If you planted your garlic in the fall it is probably about harvest time for you. Here are 5 easy steps for a successful harvest:
Carefully dig out the garlic bulbs!
Step #1 Harvest at the right time. Look for the garlic tops to start turning yellow. When they start to fall over it is time to harvest. Don’t wait until the tops are totally dry.
Step #2 Discontinue watering a week or so before harvesting to give the garlic bulbs a chance to dry out.
Step #3 Don’t pull the bulbs out by the tops (leaves) but gently dig them out using a garden fork. Be very careful not to puncture the bulbs.
After the garlic has dried cut off the roots and leaves.
Step #4 Brush off the soil and let them air dry in a shady, dry spot for a couple of
weeks. Many gardeners use the leaves to hang the garlic up to dry. Stay away from humidity. Hard to do in a Georgia summer, I know.
Step #5 Once the bulbs are dry remove the leaves and trim off any roots. Brush off any dirt, keeping the wrappers in tact.
Bonus Step Start planning those delicious garlic dinner dishes!
For more information on growing, harvesting, and storing garlic see UGA’s Garlic Production for the Gardener. Your UGA Extension agent also has answers to all of your vegetable gardening questions.
The first thing you notice when you enter the gate of the Reconnecting Our Roots garden is the peace. Even though it is just a street or two off the Marietta Square, it is quiet. There are raised beds for vegetables, an outdoor classroom, a sensory garden, and plenty of tables for seating. For a brief video walking tour of the garden visit Reconnecting Our Roots Garden Tour.
The goal of this garden is unique. The garden was made to offer a space for youth and families under court supervision. Moms have an opportunity to visit with children who are no longer in their custody. As Cobb County Extension Master Gardener Coordinator Renae Lemon says, “it is a happy place where Moms and children can connect with dignity.” Probation officers can meet with the youth under their supervision here as well.
Benefits of the Reconnecting Our Roots Garden
The vegetable garden part of this space is equally important. Community members and program participants can learn how to grow good, nutritious food. UGA Master Gardeners will lead the way in education here. Also, the outdoor classroom can be used for cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes. Food harvested here will go to the families that use the garden as well as other families in need.
Renae Lemon and Debbie Ponder are champions for this garden.
Debbie Ponder of Reconnecting Families has put a lot of work into getting this garden started with the supportive Cobb County community. The property is on two city parcels owned by Zion Baptist Church and the church is partnering with Reconnecting Families and Cobb County Extension. With the full support of Cobb County Juvenile Court Judge Juanita Stedman, the garden has attracted many supporters. The Rotary Club of Marietta, Food Well Alliance, Cobb County Impact, the Cobb EMC Foundation, BB&T, WellCare and Leadership Cobb have invested in this garden and are committed to seeing it succeed. This garden will change families!
Soil test showed the pH was a bit high so sulfur will be added to the soil before the blueberries go in.
Cobb Extension Agent Neil Tarver says of the garden, “Some obvious benefits gained from Reconnecting Our Roots Community Garden is using gardening to serve the clients of Reconnecting Families and supplying them with wholesome locally grown food. But by developing two previously barren lots they’re helping to beautify and stabilize an underdeveloped part of Marietta as well.”
Over the summer the gardeners will add blueberries and also an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant walkway with ADA compliant garden beds. On Saturday, June 20th the garden will host a pollinator event. Interested people can come and bring a pollinator plant which will be planted in the garden. For more information about this event or the garden contact Renae Lemon at Renae.Lemon@cobbcounty.org. This garden is off to a huge start!
Use tweezers to remove ticks. Pinch the tick close to the mouthparts to remove as much as possible. If the tick head is left behind, don’t worry. Having a tick attach itself to your skin is like having a thorn. Your body will expel it over time. Image credit: Nancy Hinkle.
Ticks are in every part of Georgia. The most common ticks in Georgia are lone star ticks, carriers of uncommon diseases called “ehrlichiosis.” However, the American dog tick is also present in the state, and it is known to carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever—a flu-like illness that can cause complications for young children and those with suppressed immune systems.
The best course of action to prevent disease is to avoid tick bites altogether, said Nancy Hinkle, a UGA Extension veterinary entomologist.
She advocates:
Wear long pants tucked into your socks or boots when walking or working in heavy brush. “It does look dorky, but it’s the most effective way to protect yourself from ticks,” she said. “The ticks have to crawl all the way up your boot and up your pants leg before they get to you, and that’s more of a chance for them to fall off or for you to find them before they attach.”
