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help wanted

5/24/2021

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The following positions are available.

Board Positions - contact Susan Chamberlain

Board Treasurer
Board Secretary

Project Site Positions - contact Susan Chamberlain

Bull Shoals/White River Project Site Chairperson(s)

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june garden checklist

5/24/2021

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Avoid heavy summer pruning. Light pruning is fine. Even small limbs in the way of the lawn mower are fine to remove during a hot summer.
Raise your mower blades to cut your fescue lawn to 3 inches or more. Doing this will help protect grass roots from the summer heat and encourages a more extensive root system. Deeper roots will be beneficial during a drought. Water the soil to a depth of 4-6 inches every 3-4 days if possible. Don’t fertilize your fescue lawn during the summer.
Spider mites can be a severe problem at this time of year. They become very active during hot weather. Most ornamentals and vegetable crops are subject to attack. Bifenthrin, malathion or insecticidal soap are good choices to use on ornamentals and malathion or insecticidal soap on vegetable crops. Read label directions before use and most important follow directions on days to harvest vegetables after use.
Summer is the time to dig and divide irises. Irises do best in full sun but will tolerate some shade. High fertility encourages rhizomes to rot and fewer blooms. Fertilize lightly this fall for beds that you dig and divide this summer.
If your summer annuals look like they are tired, fertilize them with half a pound (one cup) of 34-0-0 per 100 sq. ft. Watering is also important.
You can expect fall webworms soon if not already. We can expect two to three generations of this tree defoliator each year, depending on the weather. Female moths lay eggs on the underside of host trees in April. Eggs begin to hatch in June and sometimes as late as August (depending on weather conditions). Control is not absolutely necessary. It is more of an aesthetic problem. Sevin, bifenthrin, acephate, permethrin, Dipel, or Thuricide will control these caterpillars.
If you haven’t already done so, put your leftover garden seeds in a ziplock bag and drop them in the freezer. You can keep many garden seeds this way for several years including seeds you collect from flowers or vegetables.

For more information on any of the above topics, please feel free to contact the University of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service at 870-425-2335.

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may 2021 ozark green thumb e-newsletter

5/3/2021

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May 2021
Ozark Green Thumb
e-Newsletter

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may garden checklist

5/3/2021

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Remember to feed hummingbirds with 1-part sugar and 3 or 4 parts water. There is no need in using red food coloring. Replace sugar water mix at least once a week if it is not emptied sooner.
As early vegetables bolt, go ahead and harvest what you have, cutting off the seed stalk will not encourage new growth. Broccoli heads may not be as large, but harvest while they are full and closed. Yellow blooms mean the quality is declining.

To ensure that you will have the largest onions in the neighborhood, fertilize weekly using a liquid nitrogen fertilizer or 34-0-0 fertilizer (1/3 lb. per 100 ft.). Onions need a constant level of nitrogen to perform their best.
Watch for caterpillars on cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and ornamentals and take control measures early by using Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel, Javelin and other trade names). Larger, more mature caterpillars are harder to control. You may have to use Sevin.
Warm season vegetables – tomatoes, pepper, squash, okra and corn can be planted. As you plant, broadcast a complete fertilizer in the soil, then repeat in about 6 weeks. Mulch and water as needed. Watch for insects, diseases, and weeds.
To prevent early blight on tomatoes, start spraying with chlorothalonil or mancozeb when first bloom clusters are noticed. This disease-causing fungus can stay in the soil for several years. Mulching will help some, which prevents the splashing of soil onto the lower leaves. Planting tomatoes in a new spot will help. However, contaminating your new garden site can happen quickly. This disease is transferred to a new garden by wind-blown spores, contaminated tools and shoes, buying diseased plants, or chewing insects.
Keep a clean garden. Mulch around plants with 3-4 inches of mulch to help maintain moisture and discourage weeds. Organic mulches also break down slowly, releasing nutrients into the soil. Mulch also cuts down on soil borne diseases such as tomato blight.

Herb gardens are an easy way to have an ample supply of fresh herbs for cooking. Most nurseries carry herb plants. Many are perennials and some are evergreen and can be used in the landscape as well as to eat. Rosemary is a semi-shrub and thyme makes an attractive evergreen groundcover in full sun. Be careful with pesticides around herbs – remember you are going to eat them!
Prune spring flowering shrubs as soon as the flowers fade. If you prune in the fall or winter, you will remove next season’s flower buds.
Check azaleas for lace bugs. This small sucking insect prefers to feed on azaleas or pyracantha but can spill over onto any kind of adjacent plants. The leaves of infested plants are yellowed and stippled on top. Black deposits from the lace bugs are left on the underside of the leaves. To control, apply acephate, imidacloprid, bifenthrin, or permethrin according to label directions.
Fertilize warm-season lawns – zoysia and bermudagrass – as soon as they are totally greened up. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer. Most of the weeds that have been blooming are winter weeds and should be on their way out. Start watching for summer weeds – crabgrass and nutgrass – and catch them as they emerge and try to stop their spread.
Spring flowering bulb foliage needs to remain as long as possible (minimum of 6-8 weeks after blooming). Foliage can be removed at first signs of yellowing. As foliage begins to yellow, it’s a good time to dig and divide clumps of overcrowded or unwanted bulbs while foliage is still visible.

Dogwood, flowering plum, ornamental cherry, crabapple, and related plants are prone to borers. Borers usually enter the trunks of these trees at soil line and can cause death in one or two seasons. A preventative control for borers is an application of insecticide applied to the trunk of trees in early May and repeated at six-week intervals 2-3 times. Permethrin or bifenthrin work well in protecting these valuable ornamental specimen trees. Also, applying a 2-3” mulch around these ornamentals helps prevent damage to the trunk from lawnmowers and string line trimmers which helps prevent borers too.
Houseplants can safely be moved outside if you have not already done so. Expose plants to sunlight gradually.
When pansies and violas start to fade, replace them with summer annuals for summer color. There are lots of excellent annuals from which to choose.

For more information on gardening, contact the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Baxter County Extension office at 870-425-2335.

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MASTER GARDENER MEMBERSHIP ONLY

WHEN: May 20, 2021

WHERE: Clysta-Willett Pavillion

TIME: NOON (setup 11:30 am)

WHAT: Bring plants to swap with other Master Gardeners

QUESTIONS: Contact Susan Chamberlain

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help wanted

5/3/2021

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The following positions are available.

Plant Sale - contact Valerie or Mary

Pre-Clean Tuesday, May 11th, 1 pm
Set Up - Friday, May 14th, 8 am
Sale Day - Saturday, May 15th, 8 am

Board Positions - contact Susan Chamberlain

Board Treasurer
Board Secretary

Project Site Positions - contact Susan Chamberlain

Library Pollinator Project Site Chairperson(s)
Bull Shoals/White River Project Site Chairperson(s)

Event Positions - contact Susan Chamberlain

Baxter County Fair Horticulture Chairperson(s)

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gardening from the ground up: the good earth

5/3/2021

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Are you new to gardening? Learn everything you need to know about gardening in Arkansas from our Extension Agents Cory Tyler, Brad Runsick, and Cody Stroud.

In episode 2, we’re going to work through how to read your soil test report, talk about different soil amendments, such as lime and fertilizer, and discuss how and when to apply.

This series is ongoing. Go here to see the videos completed thus far:

Gardening from the Ground Up!

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help wanted

june garden checklist

may 2021 ozark green thumb e-newsletter

may garden checklist

plant swap

help wanted

gardening from the ground up: the good earth

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