Talking Plants

Jillian Patrie | University of Minnesota Yard and Garden Extension

As summer steams forward, we find ourselves in the thick of yard and garden maintenance. It can be a lot of work, but provides many rewards. Frequent rain and rising temperatures are allowing gardens to explode with fruits, vegetables and flowers. With the good comes the challenging and many gardeners have been struggling with low pollination for fruits and vegetables, fungal diseases, rabbit damage and insect issues. Here are a few tips and tricks for garden and landscape issues that you may be battling this summer.
No fruit or vegetables forming on plants in your garden? A few things could be the cause and low numbers of pollinating insects can be a big problem. Many gardeners have reported the lack of pollinators in their gardens this year, and less pollinators can lead to low or no pollination. Though some garden plants can be minimally pollinated by wind, water and other means, insects play a large role, ensuring your garden has plenty of pollinator friendly flowers will help bring them in and they will do the rest!
Fungal diseases are plentiful this summer due to the frequent rain much of Minnesota has been receiving. Apple scab on crabapple and apple, along with anthracnose on shade trees has been the most visible disease this season. Leaf blight on tomato and potato may already be popping up in gardens, along with powdery mildew. Though many of these fungal diseases are more of a cosmetic issue, they can cause decline and production issues in vegetable gardens. If you know fungal diseases have been an issue in your garden before, spraying a fungicide before you see signs can prevent issues down the road. If the signs and symptoms are already there, treatment will not repair damage done. However, recording when these fungal diseases appeared will allow you to get a jump on the issue next year. Good pruning and water practices will also aid in the reduction of fungal issues in gardens and landscapes.
Rabbits are gardeners’ cute but annoying enemies, and they can take out a whole garden overnight. Fencing is the most dependable way to keep rabbits and deer out of garden spaces and using repellents can be effective too. When using animal repellents, make sure to rotate products with different ingredients, animals will test the boundaries, and when they find out there is no threat, they won’t be deterred by repellents.
Continue to fertilize garden plants and flowers all summer long. Frequent rains can quickly leach nutrients from the soil, and as plants get bigger, they use more nutrients. Weeds can steal vital water and nutrients from garden plants, removing weeds from gardens will ensure it remains healthy. Scouting for insects during harvest, watering, weeding or fertilizing is important to catch insect issues before they become a big problem. Be sure to identify the insect, weed or fungi before using pesticides, and make sure it is necessary to treat. There are many beneficial insects that frequent garden spaces and are doing the work for us.
For more information on gardening issues visit https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden. For local questions, contact Clay County Extension Educator Jill Patrie at 218-299-7338 or by email at patri350@umn.edu.