It’s Squash Week!

Squash has ancient history dating back as far as 12,000 years, American Indians called squash the “the apple of God”. In the 17^th century squash was introduced to Europe; however, it was not commonly eaten until the 19^th century. Iroquois American Indians had three main crops squash, beans, and maize, also known as the “Three Sisters”.

Types of Squash:  

Summer squash grows on non-vining bushes. The three main types include: the yellow straight neck or crooked neck, the white scallop or patty pan, and the oblong, green, gray or gold zucchini.

Winter squash matures on the vine and is covered with a hard rind that permits winter storage. It is categorized according to its fruit size: small fruits (1 to 4 pounds) include acorn types, butternut types, and some true winter squash types; intermediate fruits (6 to 12 pounds) include banana squash, Cushow, Hubbard and some Sweet Meat varieties; large fruits (15 to 40 pounds) include Blue Hubbard, Boston Marrow and Jumbo Pink Banana varieties; jumbo fruits (50 to 100+ pounds) include Big Max and various Mammoth varieties.

Planting: 

If planting squash from seed, plant them either in a garden bed or in a hill. In the garden bed, they’ll need to be planted 2-3 feet apart at about a 1-inch depth. However, if planting them in a hill, take 3-4 seeds and place them together. Then mound dirt in around them. The hills will need to be 5-6 feet apart. Most summer squash varieties now come in bush form. Winter squash varieties are in vine form. So, plan accordingly if you are growing a vine. Vines need to be planted about 8-12 feet apart.

The final step to planting squash is to water regularly and consistently. One time a week, you’ll need to water the plants deeply. Give the squash plants about an inch of water so the water will reach the roots.

Care: 

Mulch - After planting squash plants place mulch around each plant. This will protect the roots of the plant and keep weeds from becoming a problem.

Fertilize - After first bloom appear on your squash plant, it is time to fertilize to the side of the plant. Fertilize regularly. Like with most gardens, fertilization once every 4-6 weeks should be ample.

Water - Water your squash plants heavily. Water them one day a week with one inch of water along with regular watering on other days.

Pest Problems:  

Squash Bugs look like smaller stink bugs. They live on the squash plant and kill it by sucking the

sap right out of the plant. This sucking action releases a toxin from the bug into the plant and kills your plant. Prevention is key. Rotate crops yearly, use insecticides, and pay attention to your plants. If you can catch them while they are still small, it is much easier to get under control. Remember to dispose of all squash plants at the end of the grow season so the bugs don’t overwinter in them.

Blossom-End Rot. You think your plants are doing great, you see fruit forming, and then

you see that the end of the fruit is black which means that your fruit is inedible. This is an issue because of a calcium deficiency or your soil has uneven moisture levels in it.

Stink Bugs They are an issue because they will nibble on your plants. Clean up plants and weeds in your yard, and do not give them a place to overwinter.

Squash Vine Borer The eggs are laid at the base of a squash plant. When the eggs hatch, they begin to gnaw through the plant. This will obviously kill your squash plant. You need to clean up your garden beds every winter, so they don’t have anywhere to overwinter. Seeing signs or finding eggs, sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of the plant. It is more about preventing this bug than defeating it because once you see it, then it is probably too late for your plant.

The best companion plants for squash are corn, peas, beans, icicle radishes. These plants help deter certain pests that often attack squash plants.

Harvesting and Storage:

Summer squash can be harvested about 55 days after planting. For optimum quality, harvest while fruits are tender and still have a shiny or glossy appearance. When growing conditions are favorable, harvest the crop daily or every other day. Harvest crookneck and straight neck varieties when fruit is 1½ to 2 inches in diameter. Harvest zucchini when fruit is 7 to 8 inches long and scallop types when they are 3 to 4 inches in diameter. All these squashes can be harvested at smaller sizes for extra tenderness. Do not leave large fruit of summer squash on the plant because this will inhibit the development of additional fruit. Store summer squash in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Turf/Tree Team Part 1

The Tree and Turf Team has been busy so far this summer.
Part 1.

