Cover Crops for the Home Garden

The GA FACES article "Fall cover crop will boost spring garden soil's nutrient content", by UGA's Sharon Dowdy, explains that home gardeners who are planning to give the vegetable garden a rest this winter can take a simple step to help next year's garden.  The key is to grow a cover crop instead of simply leaving the garden fallow.

Dowdy interviewed UGA Extension sustainable agriculture specialist Julia Gaskin to get the scoop on cover crops. Gaskin explained that cover crops can add organic matter and nitrogen to the soil. The choice of which cover crop to grow will depend on the needs of the garden.

For added nitrogen, Gaskin recommends crimson clover and Austrian winter peas; to suppress root-damaging nematodes, tillage radishes and mustards are a good choice. Cereal rye (winter annual ryegrass) excels in suppressing weeds.

For all the cover crops, the additional organic matter, from tilling the cover crop under in spring, is a great boost to home gardens. Gaskin explained the gain this way: "Boosting up soil matter is critical for encouraging healthy soil biology, which helps to make nutrients available for plants.”

Cornell University's article "Improve your soil with cover crops" lists additional benefits of growing cover crops in the garden:  "Cover crops help to retain the soil, lessen erosion, and decrease the impact of precipitation on the garden by slowing the runoff of water. They also reduce mineral leaching and compaction, and suppress perennial and winter annual weed growth. The top growth adds organic matter when it is tilled into the garden soil. The cover crop's root system also provides organic matter and opens passageways that help improve air and water movement in the soil."

UGA's Gaskin said that cover crops need to be sown in the garden before the end of September in the Piedmont region of Georgia, which includes Cobb County. For gardeners who are interested in taking a break from tending vegetables, planting a cover crop within the next few weeks can be a great option.

(For fuller information, select the linked article titles above.)

Green Industry Update Scheduled for Sept. 30

A Green Industry Update, offered through UGA Extension in Cobb County, is scheduled for Tuesday, September 30, 2014. Recertification credits are offered in the following categories:

21, 23, 24, 27 -- 3 credits

Private -- 1 credit

ISA - 1.75 2.5 (updated on 9/2/14)

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.- registration
9:00 a.m. - noon - workshop

Topics:
Reduce Pest Problems with Proper Tree Selection and Planting, by Joe Burgess, Senior Forester, Georgia Forestry Commission
Control Spring Turf Diseases with Fall Fungicide Applications, by Neil Tarver, Cobb County Horticulture Agent, UGA Extension in Cobb County
Interpreting Pesticide Labels is Key to Pesticide Safety, by Milton (Mickey) Taylor, PhD Pesticide Safety Education Program, UGA Dept. of Entomology

Cost:  $10 per person, payable at the door. Location:  Cobb County Water System Lab Training Room, 662 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060 For Information or to Preregister:  email cornelius.tarver@cobbcounty.org or call 770-528-4070.

Orange Caterpillar with Black Spikes

Most gardeners are happy to see butterflies in the garden; the winged insects are often cheerfully colorful, and they may serve as pollinators that help the flowers produce seeds and fruit. Many gardeners, though, are less happy to see the larvae of these butterflies, because they can be such voracious eaters of our beautiful plants. Also, some caterpillars may seem to be less attractive than the adults they will eventually become.

The larval/caterpillar stage of the Gulf fritillary butterfly is one such example. A gardener's first reaction on seeing such a spiky creature might be to wonder, "Does it sting?" The good news is that it doesn't.

Gulf fritillary caterpillar on passionflower vine.  PHOTO/courtesy Amy W.

The University of Florida has described the Gulf fritillary on its Featured Creatures pages, and its description includes the information that the caterpillars are found primarily on passionflower vines. The page adds, "Larvae may feed on all parts of the plant and can rapidly defoliate host vines." 

For fuller information about the butterfly and its other stages, including its migration and overwintering habits, visit the above linked page.

Upcoming Events

Seeding Fescue Lawns: Techniques for Terrific Turf

Thursday, Aug 21, 6:30-8:00 p.m. County Horticulture Agent Neil Tarver will teach the essentials of seeding, overseeding, and maintaining your fescue lawn, at UGA Extension/Cobb County, second floor, 678 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060. Free and open to the public, but please preregister by calling 770-528-4070, or email Cornelius.tarver@cobbcounty.org.

All About Bluebirds - and More

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 7:00-8:00 p.m.  Presented by Master Gardener Jim Bearden as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at West Cobb Regional Library, 1750 Dennis Kemp LN, NW, Kennesaw, 30152. Free and open to the public.

Thyme to Read

Friday, Sept. 12, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Monthly meeting of garden-oriented book club, sponsored by Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, will be held at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.).  September’s book will be A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. Free and open to the public. (October’s book will be The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton.)

The Joy of Bluebirds

Friday, Sept. 12, Noon-1:00 p.m. Presented by Master Gardener Jim Bearden as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). Free and open to the public.

Indoor Plants

Thursday, September 18, 10:30 a.m. to Noon. Presented by Cobb Extension horticulture staff member Amy Whitney, at UGA Extension/Cobb County, second floor, 678 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060. Free and open to the public, but please preregister by calling 770-528-4070.

ALSO, come to the Marietta Square Farmer’s Market and meet Cobb Extension staff and some of our Master Gardener Extension Volunteers. We will be there on August 30 to answer questions on canning, food preservation, lawns and gardens. Bring sick plants (or large pieces of them) for help with diagnosis and treatment options, and bring bugs for identification.

ALSO, applications for the January 2015 Master Gardener class are now being accepted. Visit the website of UGA Extension in Cobb County to download an application.

