JUNE - GARDEN PREPARATION

Another month and still lots of garden  work to do [depressing sometimes thinking about it, isn't it], but some of us are near to or maybe already enjoying our  first harvests and breathing sighs of relief as early sowings  finally  emerged  and started to grow. In Rensselaer County, according to Cornell data, our growing degree days  finally  reached their recent 15 year average levels around May 7 after lagging behind  10 - 12 days from recent  years. In short, April  and early May stayed darn cool.

Sugar snap peas - still catching up from a cool May

The peas I planted April 8 when the soil temperature registered a promising 47°F  and with an all too   optimistic forecast of continuing warmer seasonal temperatures finally  emerged on May 3. Their germination  hesitation caused by almost 3+ weeks of very cool temperatures  with essentially no accrual of growing degrees. When the seeds did germinate  after several unusually hot days at mid-month, air temperatures promptly retreated and hovered  in the 40 - 50°F range. My  peas are just now deciding to catch up. The other cool weather plants that I set out  later in May to make room in  the cellar  for my happily growing tomatoes and cucumbers  also persevered and are finally  now  starting  to  show signs of responding positively to being in the great outdoors. On the plus side for this spring's weather is that both weeds and insect pests seem also to be emerging late.

So much for last month, now moving on to June...

 

Rhubarb, a vegetable that used in pies goes well with vanilla ice cream.

• If you're luckier than me and happen to live in a warmer nook of Rensselaer County, you might be harvesting spinach, lettuce and radishes by now. So far, I am just limited to relishing my rhubarb and horseradish...

• Assuming you may have already planted some bush beans, beets, and squash at the end of May, you should think about follow on plantings of the same.  If you've just planted these fellas, wait another 10 - 12 days, then plant more. It's almost guaranteed, that whenever you sow seed or set out plants that   bumper crops will be ready for picking back home  on the third day of your long awaited get away to Nantucket... Don't worry about it. Be generous and ask a neighbor or friend to enjoy your harvest and maybe also to water your garden too as part of the deal...

• Early June is also the time to set out the full complement of  warm weather veggies: basil, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers etc. for harvesting  later in August and September. Thanks to less disciplined gardeners than ourselves,  big box stores and nurseries might be sold out of these plants by early June, but local farmer markets will probably continue to offer a wide variety stock - and probably better acclimated stock.  

• The next suggestion might seem slightly depressing, but later this month is also  time to start seedlings for late summer or autumnal   bounty.  Pick your favorite cabbage family member - cabbage, broccoli, kale etc. and get started.  

• Follow on plantings of lettuce, however,  are a special case. Start mid-summer varieties such as Starfire (a green leaf),  Sparx (a Romaine heart)  or Adriana (a green butterhead) now. These can probably be sown   directly in the garden because it's still (hopefully) not too hot.  For late season lettuces  such as Miro (a green butterhead), Skyphos (a red butterhead) or Green First (a green Romain) you need to wait until mid or late July and start them indoors where it's hopefully cooler.  The heat tolerance of lettuce is relative.  The mid and late season varieties are a little less likely to bolt as quickly as early season types, but no lettuce really likes summer. For these follow on plantings you may need to provide a sun screen if you don't have a partially shaded garden area for them.  Direct seeding of lettuce during July and August is frequently not successful because the seeds  respond to high soil temperatures by going dormant for the rest of the season.

• On an even more  depressing note, the next topic is WEEDS...  Where to start? By June many weeds are already well underway.  For gardeners with only a couple of small raised beds, weeds are no big deal - although for all gardeners they are like proverbial dragon's teeth  poping up overnight every night.  Mulching,  fabric cloth, and hand tilling  probably effectively   manages them for most of us.  Controlling weeds organically in larger gardens and in field environments  is more challenging due to scale - just ask any grower at your local farmer's market on Saturday. For those gardeners wanting to know what weeds they are pulling and wishing to expand their garden libraries, books identifying weeds are as multitudinous as weeds!  For our neck of the woods, Weeds of the Northeast (1997) is the classic and still remains in print from Cornell University Press.  Of course, a Google search using the phrase, "weed identification pictures" probably serves the ID purposes of most gardeners.  And for those few gardeners  who may want to pretend to be botanists, a source  providing a botanical approach to weed identification is  Weed Identification Tools and Techniques from Virginia's Extension Service. This doesn't tell you what your weed is, but instructs you how to analyze your mystery plant like a pro.  If you still remain stymied, send a photo via email or  bring a specimen of the plant to your county Extension  office for identification.  As a final note about weeds, perhaps the ultimate solution is to eat them.  For an interesting list of what's edible beyond dandelions, purslane and (maybe) garlic mustard, checkout the  Edible Wild Food site. 

And remember...

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." - A. A. Milne