If your place is like mine, it’s getting to be the time of year when everything is exploding with growth. Time to get out there and tuck, train, and trim tomatoes (again) to keep them producing fruits and keep light and air moving through the plants better than they are today. Here, there are two rows that need a serious trimming session and then a handful of rogue vines need to be tucked or tied up to the cages. If you’re growing indeterminate tomatoes, you should have new flowers at the top of your plants. Add some organic phosphorous, if you need to boost the flower production.
We are nearing the “last call” for planting fall crops. Grab your seed packets and see if you have enough days to get your favorites to maturity. Here, that includes peas, sunflowers, zinnias, broccoli, carrots, beets, radishes and leafy greens.
Check your plants thoroughly for insects this week. This means standing on your head sometimes to look under the leaves where the little buggers like to hang out or deposit their eggs. If you have a problem with aphids (click here to read more and see images) now is the time to get rid of them. The University of IL Extension recommends using a strong stream of water to blast them. Aphids are soft-bodied insects, so they literally explode. Their eggs overwinter on plant material, so it’s important to pull all your plants and get them out of the garden in the fall. If you see beautiful, round, copper insect eggs on the leaves of your cucurbits (squash, cucumbers, etc) those are squash bug eggs. Remove the leaves and get them off your property – maybe dry them on the concrete and burn them or send them out with your green waste. Then, spray for the nymphs and adults. You can use dish soap and water in a sprayer or spray bottle or use OMRI certified organic Spinosad as a control. The same situation holds true for cucumber beetles. Those little guys can carry a bacteria that infects the plants and makes them wilt and die within 24 hours. Let me tell you that seeing dead cucumber vines is a heart-sick situation.
If you can get out in short bursts this week, open up the soil in your gardens. Use a hoe, cultivator, garden rake or any other tool that you have. The soil is absolutely saturated and breaking the top crust of the soil will speed up drying and evaporating. The plants need this badly right now. We could use a steady breeze for the rest of the season to help keep the plants dry and ward off fungal issues.
Start thinking about preserving harvests. You know that we do a lot of canning, but that’s not the only way to preserve food. Many things can be dehydrated or frozen. When things are in peak season, it’s the best time to preserve some for winter use. Crops like peas, beans, carrots, onions, zucchini and other squash, tomatoes and peppers all can be successfully frozen. They may be better suited for long cooking recipes when you take them out of the freezer (tomatoes are a perfect example – soups, stews, sauces and other long cooking things are perfect). Click here to learn more about safely freezing food.
Walk through your landscape and deadhead anything that has gone past its prime. Here, that means another pass through the coneflowers, Asiatic lilies, daylilies, coral bells, and the yarrow. In the cutting gardens, the zinnias will get a light pass, and a handful of sunflowers will get removed.
The tip of the week is about planting fall crops. We can see all kinds of weather and temperatures as we think about seeding cooler season plants, so seeding into a flat makes this process a little easier. It’s easier to have all the seeds in a flat that holds water to keep those seeds moist, and you have one spot to monitor and water all your fall seeds. Once a certain plant is mature enough to plant out, go get the area ready and pop your desired plants out of the flat. Instant success in the garden! Hahaha – sort of. But seriously, more seeds get started in flats here every year. Birds are not plucking seeds out of the flat (especially if it’s in the covered hoop house), the seeds can be moved if a storm is coming, or if weather looks to be brutally hot. This tip has been a game changer. Lettuce sprouts in a flat so much faster and reliably than in the soil, especially later in the season.
Thanks for following along and for reaching out with your plant problems. Hopefully they’re rebounding!