There hasn’t been a slow down with mid-summer fast approaching for Tree & Turf Team.

The team has been all over the valley visiting multiple issues impacting resident’s trees and lawns. We’ll cover a few of our visits in detail, giving what we found, we will show some photos of damage and what advice we gave to help the owners.

Our 1st visit takes us out to Melba where a couple have 2-acre 180 fruit tree orchard that turned out to be a lot of note taking. The couple called into Canyon County Extension Office asking for help with their apple, pear and cherry trees, each with a different problem. The apple trees were being impacted by a severe aphid infestation. “see photo’s 1 and 2”. At this point there wasn’t much we could do because the aphids would soon be gone for the summer eating grasses but they  could return in fall. We made comments about using horticultural oil before bud break next year to help control future outbreaks.  

Aphids causing the leaves to curl

Notice small black spots on the back of leaf

The second tree variety “pears” appeared to be impacted by fireblight. Fireblight is a really nasty bacteria that ends up killing large areas of the tree. The only way to try saving what’s left of the tree is cutting the impacted branch below the infected area and disposing of it. It’s important to get these limbs removed right away because the bacteria can move from blighted spurs and shoots through the vascular system into larger limbs and tree trunk. Death of the tree could result within one season if not properly taken care of.

Signs of fireblight is wilted leaves turning black

Several branches impacted with fireblight               

The third tree issue impacting the orchard was their cherry trees. Research is still ongoing, but we are suspecting a fungal disease called Brown Rot Blossom Blight. The branch tips die back, leaving clusters of dead, brown leaves. Fungus spores infect the tree blossoms in the spring, when the blooms begin to age. Many tiny black spores begin to cover the dying flowers. The spores become active and start to kill the branch tip and work back towards the trunk. Once the dieback begins, the disease cannot be controlled. The only recourse is to prune off the dead portions of the branches and dispose of them in the trash. However, you can help prevent the reinfection of your plants by cleaning up all ground litter from all around the base of the tree.

Clusters of brown dead leaves

Backed off to notice dead branch dieback

Last pieces of advice we gave them was about their drip water system, which was to move emitters out further toward tree drip line instead of directly next to trunk. The 2nd item was to bring in a few truck load of wood chips that could help in retaining moisture and better temperature control under the tree canopy.

Check out some of these links.

Data Reference:

Aphids impact on apples trees:  from Utah State Extension

https://utahpests.usu.edu/uppdl/files-ou/factsheet/aphids-apple.pdf

Fire blight on pear trees: from University of California Extension

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7414.html

Cherry tree fungus blight: from Penn State Extension

https://extension.psu.edu/ornamental-cherry-diseases

Growing Hops in Your Backyard

Growing hops in the backyard is fun, easy, and rewarding. Hops can be grown in any moderate climate with proper care. Hop vines called bines grow from a rhizome. Within a few weeks of planting, noticeable growth happens. Several hop shoots start peeking out of

the ground. Growth can be vigorous, bines growing up to two feet per week until mid-summer when the growth slows, and the plant enters the flowering stage.  Hop bines can reach upward of 20 feet in height.  

Hops were first introduced into Massachusetts from Europe in 1629. Commercial hop yards in the United States were reported to have been established in New York in the early 1800s. Commercial hops production was pushed westward during the 1920s by plant diseases encountered in the east, primarily downy mildew. Modern hops production is currently in the western United States in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho—areas less conducive to plant diseases of the humid east.

Selecting Hops:

There are two basic groups and more than 100 varieties of hops plants. Hops can grow in most moderate climates, but they do best in zones 5 through 9.  

Bittering hops have high levels of specific acids that produce bitterness in beer. 

Aroma hops have a lower content of bittering acids and a more balanced essential oil that produces pleasant aroma and flavor properties to beer.

Warning: Hops cones can be toxic to dogs. Do not allow your dog to eat the cones, either fresh or dried. 

