Hillside Garden Center

Nearly everyone that grew tomatoes locally was affected by the disease Late Blight. Will it be a problem again in 2010? To answer, that we should look at the cause of the widespread problem of 2009. There are two issues that have to be looked at as causes. First of all, the continual cool and damp weather with southerly winds caused a quick and thorough spread of the disease spores. Secondly, infected plants were found at the box stores throughout the northeast in late May that quickly spread to infect healthy plants, even on the same shelf.

Although fairly common, Late Blight gets its name from the fact that it usually occurs so late in the season that it does not cause serious problems. The infectious material being brought in early and the 'perfect storm' of weather conditions created the tragedy.

If weather conditions are right, with reasonably dry stretches between rains and people demand locally grown plants that are unlikely to be infected we should not see the serious problem of 2009.

If you suspect Late Blight on your tomatoes this year, get a quick diagnosis of the problem before panicking. There are numerous other tomato diseases that can be mistaken for Late Blight that are not as serious. Google 'tomato diseases' and find one of the university websites that provide great pictures to help.

Currently, there are no available tomato varieties that are resistant to late blight. Many of the tomato varieties listed as 'disease resistant' are resistant to early blight, wilt diseases or virus diseases. If you indeed find late blight, you should remove and dispose of the plants as soon as possible, but do not compost. If caught early, use of the fungicide chlorothalonil may be effective if sprayed every 5-7 days. For organic growers, a copper fungicide has limited effectiveness. The disease does not survive the winter cold in our area and is not spread from tomato seeds.

One lesson learned in 2009: If you collect your own heirloom seeds to use the following year, always save a few of your seeds for the following year. If your crop is a total loss as in 2009, you haven't lost a variety that had been passed down for generations.

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To most people, heirloom varieties are those 'old-fashioned' varieties that have been saved and passed on for years or generations. Heirloom varieties as a rule are non-hybrid open-pollinated  plants. What that means is that when planting the seed to open-pollinated plants the offspring will be for the most part the same as the parent.

Many Heirloom tomatoes have been passed down for many generations having originated in the family lines country of origin. Many of these can be found in most any community and probably are not named.  Some Heirloom's may have originated as a hybrid either by one of the larger seed companies (as in Burpee's Big Boy) or by a backyard hobbyist. After going through years of open pollination they become 'dehybridized' or come true to seed. Some come about from accidental crosses or by mutation.

One internet source lists over 600 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and with names like Box Car Willie, Black Krim, Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple and Kelloggs Breakfast they sound fascinating. They can be early, late, paste, beefsteak, cherry, pear, red, yellow, black and striped.

Try heirlooms for their unique shapes and colors, or some great tomato taste. Many heirlooms are not as disease resistant as some of today's hybrids. It is best to try one or several plants and not plant a whole garden to one variety.

'Greenwashing' according to the Oxford Dictionary, is defined as "disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. These days when buzzwords used are 'green' and 'sustainability' there can be a lot of confusion out there. Many companies are using these words freely to put forth a positive image or to sell their product. It's very much like the way people were using the word 'organic' to sell their products before the feds jumped in and put down some parameters for the claim. I do get a laugh at the way the TV divas on HGTV use 'organic' to define a fashion look or decorated room.  

Just because a company puts up a new sign with a green background or starts sending out electronic files instead of mailing paper doesn't immediately make them 'green'. It's Okay to be skeptical about product claims and company claims. Is that dish detergent more 'green' or any safer for the environment just because there is no coloring in it? Is it worth paying more?

For more information check out:   sourcewatch.org  or greenwashingindex.com

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2009 by most peoples account was not a great year for vegetable gardening. If you judge your gardens success by your tomato, pepper and eggplant harvested you were dissappointed. With the Late Blight disease deccimating our tomato crop and not enough heat and sunlight to turn the peppers red it was frustrating to say the least. More on the Late Blight later. There is not a lot we can do about the weather conditions other than planting crops that are more adapted to current conditions. That is where my gardening successes came in.
By mid-August I had pulled out all of my tomato plants and replanted the area to a new crop of green beans, zuccini, spinach, lettuce and swiss chard. I really didn't think that I had enough time for another crop of beans and zuccini and I was right, barely! Another week or so and I would of had it. The spinach, lettuce and chard were great! I even left the gate open eventually to let the deer finish off the chard.
Lettuce has such a short season that it is advisable to plant successive crops a few weeks apart during the season to ensure a steady supply. With the warm sunny weather lettuce will 'bolt' trying to go to seed and get milky and bitter. This past summer I was still picking from my first crop when the third crop was about ready!
Fall was nice enabling me to get a small crop of garlic planted. Maybe an early crop of young garlic shoots for an omlet? Comments: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

                                             Sugar Oak or White Maple?
I am a real fan of the White Oak tree (Quercus alba). It is very slow growing but quite stately when mature. The white oak is an alternate year bearer, meaning that it produces its acorns every other year. It may produce a light crop during the odd year. To wildlife, particularly deer, turkey and squirrels these are candy. The acorns that escape the onslaught of feeders or the weevil that often bores into it will send out their taproot in the fall shortly after dropping and sending out its first leaves the next spring.

