As you relax after work and stroll through the garden, watch for early signs of pests and/or disease. Catching problems early, before heavy infestations of aphids for example, is an important preventative measure.

Early tomato blight is a notorious fungal disease that is generally one of the most severe tomato problems faced by home gardeners each season. Early signs of the disease show up on the lower parts of plants as leaf blight (rapid discoloration and wilting are signs).

One way to help keep early tomato blight from infecting your tomato plants is to avoid planting tomatoes in the same spot year after year. Crop rotation plays a vital role in keeping a healthy garden.

In the annual and perennial gardens, pinching off spent blooms will add a few more days, or maybe even weeks, to your show of color through the season.

What you’re actually doing is forcing the plant to put more energy into producing new buds instead of allowing the plant to go to seed.

Deadheading is an easy gardening chore that keeps plants tidy and neat, with the added benefit of prolonged flowering.

Daily walks in the garden, morning or evening, allow you to watch for signs that will tell you if things are as they should be in the garden.

Our peonies, with their drooping stems, have lost all the petals from their flowers.

Circling each plant are hundreds of gorgeous pink petals, rose-like in their texture and feel, standing out in stark contrast against the lush green of the lawn.

As peonies fade, lilies begin their showy display. And after the lilies?

The answer lies in a future column.

Terry (TC) Conner lives and gardens on three acres in Mercer. For answers to your gardening questions, contact him at tc@thewritegardener.com.  For answers to other gardening questions, go to: http://solutions.psu.edu