MOUNTAIN GARDENER. Buncombe County s Extension Newsletter for Home Lawn & Garden Enthusiasts

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1 MOUNTAIN GARDENER Buncombe County s Extension Newsletter for Home Lawn & Garden Enthusiasts Buncombe County Center May 2015 HELPING GARDENERS PUT KNOWLEDGE TO WORK May Garden Chores, p.2 Gardening with Kids, p Garden Tour - June 13 Mosquito Management, p.3 Insecticide for Mosquito Control, p.3 Explore, learn and grow at the Buncombe County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Garden Tour, Saturday, June 13, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm - RAIN or SHINE. Seven gardens will be open for your enjoyment in the Asheville area. Pest Strategies for Vegetable Gardener, p.3 Floral Design Workshop, p.4 Garden Helpline, p. 4 Preventing Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes, p.4 Master Gardener Graduates, p. 4 Advance tickets can be purchased: Online May 1 to June 10 for $15 each at the EMGV website or in-person from May 1 to June 12 for $15 each at the Buncombe County Center of NC Cooperative Extension, 94 Coxe Ave. Asheville. Green Ribbon Plants, p.5 All-American Plants, p.5 Fire-Pink, p.5 Ask-A-Gardener Table, p.6 Alison Arnold You can also purchase tickets at registration on the day of the tour, June 13, for $20 either cash or check at the starting point of the tour at Enka High School. Extension Agent, Agriculture Buncombe County Center 94 Coxe Avenue Asheville, NC (Phone) (Fax) to: alison.arnold@ncsu.edu Normal May Weather Averages For Asheville, North Carolina Normal May Average High Normal May Average Low Normal May Precipitation Sunrise May 1 6:39am May 31 6:17am o 75.0 o Hours of Daylight for Asheville, NC Sunset 8:17pm 8:40pm Proceeds are the sole support of our School Garden Grants program and provide for support for EMGV activities. So please bring a friend, a sun hat, and a bottle of water and spend the day enjoying a selection of some of the most beautiful gardens in Buncombe County! Persons with disabilities and persons with limited English proficiency may request accommodations to participate in activities mentioned in this newsletter. Please contact Alison Arnold at during business hours at least 3 days prior to the event to discuss accommodations.

2 Page 2 Garden Chores for May 2015 Lawns Mow frequently enough to remove no more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time. Mow cool season grasses 3 inches high. Try not to mow when grass is wet as you can spread disease problems. Pull broadleaf (non-grass) weeds before they spread, or they can be spot treated with broadleaf herbicide. Do not fertilize fescue and bluegrass lawns. Zoysia grass lawns can be fertilized with ½ pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet 3 weeks after the grass has greened-up. Ornamentals To invigorate or rearrange daffodils, the bulbs can be moved now. Dig deep so you don t damage the bulb. Keep the leaves and roots intact and replant at the original depth. Do not remove leaves from bulbs until they have turned brown. Prune spring blooming shrubs soon after blossoms fade. Using thinning cuts near the ground and remove the thickest, oldest stems with the fewest flowers. Organic mulch is the best tool for maintaining soil moisture and reducing weeds in the landscape. Mulch should be 2 to 3 inches deep, including the old layer of mulch. If you move houseplants outdoors for the summer, wait until nighttime temperatures are above 50 degrees. Do not place plants in direct sunlight. Fruits Keep weeds out of the strawberry bed and put straw mulch around plants. Fruit trees may set a good crop. Too many fruit on the tree is not a good thing. Thin apples, pears and peaches to about 6 inches apart when the fruit is the size of a nickel. Begin fungicide sprays, especially on peaches, plums and grapes. Vegetables Seeds of beans and melons do not germinate well if the soil temperature is below 65. Use a soil thermometer or wait until about the middle of May to plant seeds in the garden. If you plant frost-sensitive plants (all of the summer crops) before May 10, be prepared to use floating row cover or other material to cover plants if a frost is in the weather forecast. Plan your vegetable garden on paper. Keep the plan from year to year so you can plan crop rotations. Check cabbage family crops for cabbageworms. Spindly tomato plants can be planted very deep as they will form roots on the buried stem. Remove leaves that will be below the soil. Gardening with Kids Engage children in ways to help them experience the love of gardening: 1. Take them to various kinds of gardens, garden with them and give them good gardening experiences. 2. Let them plant what they want, offer guidance and make sure they pick plants that will be successful. 3. Talk about and learn how to identify good bugs and bad bugs. 4. Relax your own personal standards and outcomes, fill in the maintenance gaps and don't expect them to do all the watering and pest control. It s important for both of you to have fun! 5. Be creative: Grow a pizza garden round in shape, divided into wedges planted with peppers, onions, basil and tomatoes. Build a teepee structure and on it grow beans, cucumbers, or miniature pumpkins. Plant extremes like large flowers or small vegetables or plants with bright colors like purple carrots.

