While some are harvesting, it's also time to plant
We are well into the harvest season for many of the new plants we planted this spring.
The “harvest” on flowering plants is the beauty, joy and pride they give us as they flower and add color and excitement to our yards and landscapes. The “harvest” from our vegetables, berries, herbs and fruit trees is fresh, healthy and tasty food we can enjoy right from the garden, in our salads, cooking or by canning and freezing for the future.
It is also fun to share the harvest with our family and neighbors. It is great to see all the pictures folks are sharing on Facebook and Instagram of their harvests of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, squash, green beans, sweet corn, rosemary, basil, grapes and cantaloupes. It is cool to see the excitement and beauty in these internet harvest posts whether it is an experienced gardener or one of the many new gardeners we have this year.
Tomatoes are definitely the most talked about and celebrated harvest. We have had a milder summer to date and been blessed with some periodic rains and so most folks appear to be having some tomato success whether raising them in a garden bed or in container gardens.
The key to August gardening continues to be the need to keep your plants watered and out of drought stress while trying to stay ahead of any pest or disease problems. Plants with adequate water can thrive in hot weather so we need to keep our plants healthy and happy to help resist insect and disease pressure.
Mulching the soil surface continues to be a great way to reduce watering, cool the soil and it reduces weed pressure. You can still plant most all container-grown plants right through the summer heat as long as you are diligent to water as needed.
Even while we are still harvesting the spring vegetable garden plantings, it is time to plant your fall vegetable garden. Some years a fall garden is even more bountiful that a spring garden as we don't have to battle the heat as the crop matures. Instead of heat ending the fall garden it is usually the first killing freeze in early November that ends the fall garden.
You should plant tender vegetables like tomatoes, tomatillo, winter squash, pumpkins, peppers, eggplant, sweet corn, pole beans and cowpeas at once if you want to make a good harvest before the freeze ends the season.
Some tender crops can be planted over the next several weeks and still get a good harvest for 2020. Plant bush bean, lima beans, cucumbers, summer squash during August to get a fall harvest.
They are many semi-hardy vegetables you can plant now for fall gardens and they will keep producing through early frosts until we get a hard freeze later in the year. These include root crops like beets, carrots, Irish potatoes, parsnip, radish and turnips. There are many semi-hardy greens that do well in the fall including cabbage, collards, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard and in September you can plant spinach, mustard and kale. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and green peas are also good semi hardy vegetables to plant in your fall garden.
Enjoy the beautiful harvest of bright flowers and fresh vegetable from your spring garden and plant now to enjoy a great fall garden.