Garden Damage after the Freeze

The Good News - the freezing weather is over.
Even better news - we now have 10 days of warm weather.

The Bad News - the freezing weather is over
Worse news - we now have 10 days of warm weather.

Warmer weather is a mixed blessing for plants at this time of year. It gives them time to recover from the cold weather but because it is going to be warm for 10 straight days, we are going to have a huge outbreak of pests (aphids and sucking/chewing critters) and fungal disease outbreaks.

Everyone needs to come out to the garden and check their beds for damaged leaves and killed or melted plants because of the cold weather. Leaving damaged vegetation in your beds creates the perfect climate for disease and bugs to proliferate.  As you can see from the pictures there are a lot of "melted" out plants because the lows were so low.

Removing all damaged plant material now is essential!

Dead plant material just creates hiding places for insects and disease in your bed. If you wait to remove the dead plant material until just before you plant, there will be bad critters lying in wait to attack your newly planted veggies.

Be sure and inspect all your plants closely for eggs and aphid nymphs. Just before the deluge last week, I saw I had some but the rain washed all the azamax off that I had sprayed. I've since resprayed but I still need to keep an eye on the situation because it will be warm so long.

Luckily, I  don't have any cold damage on my plants. However, the frost cover trapped all the rain and high humidity inside so now I have a lot of damage to my Swiss Chard leaves. This week all the damaged leaves need to be removed and the plants that look more dead than alive need to be pulled out.

Next year I think I'll plant my Swiss chard so it will be outside the cover since the majority of the Swiss chard grown in the open is doing very well. My carrots and spinach are thriving under the cover but the Swiss chard, not so much.

               VickiBed41

"Bubba" Blue

A Great Big Welcome to....
                                  Bubba Blue!

Bubba's new home is Bed #34

But it looks like he is driving Caully

 (who resides in Bed 30) to drink

The Carlos Montano Garden Art Studio

Four Winds Planter

At Green Meadows we like to garden.  In the cold, the heat, the wind, and especially on a warm, spring day, we like to garden.  But we are not only about gardening.  We have many interests.  Sometimes we even like adventure.  On February 20th, we have an appointment at the studio of Carlos Montano in Fairburn, Georgia.  Those that want to participate can meet at the garden at 8:45 on Wednesday the 20th and caravan south of Atlanta to his studio.  Carlos produces beautiful garden art to enhance your garden. You will find incredible planters, bird baths, statuary and more.  He also reproduces unique pieces created by the late Atlanta artist Christine Sibley.   His work is very well known in Atlanta and it is not sold in stores.

Magnolia Stepping Stone

I know you will be pleased with the quality and also with the pricing.  Several of us went in October and came home with unique pieces.  I have pictures of several pieces that I purchased and you can go to his website, Carlos Montano Studio .   The website only gives you a small sample of the items he has available and you cannot appreciate the variety and quality from the pictures on the web.  Carlos promised that in February as he prepares for spring, the studio has more items available than at any other time of the year.

Garden Wall Plaque

      Those that would like to join us need to email me at our Green Meadows email address so I can have a head count of who is going and how many vehicles will be needed.  Trucks and suv’s are great as they allow more room for bringing things back.  We will plan a nice stop for lunch and make this a fun outing.     If you like garden art, you don’t want to miss this trip.

Carol Hanak