From flooding last week to roasting like a side of beef this week, the weather this spring has got me concerned. May was cold and damp and even though we didn’t have a frost since late April, no one started their planting early because the weather was so terrible. The only Saturday that didn’t rain in May was the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend and no one really started planting gardens then either. I went away in late April and didn’t get back until mid-May, but before I left we planted our potatoes as we were not worried about frost with them. They seem to be doing fine right now, but the vegetables that were planted a week and a half ago are still just the same size as when they were planted. We just aren’t seeing enough sun. Hopefully this week will get them growing with the sun and heat. There is an old farmer’s saying, “You want your corn knee high by Fourth of July”. That will be a tall task this year as the ground has been too wet to get tractors out on the fields without rutting them up. Once the crops do get planted rain every other day would be nice for growing, just not two inches in a day. 

Another thing I’m not seeing with the wet weather is honeybees. As of the time I’m writing this column, I have not seen a honeybee this year, not even in our garden center or greenhouse. We have loads of bumblebees, carpenter bees and mason bees, but no honeybees. Talking recently with another beekeeper who purchased bees this spring as she lost hers over the winter like I did, her new bees seem to be flourishing to the point she had to add another box on her hive already. That’s a good sign at least. The cold weather has hurt the native bee populations, but I’m still hopeful that I will catch a swarm by mid-summer. I would rather catch a wild swarm than buy bees, not because I’m cheap, but I would rather have bees that are used to Sullivan County weather. There are many bee farms in the mid-Atlantic states that ship bees and back in the day we used to sell bees at the store from these farms. The bees are hardy for the area, but I have never had luck overwintering bees from south of here. Now many of the swarms that I have caught in the past could have been from hives that split that were originally from these sources, but I’ll never know. 

Another problem brought on by the wet spring is a lot of fungus and disease on trees and shrubs. Neem oil is a good fungicide/insecticide, that guards against fungus and bugs, but there are better options. If you want to stay organic, copper fungicide is the strongest organic fungicide. It works well for black spot on roses or grapes as well as blight, rust, mildews. Funginil is a chemical fungicide that is the strongest on the market, but obviously not organic. Whichever way you want to go treating for fungus isn’t difficult, but just don’t spray once and think you’re all done. Fungus, blight, rust, etc., can lie dormant in the ground under the fallen leaves from your plants last year. So to prevent this make sure to spray fungicide around your trees and shrubs in the fall after the last of the leaves have fallen, this way it helps protect your plants next spring. 

Lastly, I would like to thank all my loyal readers who were surprised to see me this spring back working in the garden center after all the hype about me being retired. I have been pressed back into service by my son while he finds a new garden center sales person which is no easy task, but it is always nice to see familiar faces everyday.