Monthly Archives: June 2009

Aphids on Pumpkin Plants - Organic Control

Q. I have some pumpkin plants that are a few weeks old. They had become infested with aphids so I sprayed them with a home remedy that I found online, ( 1 part veg oil 3 parts water and a few drops mild dish soap.) Well the aphids are now gone but the plant I [...]

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Planting Two Honeysuckles

Q. Can I put two different types/colors of honeysuckle vines beside each other against my lattice? I have a pink honeysuckle that has been in the ground for about seven weeks now and is doing great. I just bought an orange honeysuckle vine and am wondering if I could plant it beside the one I [...]

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Winter-Flowering Honeysuckle

Q. I’ve been given a winter-flowering honeysuckle, and it’s been suggested that I plant it at the base of a (mature) apple tree. Would this be likely to cause either plant problems? My garden is directly south facing.
-London, United Kingdom
A. If your winter-flowering honeysuckle is Lonicera fragrantissima or Lonicera purpusii Winter Beauty they will grow [...]

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Sticky Substance on Bamboo

Q. I have two bamboo plants. One has a much smaller leaf than the other. One is a tree-like plant in the corner of two walls, and the other is a screen behind a small wall, which acts as a partition. I have noticed that the leaves on both plants have a very shiny sticky [...]

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Removing Thistle

Two very good answers to this question. Read on!
Q. Thistles have taken over one of my flowerbeds. I have pulled them, sprayed them and even tried preen. Nothing stops them from coming back. Help! Does anyone know how to rid a bed from thistles? Thank you!
-Southborough, Massachusetts
A. The only thing I’ve found that controls thistle, [...]

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Zucchini Blossom Drop

Q. 

I put in a NEW vegetable garden this year. I tiled in a small amount of aged horse manure and a small amount of garden soil. My zucchini plants are small but there are lots of blossoms on them, but the blossoms fall off and there is no fruit growing. The plants are also [...]

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Trimming Ornamental Grasses

This question has two answers. Read on!
Q. I planted ornamental grass (blue) last year. This year it has grown like wild, and some had already gone to seed this week (June 9th, zone 5). I am a bit impulsive in nature and saw that seeds were falling everywhere all over my garden, so I cut [...]

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Foam in a Pond

This question has two very good answers:
Q. This is the second year in which my water garden is experiencing foam on its surface. There is no foam in the waterfalls area nor the stream that runs down to the main pond. The foam is only in the main pond. I have tried anti-foam products, but [...]

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White Stuff on Rosemary

Q. I live in the desert southwest and my rosemary plants have a white liquid substance on them. It looks like cotton, but it is liquid. What can I do?
-Surprise, Arizona
A. It sounds like Spittlebug on your rosemary, but being from the Mid-West I was not sure what it’s cycle was in the desert area. [...]

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Bunnies Eating Flowers

Q. I believe a bunny is eating my flowering annuals. Do they even eat flowers? What can I do?
-Needham, Massachusetts
A. Bunnies have become a huge problem here on Cape Cod in the past two years. Around here, bunnies are eating just about everything, even things they are not supposed to like! Young bunnies will try [...]

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