Wild blackberries ready for the picking.
No spotted wing drosophila insects
(SWD) affecting the wild crop yet.
Blueberries - full harvest.  Watch out
for SWD in over ripe berries.
Non sprayed apples really getting
hammered by codling moth.

Flea beetles in high numbers..

BE AWARE

Black cutworm moths are out in high numbers.
Spotted cucumber numbers are rising.

Tomatoes and peppers just starting to bloom.

Gravenstein apples  nice size and near ripe.
Pears looking good.

Blueberries - good crop.

SWD seems to have slowed but some areas
are still getting hammered  by SWD.

Basil and dill - has gone to seed,

Trying to get a second crop out of my
broccoli plants, the second heads are actually
3 inches across.

BE ON THE LOOK OUT -
Now seeing cut worms - cabbage;  flea beetle -
tomatoes or any small plants;  apples and pears -
codling moth;  yellow apples - San Jose scale; 
zucchini and pumpkins - cucumber beetles.

Slugs and snails still out in huge numbers.

Garlic - be sure the garlic is dry.  It will start to
be planted in mid August or early September.

Fall gardens use seeds or transplants.

More good growing weather, especially for the warm
season veggies.  However, the average early morning
temps have been down in the  high 50's so we have a
grow and then a slow grow temp.

Lots of ripe tomatoes and some early corn.  A few
cucumbers.  I have my first zucchini.

Water lawns and gardens.  Dig holes in the soil,
especially hanging plants and pots as they are
drying out very quickly this weather. Pots and
hanging baskets my need to be put into a basin and
let the water re-soak into the soil.  Once the soil
has dried, the water will actually run THRU the soil.

Insect Strangeness

Two weeks ago a cherries were being by hammered
by spotted wing drosphila (SWD) causing fruit loss. 
Today, I walked a strawberry field, less than 1/2 mile
from the cherries and looked at the left over
strawberries...which were fruit for the SWD to infest. 
No SWD to be found.  Just be ware tht the 70-80
degrees weather is perfect for the SWD.

Time for iron phosphate or laying boards on the ground
 near the plants and picking the slugs and snails that
hide under the boards.

More - warmer than normal weather
this week.  Good for warm season veggies.
Tomatoes responding to the heat. 

Finding people are having drier soils.
Get Et from water supplier and weather station.

Lodi apples and early peaches being
picked and very good taste.ids

Late raspberries;  red and black currants ripe.
Red currants heavy with aphid and
very curly leaves.

Just a heads up - blister mites have been spotted recently
on pear. It appears the mites are moving into the new growth
of the trees now from older infested leaves. People might
want to monitor their pears for activity as the hot dry weather
we have had this year will favor build up of these eriophyid
 mites. These mites can be found out on the leaf at this time but
they also can hide out within the blistered tissue. Those
managing the mites with contact sprays, such as with horticultural
 oil, may need to make more than one application.
More information at link below:
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/pear_leaf_blister_mite.htm

More great growing weather.
FBook and Bloggers are recording cucumbers,
sweet tomatoes and some slicing
tomatoes hitting the dinner tables.

One farm stand said it would have corn in the
 next couple weeks, but most in the garden
corn is still pretty short.

Powdery mildew on pumpkins and cucumbers
seems to have slowed down a bit....cooler weather.
Some AM's are under 55 degrees, cool for
growing the warm season plants.  My peppers
and eggplant are still in a state of "slow grow".

Lawns have slowed down but the weeds
have been extra vigorous, as have the slugs
and snails this year.
Various reports on insect populations.

Another great few days of perfect weather;
tomatoes small and getting bigger;  pumpkins
and squash are blooming - slow but blooming; 
cole crops - bolting bad;  replanted.

Apples and pears sizing very nicely. 
Gravenstein almost too big this year.

Grapes doing well, except for
 powdery mildew.

Grass mowing slowing down even with watering.

Aphids on cabbage - very high.  Cutworms
on cabbage - very high.

For people in the Lane County area, the Lane County -
OSU Extension Service is open for gardening
questions, M-Th 10-1 and 2-5.  Plus Saturday
10-1pm.  At 783 Grant Street, Eugene; 
between Garfield and Chambers.
For commercial horticulture questions,
call 541 344-1709.

Garden Hints

Still good gardening growing weather.
Control powdery mildew using
baking soda and dish soap or other fungicides.

Bugs still pretty low in population so far.

Tomatoes doing well.
Most gardens doing good.

 Grapes sizing nicely.

Blueberries - full harvest.

Finding spotted drosophila in cherries, blueberries.

Master Gardeners Open On Saturday

HOT NEWS
The local Lane County OSU Extension office has Master Gardeners
at the office on Saturdays.  The hotline and walk-in traffic 
are open on Sat. 10-1 thru Step. 28. 

 

Address: 783 Grant St, Eugene, OR 97402

Phone:(541) 344-0265

4th of July

Happy 4th of July.  I hope the good of
people in Egypt are safe.

The world is a wild place right now.  Everyone
can use a little peace and tranquility.

Visited a nursery yesterday.  Was looking for a
few more plants...... the plant were very
stressed, lack of water and most of the
plants had powdery mildew. Be aware of
that some nursery are stressing he plants,
other are not, just look very carefully if
you are buying plants.

Lots of aphids and cut worms in the cabbages.

Rd delicious apples hammered by codling
moth, over 45% hit.

Garden Hints

Heat has taken a toll ts.  My nice broccoli
just all went to seed.in the garden.  Most of
the Brassica family plants are bolting..

Tomatoes - flowering.  Peas - just quit.

Onions doing good but orange rust is
moving in due to the warm weather.

Peppers OK except for the deer pruning.

Celery, kohlrabi, chard all bolted and doing
really good at putting on tons of seed.
My fall cover crop!!!!!

Weeds are really winning this year.  Hard to keep up.

Aphids on cabbage - huge populations.  The prickley
lettuce is not doing its job of attracting the aphids.

Weather

Monday July 1

The first day of July will be a hot one, as the heat wave continues for another day or two before onshore flow cools down much of the PNW.   Dry weather will remain the rule on through at least July 22.

Briefly, the overall pattern will shift just enough by Wednesday to allow for a stronger push of marine air into the PNW. It will remain dry, but the upper level air mass, along with the surface, will cool us down 10 degrees or so for the 4th of July weekend. Rarely in the great PNW are we handed a perfect holiday weekend in July.  The weather coming up will be delightful both for agriculture & vacationers. Mountain thunderstorms will remain a possibility.

Models indicate that temps will again move up into the 90s, excluding coastal zones, for many locations during the week of July 8-12.  -Rufus     http://www.ovs.com/weather_cafe.htm