I've had some terrible springs with PLC on this tree plus my two Babcock Peach trees. I finally found the right combination of dormant spray that has really helped. Daconil sprayed around New Years and again around Valentine's Day has done a good job. I'm now on the lookout for Brown Rot, which usually hits right around harvest time. I'll spray with Monterey Fungi Fighters at the first sign.

I have two girls: 2 and 4-1/2. My 4yo has been helping me in the garden since she was 1 year or so...I planted a cherry tomato bush for her and she loved loved to pick them and eat them one after another. She always liked to hold the hose. By the time she was two she had learned to dig for worms, and we talked a lot about being gentle with them, holding them only for a minute, and then putting them back into the ground and covering them with dirt. She likes to help dig, sprinkle seeds, use the hose, and this year we started two worm bins. Both kids really enjoyed shredding/dipping/wringing/fluffing the newspaper and gathering leaves to make a home for the worms. The double-watering-can idea is a great one - we have lots of scuffles over the hose, and the older one likes to water the younger one with it, which rarely ends well. Tomorrow we're getting watering cans! Last year I planted a sunflower house with all greystripe sunflowers. It produced over a hundred awesome flowers, but I wish I had planted them closer together (more than 1 per foot) because the leaves never got close enough to make thick walls. So this year I went crazy with seed catalogs and bought 10+ varieties of sunflowers in all colors, sizes, heights, etc. There's one called "American Giant" which is supposed to be 16+ feet tall. I'm going to try to make a better house, and they can help me dig and sprinkle. My 2yo now demands that we dig for worms whenever we set food in the back yard, and if she finds one, the other one comes running. If she finds a slug, she picks it up and says, "Nasty slug get me!" (trans. "Nasty slug tried to get me." Today she found a small rock and thought it was a slug. When I told her it was a rock, she said, "Dirty rock get me!" Two years ago we planted strawberries given to us by a friend with a surplus of plants, so we've talked about how flowers turn to fruit, and how the bees and such do their part. In the summer the girls beg to go and check for strawberries and raspberries every day. These have never made it back to the house. :-) The thing I struggle with the most is when they spill something valuable - like when the two year old poured the bucket of organic fertilizer I had mixed into the grass. And last year when I had my back turned for a few minutes turning soil over, they opened every package of beans (probably about 2+ cups total) and mixed them into their tiny bucket with dirt. 0_o So we just sprinkled them all over and had a mixed bean jungle later that year. I constantly remind them to please not step onto the dirt that I have just planted things in (esp. the potato bed!!) and of course they do so I just try to remind myself that kids who love being outdoors and learn that gardening is fun are more important that a reduced potato yield. (Duh!) They love looking at seed racks, and so I usually let my 4yo pick out a package of flower seeds. There's an old cement double-basin sink in our backyard that we filled with dirt and last year she put in anemones and nasturtiums. This year she picked out sweet peas. We got a flower-seed catalog, so just for kicks and giggles I gave them a packet of sticky notes and they used up the whole package marking what they would like to plant in the garden. Most days they end up completely soaked and/or muddy, and I've learned to send them out barefoot. As of right now there are no fewer than 7 pairs of shoes drying on the back porch. We're still working on helping me weed, since they can't (yet) tell the difference between a weed and a plant that we want to keep. They do have their own buckets and shovels, but even today they eschewed those for the "real" tools. My 2yo grabbed the 6-ft shovel and my 4yo grabbed the rake and they went to town on the newly planted bed of kale and chard. I've discovered that unless the sprinkler is on, they usually just want to do what I'm doing, and the hardest part is keeping up with them (i.e. digging a hole fast enough for the seeds they're dropping). Gardening with kids is an adventure for me and them!

I have Nandina in my North strip. It is true that late in the day they they get some sun. Even so, I choose to plant with thinking a northern exposure in mind. I think Lavender needs more sun than it will receive close to the house. Could you plant it about three feet from the house? I had Teucrium for awhile in front of my Nandina but I don't think it liked the boron in our soil. I also have some Vinca underneath the Nandia. I would not say it is thriving as I completely ignore it. Still, it remains there and sometimes blooms. Any time I have a difficult situation I use Nandina to solve it. I know it is a pest in some areas but there are really not that many plants that can take shade with an hour or two of hot California sun.

I know I haven't posted here in a long time, but I wanted to let this group know about our upcoming garden tour. Funds raised will help with our community service projects and help fund our Helen M. Logan Allen Garden Club scholarship for Allen High School seniors who plan on majoring in a horticulture related field in college. If you live in Collin County, this is going to be a spectacular garden tour! The 7th Allen Garden Club Tour showcases a variety of landscape options The Allen Garden Club will showcase beautiful and unique landscapes at local homes during its 7th garden tour on Saturday, June 4. The tour is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be held rain or shine. Each garden features something a little different—from shade gardening and vegetable gardening to a certified wildlife habitat with a beautiful selection of native and adapted plants, says club president Denise Webre. Also on the tour are the trial gardens at the Allen Public Library, which were created along with the Collin County Master Gardeners. “There are many environmental challenges in North Texas and trial gardens allow us to grow and evaluate a variety of plants to see how they hold up to the soil, sudden drops in temperatures, extreme heat of summer and varied rainfall.” Denise explains. Guests are invited to go at their own pace to visit the gardens, which are located in Allen and Parker. Each tour spot will feature free seeds and bottled water, as well as baskets filled with garden and gifts items that will be raffled off. Raffle tickets will be sold at each garden for $1 each or six for $5. Tour ticket booklets will be available throughout May and up until the day of the tour at Puckett's Nursery and Landscape, 811 East Main St. in Allen for a $10 donation to the garden club. A limited number of tour book tickets are available at the following Calloway's Nurseries: 2460 Hwy. 121, Plano; 1621 Custer Rd., Plano; and 4050 El Dorado Pkwy., McKinney. Funds raised from the tour will be used for community service projects and the Helen M. Logan Allen Garden Club scholarship for Allen High School seniors planning to get a degree in a horticulture-related field. The mission of the Allen Garden Club is to: educate the community about natural gardening practices and the benefits of gardening, encourage people to conserve natural resources, and participate in community service projects. The club meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month (except January and July) at the Allen Heritage Center Train Depot, 100 E. Main Street in downtown Allen. For more information, visit www.allengardenclub.org or contact Denise Webre, AGC President at allengardenclub@yahoo.com. https://allen.bubblelife.com/community/allen_reporter/library/35662521/key/351941682