July Garden Ramblings
Yay! Summer has finally arrived. Most of June was wet and grey with just a sunny day here and there to break things up but finally we are getting sunshine and heat.
Lettuce, radishes, greens, brassicas have been loving the cooler weather but are now beginning to bolt quickly.
This is what is going on in the garden right now.. Garlic. - Usually I would have already harvested my early varieties but everything is a late this year (2022) so we are still a few weeks out with all the varieties.
If you have harvested the scapes, stop watering your garlic now, if you haven't done so already. Garlic bulbs that are full of moisture do not cure well.
Lift bulbs when the stems are yellow about halfway up and the bottom 4 or 5 leaves are yellow/brown, all shrivelled up, while the top 4 or 5 are still green.
Not sure if yours are ready? Read more about harvesting and curing here.
Peas - picking, eating, and freezing peas for winter. These Little Crunch container peas only grow to about 2 feet, so I let them drape over the edge of the raised beds. You can grow them in pots, too and either let them drape over the sides or grow up a wee trellis for ease of picking. These peas are now done, not flowering any longer, so I have pulled them out to sow some more carrots.
I may have gone a little bit pea crazy with my succession sowing this spring as I still have three patches yet to harvest.
Beans are slow for me this year. So slow. The pole beans were planted in late May, into a nice warm garden bed, germinated nicely.. and then we went into June-uary ( a very cool month of June). So they have not yet done much of anything, are just starting to play catch up now.
Cucumbers are pretty much in the same boat as the beans, have finally started to put on some flowers and grow up the trellises. Looking forward to tons of cucumber sandwiches and salads. I find that growing cucumbers in pots gives me the best success with our wonky summer weather.
Beets are coming along fine, will be ready for pickling in about a month’s time. We will need lots more beets though, and some for fresh eating, too, so I’m tossing seeds in any empty pockets I can find throughout the garden. With the cool weather crops thriving in this weather, not bolting, is proving hard to find places to sow seeds. A nice problem to have, am not complaining about fresh greens in July : )
Winter and Summer Squash - In the top picture you can see that my spaghetti squash is putting on loads of wee little squash… but in the bottom picture you can see two of them have yellowed and withered. This is normal. Nothing wrong with your plant or your soil, those blossoms just did not get pollinated.
Squash of all kinds, winter and summer, make both male and female blossoms, these blooms are only open for one day. You need both a male and a female to be open at the same time for pollination to occur and this can sometimes take a while. Once they do, the bees go from flower to flower to pollinate them. Some will go around and hand pollinate the females in order to ensure pollination.
What can you do about it? Plant lots of squash. They do not have to be the same kind to pollinate each other… can be zucchini, pumpkins, pattypans, etc... ideally it is summer squash that pollinate summer squash, winter with winter, but do not stress it if not. As long as there is a male and a female flower blooming at the same time, you will get squash : )
Do not keep the seeds if you are growing different sorts of squash in your potager. The fruits from those will not come true, will be some sort of frankensquash. While some of these oddball squash may be edible, they will likely not be very tasty, and there is a small chance that they can be toxic, as well. Best to use fresh purchased seed annually.
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| Tomatoes in early July absolutely loaded with blossoms. Was a good tomato year but a late harvest. |
2020 - So far, just flowers and wee baby fruits, no ripe tomatoes as of yet. You may remember that we planted 100 tomatoes at the end of May (okay, maybe 105 but don’t tell hubby;)
Some were planted with Gaia Green 4-4-4 and the others with Tomato Acti-Sol. Both sides are doing really well, flowering, nice and deep green in colour.. but thus far, the Acti-Sol ones are noticeably bigger. Will be interesting to see whether there is any difference later on or whether they end up being about the same… will update you as the season goes along. (psst - there was no discernible difference at the end, plant with either one and you will have great results).
Don’t forget to stay on top of pruning suckers from your indeterminate (vining/cordon) tomatoes. These tomatoes are usually grown up a stake or a string, pruned back to just one main stem. If you let the suckers get away from you, you will get a beast of a plant that takes over the garden bed.
What to do this month?
1. Find pockets in the garden to sow more seeds into for late summer, fall, and winter vegetables.
The garlic bed - I use the same bed for garlic year after year. No, this does not present any problems as I have not had any issues in that bed. If I were to get a soil borne issue, like white rot, I would have to move on out, but as it stands currently, this is the best bed for my garlic to grow so it really has to stay there. If you have rust, not to worry, that is just a physiological issue (due to our weather this year), is not a soil issue. I checked with farmer guy ( the garlic farmer) about this to make sure and he assures me that all is well, not to worry.
So… that means I have this entire bed that I can use for about 3 months. If, like me, you use the same bed for your garlic, you know how hard it is to find something that goes from seed to harvest in that time. It cannot be greens and such as garlic beds are in a full sun location so is too hot for greens. I have tried different things throughout the years and find that bush beans, daikon radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, and cucumbers work the best. They thrive in the heat, grow quickly, are harvestable in late August and throughout September so that I can feed my bed with compost and plant next year’s garlic.
Spring veggie bed - If you have some brassicas, greens, lettuces, etc.. that are just about finished, harvest them before they bolt and use that space for planting. If they have already bolted, pull them out and toss in more seeds.
