2025 Lawns & Gardens Thread. Making Lawns Great Again

[dryslot]

Cucumbers coming fast and furious.

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, dryslot said:

Cucumbers coming fast and furious.

That’s the best way to do it…upward. Powdery mildew is a biatch.

[dryslot]

11 minutes ago, dendrite said:

That’s the best way to do it…upward. Powdery mildew is a biatch.

Yes it is, Been doing it this way for a few years, I've been dusting them weekly with Diatomaceous earth (Food Grade) and this is the first year i've been pretty much pest and powdery mildew free, This here has been a game changer for all my plants, Took care of the japanese beetles and the ants too on the blueberry bushes.

 

[dendrite]

On 8/4/2025 at 10:01 AM, BrianW said:

@dendrite

Just watched this and remember you were growing Chestnuts. Apparently there's 4 trees that seem to be blight resistant so there is hope of bringing them back. 

 

https://www.ctpublic.org/shows/human-footprint/clip/the-ghost-tree-bringing-back-the-american-chestnut-mzwjuw

 

Just had time to watch this.

I don’t think any are truly resistant. Some just find a way to avoid the spores for a long time. There was an original tree in Farmington, NH that they were hand pollinating with that I believe started succumbing in recent years. There’s another one in Maine that they found when flying over the forests as well. The further north you get the more it seems the blight is less intense. There’s planted trees from the 1800s in Wisocnsin that are finally beginning to get hit by the westward spreading blight as well. There’s high elevation trees in the Appalachians that are mature and producing viable nuts so it has struggled going “upward”. 

SUNY ESF is going to be distributing their Darling 54 gene edited tree soon. I’ve soured on that project in recent years. I liked what the woman was doing in the video with growing out saplings and injecting them with a dose of blight to test their resistance in a controlled environment. 

[Damage In Tolland]

23 hours ago, dendrite said:

That’s the best way to do it…upward. Powdery mildew is a biatch.

Banner year for them here. I must have 50 or more that have either been picked or growing off of just 3 plants. On the ground 

https://imgur.com/a/xleJVfO

[jbenedet]

Crab grass war finally over and won. Time to reseed the bare spots—-going primarily Texas bluegrass in these patches…

[SJonesWX]

53 minutes ago, jbenedet said:

Crab grass war finally over and won. Time to reseed the bare spots—-going primarily Texas bluegrass in these patches…

unless you have irrigation, you might want to hold off on the seeding.

[Baroclinic Zone]

On 8/4/2025 at 9:12 PM, dendrite said:

I moved a piece of wood near my potted grafted apple and pear trees this evening and found 2 asian jumping worms under it. I'm pretty sure they came over in some Coast of Maine soil. Bummer

 

Remembered this post and made me find this. Learned something new outta this. Worms are not good for our native forests.

Great YT channel if you’re into geeking out on our ecosystem.

 

[dendrite]

16 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Remembered this post and made me find this. Learned something new outta this. Worms are not good for our native forests.

Great YT channel if you’re into geeking out on our ecosystem.

 

Yup. Euro earthworms are really only good for lawns and are technically invasive too. They get a free pass with honeybees since they’re good for crops and gardens and have been naturalized into our country for hundreds of years.

The asian ones are voracious feeders and stay shallow in the soil and near the surface. Those hammerhead worms have been creeping into ME and SNE. Those are another level of freaky. 

[dendrite]

Coming soon to a yard near you