Posted on 06/16/2019 11:44:52 AM PDT by dayglored
I live in rural Upstate NY, in a field in the woods on a hill in the Finger Lakes. Mrs. Dayglored and I have a large garden (flowers and ornamentals, not produce) that in most years is gorgeous this time of year with blossoms all over. (Lots of weeds to remove too, of course.)
This year, all the #&!@* RAIN that started early and continues through today has wreaked havoc on it!
Especially weird is the HOUSEPLANTS dying after moving outdoors -- what's up with that??? We're nowhere near big city pollution, the temperature hasn't been all that bad. I figure it MUST be something to do with all the RAIN.
Thanks in advance for insight, consolation, whatever...
yes, to everything... 8^)
sounds bout right... politicians, what don’t they know?
I feel your pain. I live in the same region. We haven’t even bothered to plant a single thing. I am guessing that the u-pick orchards won’t be great again this year. Well, at least we didn’t start the garden only to have it washed out.
I’m in NE OK...my garden is doing GREAT...!!!...And we have had a crap load of rain.
Switched to container gardening...35 gallon tubs...This is working nicely.
I have created a checkerboard pattern with landscaping fabric and I plant in on the “white” squares (dirt, obviously). It is working great; weeds are under control because they are under the fabric.
That would work too.
Here in NE PA we have had several wet summers in a row. Ornamental plants I have had for years that are considered invasive have been well behaved in our normally dry sandy soil, but now.... The tree canopy has benefited from the cold wet spring and gypsy moth caterpillars and rose slugs have had a very bad time. Only problem is the tree canopy is shading things that weren’t shady before. Just gotta roll with it.
It sounds like they've gotten 'sun stroke" (too much sunlight), all at once.
It sounds like these houseplants hadn't been 'hardened off' by gradually giving them increasing sunlight.
Houseplants that have been over-wintered indoors probably received indirect sunlight, and they got used to it.
Leaving them suddenly in full sunlight, they probably got too much sunshine = sunburn.
They may still be salvageable if you bring them back indoors, and trim off the dead debris .
This last winter saw many grey overcast days in Western NY, even though it didn't snow.
Great idea.
Temporarily pull any mulch away from the plants to hasten the plants roots drying out.
The puddle issue can been remedied by building up the soil, as well as adding peat moss, leaves, and compost,
or going to raised bed horticulture.
Sounds like you have marl (soil), heavy with clay, which prevents moisture from percolating though the soil surface.
The peat moss, Fall season leaves, and compost add fiber to the soil by tilling, thus facilitates moisture transport to roots,
by breaking up this top soil barrier.
Much of New York state soil is glacial debris, having been scoured off the Canadian shield (now barren rock).
Yeah, that's a definite possibility. Ouch... unfortunately they weren't salvageable even with trimming, but we've learned.
Thanks for that diagnosis, and also the comments about the soil. Yeah, clay is nasty stuff and we've got a lot of it a foot or 18inches down from where it tends to puddle after a heavy rain.
Now that you mention it, I haven't seen gypsy moth and tent caterpillars in a couple years -- after two terrible years where they absolutely massacred a bunch of fruit trees among others. I had a heck of a time, applied Tanglefoot and sprayed Sevin like crazy, and eventually beat them back, but only after loads of damage. Gawd I hate caterpillars on trees...
Generally, the male flowers (stamen) appear first, then soon followed up by female (ova)flowers, which produce fruit.
For warmth, if growing in an earth bag, consider wrapping black plastic until mid-summer,
and then remove the plastic during the heat of summer.
Ideal temperatures for cucumbers are night temp of 60, and daytime above 70 degrees.
While they like full sunlight, daytime temperatures over 90 degrees turn many of the cukes bitter
in which case you should offer them some shade from full sun.
dayglored, EinNYC knows what he/she is talking about. Improve your drainage and all be well!
Yep, that’s the plan! :-)
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