Bug repellents that contain DEET to repel mosquitoes will work somewhat, but they are far from bulletproof.
Repellents containing the pyrethroid, permethrin, work best to repel ticks, Hinkle said. The key is to apply it to clothes early and to let it dry completely before an outing. The permethrin will stay on clothes through multiple washes, but the solvent can also deteriorate plastic and some synthetic fibers.
If you find that you’re picking up ticks in a yard, it may be time to mow the grass and trim the hedges. Keeping things tidy will help knock down tick populations or at least convince them to move.
Even if you’re diligent with your permethrin and you tuck your pant legs all the way into your boots, it’s important to check yourself for ticks when you get home.
For parents, Hinkle recommends a once-a-day tick check for kids if they’ve been playing in the woods or near the woods. If you find a tick within 24 hours of it attaching itself, there is little chance of it transmitting anything that could hurt you, Hinkle said.
That being said, sometimes they are tricky to remove. The best method is use tweezers or your fingers to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull. Be careful not to squeeze the body of the tick during the process because that can empty the tick’s stomach contents into your bloodstream, Hinkle said.
“Fortunately the old, urban myth about not removing the mouthparts is meaningless,” Hinkle said. “If portions of the mouthparts are left behind, the body will eventually work them out—just as when we get a thorn or splinter under our skin.”
Tick bites will cause an itchy, sometimes-raised spot to appear after the tick is removed. These can be uncomfortable, Hinkle said, but that’s normal.
“The (lone star tick) is the most common tick in Georgia, and it is also the tick that makes us itch the most,” she said. “When I get a lone star tick attached to me, I’ll itch for four or five weeks, with a pruritic, indurated lesion (an itchy, hard sore) at the bite site.” “Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about the itch, other than anti-itch creams; it’s our immune system’s way of removing the tick’s salivary secretions over time.”
The time to watch for symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever is about a week to two weeks after exposure to the tick. If you’ve been exposed to a tick and experience body aches or headaches, a fever, fatigue or have a spotty rash on your hands or feet, you should visit the doctor and tell them about your tick bite. The disease can be cured with antibiotics, but left untreated, it can be dangerous, especially for children under 5 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For more information on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, visit www.cdc.gov/rmsf. For more information about preventing ticks, see UGA Extension Circular “Protect Yourself From Ticks.”
CT Scanning Shows how Fire Ants Interlock to Form Floating Rafts – Entomology Today, June 12, 2014
Flooding has been a problem in central Texas and occasionally in parts of Georgia. Floods impact fire ants, but perhaps not like we would wish or think!
Red imported fire ants live in the soil. What happens to them when we have flooding? Many people may think that they will drown in the flood water. Unfortunately this isn’t true.
Floating Fire Ants
When fire ant colonies are flooded, the ants form living rafts by clinging together. They float along the water surface until they hit dry ground, a tree, rock or other dry object. Once they come into contact with a dry area, they emerge from the flood waters and take shelter anywhere possible until they can re-create a colony in the soil. Living rafts of fire ants can take on different shapes from long ribbons to mats to a ball of ants.
Any floating mats of fire ants that are encountered should not be touched or disturbed. Do not touch them with sticks or other objects as the fire ants will quickly grab onto the object. If working in flooded areas, make sure to wear appropriate clothing. Long sleeves, pants and gloves will create more of a barrier against fire ants reaching skin where they will bite and sting. Be aware that fire ants could be hiding anywhere that was flooded. Wear gloves when picking up debris or other objects. You may want to spray insect repellent containing DEET on your shoes and pants.
If you encounter fire ants in debris, use a fast-acting contact pesticide labeled for ants, but make sure the products are not sprayed into water as they can be toxic to aquatic organisms. Fire ant baits should not be used after flooding because many of them are slow acting and colonies will be disorganized and not foraging for food.
Also be aware that fire ants may be showing up in areas that may have not had them previously or areas that were treated.
Gloomy scale, Melanaspis tenebricosa, is an armored scale that feeds on maples and other tree species. It becomes very abundant on red maples on streets and in landscapes and can cause branch dieback and tree death in some cases. It is not unusual to find trees with nearly 100% of their trunk covered in scale. Street trees are particularly prone to gloomy scale. Crawlers of this scale are active now and can be seen on bark and under scale covers. One of the reasons we have found this to be such a pest is that female gloomy scales produce about 3 times as many eggs when they live on relatively warm trees (like in a parking lot) than when they live on cooler trees (like in a shady yard). This amazing work is outlined in a recent paper by Adam Dale.