3 Page 3 Mosquito Management While we are a little early in mosquito season warming temperatures and recent rains will eventually lead to increased mosquito activity. Before you begin a chemical assault know that a reasonable dent in future populations can be made simply by eliminating or modifying the breeding habitat (water) in which the larvae (immature stage) develops. Empty or eliminate objects that collect water pots, buckets, tires, and trash-cans missing their lids. Make a daily (or near daily) routine to refresh water in birdbaths and pet water bowls. Drill holes in the bottom of tire swings to allow the water to drain out. Remove debris from rain gutters to allow water to run free. Also make sure above-ground drain pipes coming off the gutter drain well and are directed down grade and away from the house. Likewise keep drainage ditches free of debris and vegetation so that water doesn't become impounded and stagnate. If you have a rain barrel, place screening (ordinary window screening works) over the top of the rain barrel to keep out debris, as well as the mosquitoes hunting for a good place to lay eggs. Using Insecticides for Mosquito Control Treating outdoor spaces for mosquitoes is certainly anyone s choice. However, there are limitations in that it only knocks down or suppresses populations by killing whatever mosquitoes are out and about at that time the chemical is applied but will not actually eradicate them. Be aware these treatments can also kill other insects that may be out flying around the yard and come in contact with the chemical, including pollinators and other beneficial insects such as spiders. In urban areas where houses tend to be closer together, it s very important to know where the chemical is going. Drift is when an applied pesticide moves beyond its target site and it can easily produce unintended and serious consequences. In this case, a neighbor may not worry about a chemical killing mosquitoes on their property but it s always good practice to scout adjoining properties before discovering that the chemical ended up drifting onto a backyard bee hive, an organic garden, barbecue grill, a pet (or the pet's food/water) or a child playing in that yard. Be careful and considerate and take time to fully consider your options before you make a treatment that can impact all your neighbors human or not! Pest Strategies for the Vegetable Gardener Whether you are on the organic or conventional side, there are a number of simple practices that can help reduce/avoid the use of chemicals to control pests (weeds, insects and disease). See which ones you can incorporate within this 2015 growing season! Grow healthy plants. Rotate vegetables in the same family to a new location every 3-4 years. Plant early to allow plants to reach a size they can tolerate damage. Learn to accept some level of damage and still have success. Plant nectar-filled flowers and herbs to attract predators and pollinators such as buckwheat, fennel, clover, mustards, radishes, yarrow, coriander and anything with umbel flowers (for example, dill and parsley etc.) Use row covers until the plants are large enough to handle pest damage. This works well in protecting broccoli from cabbage loopers and eggplant from flea beetles. Learn to identify good bugs from bad bugs. Spray judiciously even organic sprays are non-selective and will kill anything on contact.

4 Page 4 Congratulations 2015 Extension Master Gardener Graduates! Congratulations to the newest graduating class of Buncombe County Master Gardener Volunteers! Having completed more than 40 hours of training they now embark on their 40 hours of volunteer service. Please welcome them as they join over 100 veteran volunteers that serve our community and help answer your gardening questions and serve our community. Betsey Baker Brenda Jefferies Charlotte Bell Chris McClung Erin Dickinson Gretchen Schlag Kim Ogburn Larry Blevins Laura Brooks Lyndall NoyesBrownell Lynn Marie Hunt Marie Drum Mary Alice Ramsey Mary Edwards Mollie Milner Pat Strang Sandi Belfor Sue Travers Susan Kosma Terry Yeager Fire-pink (Silene virginica) Preventing Blossom-End Rot in Tomatoes Blossom-end rot can be a regular problem for some gardeners and can affect tomatoes, peppers, squash and watermelons. If you have tested your soil and adjusted the ph and calcium levels, the problem is typically with irregular watering or improper fertilizing. Although some blossom-end rot is more severe during dry weather, fluctuating soil moisture can cause it was well. To avoid this, mulch the garden to retain moisture and water deeply when needed. Do not allow plants to wilt between waters. Also avoid high nitrogen fertilizer, especially ammonium nitrate. Use calcium nitrate or a more slowly released organic fertilizer instead. Blossom-End Rot on a Tomato

