Garden Preparation: August

Source: CCE Nassau County

Tomato season is a-coming to add to your bounty while you are still  busy harvesting bush beans, beets, corn, cucumbers,  blueberries, raspberries, carrots, melons and all those sweet herbs that you thought you needed.  

BUT, resist picking those first tomatoes; let them ripen on the vine for a couple of extra days. It will only improve their taste, and it will allow you time to tend to some of the following chores:

• Clearing the now brown  peas vines and preparing the site for a follow on fall crop or perhaps planting a cover crop like winter rye;

• Trying to give away your  zucchini to strangers;

• Blanching the cauliflower for a couple of weeks;

• Checking for pests such as Mexican bean beetles, red spider mites, leaf miners, slugs and more slugs - to name just a few of the common  culprits;

• Digging your garlic and shallots and remember to  dry them for several days in a sunny place;

• Turning over that compost pile. - This is a great year for compost. Keep those pulled weeds and lawn clippings decomposing.

Capital District Regional Market

Wishing you could buy a sack of corn (50 ears) or a 1/2 bushel of tomatoes or apples? Well, you can.  Just get up early and go to  the Capital District Regional Market located in Menands at 381 Broadway just south of the Troy - Menands Bridge.

The action starts at 5:30 AM,  on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and is usually over well before closing time at 7:30 AM. Sales are expected to be on a cash and carry basis. As a wholesale market, prices  fluctuate daily in response to supply and demand. 

For late sleepers  there is a  retail edition on Saturday mornings starting at 9:00 AM,  but not all farmers participate, and you may not get wholesale prices.

If you have questions about the market, you can call  518-465-1023. 

Veggie History: Parsley

Curly leaf parsley

Does not every gardener grow parsley (Petroselinum crispum)? - Answer: Probably, either the curly leaf or the flat leaf kinds.  Both types are used extensively as garnishes, but there is also a third type, a root parsley, that remains common to eastern, central and southern European cuisines but remained  less popular in Western Europe.  All three parsleys derive from a wild variety commonly found around the Mediterranean region.

Parsley has been cultivated for centuries and the wild versions probably eaten for millenia.   An approximate translation of the botanical name is "rock celery." The wild variety resembles our familiar flat leaf types.  Although the  Puritans most likely brought parsley seeds with them,  according to Judith Sumner in American Household Botany, the first written mention of parsley only dates to 1804, but  has remained in seed catalogs ever since.

Arat or Root parsley

Root parsley  resembles parsnips, and goes by many names: Arat parsley, Hamburg or Dutch parsley, Rooted parsley.  Its carrot shape clearly reminds us that parsley is a member of that plant family.  Its tops are stronger tasting than the leaf varieties but  can also be used for garnishes. The roots, I understand, are milder  and taste more like celery. They are usually added to soups and stews.

Arat parsley requires a long growing season, but the seeds can be started indoors and transplanted outside when they are three inches tall.  Root parsley  is a winter crop.   Dig it up at the end of the growing season and store it in sand like carrots. 

Backyard Tomato Update

Photo by I. Stephens

So far it's been a better season for my tomato plants than for me, a mammal - lot's of rain and quite warm temperatures.  But I thought I would report on my lazy experiment of using the Japanese ring method  for growing tomatoes.  

Leftover  in my center planting bed from last year's climbing beans was a tepee with some pieces of 4" x 6" wire mesh still attached.  Before I finished  dispersing all my compost onto  other planting beds this spring, I realized that I could put the remaining compost in the center of the tepee and plant some heirloom tomatoes around the outside as if the tepee were a "ring" that is usually configured as a square filled with compost. I didn't have enough compost to fill the center area very high, but I did have enough to mound it up about 12".  The compost in the center provides nutrients and helps to maintain even moisture levels throughout the growing season.

From my perspective this approach to date has been successful. The Brandywine (pictured center), German striped (barely seen to the left with its fruit starting to ripen), Cherokee purple and Amish Paste (both out of view) are thriving. Fortunately, I left the pea trellis adjacent to the tepee; and now that the peas are gone, I've started directing the vines of the Amish paste and Cherokee purple onto it.

Of course, I would like to think of my other tomatoes, not pictured, as controls; but considering that their soil was treated to the same compost, they are staked and have received the same sun and rain, it would be naive to think that any differences between them and the "ring" tomatoes could be attributed to the latter's being near a lot more compost.   Anyway, so far I'm starting to think about utilizing  more Japanese rings next year and what that means for crop rotation.  I know it means replacing my tepees with open  square designs so that it is easier to add compost to and reach into those center spaces...

