The hard work in our gardens is starting to pay off as we start to reap the rewards from this spring. There are folks who have powdery mildew showing up in their gardens (see more information on this below) and because of the wet start to our summer, there are many who have had problems with getting their seeds started and going this year. I have a couple of rows of potatoes that are pretty thin while the rest of the potato patch is doing quite well. The perennial flower gardens love this kind of weather and it is easier on the gardener working in the garden too. There is still time to replant some of those spring vegetables that didn’t make it. You will find that some of them such as spinach and lettuce will “bolt” rather quickly, so your greens from your garden may not last as long as you wished they would. You can also plant your greens again for a fall harvest. The best time to plan on this is the end of August or first part of September.

Powdery mildew is a common problem in cooler, wet weather. Unfortunately, once it gets hot and quits raining (as it seems it always does in our part of the country), the powdery mildew remains behind. You will find that many times some of the plants already are infected with it as they start to grow in the spring. I usually plan on one particular plant in my garden, a peony, to have this problem, so I have to act proactively in order to keep the plant from suffering from powdery mildew. It makes the leaves look silver in color or dusted with powder. As these things tend to go, it has found a way to survive our harsh winter weather by colonizing “young plant tissue” while they are dormant, according to Michelle Grabowski of the U of M. Generally speaking, powdery mildew will stress the plant and cause it to look less than desirable to the home owner. It may also make the plant become so stressed, such as my peony, that the plant will not flower as well as you would typically expect it to do so. There is more information on the following webpage for you to consider. http://blog-yard-garden-news.extension.umn.edu/2017/05/powdery-mildew-covered-shoots.html