Early Summer Garden Tour: Spotting Pest and Disease Problems
Looking for ways to control pest and disease problems in the garden. Follow these simple tips as we enjoy an early summer garden tour!
Now that the weather is heating up, this is about the time I start noticing problems in the gardens.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to walk through your garden(s) every day.
If you catch problems early enough, there’s a good chance you can fix it!
There are a multitude of pest and disease problems that can strike the garden.
The following is what I found this week in my own and how I am addressing each.
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Early Summer Garden Tour: Deer Damage
While walking the gardens, I noticed deer damage to some of my plants.
They ate almost all of the buds off of my roses about two weeks ago. This was my own fault though because I did nothing to protect them.
After noticing the damage, I sprayed all of my roses with Deer Out 40oz Ready-To-Use Deer Repellent (paid link) and that seems to have kept them at bay.
There are fresh buds on them now, so hopefully, I’ll have some nice rose blooms in the next week.
They also started nibbling on my Sedum “Autumn Joy” plants near the road. Although I’ve been spraying them, I sprayed them again to give them extra insurance and they have since left them alone.
Living in deer country, it is difficult to expect them not to browse.
But, it is possible to minimize the damage.
To learn more, see my blog Deer-Proofing Your Garden.
Groundhog Damage
If you saw my Instagram stories recently, you know how extensive the damage is to the containers on my deck.
The groundhog visits my deck and snacks on my plants yearly, but typically does most of the damage in late August.
This year, he struck in June which is really early.
I’d like to enjoy these plants for at least half of the summer before he decimates them!
Heading into the gardening season, I wanted to experiment with some repellents.
After trying some out, I can’t recommend anything at this time. They don’t work at all for this purpose at all.
My decks have multiple entrances, so gating it off would not help.
The only real solution I have is to trap and relocate it.
Although I’d love to move this guy along, I am not a fan of trapping and relocating animals.
In order for the relocation to be effective, it needs to be dropped over 10 miles away or it will return to home.
On its face, sending it off sounds like a great idea BUT when doing that, we are taking the animal out of its habitat and dropping it off in the middle of somewhere, where it has no home protection and predators are likely to get to it.
The chances of survival are slim, so I don’t really want to go this route.
We did it once several years ago and I felt terrible about it.
For now, I’m going to live with it.
And for the time being, I’m going to use my dogs’ fur that is left over after brushing them and put them in my pots to see if that will help.
If you have any suggestions aside from killing, trapping, and relocating, please let me know because I’m all ears!
Early Summer Garden Tour: Fall Webworm
While walking around this early summer garden tour, I noticed a web around a few branches on one of my Blueberry Bushes.
Upon closer inspection, it was a fall webworm.
The nest was not there a few days ago so that’s how quickly problems can arise.
Looking at it further, there were loads of tiny caterpillars inside laying eggs which is not good for any garden!
To remedy the situation, I grabbed my favorite pruners, Fiskars 91095935J Steel Bypass Pruning Shears to cut the infected branches off, place in a garbage bag, and disposed them.
Problem solved (for now) but I’ll need to keep an eye on the gardens.
Powdery Mildew
While touring the front beds, I noticed powdery mildew on my Tall Phlox.
This plant is susceptible to it, although it seems to have hit much earlier this season.
If the problem was minimal, I could use some neem oil on it.
But after all the rain we had and the extent that it’s on these plants, my inclination is to pull them out before it infects the rest of the garden.
While taking these photos, I put my phone down and dug them out.
It happens that fast around here! LOL!
This is my chance to replace them with something less fussy and I can try something different there to change up the border.
It’s extra work, yes, but it’s also an opportunity!
Earl Summer Garden Tour of the Front Cottage Garden
As we move through summer, Coreopsis, Echincea, Bee Balm, and Butterfly Weed are starting to bloom.
These plants will attract more pollinators to the garden.
The front border is drawing in more and more bees by the day.
They are really fun to watch zip around from flower to flower.
Since deer are stopping by more frequently than in years past, I just sprayed the plants that are more susceptible to deer damage.
Hopefully, they will walk on by and find a new path.
Well Garden
The well garden is bursting with yellow and orange hues from the Daylillies, Butterfly Weed, Coreopsis, Petunias, and Marigolds right now.
I love how these colors pair with the dramatic foliage color of Smoketree.
While I’m walking around this bed, dragonflies are covering the Daylillies and the bees are in heaven with the Butterfly Weed blooms.
Mailbox Garden
The Mailbox Garden is doing really well. Jackmanii Clematis is in full bloom and climbing the mailbox beautifully.
Someone drove over the front corner of my garden and took out a small portion of the Daylillies.
Since the garden is so close to the driveway…it happens.
Early Summer Garden Tour in the Backyard Gardens
The backyard gardens are doing really well.
I was able to do some weeding over the last week – not as much as I would like – but got a few of the beds cleaned up.
We are really enjoying the deck and fire pit areas and use both all the time!
The Vegetable Garden
Backyard Border
Deck Gardens
This is one of my favorite places to hang out.
Now that the containers are filling in, it feels really lush and tranquil. We eat dinner out here every night.
It is a great place to regroup with family and friends.
For source information and to learn more about how I decorated this area, see my blog Decorating the Deck for Summer.
Fire Pit Gardens
We use the fire pit a few times a week.
It’s nice to sit outside in a different area of the property and appreciate the beauty around us.
To learn more about this outdoor living area, see my blog Outdoor Fire Pit.
Want to See My Early Summer Garden in Real Time?
Watch this video!
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed this week’s garden tour and appreciate you joining me. If you missed a few tours or want to see how the garden has progressed, you can see them here:
Do you love to garden too?
I would love to hear about it and see some photos of your gardens, no matter how big or small.
Please leave your ideas, comments & more below or contact me here.
Be sure to find me @bricksnblooms on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram! And feel free to tag me on any photos you post so I can enjoy your garden too!
Thank you for following along and touring the gardens with me. Happy planting – enjoy your day! xo
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