The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

While walking through a friend’s garden last week, I noticed a problem just getting started in her cucumber vines.

The leaves were beginning to show signs of Downy Mildew, a fungal disease that often plagues cucumbers. If left untreated, the disease can defoliate an entire crop in just a few days. The developing fruit then become stunted and sun scalded because no leaves are left to provide growing energy for the cucumbers or protection against the direct rays of the sun.

Downy Mildew can be recognized by the appearance of light-green spots on the surface of the leaves. A couple of days later the spots turn yellow and angular following the pattern of the veins on the leaf. The yellow spots die back and turn brown eventually killing the entire leaf.

The yellow spots enlarge and follow the outline of the veins in the leaf.

Spraying a broad spectrum fungicide can help control the disease. There are several conventional and organic sprays out there to choose from.

Today I spotted early signs of Downy Mildew  on my cucumbers. I treated it with a potassium bicarbonate product I found last year. I have never used this product but I’ll let you know how it works.

This disease develops more rapidly during periods of high humidity and moisture. By watering your plants early in the morning, you give the excess water time to dry off of the leaves. Watering late in the day keeps the plant from drying completely and creates a humid environment for the disease to progress.

It’s a little late for this season but keep in mind when ordering seeds for next year that some of the newer varieties are resistant to Downy Mildew.

Downy Mildew will attack zuccini and other types of squash as well as melons and other related crops.

Bob

Did you spend a lot of productive time in your garden over the Memorial Day weekend, or did you go out to the lake?  I hope you got a chance to do both, that’s what we did.

Memorial Day  is the target date for getting gardens planted here in southeastern Michigan.  I’m guessing that a vast majority of gardeners got their gardens planted over the holiday  weekend.

Don’t worry too much if you didn’t get a chance to plant yours, there is still time to get your plants into the garden and end up with a harvest in the fall.  I still have much more to plant since I am expanding our garden somewhat this year.

Sunflowers such as these can still be sown directly into the garden.

A list of vegetables that I might seed directly into the ground would include green beans (and other beans as well), beets, cabbage, carrots,  sweet corn, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, and watermelon.

Plants that can be set out as transplants from the greenhouse or garden center include tomatoes, peppers, brussels sprouts, eggplant, onions, and sweet potatoes.  Plants listed in the direct seed list are also available as started plants, the exceptions being carrots, beans and sweet corn.

There are also flower seeds that can still be sown directly into your garden including cosmos, blanket flower, four o’clock, gailardia, sunflower, zinnia and many others. There are many, many varieties of  flowers  available as started plants too.

Later on in the season we can sow seeds of certain plants for a fall crop of cool weather vegetables. We’ll discuss that as we approach that date.

Bob

One frequent complaint I hear from gardeners  is the bad luck they have with getting carrots to grow.  Often they mention that it hardly seems worth it since only a few seeds sprout and they end up with just a couple of carrots in the row.

The problem can be traced back to improper planting; specifically sowing the seed too deeply.

Carrot seeds are fairly small and need to be placed near the surface of the soil in order to sprout.  You need to resist the urge to “dig a hole and cover the seed with dirt”.

All that is needed by carrot seeds is a very shallow row scratched into the surface of a smooth area of your garden.

Place the seed into the row and cover with a little bit of sand, I would say less than 1/4 “.  The sand covers the seed without “smothering” it.  This is especially helpful in gardens with heavy dense soil with a high clay content.

Carrot seeds covered with a shallow layer of sand.

Carrot seeds are most commonly sold as bare seeds but sometimes can be found as “pelleted” seeds. The pelleting process deposits a layer of clay onto the seeds to help them pass through a garden seeder easier.  It also makes it easier to see the seeds in your garden  when planting them.  Pelleting can give you a false sense of security since the seeds appear larger you think you can plant them deeper.

Raw carrot seeds on the left and pelleted carrot seeds on the right.

Keep the carrot area moist until the seedlings emerge from the soil which can take from 1 to 3 weeks.  After that be sure to remove any weeds before they get too big because the young carrots won’t compete well against large weeds.

Sow carrots seeds shallowly and you will have a much better chance of harvesting a bountiful carrot crop this year.

Bob

2008 has been declared International Year of the Potato by the United Nations. It almost sounds like a humorous punch line should follow that statement. However it’s true, the once lowly potato has finally received the recognition it deserves.

Contrary to popular belief, potatoes originated in the Americas, not in Ireland. Native South American Indians were raising the delicious tuber for centuries before the Europeans discovered how versatile they are.

They were actually brought to Europe by the Spanish explorers during the mid-1500′s. The Spaniards were looking for gold, but, I would argue that this single discovery is more valuable to the human race than any amount of gold could be. After all you can’t eat gold. It looks like the United Nations agrees with me.

It wasn’t until the 1770′s that potatoes gained widespread acceptance. Thomas Jefferson was a big fan of the new crop, he even served french fries at state diners during his term as president.

Historically, we all remember being taught about the most infamous event involving potatoes.  It was the Potato Famine that occurred in Europe from 1845 to 1848 causing over 1 million deaths from starvation. Many countries were involved, not just Ireland. Although, the Emerald Isle was hit the hardest.

Potatoes are now grown all over the world. They rank #4 after corn, wheat and rice in terms of worldwide production. China is now the largest producer of potatoes harvesting about 77 million tons. Russia is second with 43, India 27, and USA rounding out 4th with 22 million tons.

As far as who are the biggest lovers of potatoes… the folks in Europe eat about 216 lbs of potatoes per person per year. Here on the North American continent we average about 128 lbs. for each man, woman and child. Not many are eaten in Africa yet. South Americans don’t eat many either, which strikes me as a little odd, since this is where potatoes got their start so many centuries ago.

Up in northern Michigan, the good and gentle townfolk of Posen, have been celebrating the potato for decades with their annual Posen Potato Festival. This festival draws people from all over the state and beyond. It looks like once again, Michigan is way ahead of the rest of the world!

Our bag of seed potatoes is just waiting for the ground to dry out.

Bob