Identification: Blister beetles have elongated, narrow bodies and can be black, brown, striped, or metallic green in color.

The larvae overwinter in the soil and emerge in spring to feed. Adults are active in midsummer. There are typically one or two generations each growing season, depending on your region. Blister beetles are found throughout North America.

Damage: These long-bodied beetles feed on leaves and flowers of garden crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, melons, carrots, cabbage, peas, squash and eggplants. When they’re present in force, they can defoliate plants entirely. But blister beetle larvae are gardener’s helpers, because they dine on the eggs of a different garden pest — grasshoppers.

Control: Options for control/elimination include:

• Mow grasses before they flower. These flowers attract adult blister beetles.
• Because of the beneficial role that blister beetle larvae play, it’s best to leave small infestations of adult blister beetles alone. If you’re concerned that beetle populations are increasing, don a pair of garden gloves (when crushed, blister beetles exude a substance that can burn your skin) and handpick the adults. Drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Picking is easiest in the morning when the beetles are sluggish.
• In midsummer, cover plants with insect netting to prevent beetles from feeding.
• Rose Rx 3-in-1 Wards off spider mites, whiteflies, lily beetles and Japanese beetles. Also controls black spot and powdery mildew. It works for all flowers and ornamentals; safe for houseplants and food crops, too.
• Summerweight Garden Fabric Fabric cover screens out Japanese beetles, potato beetles, cabbage worms, leaf miners, carrot flies and most vine borers. Transmits 85 percent of the light to plants without allowing heat build-up.
• Insect Pop-Up Nets Protect your crops from insects with this net, designed to fit on a raised bed.
• All Seasons Spray Oil Unlike heavy “dormant” spray oils that can only be used in early spring, this lightweight oil can be used year-round on vegetables and ornamental plants to control many insect pests, including aphids, mealybugs, red spider mites and scale.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Blister Beetle Control

Identification: Young armyworms are pale green; older larvae are brownish with stripes along their bodies. Several species attack a variety of garden crops, including corn, beets, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, and peas. Adults are gray-brown moths that migrate northward in the spring to lay eggs on host plants and in lawns.

Damage: Armyworms feed at night on plant foliage and grass blades; they hide under foliage and debris during the day. Severe feeding can result in dead areas of lawn and ragged-looking or defoliated crops.

Control: There are several options to control and/or eliminate armyworms:

• Encourage native beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps that prey on caterpillars.
• Weed out grassy weeds as well as pigweed, plantain, and lamb’s quarters, which are host plants for the beet armyworm.
• Rose Rx 3-in-1 Wards off spider mites, whiteflies, lily beetles and Japanese beetles. Also controls black spot and powdery mildew. It works for all flowers and ornamentals; safe for houseplants and food crops, too.
• Caterpillar Control Eliminates cabbage loopers on broccoli, tomato hornworms and even the larvae of tent caterpillars and gypsy moths in fruit and ornamental trees. Active ingredient: Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki
• Grub Guard Contains beneficial nematodes, naturally occurring microorganisms that live in the soil. They feed on Japanese beetle grubs, Colorado potato beetle grubs, cutworms, root weevils, flea larvae and other soil-dwelling insects. Won’t harm earthworms or most beneficial insects, safe around pets.
• Spinosad Spray A soil-dwelling bacterium that controls dozens of insect pests: bagworms, borers, beetles, spider mites, tent caterpillars, loopers, and more.
• Slug Guard These beneficial nematodes are tiny, soil-dwelling predators that target slugs, killing them within 48 hours. One application is effective all summer. Unlike chemical controls, they won’t harm earthworms or most beneficial insects, and they are safe to use around children and pets.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Armyworm Control

Identification: These small, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects cluster densely on tender new growth and the undersides of leaves to suck plant juices. Many species of aphids feed on home garden plants; these insects range in color from pale green, pink, or black to red or yellow. Size is typically 1/16″–1/4″. Adult aphids are generally wingless, but winged adults will appear when overcrowded. Immature aphids (nymphs) closely resemble adults.

Damage: Both adults and nymphs feed on a wide variety of plants, including most edibles and ornamentals. In small numbers aphids do little damage, but they are able to reproduce rapidly and can quickly become a more serious problem. Also, as they feed, aphids secrete a sweet fluid called honeydew that can attract ants; sooty black fungus may grow on coated leaves. Aphids are common throughout the U.S.

