’t find a place that gets more than about 3 or 4 hours of sun, and even then the deer are merciless.

I had a pear tree many years ago. The best thing I did was make pear butter. YUMMMY!!!! And zuchinni soup is pretty wonderful as well! Hopefully my neighbor with a garden will share.


69 posted on 06/05/2008 2:01:08 PM PDT by Grammy (Maxine Waters wants to....sociali.... er ....nationali....er... take over the oil industry.)
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To: Gabz; gardengirl

The way some of those skeeters are growing, we may need to put “Low Flying Aircraft” signs up on the streets,


70 posted on 06/05/2008 2:06:42 PM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Typical white person, bitter, religious, gun owner, who will "Just say No to BO in Nov.")
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To: girlangler
I did the junebug thing too, LOL. Used light fishing line and my dads screwdrivers. Would anchor as many as I could outside of each other radius and have my own air show.

It has been a very windy spring. I personally just get annoyed by the wind. Starting to get hot down here in SC too.

Ticks- I have been all over my woods and property, have yet to pick one up. Maybe the cool spring again. If you can, employ some guineas or chickens and let them free range.

Skeeters - worse this year than last. I heard about the Listerine thing too, but have yet to try it. Martin houses, and even though they creep some out, bat houses! One bat can eat up to 600 per night. Think carnivorous hummingbirds. May take a year or so for them to locate the houses though.

On the aphids, you can purchase ladybugs online.

I am new here and know I am preaching to the choir on a lot of issues, just throwing out my 2 cents, not trying to insult the intelligence of many who have been doing this much longer than I.

71 posted on 06/05/2008 2:08:06 PM PDT by USMCGunnut (Be polite, be professional....but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: Gabz

A couple years ago they were the worst I’ve ever seen. You had to run from the house to the car. I had skeeter carcasses all over the inside of my car. You couldn’t even take a breath outside without sucking some in.


72 posted on 06/05/2008 2:15:39 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: Red_Devil 232; gardengirl

That’s interesting about the bamboo, and totally unlike my experience with it.

Bamboo grows pretty much out of control along the property line at the Moose Lodge and 3 years ago when the guys went in to cut it all back I told them I wanted it. I’m still using a good bit of it.

We just dumped the trailer hauling it and I cut off all the green and just left the poles. I’ve used it for staking maters, and for making trellises for pole beans and peas.


73 posted on 06/05/2008 2:21:16 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: gardengirl
You’d have a tough time convincing Mrs. RD to eat that!

When Mrs. RD and I first met, my Aunt invited us and my Dad over to supper. My Dad had given my Aunt some artichokes and she decided to have them with supper. My Aunt either boiled or steamed them and had the sharp points trimmed off and they were served cool with a mayo dip. While we were eating them my Dad just burst out laughing. Mrs. RD, to be, was attempting to eat the whole leaf, not just the tasty fleshy part and it was not working out very well. She had never eaten or encountered an artichoke before and she was determined to eat that first leaf.

My Dad told her to watch, he pulled a leaf off dipped the tip into mayo and showed her how to eat it and placed the rest of the leaf on the "bone" plate.

She tried it and liked it. She was so embarresed, but so relieved that she was not going to have to try eat the whole thing!

We laugh about that to this day! So don't count out my bamboo!

74 posted on 06/05/2008 2:36:33 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Gabz

This was fresh green bamboo and only sat in the sun for may be a week after cutting. When I cut it with my tree limb lopper it was like cutting butter. I did cut down one that was still standing but was dead. It is just as tough as one would think bamboo should be. The green ones need some aging.


75 posted on 06/05/2008 2:46:51 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: tob2
Watered well as rain seems to be skipping around Virginia Beach.

You've got to be kidding me? We've been practically flooded here on the Eastern Shore and according to news reports I thought Hampton oads/Tidewater area has also been getting hammered.

76 posted on 06/05/2008 3:19:34 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: Arrowhead1952; gardengirl

Around here there are bumper stickers and T-shirts with a take off on the Blood Drive “I Donated” stickers that sport a huge skeeter and the name of whatever particular beach you have been at!

The problem for me is that I live here, and am a skeeter magnet, so I donate multiple times EVERY day!!!!


77 posted on 06/05/2008 3:53:09 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: Red_Devil 232

I’d be in the same boat because the only thing I know about artichokes is how to spell it!

If I was Mrs RD I wouldn’t worry about it too much—the first time my mom cooked shrimp, she fried them with the shells on!


78 posted on 06/05/2008 3:53:38 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: Gabz

Skeeters don’t seem to bother me so much—it’s the sand gnats and yellowflies and greenheads that I hate.


79 posted on 06/05/2008 3:56:57 PM PDT by gardengirl
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To: gardengirl

If it stings or bites, it’s gonna get me.....I guess it’s because I’m just so sweet :)


80 posted on 06/05/2008 3:59:41 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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