Where did they all come from?!?

Fleahoppers. That's right, today's topic is garden fleahopper. Tiny, pesky, damaging fleahoppers. Not only do they seem to be in everyone else's vegetable garden, but they are on my garden too *sigh*. So here we go into summer with our first official insect:

The garden fleahopper is a tiny, black insect that hops (see cool picture from University of Arkansas) and feeds on a wide range of vegetables. The fleahopper is known to feed on beans, beets, cabbage, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, parsley, peas, peppers, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and many herbs & annuals. These insects will hop from host weedy plants such as quickweed, clover & morning glory onto your garden so attention to weeds is necessary. They are a piercing sucking insect which means your standard sprays often will not work.

A couple of websites of interest on flea hoppers & home garden insect control:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef307.asp

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef445.asp

As the days are getting longer and you are spending more time outdoors let me remind you to drink plenty of water. Be safe out there & happy gardening!

It smells like spring....

This spring I am trying new things--personally and professionally. But today I was reminded of the smell of spring. Driving home this evening I smelled a lot of grass with a hint (okay, more than a hint) of onion. So today's topic is the smell of spring, specifically the smell (and management) of wild onion and wild garlic.

Now some people really hate wild onion and wild garlic. As for me, I don't mind it. To me it makes the world smell like a really big salad. But for those of you who just can't stand it here are some fun facts to make your management of this weed a little bit easier.

For starters, most of what you call wild onion is actually wild garlic (Allium vineale) and is a cool season bulb. There is no preemergent control and post-emergent control is done chemically. For those who would rather not spray, mowing will help weaken the plant but may not actually ever kill it. Take heart though, since it is a cool season plant it's day in the yard is short and usually does not last through April. The University of Tennessee Extension has a great publication on wild garlic if you are interested in reading about this edible weed by following this link: http://www.tennesseeturfgrassweeds.org/admin/Lists/Fact%20Sheets/Attachments/7/W212_wildgarlic.pdf

So many great things are getting ready to happen in April. The Garden Party is April 10th at the Extension Office, a Garden Photography class, and a New Gardener series. And for those who want more detail, we are already signing up people for the Master Gardener Class this fall.

So for now, let me wish you all a Happy Easter weekend and here's to nice spring weather!

Happy First Day of Fall

So today marks the first day of autumn. We are seeing some cool stuff around the office that I wanted to make a quick comment on....

First and foremost--2009 has been the year of the Fungus! I've seen all kinds of cool fungi this year including your garden variety mushrooms, dead man's fingers fungi, and my favorite--dog vomit fungi (it looks exactly how it sounds). Above are scenes of the mushrooms in our fall mums. And although I have asked (and made fun of...) to remove them, they will stay! They will only last a day or two and I think they add a cool feature to our landscape right now. So although a lot of people want to get rid of them they really are beneficial and our soils are getting better thanks to their decomposing help. So if you can stand them, leave them be, they are making the soil healthier for your plants.

Second, and even cooler still....snails. Hundreds of snails are emerging from their hiding places due to all the recent rain. The question has been "What can I do to get rid of them?" Unfortunately--nothing. Once the sun comes out and the rains stop the snails will go back into hiding. Be patient, it's very temporary.

Happy Autumn!

Spring 2009

Spring has definitely sprung in Bowling Green. Sorry to anyone who has attempted to keep up, my plate got extremely full and frankly...I forgot to blog. Let me re-start this blog.

Hi. I'm Carol Schreiber, the Warren County Extension Agent for Horticulture. Many folks ask me what exactly is it that I do. Well, the technical answer is provide education and outreach to the citizens of Warren County in the areas of horticulture as well as community and economic development.

The real answer--I do a little of everything. My main job in the spring and summer months is answering a lot of questions, whether that is by phone, e-mail or face-to-face. I answer a lot of questions. My favorite questions always start off with, "This may be a strange question but..." Those are exactly the types of questions we answer. My very favorite question this spring started off this way and the the rest of the question was, "...how did you make the tulips bloom in Bowling Green so early in April?" He was a nice gentleman and we had a good discussion for about 10 minutes.

My purpose for this blog is to have another outlet to help you, the gardener. Whether beginning or experienced I hope you can learn something here.

The most common call of the month: Black "stuff" on fruit trees.

Never fear gardeners, this "black stuff" is a fungus called black knot. I know the title is not incredibly imaginative, but it is a fungus that you see primarily in late spring on fruit trees and fruit-like trees/shrubs (sand cherry, ornamental plum, crabapple--you get the picture). It's not horribly harmful to your tree and the best way to get rid of it is to simply prune it out. The following link is to the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Factsheet on Black Knot: http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/PPFS-FR-T-4.pdf

The picture leading off this blog is of black knot taken by University of Minnesota Extension.