Interplant - Sow seeds in rows between your summer crops. Carrots, spring onions, beets, turnips and other small root crops are great to toss in between your brassicas, your rows of lettuce, in the tomato bed…
2. Sow and grow more veggies.
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| Your winter carrots (sown in January) should be pretty much ready to harvest. |
What can you be planting right now?
Carrots - This week is your last week to toss in some more carrot seeds. It will be too late for them to size up if they are not in the ground before mid-month. I would not even leave it that long. The 7th is usually my cut off date. Carrots do not need to be harvested all at once in the fall, just leave them in the ground and harvest as needed throughout the winter. Keep seeds moist until the germinate! Water once or twice daily, cover with burlap sacks to help hold in moisture till you see sprouting.
Potatoes - you can grow a late crop if you plant right now, ones that will be ready for Thanksgiving dinner.
Brassicas - Start these now in pots or 6 packs or can be direct sown now if you can find the room. Here are some ideas of what you need to start soon in order to grow fall and winter crops. If you do not have the time or energy, the shops and market growers will have some for purchase in August.
Broccoli - for eating in fall
Sprouting broccoli - for eating in early spring
Cauliflower - for fall harvest
Cauliflower (Galleon ) to eat in spring.
Beets - for fall
Cabbage - overwintering kind ( Ballhead, Early Jersey Wakefield, Deadon…)
Daikon - grow for fall harvest or can be left in garden and harvested as needed
Kale
Kohlrabi - can be sown this month and harvested throughout the fall and winter
Lettuces and greens
Peas - sow these towards the end of the month for a fall harvest
Turnips - succession sow all summer and into early fall
Walla walla - start now to transplant next month and harvest next year in late spring
2. Weeding… never ending job, especially in the pathways and flower beds. Keep on them, try to get to them before they go to seed (easier said than done, I know).
We mostly crawl around and pull them, hoe them out if we can, and sometimes use the weed torch in the gravel pathways. Do not do this near mulch, shrubs, or peat moss based gardens as they catch on fire very easily at this time of year.
However, as enjoyable (for the most part) as hand watering is, it is much less effective and not as beneficial for the plants. Slow-watering less often with soaker hoses or drip lines creates stronger, healthier, sturdier plants than shallow hand watering daily. Water tomatoes, squash, and such, every 3rd day and root crops/brassicas every 5 to 7 days. Cucumbers benefit from watering a bit more often, every second day, if you can.
I leave the hand watering for my hanging baskets, pots and planters, and to occasionally water the edges of the raised beds to give the border plants a good drink.
Try not to wet the foliage and try to water your veggie beds during the morning hours to keep fungal issues like powdery mildew, or worse, taking hold in your garden. In the picture above, my tomatoes are planted 2 feet apart for good air flow so that I do not end up with mildew, wilt, or blight.
4. Feeding - Anything growing in pots, planters, or baskets will need a feed this month.
Annual flowers need a weekly or bi-weekly feed in order to keep blooming as they will soon use up the nutrients in their pots/baskets. I use a general 15-30-15 or similar, something with a bigger middle number to keep the flowers blooming all summer long.
Roses, bay trees, citrus trees, olives, etc.. that stay in pots year round, will get a shovelful or two of manure as a top dressing to keep them happy and thriving. If you have a slow release fertiliser, this can be mixed in with the manure.
Peppers and tomatoes in pots get a tablespoon or two of Epsom salts on top of the pots. Tomatoes are fed with an organic seaweed based fertiliser once a week, peppers only if they look peaked and need a boost.
In the garden - I do not usually feed anything the veggies in the garden as the soil is fed with compost and manure annually and sometimes we add organic feed to the planting hole. Everything should be performing nicely.
If your soil is not up to snuff yet, if it is new and you are just starting to build it up, you can either feed the plant or feed the soil once or twice a month. To feed the plant, use a liquid seaweed or manure tea to spray onto the foliage or water in with an organic vegetable food. Kelp tea is also a great idea!
To feed the soil, side dress between the rows and around the plants with really good compost or manure, they will get a slow feed each time you water.
5. Pest control - Your flowers should be all starting to flower and thrive now, attracting all sorts of beneficial insects to your garden.
If you were to sit in the garden and watch for a bit, I bet you will find ladybugs or other insects taking care of your pest problems. As I picked peas yesterday, I noticed a few green aphids crawling around the pathway. They must have been hiding in the vines. While I kept on picking, I saw a few ladybugs in the area, as well. During the short time that I was out there, they had already taken care of quite a few of those aphids. I just walked away and left them to their business.
Ideally, do not spray with anything, even organic safe sprays, if you do not have to. Wait it out a bit to see if nature does not help you out with that.
To know what to do from month to month if you live on the west coast, in a zone 5, 6, 7, 8, please check out the archives. There are many, many years worth of monthly, and even weekly, information.
I will post the name of my new blog and the fb page for the new house very soon. Hoping that many of you will follow along. The garden zone will not be the same and the timings will be a bit different, but you all know that I love to chat so there will be tons of new and interesting information from the new 'wee' homestead.
Keep growing lots of great, organic foods, and wishing you all the the very best in your gardening endeavours!
Happy Gardening ~ Tanja
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