Not totally happy with this one. But pressed for time. I see better kale mandalas in my future.
Kale (proof of concept)
Category: Veggies
Life in the veggie garden.
Bummers …
Coming soon to a garden near you?
Late blight. It hasn’t exploded yet this year in the Northeast. But it turned up in Maryland and Pennsylvania in May. Then in the last week or so in Connecticut and on Long Island. Keep an eye out for it (right), and keep disposing of those volunteer potatoes. More info on what you can do here.
Leek moth. Prefers leeks, but also infests onions, garlic, chives, and shallots. Amy Ivy says it’s in northern New York. Listen to Amy’s podcast. View factsheet.
Basil downy mildew. Almost forgot this one, probably because it’s not a threat in my garden. (Because I never got around to planting any basil.) Read/listen about this plague on NPR.
Oily rain – Can’t wait for summer storms to blow some of this up our way.
On that cheery note, it’s off to the office to catch up.
Latest on late blight
Wrote a blog post last week at Cornell Horticulture, Avoid the late blight blues, about how gardeners can help prevent the heartbreak many of us felt last year. (Make sure you kill those volunteer potatoes.)
I highly recommend Meg McGrath’s late blight photo gallery if you’re not sure what late blight looks like.
And you can also listen to Amy Ivy’s podcast (the meatiest gardening podcast around) on the subject.
Saturday walk-around
Just some pix from the weekend …
I returned the veggie garden to respectability. It had really gotten out of hand. But now the oats and peas I put on the garlic beds two or three weeks ago look great and I cleaned up some bed that were in ‘weed cover crop’ mode and planted some fall greens. Not too shabby.
Grass border coming into its own.
Turtleheads (Chelone obliqua) and more in the wet patch.
Weird leaflet on a young locust tree.
Lots of yellow flower (again, still). Helianthus …
Rudbeckia …
Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’ (Outhouse Plant, Golden Glow). The deer hit them pretty hard this year, for the first time. But they still look OK.
Weekend pix: Compost garden, container cluster
I’m often amazed by what springs forth from the compost pile. But this year I have an amazing potato, mustard and tomato crop coming.
Container cluster is coming along despite the cool weather.