Planting and Caring for Your Hops:

Hop plants begin as rhizomes that require well-drained soil with a pH of 6 or 7 and long periods of full sun exposure. In early spring, plant the rhizome about two inches deep with buds pointed up.

Frequent shallow watering will help establish a healthy root system. After the roots are established, less frequent, deep watering helps increase root growth and drought tolerance. Water directly at the base of the plant, wetness on the leaves will encourage disease 

formation.

Hop bines are heavy feeders and will need a supplemental feed of compost, manure, or fertilizer to remain strong.

Training your Plants:  

Train your plants to grow on a trellis system. The training process helps the bines stay healthy and strong. Use twine to train the bines to the trellis. Select only vigorous bines to train and prune away the less vigorous bines.

Harvesting Your Cones

If the texture is papery, and the cones is between one to two inches, the cone is ready to pick. Inside the cone are small, yellow particles, called lupulin, that give beer its flavor and aroma. Over the next few weeks the cones will mature at different times. To avoid losing the lupulin use scissors or pruning shears.

Note: Hop plants can cause skin irritation, so wearing gloves and long sleeves will help to prevent any skin irritation.

Different Methods for Drying Cones:

Your cones are ready for brewing when the central stems are brittle and lupulin powder falls out easily. You can use the cones right away for brewing or stored in a sealed container in

the freezer for later use.

• Spread the hops out in the sunshine in a single layer protecting from wildlife.

• Dry hops in the oven, set the temperature at 140 degrees and leave the oven door slight open to allow moisture to escape.

• Electric food dehydrator at its lowest setting 90 to 100 degrees

After Harvest

Cut back bines to about three feet. After first heavy frost, cut the remaining bines at the soil surface and apply several inches of mulch over the grown plant.

Look what our IPM Team has found this month...

IPM Team researching after each walk

The IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Team is a group of trained and dedicated University of Idaho Extension Master Gardener volunteers in Canyon County who actively scout for insect, weed, and disease pests that impact home gardeners and landscapers in the lower Treasure Valley. This information is then submitted to the Pacific Northwest Pest Alert Network which educates the home gardener/landscaper so that they can act on the information before the pest becomes an infestation; thus, saving time and money while benefiting the environment.
Here are a few of the notable findings for this month from 2 of our regular places:

Hollyhock Weevil

ID Veterans Garden  

"Hollyhock weevils are small, gray snout beetles with orange legs. Their most notably feature is their forward projecting snout that is extremely long, particularly on the female." Have you noticed their damage? Continue reading...

"Poison hemlock, also called poison parsley, is a member of the plant family, Apiaceae. Other members of this plant family include carrots, celery and parsnip." Here's how to tell the difference...

Blue Barn Produce
an organic farm in Caldwell

Crab Spider "The stars of this week’s episode are not insects, but crab spiders, one of the Bug Lady’s favorite critters." More on this helpful bug

This toad was an unexpected treat during our scouting walk! He's a Garden Good Guy!

"Aster yellows is a plant disease that occurs throughout North America, affecting a wide range of plants, including many important crops and ornamental plants. Home gardeners are most likely to notice its effects on purple cone-flower and some other daisy-like flowers, as the symptoms on those flowers tend to be more dramatic than on other types of flowers or the foliar symptoms." For more about this common disease, see Aster Yellows.

Buffalo bur is generally considered a nuisance in its native range and is toxic.

Stay tuned for more finds next month.

Behemoth Cucumber

Have you ever been surprised with a huge behemoth of a cucumber that wasn't there two

 days ago? What do you do with huge cukes? Does the flavor change as they get so large?

Super large cucumbers are often hard to transform into crispy pickle spears and are often quite seedy, but still have much potential!