Control: There are several options to control and/or eliminate aphids:

• When fertilizing your garden, avoid over-applying nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can stimulate plants to grow too rapidly and produce a flush of exactly the kind of tender new growth that aphids love.
• Use a strong spray of water from your hose to dislodge aphids from affected plants. This will reduce their numbers dramatically. Recheck the plants a few days later and repeat the treatment if needed. (Keep in mind that water sprays will also kill beneficial insects.)
• Ladybug Feeders. Set of 2 Ladybugs are voracious predators of many garden insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, spider mites and mealybugs.
• Adult Ladybugs Voracious predators of many garden insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, spider mites and mealybugs.
• Beneficial Bugs Garden Pack Includes three species of efficient pest-eaters that (unlike chemical controls) won’t harm plants, earthworms, or humans. Ladybugs, lacewings and beneficial nematodes.
• Orchard Spray Protects fruit trees and bushes, nut trees, ornamentals and vegetables. Effective against blight, blackspot, powdery mildew, aphids, mites, caterpillars, whiteflies and more plant pests and diseases. Active ingredients: sulphur and pyrethrins
• All Seasons Spray Oil Unlike heavy “dormant” spray oils that can only be used in early spring, this lightweight oil can be used year-round on vegetables and ornamental plants to control many insect pests, including aphids, mealybugs, red spider mites and scale.
• Rose Rx 3-in-1 Wards off spider mites, whiteflies, lily beetles and Japanese beetles. Also controls black spot and powdery mildew. It works for all flowers and ornamentals; safe for houseplants and food crops, too.
• Insect Control Spray Controls pests with fast-acting natural pyrethrins to kill insects and larvae on contact and canola oil to smother eggs
• Garden Dust Contains copper sulphate and pyrethrins. Use it as a last resort if other controls are not effective.
• Bon-Neem Spray Controls a variety of pests, including aphids, mites, whiteflies, flea beetles, scale and earwigs. Contains natural potassium salts and potent neem tree oil.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Aphid Control

Looking for a unique gift for a gardener? The Blooming Tea Set might just well fit the bill!

When you drop one of these tea balls into the clear glass teapot, an amazing transformation takes place as the ball opens and “blooms” into a beautiful flower. Let the flower steep for a few minutes and the fragrant tea is ready to sip. Each ball is made from the highest quality silver needle white tea that has been combined with other herbs, including calendula, jasmine and hibiscus.

The set includes a 24-oz. glass teapot with stainless steel strainer, 8 different tea balls and 2 sachets of loose tea. Tea choices include: silver needle white tea, jasmine, amaranth, calendula, rose, lily, chrysanthemum, coconut fruit fiber, carnation, hibiscus, lavender, globeflower, stevia leaves, forget-me-not.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Blooming Tea Set — A Great Gift!

School is just around the corner, and that can mean only one thing — Box Tops for Education! Sam’s Club wants to remind you that it is never too early to begin collecting Box Tops. Better yet, Sam’s Club and Box Tops for Education can help you prepare for the fall when you shop their back-to-school event. Right now at Sam’s Club you can:

• Earn more cash for your local school at Sam’s Club this August with the 6 Box Tops on a Pack promotion.
• When you purchase participating Box Top items, you can collect even more Box Tops on some of your favorite General Mills brands such as Honey Nut Cheerios, Nature Valley Oats ‘N Honey Crunchy Granola Bars, Totino’s Pizza Rolls, and more!
• Sam’s Club has your favorite back to school items from computers to clothing, and at the best values.

With the extreme pressure on school budgets programs like Box Tops for Education can make a HUGE difference for our children.  It takes very little time or effort, but the impact can be quite great. Meadowwood Garden fully supports and participates in Box Tops for Education in our local community.

Plan ahead and take advantage of the savings made simple at Sam’s Club. Your wallet – and your local school – will be thanking you! To learn more about the Box Tops for Education Program and how you can help contribute to your school, visit www.boxtops4education.com.

“Disclosure: This is a sponsored post — compensation and information has been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Sam’s Club Box Tops for Education

The first year of Meadowwood Garden I was consumed by this desire to have “perfect” garden conditions for my vegetable plants. Every day after setting out the transplants I diligently watered them. The transplants began to grow so I watered some more to give them an extra boost. Rain or shine, in sickness or health for the first three weeks I literally watered the garden every day.

About 3 weeks after transplanting some of the plants began to wilt. Figuring they weren’t getting enough water, I stepped up the watering program once again! But that didn’t seem to help — the plants wilted even more, leaves turned yellow and the whole garden was a soggy mess.

Photo By: timsamoff

Soon I came to my senses, did some research and found out that I was literally drowning my garden by severely overwatering. I cut back on the water, the plants all perked up and the first year of Meadowwood Garden turned out to be a resounding success.

