Garden Preparation:  September

Bacterial wilt and Cucumbers

Bacterial wilt. Source: U. of Maryland Extension.

Last week a friend asked me what happened to their cucumbers seemingly overnight.  They had beautiful vines one day; and the next morning, the plants looked like this photo.  The diagnosis:  bacterial wilt caused by Erwinia tracheiphilia. It can also affect other squashes and pumpkins.

This villain is spread by both the spotted and striped cucumber beetles. The bacteria reside in the insects' digestive tracks; and when the insects pierce the leaves or vines to suck the juices, the bacteria are introduced into a plant.  Sometimes, just a leaf or a vine will be infected.  Sometimes, the entire plant dramatically collapses. 

FWIW: Cucumber beetles are about the only insects bothering cucumbers because these beetles are on the only species that have evolved a resistance to the toxins present in cucumber vines and leaves.  

The toxins are called "cucuribitacins" and are present in cucumbers and related plants.  In our garden varieties of cukes, squashes and pumpkins the levels of these toxins have been reduced through selective breeding over centuries.  Such is not the case with those ornamental gourds that you use as part of  Thanksgiving table centerpieces. Don't snack on them...

Harvest Time Starting for Winter Squashes and Pumpkins

Source: wikimedia.org

Winter squash can begin to be harvested during September as well as pumpkins - although it's better to wait until the end of the month to allow the rinds to thicken.  The squash will keep better if you do.

Whenever pumpkins turn orange they are ready for picking.  When harvesting any vafriety of winter squash, remember to leave a segment (about 2") of their stems attached.  The stems help to keep the fruits sealed as they cure.  Although both squashes and pumpkins can handle light frosts, both need to be harvested before heavy frosts (i.e. temps in the middle to low 20°F's).

Pruning Brussels Sprouts

Brussel sprout. Source: I. Stephens

Another issue that you might have noticed in your garden during August, given the character of this year's   growing season, is the robustness of Brussels sprout plants.  They may have a lot of foliage, but their buds may be undeveloped. This is  due to the very warm temperatures and ample of moisture.

You can still prune the plants  to induce them to channel their efforts into growing those buds by removing the leader from the top of the plants. You can also remove  the lower leaves from the base to about a third of the way up the stalk.

 The plants still have a long growing season ahead of them to grow their buds.  

And also for September, here are a few more entertaining things you can do...

• Keep weeding -- remove those plants before they release their seeds...

• Now is a good time to get that soil test -- give yourself a head start for next year. Changing the pH level of your garden, as is true to other amendments, actually takes months. Don't wait until planting time.

• Got herbs? -- Let some go to seed, collect the seeds and get started early next spring by growing some of your own. Save a couple of bucks.

• Start that Garden Notebook -- While you may still remember what you actually planted, make a note about whether you liked it or not.  If you saved the seed packet, at least make a note on it  that you either liked it or will never plant it again.

• Having trouble giving your excess kale away -- your neighbors will appreciate your donating it to a local food pantry or kitchen.

Swiss Chard - A New Bird Food?  

House sparrow.  Photo: I. StephensI

I feed birds in our backyard. The feeders are  near the vegetable garden, and for years the feathery beasts have repaid my generocity  by regularly patrolling the garden for insects.  Starting several years ago I noticed that my Swiss chard was being shredded in late summer.  I couldn't detect any insects and so was baffled.  Then late in the growing season last year I noticed that the last brood of house sparrows were mobbing it.  This year I spied the arrival of the fledgling hordes and put bird netting over my row of chard -- just in time.  Now, these sparrows continue to patrol the garden; the chard is safe; and, fortunately, the little mauraders haven't redirected their tastes to some other vegetable.

When I was about nine years old, I had a parakeet that I would feed leafy greens; but I have never noticed wild birds of any other bent exhibiting a similar yen. It seems to be just these late season fledglings that are drawn to chard.  The chard can grow throughout the spring and summer without being molested; but late in the growing season, it is at risk.  Can anyone explain this behavior? I suspect that there is some nutrient that young house sparrows need to  become fortified in preparation for the oncoming of leaner times...

And remember:

    "I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village

          garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been 

 by any epaulet I could have worn." - H. D. Thoreau

Rogerland, Deer and New Pesticidal Threat to Bumble Bees

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to visit Rogerland, a private garden located in Arlington, VT.  It's a whimsical creation based on formal English gardens but reflecting the eclectic interests of its owner, Roger Cooper and those of his late wife, Sandi. Among its more uncommon features are a USGA regulation putting green, a chess board and    a British bowling green.  There are the usual ornamental plantings, of course, but it was   the  vegetables that I wanted to see!

