Sauk County Gardener: All a buzz in the garden

“The hum of the bees is the voice of the garden.” ~Elizabeth Lawrence

June has arrived and it has been hot! I am scrambling to get the last of my plants in the ground, but the heat has made it just about intolerable to be out there very long. I have been watering everything I recently planted every day and it usually takes more than an hour. I usually enjoy watering but not when I still have plants to get in the ground and other garden maintenance that I would like to work on. I shouldn’t complain – I’ve gotten a chance to really enjoy seeing my many bearded irises and the numerous pollinators that are visiting my yard. I have seen lots of yellow swallowtail butterflies, several monarchs, hummingbirds, and many different bees. The pollinators love my flowering ninebark, late blooming lilacs, and even the wild blackcaps. I find it interesting that the pollinators don’t seem to like my irises or peonies, including my yellow bartzilla peony. However, soon the bees will be flocking to the basswood trees in our yard and the neighborhood when the trees start to bloom. The basswood in our yard just buzzes when it is in full bloom.

If this heat continues, take care to keep up with your watering. Check your containers and hanging plants as they will most likely need to be watered daily. When you miss one and notice that it is particularly wilty, place it a container of water to soak for a few hours. I missed one of my hanging baskets yesterday so now it is soaking in a bucket of water for a few hours. In my new cutting garden, I now have 49 new dahlias that have sprouted. I had 50, but something dug one up and ate it. If you want larger dahlia blooms, it is recommended to prune all but one shoot per clump. They also do best if you stake them. I have stakes by each one of mine and will stake them up as they grow. Once your delphinium are done blooming, you can cut them back. Keep an eye on your chrysanthemums and pinch off any early bloomers through the end of this week to encourage bushiness. And of course, watch for those pesky Japanese beetle scouts and deal with them promptly. They should start showing up around the end of the month, but I am sure they don’t use a calendar to decide when they are going to visit. If the heat continues, they may show up a little earlier than expected.

In the vegetable garden, scout for cabbageworms and cabbage loppers on your cabbage and on your cauliflower and broccoli. If you see the white moths, you know they are present. Use floating row covers to prevent the moths from laying eggs on the plants. If you discover the worm, you can hand pick them and destroy them. Another option is Bacillius thuringiensis (Bt), a non-toxic, biological insecticide that is specifically targeted toward worms and caterpillars. Make sure your tomatoes and peppers are getting plenty of water to help prevent blossom end rot; mulching also helps to retain moisture and keep leaves off the soil. Prune any leaves on your tomatoes that are touching the soil or are diseased to help control any leaf blight problems. Thin your carrots, beets, and other root crops to their correct spacing or you’ll end up with all tops and no bottoms. I have a hard time thinning my plants so in the past I always asked my husband to do. Those little plants worked so hard to grow, so pulling them seems like a crime. This year I got smart though. I asked my husband to help me make several dibbler tools. My dibblers are one-foot by one-foot square pieces of wood with a handle on one side and wood dowels glued on the other side spaced apart based on common plant spacings. When I press the appropriate dibbler into the soil, I have evenly spaced holes to plant my seeds. One is based on three-inch spacing, another on four-inch spacing, and the last one on six-inch spacing. If I only plant in the holes that have been created, I don’t have to thin as much. I also let the kids use them when I went to help plant the Al Behrman Elementary School garden and Tower Rock Elementary School gardens. It works great as they can easily see where to place their seeds and do not put all them in one place. Check your strawberry plants, as they will start producing if they haven’t already. You might want use netting to keep the birds from eating the strawberries before you get them. Finally, stop harvesting your asparagus and allow the stalks to grow so they will be productive the following year. Fertilize your asparagus bed after the last harvest with a nitrogen fertilizer that will allow you to apply .10 pounds of nitrogen per 100 square feet. Until next week, keep cool, stay hydrated and get out in your garden and enjoy the flowers and pollinators. That is what I’ll be doing.

Jeannie Manis is a Wisconsin-certified Sauk County Master Gardener volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to tim.ripp@saukcountywi.gov or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250.