You've Got Lice! Boxwood Psyllid Control

Dusty in appearance, underhanded in action, the boxwood psyllid, also known as jumping plant lice, starts out looking like some sort of powdery fungus (or lice on that dude sitting next to you on your morning commute). Fortunately, the damage it causes is mostly cosmetic, short-lived, and, as any second-grader with lice will tell you, primarily focused on social ostracism and exclusion from birthday parties.

Of course, finding this out before an insecticide was applied would have been good, but my spraying should at least prevent these guys from laying next year's generation of super psyllids in my boxwoods.

What You Need to Know
1) Eggs hatch at around 80 growing degree days and adults appear at around 300.
2) They cause the leaves to cup, which is mostly an aesthetic issue.
3) No treatment is necessary as they'll soon die off but not before laying next year's eggs in the leaves.
4) If you do spray, they appear to be relatively easy to conquer with permethrin. However, permethrin can cause all sorts of nasty stuff, so maybe it'd be better to to accept your new identity as the kid with jumping plant lice.

Sources: University of Massachusetts Extension

Update: Lost Hosta Makes It

Planted three weeks ago, this puppy was in sorry shape. It quickly turned the corner and today it suavely conceals its lowly origins.

Red Sails & Romaine Lettuce, Day 39

Both types of lettuce are growing quite well and practically trouble free, enough so to allow us the first harvest of the red sails. Kind of tasted like chicken.

(l to r: harvest, romaine, red sails lettuce)

Weekly Update: Perennial Border Planted (GDD 303)

May 21 - Boxwood psyllids emerge; rudbeckia fulgida "goldsturm," echinacea purpurea "magnus," paeonia lactiflora "Bowl of Beauty," and phlox paniculata "Orange Perfection" planted in perennial border. Astilbes and spirea relocated within the border while a rhododendron was shipped to the backyard. Soaker hose and lots of mulch laid down.
May 22 - Chives in full swing bloom.

picture: peony bud

Weekly Update: Heavy Rains Slow Things Down (GDD 207)

5/16 - Chives begin bloom
5/18 - 5/20 - Heavy rains bring vegetable garden to near standstill.
5/20 - Tulips lose flowers

Weekly Update (GDD 175)

5/7 - Temperatures fall to 32.0 F. The last freeze of the season?
5/11 - Azalea in full bloom
5/12 - Lilac in full bloom
5/13 - Rhododendron "Cunningham White" in full bloom

Lilac

Lilac, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Had no idea this shrub was anything special until it started to set flower buds a few weeks ago.

Lost Hosta; Will It Survive?

Wandering the "wooded" part of the yard, I found another hosta that had been abandoned last fall. Resting upside down for the entire winter, above ground no less, the shoots had started to bend back toward the roots, which were now on top. Snatched from certain death or, at least, complete lack of attention, it was quickly planted on the shady side of the garage. Anyone think it'll make it?

fothergilla gardenii (Witch Alder)

fothergilla gardenii, originally uploaded by tpl108.

The latest addition to the grange. This is one hep looking shurb. (That's right. I wrote shurb.)

More info: FDEP and Paghat

View from the Garden Bed

Transplanting and Propagating Geraniums

What most people call a geranium is really pelargonium. (Yo' momma so stupid she calls pelargonium . . . wait for it . . . geranium! Oh, snap! There it is.) Cruel taunts aside, the plant's fairly easy to keep alive through the winter.

Nicked two cuttings last October, put one in water and the other in potting soil, kept them near a window for the past six or seven months and here are the results. The geranium pelargonium grown in potting soil became gigantic, even put out some flowers. The one grown in water doesn't look so hot, but it still deserves a spot - albeit a less vaunted one - on my driveway. (It's the smaller one in the dark green container. Interestingly, the imitation faux terracotta plant is the remnants of last year's herb container. Only the creeping thyme survived the winter outside. )

Source: University of Nebraska

Weekly Update: Beans Sprout (GDD 93)

5/1 - Grass seeds emerge, taking 10 days to germinate.
5/2 - Pole beans sprout, taking 11 days to germinate.
5/3 - "What a day for a mow!"
5/5 - All tulips in bloom.
5/6 - Soil temperature = 60F.