Coming To You Soon: Cross-striped Cabbage Worms

Photo by Judy Isacoff

A fellow master gardener recently alerted us to a new pest that may now be showing up on your cabbages and related veggies, the Cross-striped Cabbage Worm,  Piers rapaem, that has been discovered in the Berkshires and reported in a very informative posting in another local blog, The Berkshire Edge by Judy Isacoff. This insect has moved up from Virginia obviously seeking the new fake heat of the Northeast. Because  the adults only seem to  fly at night, you may need a flashlight to find the mothly version...

Programs at Demonstration Garden Programs

Two lecture and demonstration programs are scheduled during August by the Rensselaer County Cooperative Extension's Horticultural Program.  Both programs happen rain or shine at the garden located at the Robert C. Parker School located at 4254 Route 43 in Wynantskill (approx. 2.1 miles from the intersection of NY Rtes. 4 and 43).

"Late Summer Is For Lawns," slated for Tuesday, August 13 from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM will be hosted by David Chinery, Rensselaer CCE's Educator and turf specialist.  David will discuss why mid-August to mid-September is the best time for lawn weed management, oveseeding, fertilizing and renovation.  Free free to bring samples of your problems in bags, pails or whatever to the  meeting.

The second program, "Great Tomato Tasting," set for Tuesday, August 20 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM will be presented by a group of Master Gardeners who will discuss growing tomatoes followed by a tasting table of the many varieties grown in this year's vegetable plot at the Demo Garden.

Garden Preparation - July

Source: Cornell U.

The rains continue and both weeds and vegetables strive and thrive; BUT,  for conscientious backyard gardeners, who  started early, July marks the serious harvesting season. Some time this during month, these gardeners, who probably already well know what to do during,  will be putting the likes of the following and much more into their baskets:

• Pick peas, beans, radishes, onions, herbs of all kinds, and the lettuces before they bolt.  (Maybe you should think about canceling that vacation or tell your friends and neighbors to help themselves, but don't count on them to pull any weeds.)

 

When you're not harvesting, weeding and watering,

• Keep pruning and staking those heirloom tomatoes.  If you are growing your beauties in containers on the patio, do not be lulled by all the rain. Containers dry out fast in summer's heat, and you need to remember to water them at least twice a day to maintain a constant moisture level.  They will benefit from a little  fertilizer  some time during this month too.

• Sow follow on plantings of beans, beets, cucumbers, kale, broccoli; 

• Now is also the time to mulch with straw, lawn clippings or compost to moderate  soil temperature, suppress weeds and minimize evaporation; finally, 

• Hurry and put up that bird  netting  or shade cloth  over the blueberries  because the catbirds are greedily eyeing  the bounty getting ready to ripen on those bushes.

Programs at Demonstration Garden Programs

Two lecture and demonstration programs are scheduled during July by the Rensselaer County Cooperative Extension's Horticultural Program.  Both programs run from 7:00 PM to  8:00 PM rain or shine at the garden located at the Robert C. Parker School located at 4254 Route 43 in Wynantskill (approx. 2.1 miles from the intersection of NY Rtes. 4 and 43).

Gazebo at Rensselaer County CCE Demonstration Garden

July 9  (Tuesday) -   "Using Herbs Throughout The Seasons" will be presented by the Master Gardeners, Kathy Hartley and Janet Poole.  They will explore the basics of growing herbs, drying, storing and using these versatile plants.

July 30 (Tuesday) - "Cooking in the Garden," back by popular demand, Master Gardeners, Nancy Scott and Barbara Nuffer, will talk about making  a variety of fresh and healthy dishes using  favorite garden veggies to share with the audience.

Veggie History:  Blueberries

Source: Cornell U.

Did you know that blueberries are native American plants?  They are members of the acid loving genus Vaccinium.  New England's variety,  V. angustifolium,  was collected extensively by Native Americans and quickly were added to the tables of the early colonists to whom blueberries appeared to be like their familiar Old World "bilberries," a related species. In the wild, blueberry varieties can vary from just a few inches (low bush) to almost 12 feet (high bush) in height.  The latter types are the ones commonly available as commercial cultivars. 

Thinking about growing your own bushes?  Maintaining acidic soil is very important, but patience may be even more important.  High bush berries can take up to  12 years to reach full production!    I'll vouch for that.  I have 4 bushes that are 25 years old, and it seemed like an eternity before they  yielded  enough berries that we had any  to preserve. Of course, we did not restrain from eating the ones we picked after the first couple of  years...

If you buy plants from a nursery in those 1 gallon plastic pots, they are typically two years old and will probably need another 3 - 4 years to produce enough fruit to sprinkle on your granola.  For information about growing blueberries consult this Cornell website.

And remember...

"We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that  produces 

the generous harvest." - Orison S. Marden