Rogerland's Vegetables.  Photo: I. Stephens

Now, your vegetable garden as well as mine, probably doesn't look much like this. The planting bed frames are granite and the fencing and trellising are custom designed and fabricated on site.  That's really cool.  But, what is really neat about Rogerland in total, is that Arlington, VT  does not have a deer problem. It's not because these Vermonters shoot deer or run them down on snowmobiles, it's simply that there are no suburbs and actually relatively little agriculture in this area.  

Some of the staff commented to me that the deers just like to live in the woods.  That is partly correct. Deers do like to bed down and hide in woods, but there is not really very much for them to eat in the woods -- unlike much of Rensselaer County, NY where we sustain unnaturally  high deer populations.  Hopefully, for Rogerland's sake, the  Arlington, VT area will remain under developed...  

Bulletin:  New Pesticides Also Threaten Bees

Research recently published in the British journal, Nature, reports that new pesticides based on sulfoxomine-based chemicals now being promoted to replace neoniconoids (think Roundup) are not really any better.  Bumble bee colonies exposed to these insecticides   failed to thrive.  [FWIW: The EPA cleared two sulfoxomine chemicals back in 2013 for use on fruits and vegetables under the trades names, Transform and Closer.  Click on the lead author's name, Harry Siviter, to see the  abstract of the Nature article.

Sun Scorch and Trench Composting

Sun scorch. It's okay to eat with a little trimming.
Source: gardeningthehudsonvalley.com

So far August's weather leaves a lot to be desired - way too much rain and  very hot streaks followed by cooler and wet nights.  Although this has been good for my compost piles, it has badly affected my tomatoes and a number of other veggie favorites although the winter squashes seem to like it. 

The excess moisture results in cracked tomatoes that are then exposed to bacterial infections.   Although  tomato vines grow okay in temperatures that reach into the low 90°s,  their fruit ripens best with temperatures in the 70°s! If you've been wondering why your fruit has been slow to ripen, that's the reason.  Want a little more info? Check this note from Cornell's Vegetable Program website.

If you have over pruned your tomato vines or removed too many leaf stems to let more sun light shine on the fruit to hasten ripening, SURPRISE, you may be creating the conditions for "sun scorch."  High temperatures actually inhibit the production of the pigments that provide the glorious tomato red gardeners look for... Oh, well.

Trench Composting

A full trench ready to be covered.
Source: flowering.com

If you have a small garden AND possibly have some space in it now from your pulling up your blighted tomato vines or sun scorched fruit AND you still do not have a compost pile, now is the time to reserve a little of your precious  gardening space for compost.  Dig a trench about 12" deep (or just a small pit in a raised bed) leaving the excavated soil to one side and start dumping your vegetative table scraps into it. If you don't like the looks, simply cover the scraps with the soil that you left  along the side.  The  scraps will get a good start on decomposing.  In the spring, even if your trench is not full, plant a favorite vegetable parallel to the trench to benefit from the added nutrients.  

Another approach to composting directly in your garden is called the "sheet" method.  Gardeners simply scatter their table scraps around the garden and then gently till them into the soil throughout the season. I do this with coffee grounds,  but I prefer trenching (or using a pit)...  

FWIW:  Note that this photo shows corn cobs and corn husks as well as other whole fruits and vegetables. Leaving items whole will slow down their decomposition.  Corn cobs and husks will take 2+ years to rot. It's much better to to cut these scraps or stale vegetables into pieces to expedite composting.

And remember:

"Kings and cabbages go back to compost, 

but good deeds stay green forever." - Rick DiMarinis, American author

Why Weeds Win -  A Brief Tribute

Weeds in charge. Photo by I.  Stephens

When you see a garden out of control and its vegetables are hidden among the weeds, it's easy to suspect a "lazy gardener." But, as experienced gardeners know,  the odds are really in favor of the weeds to win. New gardeners generally just don't realize  how much the deck is stacked against  them.  

As soon as any  gardener starts spading and clearing a plot for vegetables, that gardener actually is creating  ideal conditions for many plants (in this case, weeds) whose seeds have just been patiently waiting - maybe for a few days, a month, a year, ten years or even decades to get started.  Plants have evolved their reproductive patterns to accommodate  the vagaries of climate, soil and the flora and fauna in their environments. Our backyard environmental disturbances in the soil just  fit nicely into their coping strategies. Although gardeners may occasionally curse about  weeds, the resourcefulness of these plants to cope with whatever Mother Nature or homo sapiens throws at them deserves a lot of respect. --  And, knowing what I'm up against also does provide  me with some solace... occasionally.

FWIW:  Most of our common garden weeds were introduced by the early colonists, i.e. the Puritans et al, whose saved garden seeds and animal fodder also contained the seeds of our familiar weeds. 

