For some, their gardens are already up and for others, it is a work in progress. The cooler temperatures and rainy weather have slowed down the growth of our gardens but have increased the diseases and insects that have started to show up in our gardens. So, what should a gardener do?

I would recommend keeping tabs on a really great webpage called “What wrong with my plant?” which is a website that is excellent for helping to figure out problems with most of the vegetables, flowers, shrubs, turf and trees that you may have growing in your garden.

The webpage is made available to us to use from the U of M Extension office at https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/. The site is very helpful in helping us find out answers to disease problems and insect problems including pictures of what is happening on those particular plants.

This information will help you to determine if you have an insect problem or a disease problem. It could even be a normal source of activity by the plant, which may look like it has a disease or an insect problem.

It is important to have a basic understanding about the very nature of your plants in your yard or on your property. A good example is our ash trees. At this time of the year, it is common for ash trees to start dropping their leaves and maybe loose some smaller branches from their canopy. This does not mean that your ash tree has Emerald Ash Borer. It is just what ash trees do. You may also see the leaves of your ash tree have a brown edge or maybe slightly curling up. This is from a fungal disease called ash anthracnose. If you have a large, full-grown ash tree, it will not harm the tree. If you have a newly planted ash tree, it could cause the tree to slow its growth. Remember, we do not recommend planting ash trees anymore because of the Emerald Ash Borer.

At this time, Emerald Ash Borer is as close as Redwood County. Once it arrives here, we cannot move any wood from ash trees around. This is something to keep in mind if you are out camping this summer. If you purchase wood to use at a campground and you don’t use it all, it is best to leave it behind and let the next camper use it. It doesn’t take much to spread this insect.

Hotter temperatures will surely return and probably soon. It is important to make sure to water your garden or lawn thoroughly which will help drive the root systems down into the soil. Watering lightly does not help the plants. Mulching is also important to help retain the moisture in the soil and it helps to keep the weeds down. If you have a bagging lawn mower and do not treat your lawn with chemicals for weeds, you can use grass clippings for mulch! If you are treating your lawn with chemicals for weed control, do not use these lawn clippings because the chemicals will leach out of the grass clippings and cause your plants to either become stunted or may even kill them.

For more information, please email me at dejaegherefarm@gmail.com