WOW!! How about that weather!!

As we roll into the end of June and into the 4^th of July weekend we notice a few things about the weather: cool, damp, and cloudy. This is not a good combination for plants. After coming off a bad winter for plants, the landscape looked bleak and burned. Most plants showed severe winter damage.

Now that we are 1/2 way through the year, a whole new group of problems are seen.

• Many leaves are yellowing with black spots.
• Many insects are around.
• There is also a lot of powdery mildew.

These problems are caused by the weather.

There are easy fixes to these problems. Most insects we have seen can be controlled any general purpose insecticide. Black spot and fungus can be controlled by a fungicide. This year, we like to recommend Orthenex by Ortho and Earth-tone by Espoma. Both are multi use products that can control insects and diseases.

Another thing to do this season is to fertilize a little heaver then normal. Plants that cannot get enough energy form the sun need to get it from other places. In wet years granular fertilizers tend to work better then liquids. Most liquid fertilizer is water based and washes out too easily in wet weather.

As we look to the summer months, all we can do is hope that the weather patterns return to something close to normal. If not we will be here to try to have some helpful advise on how to keep things as healthy and looking as good as possible .

A Word on Bulk Mulch

At this time, Marcucio Gardens does not have bulk mulch on hand. On May 19, 2007, we received a letter from the city of Derby. A neighbor wrote a letter to the town about noise from the tractors. Upon pulling of the file to respond to the complaint it was discovered that 9 years ago Marcucio Gardens did not get a permit to operate a nursery in an agricultural zone. We did not know that we needed such a permit. Now after 9 years in operation, the town says we are in violation of the zoning. Upon being informed of the violations we quickly made changes to fix the problems. These changes included dismantling of concrete bins that held the bulk in a neat and contained area. As of now we do not have any bulk of any kind on hand. We hope that after the July 17, meeting of planning and zoning in Derby, all will be resolved and we will know if we can get the bulk material back again. Thank you for all your support!