Most plants rely on   the shotgun approach when it comes to seed production - the more seeds produced, the better chance that at least 1 seed will survive and be able to grow. The following two factoids  clearly  delineate  what gardeners are really up against and why weeds will out live us:

Common purselane - 2,000,000 seeds per plant.    Seeds viable for 20 - 25 years

Eastern black nightshade - 800,000+ seeds per plant.  Seeds viable for 40+ years

I could cite more, but it would get repetitive and be more depressing. Plants use various strategies to get their seeds dispersed such as  wind, water, edible fruit  and even exploding pods. Many plants also employ other propagation methods:

• Stolons, commonly called runners, - these are above ground stems that can set roots, e.g. crabgrass (yuck) or strawberries (yum); 

• Rhizomes - underground stems that can sprout above ground stems, e.g. quack grass, wild morning glory,  and bindweed;

• Spores - a complicated cycle used by some non-flowering plants such as  ferns. [Conifers, however, (i.e.  evergreens) are also non-flowering, but do develop seeds in cones.]                                       

The seeds naturally  found in  soil are referred to as the "weed seed bank." Although some plants also use stolons or rhizomes to reproduce, they chiefly rely on seeds; and it's the seeds that we are up against.  The Iowa State U. diagram of the "weed seed bank" below shows what the weed cycle looks like.  

Iowa State University

What  the diagram does not convey is the cycle's real complexity.  Some seeds need to be buried first under the soil and be dormant for varying periods of time. They will not sprout until they are uncovered.  Others need to be exposed to cool temperatures or to specific moisture levels before sprouting.  Still others, need to stay on the surface and experience warm temperatures to become dormant for next year. 

Seeds in the soil bank get moved around by different means such worms, insects, burrowing animals and  human cultivation. Birds  and  other animals eating a fruit and/or an entire plant will distribute seeds away from the mother plants after the seeds pass through their digestive tracks.  

Strategy for Weed Control Without Herbicides

Unfortunately, the strategies for controlling weeds boil down to two that gardeners naturally do:

• Plant removal before  seed cycles develop, and      

• Sprout suppression.      

Reducing the  weed seed count in your garden plot is achievable, but entails a multi-year effort.  Landscaping cloth (sometimes now called "weed cloth") is effective in suppressing weeds, but may complicate your efforts to use compost.  Using just mulch will do the job, but can take a number of years to become an effective  barrier assuming your mulch is weed seed free.  Probably the best approach is to use a landscape cloth or black plastic either  at the end of a season or in early spring (10 - 12 weeks before planting time) to suffocate most of the weeds.  When you are ready to plant, remove the cloth or plastic, add your compost and/or mulch; and,  if you happen to remain  motivated, you can reinstall the cloth [not the plastic] to the garden for the growing season.

And remember:

"The richest soil, if cultivated, produces the rankest weeds." - Plutrach

GARDEN PREPARATION - AUGUST

August marks the transitioning of  gardens from mid-summer to late summer.  Harvesting is  in full swing while the pests, weeds and miscellaneous diseases are hotly vying to take over.  In some gardens, as I have observed and you may have also noticed, they have clearly won...

But for gardeners with persistence, here are some things that will keep you trapped in the garden.

• Cancel any remaining vacation and harvest those beets, garlic, shallots, beans, tomatoes etc. and pull those weeds! Everything is a treat - remember to sample a hill of new potatoes and test a fresh carrot..

• Replant - beets, beans carrots (remember to keep carrot seed moist)

• Transplant seedlings such as Brussel sprouts, broccoli and lettuce.  It's too late to sow seed for the sprouts and broccoli, but you can start lettuce seedings inside for transplanting in late summer.  Given normal summer daytime temperatures, direct sowing of lettuce seeds in the garden will only make the seeds go dormant.   

Late blight also can strike early. Source: Cornell U.

• Watch out for the blights! High daytime and nighttime temperatures combined with high humidity create the perfect conditions for early and late blight as well as other plant diseases.   If your veggies start looking yellow or have suddenly turned a very dead brown, your garden is probably infected by one of them.  Too bad, there are not really remedies at this stage. The best protection is actually prevention.   For tomatoes, a crop especially prone to LB, backyard gardeners can minimize their risks by staking or trellising vines, pruning shoots to a minimum number (4 - 6) and by removing any leaf shoots within 6" of the soil.  The increased airflow this provides will slow  disease development.  

• Gardeners with probiotic leanings might consider applying a biofungicide using baccilies subtitillies, a bacteria naturally found in the ground as well as the human gut as a possible control.  For those less inclined to organic type methods, you can look for  fungicides containing Benomyl. Both need to be applied in advance of the outbreak of problems.  Benomyl is not harmful to mammals (including people) or birds, but it is toxic to earthworms. As a realist, however, I admit that the blights frequently seem to win before the first frost...

Enough of this blogging.  I need to get back to the garden.

And Remember:

"Criticizing another's garden doesn't keep weeds out of your own." - Proverb