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Aug 25, 2023

5 things to do in the garden this week: Watering and weeding

1. Bicarbonate has long been used to control powdery mildew, the most common leaf fungus, occurring on roses and many other ornamental plants. You will often see sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as

1. Bicarbonate has long been used to control powdery mildew, the most common leaf fungus, occurring on roses and many other ornamental plants. You will often see sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, promoted for this purpose. A popular mixture consists of one tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in a gallon of water. To make the mixture stickier so that it adheres to leaves, a teaspoon of insecticidal soap or ultra-fine horticultural oil may be added. There is a problem here, however, since sodium is toxic to plants and bad for the soil, causing it to deflocculate and crack. It is even recommended that water that passes through a water softener (since it contains sodium) should not be used for watering plants. You may wish, instead, to utilize potassium bicarbonate to triumph over powdery mildew. Bi-Carb Old Fashioned Fungicide, manufactured by Monterey, is one such product, also made stickier by the addition of the soap or oil mentioned above.

2. Not long ago, I wrote about a soaker hose (which delivers water through tiny pores) as an option for watering, especially vegetable and flower beds. Its advantage is its simplicity since you merely screw the hose onto a hose bib or faucet that is opened whenever you wish to water. Its disadvantage is that water comes out copiously near the faucet and diminishes in volume as you go down the length of the hose. Steve Hawes, who gardens in Sunland, has solved this problem as follows: “Install on the faucet a splitter that allows for a two hose connection. Screw one end of the soaker hose on one of the connections. Screw the other end, after installing a needed male-to-female connector, on to the other of the two hose connectors at the faucet. Make sure both faucet hose outlets are open. I have used the same technique for long driplines.”

3. If you have perennial weeds such as Bermuda grass, oxalis (it looks like clover with tiny yellow flowers), or field bindweed (it has small white trumpet flowers) growing among your ornamental plants, consider the following method for dispatching the weeds without damaging the plants. After putting on gloves, spray a broad-spectrum, systemic herbicide on a sponge. Now take the sponge and rub it over both sides of the weeds’ leaves. A systemic herbicide, applied to leaves, kills the entire plant, including its roots. Make sure the product you use is effective on both broad-leaf weeds and grasses, as long as you don’t spray it on lawn weeds, which could kill the lawn. There are products that kill broadleaf weeds alone and these are suitable for killing dandelions and oxalis, for example, that are growing in a lawn area.

4. As August comes to an end, it is wise to eliminate the application of high-analysis fertilizers where perennials, shrubs, and trees – especially those of tropical origin – are concerned. The invigorating effects of such products could last into November or beyond when, on occasion, we experience a frost that would kill tender new growth. If you still wish to fertilize, do so with low analysis, organic fertilizers such as cottonseed meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, and aged manure.

5. Plant seeds or seedlings of cole crops. a group that includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and collards. For garden special effects, plant perennial tree collards. Jolly Green Giant is a tree collard that grows up to ten feet tall with leaves as large as two feet long. Order this and other tree collards from Project Tree Collard (projecttreecollard.org), located in Grass Valley.

Please send questions, comments and gardening comments to [email protected].

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