Hello again!
Barbara Gardener writes:
"I kept track of this lily and I actually deadheaded 50 blooms. It's very
different from any of my other daylilies because the blooms are very low on the plant."
What a gorgeous plant!
Barbara Gardener contributes another great photo just above. This is of cleome, one of my absolute favorite annuals. Cleome is one of those "electric flowers"--I define electric flowers as having those colors that just GLOW in the garden. Electric flowers stay bright and full of energy for the season. Obviously Barbara is just an Electric Gardener!
This from Barbara Gardener:
"Cleome that reseeded . It bloomed in front of delphinium that was going to seed. Nice. I accept all free gifts! I bought a flat from you this summer and it is blooming now with a lot of purple. Thanks!"
Cleome WILL almost always reseed which makes it the plant that keeps on giving. But, if you can plant in an area that you don't mind seeing unexpected but welcome plants the following year and you are "into" ELECTRIC FLOWERS" then the cleome is for you!
August 27:
Customer GG writes us with a tomato question: "I planted 2 tomatoes plants in a large wooden container early June. They had plenty of sun etc. They are not ripening. I have spoke with several people and theirs aren't ripening either. Any suggestions on how to ripen them?"
Our answer:
They will ripen if we can continue to get nice sunny weather like we are having. Much of our summer has been dark and cool and dark and cool is the exact opposite of what our tomatoes want. Keep the plants well watered; I am watering my containerized tomatoes almost daily now! A touch of Fish and Seaweed fertilizer by Neptune’s Harvest will not hurt. You may want to pick off any blossoms your plant has now so the plant will devote more energy to the fruit.
If we get into fall and you have a lot of green tomatoes, then you can try some methods like placing tomatoes on a sunny window sill upside down or putting the tomatoes in a plastic bag with an apple in the bag. (Gases released from the apple help the tomatoes ripen).
How is the fruit itself looking? Many of us have blossom end rot which comes from a calcium deficiency in the soil; again with so much rain leaching out valuable nutrients in the soil including calcium it is a banner year for blossom end rot which is a black section located on the bottom end of the tomato.
Customer PJ writes with a question about mildew on her peony: "This is the first time I have ever had mildew on one of my peony's, just on the leaves. Should I cut it to the ground so it doesn't affect any others that nearby, and is there anything else I should do in the future to prevent this happening again?"
Our answer: At this point with your peony at a dormant or near dormant stage I would definitely cut it down to the ground to lessen the effect on nearby plants.
In terms of prevention I would definitely recommend using Messenger monthly starting next April or early May. We have written about Messenger quite a bit at the Skillin’ Garden Log. Messenger contains harpin proteins (the same proteins that plants naturally manufacture and use to repel disease). Once sprayed with the Messenger your plant suspect an attack by disease because of the presence of the harpin proteins. This causes your plant to manufacture large amounts of its own protein and this presence of so much harpin proteins helps so much to keep diseases at bay.
Messenger is perfect for so many plants that are susceptible to mildews and other diseases. I have used Messenger regularly this year on my tomatoes, roses, phlox, lilacs, and crabtrees and the plants foliage is very healthy and green. And what a year this has been for diseases!
So we definitely encourage the use of Messenger!
August 26:
The wet weather earlier this month may have left some soggy bird feeders and food behind. Birds don't like wet food and wet food makes for mildew and all that. Take a moment and check out your feeders, make sure they are clean and that the food in them is dry.
Beautiful summer weather has been upon for a few days now and people's moods are much better! Your plant containers will need some good waterings as well as any newly seeded lawns and any large plant material planted this year.
If you haven't fed your annuals or vegetables lately it would be a good idea to spread some Plant Booster Plus by Organica or Plant Tone by Espoma to give them a boost for the many weeks of gardening we have ahead! My containers of flowers and vegetables are full of roots in the soil so within the past few days I have resupplied them with fresh Organic Plant Booster tablets (a great and natural fertilizer for containers) and I am watering them with Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer. Great weather lies ahead and I want to get TOP performance out of my container gardens for the next many weeks!
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