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The Bright Side of Cloudy Skies
Greetings!
 If you're lucky enough to have decent drainage in your
garden, all this rain hasn't been too bad. Sure, I got 3 inches one day and a
full inch the next on already saturated ground, but those raised beds I built
and all that compost I've been working into the soil are doing their job. The
soil is loose and water drains away beautifully. Meanwhile, the only watering
I've done is of the odd container here and there. And the soil is wonderful for
pulling weeds, allowing me to easily get roots and all.
Even
fungal problems haven't been too bad, probably because between most soakers, we
get a day or half day of warm, breezy weather that dries the foliage. Even my
tomatoes, the most disease-prone plants in my garden, are looking good.
The
vegetable garden overall is kicking into gear and I'm trying to get out there
daily to collect all that wonderful produce (cucumbers anyone?)
Happy gardening between the raindrops!
 Veronica Lorson Fowler |
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Slugging It Out With Slugs
With all this wet weather, the slugs are lovin' it and are
very active. My hostas are excellent evidence of this, I'm sad to say.
Photo of slug-resistant Rhino Hide hosta courtesy of In The Country Garden and Gifts.  | Click here for an ISU
article on how to control slugs (hey--setting out beer does work!).
And
did you know that some hostas are less susceptible to slugs than others? Click here for a collection/listing
of slug-resistant hostas for Iowa. |
Arrangement of the Week
 With all the flowers exploding with color outside my window,
I don't crave having lots of colorful flowers indoors--the way I did in say,
February. This time of year, I want something cool, refined, and soothing. A
few ferns in the vase are perfect but I also love cutting a few hosta leaves
and tucking them into wet floral foam in a vase. Simple, elegant.
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Blossom End Rot
Another side effect of all this rain: Our tomatoes have
developed rotten black spots on their ends, called--appropriately
enough--blossom end rot. There's not much you can do, other than to remove the
diseased tomatoes in order to allow the plant to spend more of its energy into
fruit production.
Click here for info from ISU on the causes of blossom end rot and what
you can do, in other years, to prevent it from reoccurring.
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Blow Mosquitoes Away
 Keep mosquitoes and other bothersome flying insects at bay
while enjoying your porch or deck with an electric fan or two. Mosquitoes,
especially, are too fragile to fly in a breeze. Just be sure to plug the fans
into a shock-proof GFCI outlet. You'll stay cool and the bugs will say away.
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Garden Quote:
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta
put up with the rain."
- Dolly Parton
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Garden To-Do List
For a printable version of this list for July, click here.
 Get out there and check
your veggies daily. A cucumber that's a little small one day can get huge in
just a day or two. Pick veggies small and often for top quality and flavor and
to encourage more production. Click here for our
best harvesting tips.
Weed! All this rain followed by warmer weather
is perfect conditions for weeds to take off. After weeding, mulch to prevent weeds from returning.
Keep up with the mowing.
All this rain makes grass grow fast, but as a rule of thumb, you shouldn't
remove more than one-third of the leaf blade at a time or you stress the grass.
And stressed grass gets diseases and weeds. Mow often for a healthier lawn.
Deadhead flowers on annuals, perennials, and some shrubs. It keeps
your garden more attractive and in many cases, it will encourage more flowers
longer.
Fertilize containers every
two or three weeks with a liquid fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro. All that
watering flushes out nutrients. Use a "bloom booster" type for
flowering plants--it really makes a difference!
Continue to plant
container-grown or balled-and-burlapped trees, shrubs, and roses now. However, avoid planting bare-root roses and other bare-root lants. This late in the season, they'll struggle to get established.
Time to practice tough
love. If a tree or shrub is still struggling with winter damage or overall
sickness, with significant amounts of dead wood, it's almost certainly time to
dig it up or cut it down.
Remove old raspberry canes
after the plants stop producing fruit.
Check out the bulb catalogs
and on-line sources. Ordering now assures the type and quantity you want this
fall, when supplies run low.
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Garden Events
A Cool Garden on RAGBRAIDoing RAGBRAI?It's going
right through Clear Lake, home of the newly established and very cool Central Gardens of North Iowa. Take a restful break among 2.75 acres planted with 22 different theme
gardens.
The Midwest Garden at Central Gardens of North Iowa  |
Stream Garden  | Sunday, July 25Shakespeare and the Garden Tour 1-3 p.m. Tour a historic hosta garden in the heart of Des Moines. $5 donation suggested to benefit The Iowa Shakespeare Experience. 516 43rd Street, Des Moines. Click here for further listings of more garden events throughout the summer. |
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