Horticulture September 2024 Newsletter
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Things We Can Compost by Karen Redford, Master Gardener
Fall can be a good time to start composting, to help with your future gardening. What can you use in it? When your gardening is coming to an end, you can add some of the old plants from the garden to your compost pile. Just make sure they haven’t been sprayed with toxins that will harm your garden for the next year. Does it have herbicides, or any other chemicals used in it? Hopefully not, but just remember what you have used on the plants that you are adding to the compost.
Be careful what plants you throw into the compost pile. Morning glories are something you don’t want to show up all over your garden later. So be careful about things like this especially if they still have seeds. Ask yourself if what you are using in your compost pile is something you want to be in your garden? You wouldn’t want plastic, metal, glass, in your garden.
Most vegetable-based materials are good for composting. Food scraps, corn cobs, potato peelings, even tough pits and peelings will break down. Other items from your kitchen can be used such as eggshells, coffee grounds, and old tea bags can be broken down for compost. Crushed eggshells are a great source of calcium for your garden.
After raking your leaves and grass clippings add them to your compost. Don’t forget to add old shrub trimmings, tree limbs, and corn stalks to your compost. Animal bedding, and livestock manure are both great additions.
When your gardening days are about to be finished, these are just a few things you can do with some of your old trimmings, to help with future gardens. Be blessed and be a blessing to others!
September Calendar of Events
Fall Show Stoppers by Kara Back, Extension Agent for Horticulture
Most think of chrysanthemums when one mentions fall. However, many other under utilized flowers put on a brilliant show. Try the following to bring color to your fall flower garden:
Summer - Late Summer: Great for pollinators.
‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint Tickseed ( Coreopsis spp.) Annual & Perennial Salvias Hardy Geraniums Orange Flowered Tango Hyssop ( Agastache aurantiaca ‘Tango’) ‘Fiesta del Sol’ Mexican Sunflower
Early Fall:
White Snakeroot Black-eyed Susan Perennial Sunflower Russian Sage Beebalm Soft Pink Japanese Anemones Hyacinth Bean Vine Sedums (Autumn Joy and Autumn Fire) Monkshood Fall Crocuses
Annuals: Many will reseed themselves.
Zinnias Lantana Ornamental Hot Peppers Cosmos Plumed and Crested Cockscomb
Underwatering vs. Overwatering by Karena Stauffer, Master Gardener
Watering is one of the most important, complex and confusing factors of plant keeping. With so many variables in how much water plants need; it takes a long time to fully understand the signs of when it’s too much or too little. Underwatering, What It Means and What It Looks Like: Underwatering is when a plant isn’t watered enough or can’t get its needed moisture out of its environment. It can be caused by simply not watering regularly (due to forgetting or underestimating how much water it needs), compacted soil which doesn’t allow water to reach the inside to the roots, being rootbound or being planted in the wrong type of pot, etc. These factors are often combined to make the situation more severe. Dried out shrunken soil is a sign of compaction and generally is best dealt with by repotting the plant. Shriveled leaves or browning tips are a sign of lacking moisture. When a plant is rootbound it dries out too quickly because there’s not enough soil to hold the water. Underwatering is generally easy to deal with and correct, but repeated underwatering will cause leaf loss and the health of the plant will decline and slow its growth. Overwatering, What It Means and What It Looks Like: Overwatering is when the soil is waterlogged for a prolonged period of time and the water either cannot drain from the pot or can’t be absorbed fast enough by the roots. This causes root or stem rot, which can happen rapidly and quickly kill a plant if not caught soon enough. The roots will turn brown, mushy and no longer serve their purpose, causing the plant to die. Succulents and cacti are especially prone to rot from overwatering. The saying that underwatering is safer than overwatering is due to the fact that root rot will kill a plant far faster than dehydration from underwatering. Prolonged underwatering will harm a plant as well. A healthy middle ground is needed and will all depend on the specific plant’s needs, size, its pot and location.
KADF, CAIP Money for Farm Improvements
Upcoming Events:
Busy Bloomer Garden Club
Snippy Jim
Taylor County Farmers' Market Kids Carnival
Natural Dye Demonstration Using Cosmos Flowers
4-H Leaf Art
Bird Club
Tree Stand Improvement
4-H Entomology Club: Luna Moth
Grilled Sweet Potatoes recipe
