In The Garden This Week: Some Ideas For Fall

We're back! (Forgive my absence, good readers. I have been checking out the fall foliage between St. Petersburg and Moscow. We traveled to about 250 miles from the Arctic Circle where sunset was between 10:30 and 11 o'clock! We saw lots of pine forests and white birch trees. As for flowers in the beautiful formal garden beds, we saw tons of begonias and dusty miller arranged in extraordinarily wonderful swirly beds-A wonderful trip!)

So back to reality: What must we begin to think about as we head into fall after this beautiful, but very warm, summer? 

1. Don't quit yet! We still have crops growing and peas, beans, spinach and cucumbers are still going strong. Many of you have a plethora of tomatoes yet to harvest. The Late Blight wiped out some beds, including mine. But let's face it: you can buy them very reasonably at all the farmstands and at the supermarkets right now. They are delicious!

2. September is an excellent time to get your soil tested. Even if you have had a good lawn, perennial bed or vegetable garden, NOW is the time to get the soil tested. This can be done FOR FREE by bringing a one-cup sample (preferably dried overnight) to Paradise Valley Park at the corner of Paradise and Prospect Avenues in Middletown any Sunday in September from noon tll 2. We will test your soil to see if you need to amend it before winter comes. We also will do weed and insect identifications if you bring us a sample.

So join us this Sunday and bring along any gardening questions that you have. It is not too early to start thinking about next year.

3. Impatiens are one of the most reliable shade annual plants---til now! Most of us have impatiens growing somewhere in our yard, preferably in the shady parts. They come in such rich colors and the purples and pinks look so great mixed in with the whites. HOWEVER: This year many impatiens plants have been hit by a new disease. It is called impatiens downy mildew or Plasmopara Obducens.

Impatiens downy mildew has migrated to Rhode Island after arriving in nearby Massachusetts in 2011. It has been reported in a large number of states this year and we have not escaped.

This disease is a type of fungus that is grealy encouraged by wet foliage, cool nighttime temperatures and moist air. It is spread by spores that blow through the air.

What does it look like? First, a few leaves lose their color and turn slightly yellow. They eventally become all yellow and curl downward. Then under humid conditons, a white growth appears on the underside of the leaves. Eventually the leaves and the flowers drop off, leaving bare stems. And eventually the plant collapses. Most varieties of impatiens are susceptible to this disease, it seems, except New Guinea impatiens.

How bad is it? Infected plants cannot recover. The application of a fungicide will only be effective as a preventative, and not as a cure. Infected plants must be ripped out and disposed of in a plastic bag and sent to the dump. Do NOT compost the residue of these plants.

As the spore will remain in the soil, agricultural researchers are advising that you find alternatives to impatiens for that bed and that you do not plant impatiens there for THREE YEARS!

4. If you have crabgrass (and most of us do) as we move into September, join the club. Preemergent control will not work now. There are a few crabgrass killer sprays available to attack relatively small patches. Otherwise to get rid of it you have to dig it up. Good luck with that!

Crabgrass is a warm weather grass that will die off rather quickly when (if?) the temperaure goes below 50 degrees.

If you did put down a preemergent control in April or so, you need to realize that its persistence is usually 3 or 4 months. So either get down on your hands and knees......or live with it!

We'll have more advice next week. In the meantime if you have questions or soil samples visit us URI Master Gardeners at Paradise Valley Park, Paradise and Prospect Avenes (next to the 8-vaned windmill every Sunday (rain or shine) through September or call the URI Master Gardener Hotline (1-800-448-1011) Monday to Thursday 9 to 2. We'll be happy to answer your gardening questions....and we all have lots of them this time of year.

Contact us a gardeninginformationri@gmail.com if we can help you.