This week at the Farmer’s Market: Watermelons, cantaloupe, okra, homegrown tomatoes, peaches, southern peas, slicer and pickling cucumbers, jalapeno, bell, and banana peppers, yellow, white, and zucchini squash, new potatoes, onions, local pecans, vegetable plants, patio pots, flowers, candles, ,lotion, bath salts and scrubs, soap, jams, jelly, salsa, pickles, pickled beets, homemade candy, fudge, fried pies, baked goods, bread, quilts, crafts, and jewelry.

Dick Hurley must be the petunia king of Shawnee and perhaps of Oklahoma.  A couple of years ago I wrote about his discovery of the petunia hybrid, Supertunia.  He is still growing those but has expanded to building berms in the back yard that are covered with standard petunias, plus he has added a post to support a basket of petunias over each berm.  The berms are surrounded with a row of Rose Moss.

Q:I have had a white grub problem in my lawn, what should I do?
 
A: White grubs are the larvae of june bugs. They can, if present in large enough numbers, create browned out spots in the lawn as they destroy the root systems of our turf grasses.

This week at the Farmer’s Market: Watermelons, cantaloupe, okra, homegrown tomatoes, peaches, southern peas, slicer and pickling cucumbers, bell peppers, blue-yellow-white and zucchini squash, eggplant, jalapeno and banana peppers, onions, new potatoes, kale, local pecans, vegetable plants, patio pots, flowers, candles, lotion, bath salts and scrubs, lye soap, jams, jelly, salsa pickles, pickled beets, homemade candy, fudge and baked goods, fried pies, quilts and crafts.

Q: Last year I had holes in my pecans. What is that?
A: The pecan weevil is responsible for those holes.

Hardy hibiscus, hibiscus moscheutos, are wonderful plants for people who like to have colorful blooms but don’t have time to do much gardening. After they are established, they come back year after year, and as long as they are provided some moisture, they bloom most of the summer.

Watermelons, cantaloupe, okra, homegrown tomatoes, blackberries, Stratford and Harrah peaches, southern peas, slicer and pickling cucumbers, bell peppers, blue-yellow-white and zucchini squash, egg plant, jalapeno and banana peppers, onions, new potatoes, kale, mustard spinach, local pecans, vegetable plants, patio pots, flowers, candles, lotion, bath salts and scrubs, lye soap, jams, jelly, salsa pickles, pickled beets, homemade candy, fudge and baked goods, fried pies, quilts and crafts.  (Items subject to change due to weather conditions).

Q: I have been told that I should get a leaf sample to find out if I need to fertilize my pecan trees, is this correct?

Good news! In response to the devastation caused by the 2007 ice storm, the Tree Bank Foundation and the Apache Foundation are making trees available to Shawnee citizens at no cost. In other words, free! The trees are in three-gallon containers and will be six to eight feet tall.

With temperatures soaring and the sun glaring, it is hard to think ahead to fall. But mid July is the right time to start planting several vegetables for a fall harvest.
When selecting vegetables for fall plantings, choose varieties that have a short maturation period. Planting time will depend on the length of time needed to produce a crop. Tender vegetables must be started early enough to ensure harvest before frost kills plants. Other crops, mainly root crops, are hardy enough to be stored in place in the garden well into winter.

Watermelons, cantaloupe, corn, okra, homegrown tomatoes, blackberries, Stratford and Harrah peaches, southern peas, slicing and pickling cucumbers, bell peppers, blue, yellow, white and zucchini squash, egg plant, jalapeno and banana peppers, onions, new potatoes, kale, mustard spinach, local pecans, vegetable plants, patio pots, flowers, candles, lotion, bath salts and scrubs, lye soap, jams, jellies, salsa pickles, pickled beets, homemade candy, fudge and baked goods, fried pies and quilts and crafts.

When you know that company is coming, it’s time to get the yard in shape and the house in order. When the company numbers in thousands and is coming to Shawnee from all over the United States, the task is even greater.
For the past two weeks the Multi County Master Gardeners, the Downtown Design Committee and the Shawnee Parks employees have worked diligently to make the Heart of Oklahoma Expostion Center grounds and Shawnee public areas ready to receive these guests. Most of the landscaped areas at the Expo Center were established by the Master Gardening class of 2001. Since that time, other Master Gardeners have helped maintain it.

I have some bedding plants that suddenly have turned pale and speckled and are browning out with a little bit of spider webbing. What is this?
When the temperatures heat up, some insects can become very active. The symptoms you describe sound like spider mites. They attack many plants and shrubs, sucking out the moisture almost overnight.

If you have seen a shrub covered with cone-shaped, lilac-blue flowers during recent weeks you have probably seen a Chastetree, scientific name Vitex agnus castus.
This bush, which can be trained as a tree, has many wonderful traits.
The first bloom period lasts for a few weeks, but additional blooms will appear later in the summer. 

It’s not like we don’t know they’re clogged. One look tells us the billions of maple seeds that fell last month now are spouting trees. Then it rains, and the water cascades down the sides of our house.

I get many calls concerning landscape. Landscape designer Patrick Bones recently supplied some interesting information I thought readers might enjoy and add insight into landscape design principles.

Corn, Stratford peaches, blackberries, beets, new potatoes, white and yellow zucchini squash, shallots, rosemary, sage, okra, garlic, green onions, green beans, large variety of peppers, leeks, pickled beets, salsa, jams and jellies, sugar-free jams and jellies, fried pies, fudge, peanut brittle, eggplant, vegetable plants, hanging baskets, many varieties of trees, bedding plants, fresh pecans, candles, jewelry, arts and crafts, cloth grocery bags, goat milk and honey hand lotions, bath salts, sugar scrub and hand crafted lye soap.

I have tomato plants with leaves are yellowing, spotting and browning out from the bottom up. What can I do?

This has been a great season for growing flowers, grass, shrubs, trees and weeds.  It seems to me that weeds have out grown every other type of vegetation unless it is miniature pecan trees, the product of the pecans that squirrels buried last fall.