Here are some harvest tips:

• Don’t let cucumbers get too large or they will taste bitter.
• At peak harvesting time, you should be picking cucumbers every couple of days. They’ll grow quickly!
• Harvest regular slicing cucumbers when they about 6 to 8 inches long (slicing varieties).
• Harvest dills at 4 to 6 inches long and pickles at 2 inches long for pickles.
• The large burpless cucumbers can be up to 10 inches long and some types are even larger.
• Cucumbers are best picked before their seeds become hard and are eaten when immature. Do not let them get yellow. A cucumber is of highest quality when it is uniformly green, firm, and crisp.
• Any cucumbers left on the vine too long will also get-tough skins and lower plant productivity.

Here is an easy Sweet Pickle Relish

SweetPickle Relish 

Ingredients:

·         3 pounds Pickling Cucumbers or 4 pounds of Large Cucumbers

·         1 Large Sweet Onion

·         ¼ cup Pickling or Kosher Salt

·         3 cups White Vinegar

·         ¾ cup Sugar

·         4 cloves Garlic Minced

·         2 teaspoons Dill Seed

·         2 teaspoons Mustard Seed

·         2 teaspoons Celery Seed

·         ½ teaspoon Turmeric

Instructions:

1.  Slice the cucumber lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Discard the seeds.

2.  Finely dice the cucumber and onion.

3.  Place diced cucumbers and onions in a non-reactive pot
and add the salt. Stir and let sit for 2 hours.

4.  Drain cucumber and onion mixture in a strainer until all the liquid is removed. You may have to press the mixture against the strainer to remove hidden moisture.

5.  In a medium pot add vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill, celery, and mustard seed, and turmeric. Bring to a boil.

6.  Add cucumber and onion mixture and return to a boil.

7.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.

8.  Remove from heat.

9.  Cool and store in refrigerator for up to a month or process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Stay sharp when mowing your lawn with these lawn mower maintenance tips.

To keep your mower in tip-top running condition, have a competent service professional thoroughly inspect your mower at least once a year.

Inspection areas:

Sharpening and balancing the blade [youtube]. A dull blade tears grass and can leave in prone to disease, and an unbalanced blade can cause your mower excess wear and tear.

     Check the air filter. If you are using the mower in dry or dusty conditions, you will need to replace the air filter more often.

                               Check the spark plug. Always ensure that the spark plug is clean and gapped correctly.

    


   


     Check the carburetor and have it adjusted if necessary.






                                Check to oil, and have it changed if needed.  

      Check the wheels, bags, and
belts and replace as needed.

Your lawn mower is likely the most frequently used piece of outdoor power equipment that you own - here's a maintenance calendar that's handy to use. Proper maintenance is extremely important to maximizing efficiency, reducing emissions, preventing costly repairs and extending the life of your lawn mower. By keeping your mower in proper working order, you can help maintain a healthy environment, pocketbook and lawn.

For more information on lawn care, contact your local University of Idaho Extension office! 

Herbs

Herbs are easy to grow and fun to enjoy. Knowing where to plant and each herb’s requirement will bring strong healthy plants. Historically herbs have been used for medicine, cooking, and fragrances. Most herbs are very versatile and grow well in the ground or in containers. Herbs, make a great addition to a traditional flower garden, or great accents to window boxes or containers. 

How much room do you need? Here are some guidelines for plant sizes: 

• Rosemary, Sage Mints, Oregano, Marjoram - 3-4 feet 
• Basils, Thyme, Tarragon, Savory – 2 feet 
• Cilantro, Chives, Dill, Parsley – 1 foot

Where to Plant? 
Most herbs thrive in typical garden soil, if it has good drainage. However, some herbs such as rosemary, lavender, and bay are woody plants and prefer gritty, well-drained soil. Most herbs thrive in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight). If you have a garden that receives less sun, select herbs that don’t need as much. Here are some herbs that grow in less sun.  

• Mint 
• Chives 
• Cilantro 
• Parsley 
• Tarragon

Plants can become stressed in windy or exposed sites. Growing herbs near the house or next buildings or walls provides warmth, shelter, and increases the chances of success. 

