Garden Talk: Why are my cucumbers bitter?

Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Here are a selection of questions and answers from the Sept. 1 show.

Q: Why are my cucumbers bitter?

A: Bitterness usually comes from two things — the weather or a nutrient deficiency. Because we had a cool spring this year plants didn’t really set fruit properly, but the type of nutrients you have in your soil is very important. Check the pH of your soil and make sure you’re using an organic vegetable fertilizer — not one with just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but boron, zinc and magnesium as well. All those nutrients make it taste better.

If the pH of the soil is too high, the plant can’t absorb the right nutrients. Buy a pH test kit at any garden centre and make sure you use distilled water not tap water. Most places in Saskatchewan the soil needs aluminum sulfate or sulfur added, but a few places in the province you also need to add lime. If the pH is too low, then you can raise it with lime, but most people are going to use aluminum sulfate or sulfur to lower the pH to get it to around 6 .5 to 7.
That’s where you want it, especially for cucumbers.

There were a lot of cool nights this year and cucumbers had a really  tough time.We had lost of calls at the garden centre asking why cucumbers were not doing well. Then it got hot and warm and then powdery mildew started setting in. It was just a rough year for cucumbers.

See Dutch Growers Ultimate Guide to Fertilizing for more information.

Q: Should I wait until a frost to prune Saskatoon berries?

A: The sugars are slowly starting to go down in plants because
even though it’s warm, the daylight hours are getting shorter. Plants notice that and start getting ready for winter. I like waiting for at least one frost on the plants.

Q: Should I keep watering plants after Labour Day Weekend?

A: Start slowing down watering. Cut daily watering back to every second day or water less every day. You want to get the plants a little bit stressed so that they turn colour and you don’t want new growth that might get damaged in winter.

Stop watering your lawn because roots from trees also get watered. You still need to keep plants alive so don’t stop watering altogether, just slowly cut back.

Q: What is the best time to plant grape vines? What variety of grapes should I plant?

A: It’s the best to start them in spring, but you can plant in fall if you mulch them. You need two varieties in order for them to pollinate. You can plant mostly one variety, but you need to have a few of the other type mixed in.

Beta and Valiant are the two hardiest varieties if you’re out in the country but in the city you have more choice because it is a little more sheltered — try Bluebell or Alonia as well. They will all pollinate each other.

Q: How far apart do grape vines need to be planted? Can grape vines be planted along a fence or do they need a wire?

A: If you’ve got lots of room, three or four feet apart, because they’re going to grow right together. Grapes are grown on wires for fruit production, so there is light on both sides of the plant. If you’re putting in vines for privacy or just as a garden plant a fence is OK, and you will still get some grapes.

Q: What is causing brown needles on my spruce tree?

A: If the browning is happening from the inside out it’s spider mite. If it’s happening just on on the tips it could be needlecast. Spider mites do well in hot weather because that’s when they reproduce. If you keep the humidity up by spraying the trees with cold water, they can’t reproduce in high humidity. Do it once to knock the mites off, then keep the tree wet to stop the cycle.

Q: How do I overwinter a citronella plant and a petunia?

A: Treat citronella like a geranium — wait for a light frost to trigger dormancy. If it’s in a pot, bring it inside, trim it back by about half and put it in a cool, dark place, like by a basement window. It needs some some light. Water very sparingly — the soil should be dry but not bone dry. Water maybe once every three or four weeks. Around the middle of January or beginning of February, bring it into full light and start watering to get it growing again.

Putunias go decline a lot, so overwintering is not worth it, just buy new plants in spring.

Q: Is there emerald ash borer in Saskatchewan?

A: I haven’t heard about infestations here yet but it’s only a matter of time before it gets here. In Saskatchewan we have a lot of space between the trees so we have only pockets of native ash trees here and there and there’s a lot of farmland between some of those. The only way it’s going to get spread is by people transporting firewood with bark on.

Q: What are the signs of an emerald ash borer infestation?

A: If you see sawdust at the base of your tree, or if you see your tree dying prematurely, like leaves falling off in the summer you may have it. The larvae burrow underneath the bark and the mine underneath, cutting off the sap to the whole top of the tree. There are millions of trees in Ontario that have had to be cut down because it moves so fast, and in our cities we have lots ash trees.

Don’t haul firewood around when you’re camping or buy it from another part of the province to burn in your fire pit. If you’re going to use firewood, buy it from somewhere close by.

Some arborists are injecting trees, which protects the tree for two years. It poisons the sap for the borer. There is a parasitic wasp that attacks the pest but it is undergoing studies to make sure it dosn’t harm beneficial insects.

• Garden Talk: Blooming heck, my hydrangeas look like broccoli!
• Garden Talk: How to deal with a lily beetle invasion
• Garden Talk: To prune or not to prune?

Q: What sort of grass should I plant for a runway? Can I plant a runaway at the end of September?

A: If you have irrigation for the area, then there’s lots of different ones you can use. You know, there’s lots of different Canada No. 1 mixes that you can use that aren’t clumpy. Sheep fescue is more clumpy.

Talk to Early’s Farm and Garden Centre in Saskatoon. They blend almost all the grass seeds for all the parks in Saskatchewan.They can make up a blend with a more drought-tolerant type of grass that you can use for a runway.

Don’t plant in September, wait until October so it doesn’t germinate otherwise a lot will die over winter.  Put the seed down now and as it is a runway and pretty flat so it’s not going to run off, but the seed needs to be in contact with the soil so harrow it so it doesn’t blow away.

If you’re in not a hurry, plant some barley in with it to protect and hold the grass. The barley dies off after a year, just keep it mown so it doesn’t go to seed.

Q: How to I deal with powdery mildew?

A: You can spray with garden sulfur or a mixture of milk and water
or baking soda and water. Spray as soon as you see it, or even as a preventive. Try not to water on leaves in the evening. Have it come on in the morning so the sun dries the leaves off.

Q: Can I transplant my peony bed?

A: Wait until a frost before you dig up peonies. Peonies don’t have a big root system so keep them moist right now. As the temperature starts dropping, then slow down the watering on the newly planted ones. About the second or third week in October, give them a good soaking, almost like freezing them in. Do that as late as you can, but you don’t want the ground frozen when you do it.

Q: How do I get rid of unwanted Caragana?

A: Dig them out. Roundup will kill them, but apply it two or three times as it has to be applied on the green leaves as they’re coming up again. Make sure you use safety gear when you’re handing the Roundup.

Q: How do I deal with corn borer?

A: Make sure you get rid of all your crop residue at the end of the season. Don’t put the corn stalks in the compost. Next year use some diatomaceous earth in the row with the seed.

Q: The berries on my raspberries are very small? How can I fix that?

A: Prune out only the third year canes and then let the second and the first year suckers come up to be producers for the next year.

These questions and answers have been edited and condensed.

Read more

• Garden Talk: Blooming heck, my hydrangeas look like broccoli!
• Garden Talk: How to deal with a lily beetle invasion
• Garden Talk: To prune or not to prune?