If you are new to vegetable gardening you might be surprised that overwatering a garden is probably easier to do than underwatering it, as the story above illustrates. Watering a garden isn’t an exact science — it is something that yo get a feel for over time as you do it.

Signs That Your Garden is Overwatered:

Wilting plants — especially if they have yellow leaves probably mean too much water. (On the other hand, a wilted plant with brown leaves usually means not enough water.)

Dropped leaves — another sign of too much water, especially if they were drooping and/or yellow before they fell off the plant.

Rotting roots — Rotting or stunted roots usually indicate too much water.

Mold or algae around the base of the plants is a good indication of too much water.

Tips to Avoid Overwatering:

A good rule of thumb is that a garden needs one inch of water per week.

Feel the top of the soil before you water — if it is damp you don’t need to water.

Use a quality rain gauge or other measuring device to assist in measuring how much water your garden is getting.

Watch the plants for signs of overwatering and cut back immediately if you see them.

Use a timer if you use an area sprinkler.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Signs You are Overwatering the Garden

This is getting unbelievable! Since the last article about groundhogs a few days ago I have trapped and relocated the following critters:

• 1 Groundhog (diseased — disposed of see below)
• 3 Raccoons!

Trapping 5 animals seems like a lot of activity so early in the year. I’m wondering if it is a sign of things to come…

Usually the animals appear to be in very good health, but the groundhog I caught yesterday definitely had some issues. About half of her hair was missing due to some sort of mange or something on her rear and tail. It looked she had undergone a groundhog bikini wax that went a little too far. (Brings up a disturbing visual doesn’t it?)

EDIT: Because I wasn’t sure what was wrong with this particular animal I made the decision to dispose of it rather than potentially spread disease or have the animal suffer from whatever was wrong with it. I want to thank the reader who pointed out that I had not made this clear in the original article.

Seeing a diseased animal so close to the house concerns me. As mentioned in the comments I’m redoubling my efforts in that particular area to assess the health of the rest of the groundhogs. I’m also going to ask my local Veterinarian about what sort of diseases, if any, could potentially be transferred to myself or to Zoe my German Shepherd.

The Havehart traps are getting a bit beat up. One has ceased to function. Another is almost not working. Both are in the workshop awaiting a quick adjustment.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Varmint Season is in Full Swing — Update

My theory that the early gardener gets the groundhog has paid off — look what was in the live trap this morning! Hello Mr. Groundhog! This healthy specimen was released where he won’t bother anyone.

Groundhog Problems

For the past couple years there has been somewhat of a groundhog problem at Meadowwood (Meadowwood is the entire property, Meadowwood Garden is just the vegetable garden…). One or more families have taken up residence in the woods next to the house. There are several holes under the shed there, and just last week I found a large colony of holes further down the treeline.

Two years ago one enterprising fellow even dug a hole under the back deck directly at the back door! And late last year another hole appeared under the front porch. Basically these little furry creatures are getting a little too close for comfort!

I’ve been asked why I don’t just let the little critters live wherever they want. A couple reasons come to mind: property damage and disease. A good example of the former is the hole I found under the front porch. As rain enters this hole it will erode the den and eventually could lead to a collapse of my entire front porch! Same with the holes under the shed.

As for disease, I’m mostly concerned about rabies or diseases Zoe can contract from feces, such as heartworms. Last year a groundhog ran straight at me! A couple that I’ve trapped were mangy and looked very unhealthy, so one never knows what they could be a carrier for.

The Plan this Year

One of the problems with groundhogs is where there are one, there are many! They are very fertile and have large litters. Once the babies grow up they tend to move to an area close by and dig their own burrows. This leads to more damage, etc.

Over the past two years I have trapped about 15 groundhogs total (and about as many raccoons — which are another story!). In spite of my efforts they keep getting closer and closer to the house — and that is simply not an acceptable place for them to be. So this year I decided to trap early, and trap often. My idea is to trap as many as possible just as they wake up from winter hibernation and before they have a chance to breed.

How to Trap Groundhogs

This has turned out to be the easy part. I purchased a live trap a couple years ago — they are made of wire and are easy to set up (you can see it in the photo above). Turns out groundhogs like apples, so for bait I buy old apples from the grocery store. Cut the apple in half, place it in the trap, put the trap next to a hole and usually the next morning you will have something in it.

As the season wears on they seem to become wary of the traps. When that happens I stop placing them for a week or so and often as soon as I start up again I will get one or two.