Where do we get Herb Plants?
Some herbs are easy to start from seed, but other take longer to germinate, while others are from plant cuttings. Before sowing any herb, whether in seed-starting trays or directly in garden, read the seed packet for information about depth of planting, danger of frost, recommended spacing, sun needed, and watering.  

Propagation is dividing existing plants: 

• Divide in spring 
• Divide the roots 
• Compost when re-planting 
• Keep soil moist

Cuttings from plant such as French Tarragon will be easier to root in water. New growth is the softwood which will be lighter in color and have a flexible stem. After you have made the cuttings, you can root them out in a glass of water or plant them in a growing medium. For both methods, you will need to cover the cuttings with plastic to help them retain moisture. 
 https://youtu.be/YllaxS_FOhE

General Care
Herbs are the hardiest of all garden plants. They have a few problems with insects, disease, and many have naturally repelled pests. 
Pest and disease to watch out for: 

Herb	Pest	Disease
Basil, Chives, Marjoram, Mint, Oregano, Thyme	Aphids
Cilantro, Tarragon		Powdery Mildew
Dill	Tomato Hornworm
Marjoram, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme	Spider Mites
Min	cabbage loopers
Min	flea beetles
Oregano	Leaf Miners
Parsley	larvae (caterpillar) black swallowtail butterfly
Rosemary	Whitefly
Sage	Slugs
Tarragon		Rhizoctonia (root rot)

Cold temperatures may damage or kill some herbs. Mulching at least 4 inches deep at the base of the plant can increase soil temperatures enough to prevent cold damage to the herb roots. Good sources of mulch include bark chips, straw, and leaves. For herbs that may not survive the winter move to a container and store indoors and then in the spring return to the outdoors. Remove mulch only after you see new growth in the spring.

Harvest and Preserve Fresh Herbs

Culinary herbs are the cut-and-come-again crop, so if you’ve got them in the garden, don’t be afraid to get snipping and picking. The plants really will benefit from it, and you’ll have wonderful flavors to add to dishes. Most herbs and leafy plants naturally want to create seeds, and once they get to that stage, it means the end of an herb like parsley, chives, or basil. So, pick leaves early and often to encourage the plant to put out more foliage and prevent it from running to seed.

More than one way to preserve fresh herbs

Drying herbs is a common way to preserve them. Snip herbs and tie them into a small bundle with twine. Hang the bundle upside down, once entirely dried, remove leaves and store in an airtight container. Herbs will keep for about year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haf-_tqlpX0

Freeze herbs by chopping fresh herb, fill ice cube trays, add water, and freeze. Once they are completely frozen, pop out of the tray and store in plastic bags in the freezer. You can also substitute olive oil for water.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBikfBCyeZI

Herb infused vinegar helps to preserve their flavor. Pack a mason jar with fresh herbs and pour white vinegar over the herbs until jar is full. Let the herb mixture sit for about two weeks, strain the liquid, and discard the herbs. The herb-Infused vinegar can be made into home salad dressing, or gifts. https://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/infused-vinegar-96749

Compound herb butter is a great way to preserve herbs. Chop your fresh herbs, mix with ½ cup of softened butter, place mixture on plastic wrap and form into a log shape.  Refrigerate herb butter for two hours and will keep in the fridge for one week. http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/how-to-make-compound-butter-6-recipes/

Resources:

Herb Gardening 101 https://www.planetnatural.com/herb-gardening/

Growing Herbs Outdoors https://extension.psu.edu/growing-herbs-outdoors

Overwinter Garden Herbs Indoors https://www.thespruce.com/growing-garden-herbs-indoors-during-winter-2540050

Herb Gardening http://extension.illinois.edu/herbs/intro.cfm

Harvest and Preserving Herbs https://extension.psu.edu/harvesting-and-preserving-herbs-and-spices-for-use-in-cooking

Best Way to Store Fresh Herbs  https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/the-best-way-to-store-fresh-herbs-parsley-cilantro-dill-basil.html