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Newsletter of the Master Gardener King County Diagnostic Lab

Read in the June 2020 issue:

• Should I fertilize? Should I mulch?
• Nutrient Deficiencies in Plants – A quick visual study guide
• Raised-bed Vegetable Gardening
• Weather Station: do we have a temperature?
• Nerd’s Corner: Broad-Leaved Evergreens
• Verticillium Wilt – once more with feeling
• Twigga Mortis: Weevils, cutworms and slugs
• Weeds: Giant Hogweed vs Cow Parsnip

This newsletter is sent monthly to King County Master Gardeners during the active garden months from March to October. Look for the current issue in your email.

Miss a past issue? Find it here.

MGFKC Newsletter – The Foundation Connection
Read all about what’s of interest in the June 2020 issue!

• Read the Program Coordinator’s Call to Action
• News from the Foundation: 2020-2021 Board by Jim Olson, Board President
• Alison Johnson’s Shares Thoughts on her Time on the Board
• MG Spring Plant Sales: Necessity is the Mother of Invention by MG Gary Scheider
• Plant Sources: Perennial Potters by MG Cleo Raulerson
• A’Key Grant Applications: July 1 Deadline by MG Bob Connor, A’Key Grant Committee
• WSU Extension Foresty Program: Free Webinars by Mary Watts, Extension Coordinator, King County
• Hort Book Selection: The Tree Book by MG Bruce Williams
• News Shoots: Ask a MG Online Clinics are LIVE!
• MG Volunteer Opportunities
• CE Opportunities
• What’s Happening News & Updates

…more …

This newsletter is sent monthly to King County Master Gardeners. Look for it in your email. Miss a past issue? Find it here.

You don’t have to strike out with Tillandsias.  These epiphytes stand out in many shapes, sizes and psychedelic colors.  My local nursery tells me they are a big favorite of the people living in all the new developments in the area because they can grow indoors so easily.   DispIay them creatively: glue a cluster of them to a piece of wood or a single one onto a small piece of driftwood, pop one in a teacup or hang them in various houseplants.

The best location to keep them is in a room with bright, filtered light.  I had a cluster of them for many years playing hardball and refusing to bloom.  I started experimenting with putting a small one outside in the summer hanging on a nail on my east-facing front porch.  It received some early morning sun (on the days the sun came out.)  Otherwise, it just got a good dose of bright light.

Read the full article by Wendy Lagozzino as published in the December 2014 The Dirt, MGF newsletter

See additional resources at the bottom of this post.

From 3/8^th inch Plywood – “Cut and Assemble

2 ea 9X8           Sides

1 ea 12X8         Back

1 ea 12X13       Top

1 ea 9X13         Bottom

This “box” will hold “six – ½ gal plastic milk cartons (just cut off the top, making a six inch plastic container)”.  This box will hold about 450 “Roll Your Own” paper Nesting Tubes, enough for about 4000, “Pollinating Bees”.  These Mason Bees pollinate your trees, March-May/June – when nothing else is out to pollinate.  They only live about 100 days, then die, but have laid their eggs for next year’s crop. Continue Reading »

Photo Credit: F D Richards

Spring is a good time to divide established plants, and many herbaceous perennials need to be divided every few years anyway to stay healthy.

Plan to dig on a cool morning, preferably one with cloud cover – not too hard around here.  Continue Reading »

Cedar flagging is a natural process that is often confused with a disease.  Evergreen plants, including conifers and broad leaf types, naturally shed some old foliage each year. Stress factors, such as insufficient water, hot winds, construction damage or other root disturbance, poor planting procedures, or recent planting can promote flagging.  It is being seen more often this year because it is more common when there is hot weather followed by cold weather.

Continue Reading »

Planting fava beans at Shorewood High School Culinary Arts Garden – a Youth Education Garden in Shoreline, Washington.

Gardening is a year-round activity in western Washington. That may be a bane or a blessing, depending on your perspective.  The garden year doesn’t end when we pick the last tomato at the end of summer. This quarterly feature will highlight what’s going on in gardens in King County. Our gardens can be productive year-round, yielding vegetables and herbs well into fall and through the winter. During October, November, and December we harvest remaining summer produce, clean up the yard and garden to prepare for winter, and plant cool-weather and cover crops for winter and spring.

Continue Reading »

Pollination of food crops is essential to society, for without this pollination service, most fruits, nuts and other foods would simply disappear off our dinner tables.  Today, the world depends on a variety of pollinators to perform this task from a variety of sources: Honeybees and a number of other insects – and the hard working Mason Bee. [Originally posted June 2011]

Continue Reading »

It’s not unusual to find an assortment of large trees in residential landscapes throughout our coastal region.  Many of these trees are native to the area and undoubtedly not much thought was given to their eventual size when they were planted. As a result, towering one-hundred foot plus Douglas firs, Western Red Cedars and gigantic big leaf maples along with other tree species often dominate the garden landscape.  With meteorologists predicting a stormy winter, the question is often asked, just how safe are these huge trees?  Is there a chance they could lose major branches or even blow over?
Continue Reading »