At some point I want to write-up a more extensive post about how to control these furry fellows. Until then I will keep everyone updated as to my eradication efforts!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

First Groundhog of the Season

Two new vegetable varieties were chosen as part of the 2010 All-America Selections Trials. “Cajun Belle” Pepper and “Shiny Boy” Watermelon join the growing list of AAS Winners. If you are looking for interesting, dependable new varieties to try out this year you might want to give one or both a look.

“Cajun Belle” Pepper

Cajun Belle Pepper

There’s Cajun flavor in this southern belle. Peppers are both sweet and savory. The fruit look like small bell peppers about 2” x 3” with 3 or 4 lobes. Early to mature, look for mature green peppers 60 days after transplanting into your garden. When left on the plant, fruit will change color from green to scarlet and finish red, filled with vitamin C. ‘Cajun Belle’ plants produce a high yield of peppers due to vigor and excellent fruit set. Compact plants are two feet tall and wide, a perfect stature for containers. When grown at AAS Trial grounds, ‘Cajun Belle’ showed no disease problems. ‘Cajun Belle’ was bred by Grow Star L.L.C. and seed companies can purchase seed from PanAmerican Seed Company. Gardeners will be able to purchase seed or plants from their favorite retailer.

How to Grow

Sow seed indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date. Use sterile soilless media, water completely, then allow to drain. Place seed on top of media, cover lightly. Maintain 65-70ºF media temperature until seed germinates usually 5 to 10 days. Grow on using warm temperatures, 65ºF. Peppers are native to tropical America so maintain warm temperatures for maximum growth.

“Shiny Boy” Watermelon

Shiny Boy Watermelon

In a taste test against comparisons, ‘Shiny Boy’ won! Judges favored the sweet tropical flavor and crisp texture. A red fleshed melon with dark seeds; this globe-shaped melon weighed about 20 pounds, some larger. The hybrid plants are vigorous; vines can grow up to 12 feet. ‘Shiny Boy’ can be grown vertically so that a large yard for a vegetable garden is not needed. Judges noted a high yield and generally healthy plants, tolerant of severe weather. It is an art form to determine when melons are ripe for harvest but plan to check plants in about 75 days from transplanting for mature fruit. ‘Shiny Boy’ is earlier than other varieties. This AAS Winner can be grown successfully in any geographic region with warm summer growing conditions. It was bred by Known-You Seed Company.

How to Grow

In northern areas, sow seed 4 weeks prior to last frost date. Sow seed directly into peat pots filled with soil-less mix that has been well-watered and allowed to drain. Cover with media and maintain 75°F. Wrap in plastic to maintain uniform moisture. Germination will occur in 7 to 14 days. Keep warm, transplant after soil and air temperatures warm or protect from cool night temperatures. In areas with long growing seasons, seed may be sown directly into prepared garden soil.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

2010 All-America Vegetable Selections

Last year Tomato Growers Supply sent a bonus packet of Giant Belgium Tomato seeds with my order. Free things are good, and free seeds are even better in my book! I started a couple seeds, transplanted them into the garden and quickly forgot about them as the season wore on.

Fast forward to later in the growing season. I noticed large tomatoes set on the two Giant Belgium plants. Large might be an understatement — HUGE is probably much more descriptive… Some of the fruits ended up being as big as a small plate!

Giant Belgium is a pink beefsteak-type tomato. It ripens from a pale green to yellow to pink beginning at the blossom end. I found out quickly if you wait until the entire fruit is pink it will be overripe. Pick the fruits when the shoulders at the stem end are still a bit green and yellow and they should be perfect.

What makes Giant Belgium my new favorite tomato? The taste! It is low in acid yet retains a smooth tomato taste. There is a fruity component to the flavor — the best I could come up with to describe it is a melon-like taste. It is subtle, yet noticeable.

The fruits are almost 100% “meat” too! The seed cavities are very small so there isn’t a lot of liquid and “gunk” when you slice it up.

And slice it up I did! I quickly fell into a routine of picking one Giant Belgium and slicing it up for lunch. With fruits averaging well over 1 pound each, the tomato ended up being the ENTIRE lunch more often than not! A dash of salt and I was one happy camper!

If you want to try Giant Belgium yourself there are a couple things you should be aware of. The skin is extremely thin, so delicate handling is a must. I quickly learned to pick the Giant Belgiums last so they would be at the very top of the basket. Also, they are slow to ripen. Once the fruit grows to size it takes several days for it to fully ripen up — more often than not it became an exercise in patience as I watched the pink color slowly work up the fruits. Last, as mentioned before, if you wait until the entire fruit is pink it will be mushy and overripe.

That’s the scoop on my new favorite tomato! I’m interested in your experiences with this outstanding tomato. Has anyone tried to make wine with it?

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Giant Belgium — My New Favorite Tomato!