Blue Mist Flower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is a favorite Fall bloomer. It looks like a tall perennial ageratum. It creates a tall wide clump that can be aggressive in a moist location. It’s a beautiful and carefree plant.
Tag Archives: Raleigh
Tomatoes!
The tomatoes are performing exceedingly well this season. I chose one large variety, Better Boy, and one smaller, cherry tomato type, Large Cherry Red. Each year I add a few bags of Miracle-Grow Garden Soil in each raised bed to improve the soil. It has a time release fertilizer which slowly releases nutrients over about a three-month period.
There are a few common problems that gardeners may encounter. Here are some tips I use. I water on a regular cycle to help prevent splitting. Blossom-end rot can sometimes be a problem, too. Most sources state it is caused by a lack of calcium. I help increase the calcium in the soil by watering with a milk jug after I have finished the jug. I fill it with water. Shake it to mix the milk residue with the water than water around the base of each plant. Sprinkling egg shells around the plants can also help increase the calcium and decrease blossom-end rot. You may also select varieties that are resistance to diseases. This is usually indicated on the tags by letters:
Tomato Varieties and Disease Resistance
Tomato Variety Resistance Growth Type
| ACE | VF | DET |
| YELLOW PEAR | IND | |
| EARLY GIRL | VF | IND |
| BETTER BOY | VFN | IND |
| CHAMPION | NFT | IND |
| LEMON BOY | VFNT | IND |
| CELEBRITY | VFFNT | DET |
| FLORAMERICA | VFFAL | DET |
| HEATWAVE | FFAL | DET |
| ROMA | VFD | DET |
| BEEFSTAEK | VFN | IND |
| BRANDYWINE | IND | |
| BEEFMASTER | VFN | IND |
| SWEET 100 | VFNT | IND |
| SUPERSWEET 100 | VF | IND |
| CHERRY | VFAL | DET |
| GRAPE | SDET | |
| PATIO | VF | DET |
| LEGEND | LB | DET |
| SUNGOLD | F,FF,T,V | IND |
The letter codes after the variety name mean resistance to the following:
V – Verticillium Wilt
F – Fusarium Wilt
FF – Fusarium Wilt Races 1 and 2
N – Nematodes
T – Tobacco Mosaic Virus
L – Septoria Leaf Spot
A – Alternaria
St – Stemphylium
LB – Late Blight
Growth Type:
Det- Determinant, IND – Indeterminatn
Trimming the old fashioned hydrangeas
Before the trim you can see that this year’s blooms are now green. The photo at the top of my blog are the same plants in Spring and early Summer when they are blue.
A look at the base, you can see last year’s brown wood which bloomed this year and the young, green wood that will produce blooms next year.
After the trim, the old wood has been removed and new wood is left for next year’s bloom. These four foot stems may produce some branching by Fall.
Plenty of wood to make cuttings. I usually start about 10 or so pots with 3 to 4 cuttings each and give them away the following year.
Now they have been thinned. The beds will be cleaned of any weeds and mulched in the Fall when the maple leaves and pine straw falls. We have acidic soil (Pines are a clue to that!) so the blooms will be blue. You will have to change the soil’s PH to get pink blooms.
Filed under General Gardening
Arthur in the Garden! 