Weekly Update: Critters Attack Garden (71 GDD)

4/22 - Critters began digging up seeds, eating lettuce and chard.
4/28 - First tulip blooms; bibb lettuce transplanted; solitary spinach test-seedling planted; soil temp = 52
4/29 - First pea and beet sprouts emerge.

Boston in Bloom #2

Commonwealth Avenue, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Dividing Hostas

Hastily planted early last fall, this hosta (pictured is 1/4 of the original plant) was dug up and divided into quarters to fill out a newly created garden bed behind the garage that receives only a very few hours of direct sunlight.

Dividing hostas is very easy and seemingly hard to mess up. Spring appears to be the best time, although I've read that it'll handle division just about anytime of the year, maybe with the exception of winter. Dig up a clump and cut it in half or quarters with a spade so that the final clump has five or six shoots. Return them to the soil and before long they'll root and spread their leafy wings once again.

Hostas' tolerance for neglect, unlike baby chicks, is astounding. While walking through a somewhat wooded section of yard, I came across an old hosta that had been tossed in the woods last fall. Despite sitting out all winter on top of a pile of leaves, the plant was actually sending up shoots. It's since been planted in a far corner of the yard and we'll see how it does.

Sources: Bob's Hostas, HGTV, Royal Hort. Soc'y, Ohio State

Boston in Bloom

Commonwealth Avenue, originally uploaded by tpl108.

This makes New England winters bearable.

rhododendron mucronulatem "cornell pink"

rhododendron mucronulatem "cornell pink", originally uploaded by tpl108.

A deciduous azalea-like rhododendron, it's incredibly hardy, tolerates full-sun to light shade, and puts out rich pink blossoms in the spring and has rusty colored leaves in the fall. This plant anchors the right bank of a newly planted bed behind the garage, which had previously been a dazzling collection of the great weeds and noxious plants of North America.

Sources: U of Minnesota, U Mass., U. Conn

Weekly Update; Hot Weather Signals End of 49-Days of March (GDD 37)

Daffodills, originally uploaded by tpl108.

April 15-19 -- Cold and rainy
April 19 -- Nor'easter finally departs. Soil temp = 44 F.
April 20 -- First peony shoot emerges
April 21 -- Daffodils bloom; vegetable garden started; lawn fertilized and patched; soil temp = 58 F
April 22 -- Forsythia flowers open

With Much Fanfare, the Vegetable Garden is Started

After weeks of abnormal cold weather, abundant sunshine and summer-like heat warmed the vegetable bed considerably in just a few days, raising the temperature t0 57 degrees at a depth of six inches. With temperatures rising, it was time to get some cooler crop vegetables in the ground.

Sown: 4' of peas, 4' of pole beans, and beets
Transplanted: romaine, red sails lettuce, "Bright Lights" swiss chard. (the UBC Botanical Garden has an amazing photo of Bright Lights.)

Filling Raised Garden Bed with Dirt

An 8'x4'x1' bed holds (get ready for some serious math) 32 cubic feet of soil, laundry, or stray cats. That's enough dirt to seriously strain the shocks of an aging station wagon, but not quite enough to make it worth renting a truck and visiting the dirtmonger. Perched high atop the horns of a dilemma, the problem was resolved when a recent price war between Lowes and Home Depot ushered in sale prices on Miracle Grow Garden Soil, 2 cubic feet for about 6 and half dollars. At that price, it made sense to buy about 14 bags of soil and 200 pounds of composted cow manure, which, surprisingly, isn't exactly dirt cheap. Along with a hefty amount of sphagnum peat moss, it took 12 bags of soil and 160 pounds of composted cow manure to fill the bed within an inch of the top.

Positioned on the margin of a fairly wooded section of yard, the bed was lined with some landscape fabric. It's hoped this will keep weeds and roots from growing into the bed -- at least for a little while.