Wednesday, June 4, 2008

BLACK SPOT ON ROSES

Black Spot is caused by a fungus that remains in the soil from year to year. The only solution is to spray with a fungicide specifically formulated for this purpose. However, in order to prevent your roses from getting the disease, you must spray them before the signs of black spot appear. Once the characteristic yellow leaves with black spots appear, it is too late to get rid of it, and the leaves will eventually; fall off.

This disease is spread and carried to other roses by the leaves of infected roses coming in contact with soil and water that splashes onto them.

Infected leaves should be removed and not composted. If your roses have symptoms of the disease, spray them with fungicide for Black Spot to protect the canes and any new growth that may occur during the season.

For next year, I would recommend spraying roses with fungicide as soon as new growth appears, and then again during the growing season according to label directions. Black Spot will not kill your roses...it just defoliates them, and affects their ability to perform photosynthesis, which in turn affects their ability to produce flowers. Good luck...

Article By Melissa Medina
Gracefully Contributed To GrandBobsGarden on June 4, 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

How to Make Custom Garden Seed Markers Easy

INTRODUCTION

Probably the quickest Garden Seed Marker of all is to pound a stick in the ground next to your seeds, slip the seed package over the stick right side up, (unless you already ripped the top side off the seed package when you opened it - in which case all bets are off ); then drop a fruit jar over it. It works!




a little class in our gardens, even if it's just nice Seed Markers. I checked in the garden catalogs and at the plant nurseries and I just couldn't find markers that I wanted to use. I finally designed my own.

Things You Need

  • All you need is some common pine - Cut your own- 0r "1 x 2" wood strips from any builders supply (Lowes, Home Depot, Sutherland, etc) for stakes.




  • Small nails ( "3- penny" finish nails are nice) about an inch long.




  • And a saw. The type of saw is optional. You Could use a simple handsaw. A coping saw, an electric saber saw, or if your a real woodworker, a table saw. Use what you have or what you can afford. If this was rocket science I wouldn't be doing this.


    A hammer thats easy for you to handle. Even a small tack hammer would work.


    White enamel paint. Regular spray can paint from the discount store will work.




    Lets Get Started!


    Rip Marker Stakes


    Rip Marker Stakes out of 1" (actually 3/4 inch - Don't ask) thick lumber or just cut 12 inch lengths of "1 x 2" lumber and avoid the "ripping" step. In any case you need some skinny little boards about 1-1/2 inch wide, cut into 12 inches long stake pieces.











    Make a Point on Bottom of Stake

    Miter (cut at an angle) one end of each stake. This end will now go easily into the ground.

    If your a Boy Scout, you could shape the points with an ax. Do they still do that? I sure hope so.
















    Make the Plaque Pieces.

    You can "resaw" 2 X 4 studding into 1/2 inch lumber like I did (not recommended for amatures), Cut out 3" X 4" pieces from 1/2 inch plywood; or just buy 1 X 4lumber from your Builders Supply Store and cut into 4 inch lengths

    giving you quick little Plaques that are 3/4 thick instead of 1/2" You could then cut the corners off at a 45 degree angle just for good looks. Or not.




    Here is Your Parts

    The glass of iced tea is optional.




















    ATTACH THE PLAQUE
    Here you will notice that the plaque is set about 1/4 inch down from the top of the stake instead of flush with it. This is so when you tap it in, you won't hit the plaque. Just center the plaque over the stake and nail it down as shown with 2 nails.



    If your Really serious about these markers, you could slip a little waterproof glue on the stake before nailing it.

    Your Assemble Marker Looks Like This

    Not Bad. You might even be able to take these to the local Farmers Market. Be My guest. But were not quite done.











    PAINT YOUR GARDEN MARKER
    I like to use a White Enamel. Regular spray paint is fine. You might want to experiment with other colors but I find White easy to use with a permanent marker. If you are a little bit of an artist, you could put some nifty border designs or even "Plant Characters".







    You Could Write Directly on the Plaque
    I used a large Permanent Marker here. However,

    you could do it a differant way. See below.

















    Use a Replaceable Card
    Print your information on a plain 3 X 6
    notecard. Thumbtack it to the plaque.












    Protection From Wind and Rain


    Slip a sturdy zip-lock sandwich bag over the


    Plaque and tack it down too. Walla - A Garden


    Marker with a rain coat!









    Hope you try these out. I use them in my own garden.


    Bye!


    GrandBob


    PS: Many, Many more projects and articles are coming. Don't miss a one!