Another feature of the White Oak is its tendency to hold its leaves well into the winter after most other tree's leaves have become a forest carpet. This is great for me, for this is a time of year that I do some forest management or otherwise improve my property to my liking (which, by chance, the wildlife like also). I can quickly zero in on the white oaks and cut away the other trees, mostly red maple and ash, to give them more room to grow. Its kind of like weeding a garden on a large scale.

Now the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) is a stately tree in its own right lining old country roads and surrounding old farm homes. It is the tree that produces the sweet sap that we get our Maple syrup from and gives the hillsides a yellow to orange fall color. Once the leaves turn in the fall they drop to the ground by early November and leave a gray skeleton.

When I walk down the road near my home in mid winter I pass a particular Sugar Maple that thinks it's a White Oak. In mid-January it still has 50-60% of its leaves clinging to its branches. The first time I saw this happening to this tree (I've been walking this road for 18 years) I figured the tree had gotten hit by an early freeze or something else had killed it. However, every year the same thing happens and the tree continues to thrive. So as I walk by this tree in mid winter, I affectionately think of it as a White Maple, or is that a Sugar Oak?
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Mulching - How much, what kind, when

Mulching is a task that almost all gardeners do or should do. When to mulch, how much mulch to use, what kind of mulch to use, does mulch control weeds or can I do it wrong, are all questions that are or should be asked.

So much is done wrong or unnecessarily when mulching so I will address that first. First of all, regardless of the type of mulch used, never pile it up around a tree or shrub trunk or stems. This can permanently damage a plant. Next, think about color and how it should be used. We put plants in to be seen. They are used as focal points or accents. Do you really want to use red mulch? Do you want people to look at your mulch or at the plants and their use to enhance the visual appeal of your home? The natural colors of brown or even black work much better.

The next real problem is that people use WAY too much. If you are using a fine textured product with small particles like double shredded bark, only a thin layer is necessary to cover the old. This type of mulch decays rather quickly and produces a layer of compost on top of the ground. If you are growing a groundcover that you want to cover the area, that is great for it to spread through. If not you are producing a perfect medium for weeds to grow in. When too much is put down annually, it builds up. If you are putting it around shallow rooted plants like azaleas and rhododendrons, these plants can get stressed by actually having to put out new roots up into the new layer of mulch instead of putting its energy into the top and flower production. A thick layer of mulch can actually hold too much water in a wet year or keep the ground dry by absorbing all of the available moisture in a dry year. I have seen many instances where people are trying to water their plants only to have it not penetrate the mulch layer into the ground where the roots are.

Mulching to Control Weeds

To understand the issue of mulches controlling weeds, let’s first get an understanding of the weeds themselves. Annual weeds are those that germinate, grow to maturity and produce seed and die in the same year. Most annual weeds are prolific producers of seed. Lambsquarters, pigweed, ragweed and crabgrass and its allies are all annual weeds. Most annual weed seeds need light to germinate as well as warm soil. If weed seeds are dispersed in the fall and you mulch the next spring most will be suppressed. However, in the process of pulling one weed, many more dormant seeds are exposed and will be ready to grow.  After a long season, it’s easy to let a few of these annual weeds get ahead of you, so cleanliness will vastly reduce the potential for weed growth.

Perennial weeds are those that produce roots that survive the winter, live many years and can grow and spread to sizable plants. Most perennial weeds will spread from underground roots as well as by seed. Examples are quackgrass, goldenrod, sheep sorrel and clover. When died back to the ground over the winter and covered by mulch in the spring, they will grow back up through the mulch readily. If you have perennial weeds it is best to grub out or use a systemic weed control product prior to mulching or after they come up.

Large Trees

A newsletter came in the mail the other day that had a tidbit on trees that said “The tallest redwood is believed to be 369 feet tall and has a circumference of 26 feet”.  That certainly is a tall tree that we will never come close to around here. However, a circumference of 26’ equates to a diameter of just over 4’.

I have seen oak trees in this area pushing the 4’+ diameter range with the white oaks of that size probably  being over 300 years old. A red oak in Jenksville State Forest near Newark Valley is at least that size but unfortunately in poor health. Certainly a few of the Silver Maples in the City of Binghamton will top 4’ but are fast growing and are not all that old.

Height, diameter and age in trees do not have a direct relationship. Thought to be the oldest trees in the world, the Bristlecone Pines of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains are arguably between 4,500 to over 7,000 years old. These are short,  gnarly, bonsai looking specimens less than 50’ tall. The Giant Sequoias of the west certainly take the title for the largest diameter with the largest living specimen being over 30’ in diameter, estimated to be ‘only’ 2000 years old. The tallest trees are not the Giant Sequoias but the California Redwood.

Conditions for growing tall trees are missing in our area. Our soils are too shallow, growing season too short and consistent moisture levels during the growing season unreliable.

Link to dec tall tree site http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/5248.html