Armyworms On the Move

Fall army worm PHOTO/Kris Braman, UGA Entomologist

Armyworms can eat a lot of turfgrass as they march through a lawn.  The idea that "armies march on their stomachs" goes double for these caterpillar pests!

The recent article "Fall Armyworms in Turf," by UGA's Will Hudson, Cherie Abraham, and Kris Braman,  which appeared in UGA's Landscape Alert Newsletter, explains that these pests typically just make the lawn look ragged.

However, it adds that "newly sodded or sprigged areas can be more severely damaged or even killed."

It goes on to explain that some grasses are more susceptible to damage than others:

"At least some cultivars of all warm season grasses are susceptible. Cool season grasses like tall fescue are very favorable for fall armyworm growth and development too, and do not regenerate as readily as the stoloniferous grasses."

 Armyworms tend to be more active late in the day and at night, so they might not be readily apparent when a homeowner is out looking at a damaged lawn during the day.

A 2012 Georgia FACES article by Adam Speir on fall armyworms mentions that an inverted Y-shape on the head of the caterpillar is an identifying feature, and that these caterpillars also can cause considerable damage to agricultural fields.

For lawns as for fields, scouting for the pests if their presence is suspected can prevent a lot of potential damage. For homeowners, this is the recommendation for finding the armyworms: "If there is any doubt about whether worms are present, pouring soapy water on the grass (1/2 oz. dishwashing soap/gallon water) will bring them up very quickly. Heavily infested turf will also have visible greenish-black fecal pellets on the soil surface. Other indicators of armyworm infestations may include birds or even paper wasps that use the fall armyworms as food."

For fuller explanations of the lifecycle or control recommendations for this pest, read the above-linked articles or check with your local extension office. 

Looking for Reliable Lawn and Garden Information?

Plenty of homeowners like to solve their own lawn and garden problems by looking for information online, but most of us have learned that not all internet sources are equally reliable.

Luckily for those who prefer to do a little of their own research before calling in additional help, Extension specialists at UGA and other land-grant universities have written publications about many lawn, garden, and landscape problems and other topics, and these research-based publications are available to the public.

The UGA Extension Publications webpage has two "Search" boxes that can be used to find relevant publications for many problems. One search box is in the upper right portion of the page, and the other is on the left, farther down the page. Both boxes work equally well.

To use them, just type in a search word or two, click on the "go" button, then wait to see the results. The first few publications in the results list tend to be most relevant, but sometimes a potentially useful publication shows up later in the list, so it's a good idea to look beyond the first several publication titles.

For example, a search using the word "ponds" brings up publications about managing ponds during drought, oxygen depletion in ponds, and using chemicals in pond management. The next few titles in the list are about cattle, irrigation, and wastewater treatment, but then a publication about fertilizing ponds for sport fish production shows up on "page 2" of the results. In other words, the results list for this particular search is a cornucopia of publications on many aspects of ponds and their uses!

For UGA, the Extension Publications page also can be used to find information about household pests, soil and water testing, vegetables, orchards, turfgrass, forage crops, wildlife food plots, canning, food safety, radon testing, and many more topics.

It occasionally happens that a topic of interest doesn't appear in the results list. Sometimes, this is because UGA specialists just haven't written about that topic yet. In those cases, reliable publications sometimes are available though regionally appropriate sources at Clemson University Extension, North Carolina State University Extension, and Alabama Extension System.

Of course, reliable information can also be obtained through your local Extension office!

Upcoming Events

Planning the Fall Vegetable Garden

Thursday, July 24, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Amy Whitney, of UGA Extension/Cobb County, will explain what to grow, when to plant, and how to find space for the fall garden.  Class will be held in the second floor classroom at 678 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060. Free program, but please preregister by calling 770-528-4070.

Thyme to Read

Friday, Aug 8, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Debut of garden-oriented book club, sponsored by Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, will be held at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). The book for this first meeting is The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. September’s book will be A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. Free program series is open to the public.

Weed ID for Weed Control

Friday, Aug 8, noon – 1:00 p.m. Neil Tarver, of UGA Extension/Cobb County, will help us identify weeds in order to select the most effective means of control, as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). Free and open to the public.

The Annual Sequence of Blooms Beloved by Worker Honeybees

Tuesday, Aug 12, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Master Gardener and beekeeper Rita Buehner will tell us how to keep our yards blooming to help the bees, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at East Cobb Regional Library, 4880 Lower Roswell Rd., Marietta, 30068. Free and open to the public.

ALSO, come to the Marietta Square Farmer’s Market and meet Cobb Extension staff and some of our Master Gardener Extension Volunteers. We will be there from 8:30 a.m. to noon on July 26 and August 30 to answer questions on canning, food preservation, lawns and gardens. Bring sick plants (or large pieces of them) for help with diagnosis and treatment options, and bring bugs for identification.

Cobb Community Gardens meeting July 17

The next quarterly meeting of Cobb Community Gardens (CCG) is coming up!

July 17, 2014

6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Cobb Extension office

(second floor classroom)   

678 South Cobb Drive

Marietta, 30060

The speaker for the evening will be Bobby Wilson, immediate past president of the American Community Garden Association, with a Q & A to follow. Mr. Wilson also is President and CEO of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm and Program Director for the UGA Extension/Atlanta Urban Gardening program.

CCG was formed with the goal of supporting and promoting community gardens throughout Cobb County, and its meetings are open to everyone interested in community gardens.

For additional information about either the meeting or the group, please feel welcome to call the Cobb Extension office at 770-528-4070.