Control of this scale is complicated because crawlers emerge over 6-8 weeks so it is impossible to treat all the crawlers at once with horticultural oil or other contact insecticide. This is different than in other scales, such as euonymus scale, in which all crawlers are produced within a narrow window of 2 weeks or so. Adam Dale took a video of some gloomy scale crawlers so you can get an idea of how tiny and nondescript they are. This may also give you an idea of why scales are so vulnerable at this stage to the environment, predators, and insecticides like horticultural oil. Once they produce their thick waxy cover they are much less vulnerable to all these factors.
The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. With this initiative the UN hopes to raise appreciation of the importance of soil for human life, educate the public about the role soil plays in food security, and promote investment in sustainable soil management activities. Basically, the UN wants to raise awareness about the importance of soil.
Their website states “Soil is where food begins! It is estimated that 95% of our food is directly and indirectly produced on our soils. Therefore, food availability relies on soils. Healthy and good quality food can only be produced if our soils are healthy. A healthy living soil is a crucial ally to food security and nutrition.” As food growers we already know how important our soil is to the overall health of our plants. Their website lists the following reasons that soil is important:
Soils are the basis for the production of food, fibers, fuel and medicinal products.
Soils absorb, store, alter, purify and release water, both for plant growth and water supply.
Soils interact with the atmosphere through absorption and emission of gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour) and dust;
Soils make up the greatest pool of terrestrial organic carbon (over double the organic carbon stored in vegetation).
Soils regulate carbon, oxygen and plant nutrient cycles (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.)
Soil is the habitat of several animals and organisms such as bacteria and fungi and thus sustain biological activity, diversity and productivity.
Soil is the habitat for seed dispersion and dissemination of the gene pool.
Soils buffer, filter and moderate the hydrological cycle.
Soils are the platform for urban settlement and are used as materials for construction.
International Year of Soils: Free Workshops
In conjunction with the International Year of Soils there are events all over the world scheduled to
Healthy soil means more nutrition for the plants, less incidence of disease, and less water input needed.
Info taken from the publication Control of Common Pests of Landscape Plants by Tim Daly, Gwinnett County Cooperative Extension Agent and Beverly Sparks & Will Hudson, Extension Entomologists.
Bagworms construct and live inside a 1- to 2-inch long tough, tear-shaped portable silken case. These bags are the insect’s most easily seen and identifiable feature. Outside, the silken texture of the bag is somewhat concealed with layers of leaf, twig and bark fragments. The bag has an opening at the larger end that allows the worm to partially crawl out to make repairs to its bag and eat.
Bagworms attack broadleaf and coniferous trees and shrubs. Here are some control measures.
Follow proper watering, fertilizing and pruning practices.
Remove other stress factors from trees when possible.
Infested plant material cannot be treated and should be removed and disposed of.
Protect trees from infestation or reinfestation by using products containing bifenthrin or permethrin. Make first application in April and subsequent applications in late May, mid-July and late August.
Strawberries can be a welcome addition to the Georgia community or school garden. And, spring is the time to plant!
Traditionally in north Georgia strawberries are grown in a matted row system where initial plants are set two feet apart at spring planting. That summer the runners are allowed to fill in the rest of the bed. This set up is perfect for raised beds or bed plots.
Treat your strawberry bed as a perennial bed. You will need an area that is in full sun and contains well drained soil. Avoid planting where you have been growing peppers, tomatoes, or potatoes. These plants are susceptible to verticillium wilt and so are strawberries. The UGA publication Home Garden Strawberries is a great resource.
Varieties of Strawberries
Varieties recommended for early fruiting for north and middle Georgia are Earliglow, Sweet Charlie, and Delmarva. For south Georgia look for Chandler, Camarosa, and Sweet Charlie. Early season varieties are best for school gardens as you should get fruit before school lets out for the summer.
For mid-season fruiting look for Allstar. Purchase plants that appear to be disease-free from a reputable supplier. This can be a local store or a mail order supplier. You will probably have more varieties to choose from if you use a mail order supplier.
The placement of the plant crown is very important. Picture from Home Grown Strawberries by UGA.
Care of Strawberries
The most important part of planting strawberries is the placement of the crown. The top of the crown needs to be above the soil line. Otherwise, you will probably have rot. Set the plants two feet from the bed edge and from each other. Remember, runners will fill in. Remove flowers the first year to encourage more blossoms, and fruit, next year.
