Strategic Gardening
A great harvest this fall starts now:
Can you imagine yourself picking a wonderful harvest of food this summer and fall? If so, this weekend would be a good time to act on making that a reality. We are venturing into the time of year when days are even longer and daytime temperatures are higher: perfect for growing vegetables!
Here is where I recommend you focus your attention: 1. Cool crops = plant now Many vegetables perform best in the cooler temperatures of late summer and early autumn. Kale, leeks, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, Swiss chard and brussels sprouts fall into this category. All of them require between 80 and 100 days from planting to harvest.
This weekend would be a perfect time to plant them. Keep in mind you harvest the lower leaves of kale and Swiss chard as the plant matures and the lower “fruit” (if you can call it that) of brussels sprouts. This means your harvest continues as the season progresses. I pick Swiss chard for about 12 weeks, beginning in late July through to October — I swear, it’s the most productive plant in the universe! Ditto kale.
Leeks are an interesting study: The tender plants are mounded up with soil about 15 centimetres as each plant matures through the summer. I pull clean soil up to the base of each plant every week or two, as I am weeding, using a backhoe (a large-headed hoe).
One last point on late-season crops: Temperatures at or below freezing concentrates the sugars in these plants, intensifying their flavour. Leave them in the ground until late October or November. Yum . . . 2. Succession planning For the longest possible season of tasty and healthy fresh veggies from your own garden, plan on sowing small quantities of some vegetables more frequently. I sow leaf lettuce, mesclun mix and arugula every 10 days to two weeks beginning in early May through to early July. It’s not too late to get started. My list of successive sowing includes: peas, beets, carrots, green beans and the aforementioned greens. You can still get two or three sowings of each in the ground. 3. Cover up The enemy of many vegetable crops is the insects that consume them. The cabbage moth is a perfect example. The larvae of the wicked white-winged “butterfly” have a huge appetite, not just for cabbage but all cucurbits: the “gassy” vegetables that include kale, broccoli and brussels sprouts. The best way to prevent damage is to cover the plants now with a veggie tunnel. A white, loosely spun polyester material is suspended on U-shaped plastic supports. The fabric allows the sun to shine in and water to move through it while protecting your valuable crop from insects. Chemical free and very effective.
The same material can be used to protect crops from early frost and extend the season in the fall. 4. Nurture your tomatoes As we head into late June, it’s important to pay special attention to tomato plants. Stake them now. I use two-metre-high metal spiral stakes to avoid tying the plants. I just twirl the green stems of the plant around the stake as they grow. Get your tomatoes off the ground and you will double your crop and prevent many soil-borne problems.
To prevent the dreaded early and late blight, apply Bordo Mix now and every two weeks until harvest. It’s a natural, copper-based product.
To reduce weeds dramatically and insulate the soil from the drying effects of the sun, place 30 to 50 centimetres of loose, clean straw at the root zone of each plant or six to eight centimetres of finely groundup cedar or pine-bark mulch. This will minimize blossom-end rot later in the season, too. 5. Weed and fertilize I can’t emphasize enough the need to keep your veggie patch weed-free early in the gardening season (now!) Run a hoe around each plant and through the veggie bed, clear cutting weeds while they are young, and save yourself a ton of work later in the summer.
Tomatoes and peppers are hungry plants. If you didn’t use generous quantities of compost early in the season, now is the time to add toma- to food. There are many products on the market for this purpose. If you wish to use something natural, look for the Natura or Green Earth brands.
And finally, keep an eye on your squash and cucumbers for squash beetles, potatoes for Colorado beetles (how did they get here?) and tomatoes for the giant and truly ugly tomato horn worm. Remove them by hand or use the all-natural “diatomaceous earth”/silicone dioxide to control them. It’s harmless to humans and effective against crawling insects (including ants). Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and on Facebook.