5 Page 5 All-America Selections Independent researchers each year evaluate hundreds of new flowers and vegetables in dozens of trial gardens throughout the United States. The highest scorers get All-America Selections awards. Six new flowers were selected as 2015 national AAS honors: Dianthus Jolt Pink. A heat-tolerant annual with two-toned pink flowers inches tall. Full sun. Impatiens Bounce Pink Flame. A disease-resistant impatiens with bright pink flowers inches tall. Sun or shade. Impatiens SunPatiens Spreading Shell Pink. Another disease-resistant impatiens with an arching habit and soft, salmon-pink flowers. 2 feet tall. Sun or shade. Petunia Tidal Wave Red Velour. A large, trailing petunia with velvety, rich-red flowers. 2 feet tall. Sun to light shade. Petunia Trilogy Red. A heavy-blooming petunia with bright-red flowers inches tall. Sun to light shade. Salvia Summer Jewel White. A rabbit-resistant upright annual with white spikes inches tall. Full sun. Green Ribbon Native Plants Administered by the staff and Horticulture Committee at Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens in Devon, Pa., this program focuses on singling out some of our region's best native plants for home landscapes Green Ribbon awards include: Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia). A multi-stemmed flowering shrub that gets white flowers in April, then glossy red berry-sized fruits in fall that last into winter. Fall foliage is bright red as well. Grows 6 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide. Full sun to part shade. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). A perennial flower in the milkweed family that blooms orange from June through August and is attractive to monarch and queen butterflies as well as various bees. Grows 18 to 24 inches tall. Full sun to light shade. Eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). A meadow-native perennial with pinkish-lavender flower petals that droop from around a central brown cone. Grows 3 to 4 feet tall. Full sun to light shade Wildflower of the Year: Fire-Pink - NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, NC Fire-pink (Silene virginica), is one of the most stunning native perennials of the eastern United States. A member of the carnation, or pink, family (Caryophyllaceae), Fire-pink can be found throughout North Carolina and occurs in a variety of habitats from dry, open woods to stream banks to sunny roadsides. The name pink refers not to the color, but rather to the frilled edges of many flowers within this family (think of pinking shears ). In mid-spring, Fire-pink explodes with an abundance of brilliantly colored scarlet, star-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds and will continue to provide a spectacular display through mid-summer. Fire-pink prefers dry-to-average, welldrained soil, and also does well in poor, shallow, rocky soils and slopes. It requires excellent drainage and will decline if planted in moist, poorly drained areas. Although in the wild, Fire-pink can be found in the dappled shade of open woodlands, it is fairly intolerant of deep shade and, in fact, thrives and blooms more profusely in full sun. Fire-pink can be a relatively short-lived perennial; however, it will re-seed itself and young seedlings can easily be transplanted. For an image of Fire-pink, look on page 6. Visit to read more about Fire Pink and the North Carolina Botanical Garden s Wildflower of the Year Program. Want to learn more about native plants? To find more information on these plants and others visit Also check out to learn more about incorporating native plants in your landscape to create interest and attract wildlife.

6 Buncombe County Center 94 Coxe Avenue Asheville, NC Page 6 Gardening In The Mountain Series May 21 On Thursday May 21 at 10:00 AM Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Gail Banner will discuss floral design, greenery, fillers and focal point flowers. Gail will discuss how to fully utilize everything from spring daffodils to autumn asters to create arrangements with materials gathered right outside your door! Join Gail as she demonstrates floral design with flowers and greenery cut from her own garden. Although this program is free registration is requested. Call (828) Location: Buncombe County Center, 94 Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC. Free parking across the street (Lot 16), but please ask for parking pass from the office. Ask-a-Gardener Information Tables Tuesday May 12: West Asheville Tailgate Market, 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm, 718 Haywood Road Saturday May 16: North Asheville Tailgate Market from 8:30 am - 12:30 pm on the UNCA campus. Also the 10th Annual Black Mountain Garden Show and Sale is happening from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm at Monte Vista Hotel, 308 W. State St., Black Mountain, NC. Garden Helpline and Office Hours Daily For answers to your gardening questions, the Master Gardener Helpline and Office are open Monday through Thursday 9:30 am - 3:30 pm and Friday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm. Call or visit the Buncombe County Center, 94 Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC. CES Office Closed Memorial Holiday May 25 th Did you know you could receive this newsletter via ? Sign up on the website!