Weeds are the number one problem with strawberry plants. Mulch between plants and use hand pulling or hoeing to remove stubborn weeds. Strawberries need 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water a week.
Birds and rodents love strawberries as much as we do. Raised beds deter rodents. Some gardeners use netting. A problem with netting is birds and small animals getting caught in the net. Some gardeners report success with loosely hanging aluminum pie pans around the beds to deter birds. The best practice is to pick the fruit as soon as it is ripe, before other hungry eaters find it.
During the second spring, after you have picked all of your berries, get ready for next year. By this point runners have filled in and if you don’t thin the bed you will have too many plants for that area. You need to get rid of about two-thirds of the plants in order to have healthy plants for next year. Pot up the extras and have a fund raising plant sale!
As always your local UGA Extension agent is a great resource for you.
A common rose problem this year is injury caused by rose sawflies, also known as rose slugs.
These insects do not discriminate on the types of roses on which they feed. Even ‘Knock Out’ roses make a tasty meal for these critters. Home gardeners often ask why ‘Knock Out’ roses are affected if they are supposed to be problem-free. These roses are bred for resistance to certain diseases, like black spot, but are still damaged by a variety of rose-loving insects.
Sawfly larvae
Sawfly larvae look similar to the caterpillar stages of moths and butterflies, but have six or more pairs of prolegs behind the three pairs of true legs on their body. True caterpillars have fewer prolegs.
Caterpillars can also affect roses in the spring, but the damage they cause is slightly different. Caterpillars chew large holes in the leaves. Sawfly larvae chew a thin layer off the surface of leaves, leaving a skeletonized appearance.
If you hold up an affected leaf, you can see light shining through it. This unique “window pane” damage is a classic sign of sawflies. If you look carefully, you might even find a few, tiny, slug-like larvae on the leaves.
Sawfly damage
Some sawfly species can chew holes through the leaves as they get older, but usually you will see both types of damage on the same plant. Sawfly larvae eventually become small, non-stinging wasps that feed on other insects.
Begin scouting for sawflies in April or early May. Most sawfly species feed through June and will not return again until next spring. The larvae are often found on the undersides of the leaves, so inspect both sides of the leaves carefully. Keep in mind that the damage caused by sawflies is only to the leaves and mainly affects the appearance of the plant. Plants that are otherwise healthy can tolerate significant feeding damage and will usually put out new leaves by mid-summer.
Sawfly control
Sawflies are best controlled when they’re young. You can simply pick them off by hand. A forceful spray of water from a hose can also knock off sawflies. Once dislodged, they cannot climb back onto the plant.
Synthetic insecticides that control sawflies include acephate (Orthene), carbaryl (Sevin), malathion and various pyrethroids. Avoid using insecticidal dusts and spraying flowers, as many insecticides are highly toxic to bees and other pollinators.
Imidacloprid (Bayer Advanced), a systemic insecticide, can be applied to the soil around the roses in spring before feeding activity is noticed. However, once the damage is noticed, it is usually too late for a systemic product to be effective.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) products are effective against leaf-feeding caterpillars, but not on sawflies.
By being part of a Georgia community garden you are already doing quite a bit. Community gardens help the environment in several ways.
Pollinator Conservation
As a vegetable gardener you know how important those pollinators are to your food production. You may have a special pollinator garden area and you are very careful about the use of pesticides. This example teaches new gardeners and garden visitors to also protect pollinators. The result is not only a healthy pollinator population in your garden, but in the surrounding community as well.
Bee on Zinnia – a great pollinator plant!
Locally Grown Food
Growing food locally in your garden means that a bit less food is shipped across country saving gas, limiting air pollution, and lowering refrigeration energy.
NF Annex CG Composting System
Soil Health
Hopefully you have had a soil test. You know what nutrients to add to your soil so that you are not over-fertilizing. Overuse of fertilizers is a big pollution concern. Unused fertilizer can end up in streams and rivers. By meeting just your soil needs you are cutting down on pollution. Maybe you all have a compost system where you change garden waste into soil compost. Talk about recycling!
Environmental Awareness
Just by having a garden in your community you have raised environmental awareness. No doubt you have had people stopping by as you all are working to ask questions about the garden. And no doubt you told those people, with pride, about your sustainable growing practices. You probably gave them a tour telling them about the food crops you are growing. Those people may not become gardeners but they are now more aware of where food comes from and what it takes to grow it!
However you decide to celebrate Earth Day today take a moment and reflect on what you are already doing for our earth on a daily basis.
successful harvest:
