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| Sound Food Gardening Tips 6-24 |
| Written by Marilyn Ostergren |
| Friday, 19 June 2009 10:53 |
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This week's update: This long spell of dry, warm weather has been a boon to growers this year. Plants that normally would still be struggling are doing gangbusters…including my tomatoes, corn (my first planting is over “knee high”), summer squash, and beans. However, the dry weather has emphasized the importance of regular mulching…both to retard weed growth and encourage water conservation. New Plantings: Pinto beans (shell variety for soup). Transplanted cucumber starts and sweet basil plants. Maintenance: Staking tomato plants Regular watering, mulching, and weeding existing plants. Fertilizing new starts with chicken manure and nettle/comfrey teas (dilute 1/3 tea to 2/3 water) Netting strawberries (good for deer, birds, and raccoons) Thinning apples and placing footies on remaining starts. Sulfur spray those apples/pears prone to scab. The footies serves as a barrier to apple maggots…which tend to start infesting the young apples around the first of July. With the recent long spell of warm weather, I have elected to start early with the footies. For the larger trees, I use “Surround,” which is a white clay-based spray. The apple maggots do not like the feel of the white powder on the apples. Unlike the footies, Surround needs to be reapplied several times throughout the growing season…especially if it gets washed off due to rain or overhead watering. Harvesting: Fruit: strawberries and raspberries Vegetables: rhubarb, beets, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, lambs quarters, snap peas, green onions, garlic snapes, broccoli, kale, and zucchini. Herbs: Cilantro, chives, sorrel, mint, and basil (greenhouse) Darren |
