Sometimes we put a lot of effort into learning new techniques. We are delighted when the new things grow as we hoped they might. What do we then do, when that beautifully grown crop turns out to be something that we don’t actually like. If you are a regular reader of Dallying In The Dirt, you will have followed my learning curve as I planted, trained and learned to properly prune my new Grape vines. I had a great crop of Grapes and I even was able to harvest them before any other creatures helped themselves. I don’t like them! They are somewhat bitter and they have a plentiful supply of seeds that are difficult to dislodge as you are eating them. I’m sure they would make a great grape jelly but how much of that can you use in any given year. Much to my great dismay, my carefully pruned 6 row kniffen is going to be ripped out. I’ll take out one this year and plant some better variety in the spring. I wouldn’t want all that learning to go to waste. When the new variety is established, I will rip out the second vine and replace it. Live and learn as they say.




Running rampant through my garden at this time of year is a very common disease. Powdery Mildew is showing its fluffy white self on a wide variety of crops. Interestingly, although it appears the same on each crop, it is actually a different fungus that attacks each one. The horrible stuff that is destroying my Tuberous Begonias is only a distant relative of the stuff that’s killing the Zucchini. While that’s very interesting, horticulturally, I really just want to know what to do about it. On the Peonies and Phlox, I don’t really care because it doesn’t do enough damage to care about. My Begonias, on the other hand, are in their prime and will continue to bloom beautifully for another few weeks before the frost finally takes them. Apparently it can be controlled with common household ingredients. Follow this link to learn how Milk and Baking soda could be the answer to a very vexing problem