June 2013 Farmer’s Co-op Report
Co-Op Gardening Tip for June
Mildred Tomlin came in this past week with a big problem. It was her hydrangeas.
Mildred had followed our advice from last month and put sulphur powder around her hydrangeas to make her soil more acidic. But in the last week, many of the leaves on her plants were turning brown at the ends and eventually wilting off. Needless to say, for Mildred, this had created some hard feelings.
But the leaf problem didn’t have anything to do with the sulphur at all. “Mildred,” we told her, “there’s a fungus among us.”
At first she thought we were talking about Lester on the loading dock. But Mildred’s problem had to do with last year’s mulch. That part of her yard has a lot of clay that tends to hold water. The mulch she put out last year over that area had become moldy. That mold, in turn, had worked it’s way into the hydrangeas. Mildred got some fungicide and was happily on her way. Hopefully, her hydrangeas will soon be happily on their way too.
Come to think of it, Lester on the loading dock could do with a little fungicide as well.
Later this month, we’re going to talk about another problem folks have with their gardens this time of year…slugs. Given the subject matter, it’ll be hard not to talk about Lester, but we’ll try to stay focused.
So, stayed tuned for Slugfest, coming later this month.
And remember, any day on this side of the flowerbed is a good day!
