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07 July 2009
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9) Summer Follow-ups from Spring
Last guide, (Spring ’09), we got a bounty of great gardening tips from local gardening center, Halifax Seed and local gardening enthusiast and urban gardener, Deirdre Evans.
This summer, to help make your gardening even more enjoyable, Deirdre provided some more suggestions to follow-up her informative spring contribution.
We’ve also provided the Sustainable Gardening Resources section and the CRUSISIS Everyday Environmentalist for Your Yard (above) in our “Summer Follow-ups for Spring” theme, if you’re still looking for more information to help keep your growin’ goin’.
No need to wait any longer... 1,2, 3, Garden!!
Summer Gardening (Urban Gardener, Deirdre Evans)
Lucky for all you gardening enthusiasts out there, as Deirdre alludes to this summer, most of the hard stuff, the planting, is finished. And gardening is more of a maintenance process now, where you begin to reap your harvest.
We’ll leave it to Deirdre to tell you more about weeding; watching; the start of the harvest; planning a staggered crop; salads and seaweed for your summer gardening pleasure!
1. Weeding, Watching & Yielding the Early Harvest
2. Fresh Salads & Staggered Crop Planning
3. Getting Rid of Unwanted Guests (Pests) – Eggshells & Seaweed
1. Weeding, Watching & Yielding the Early Harvest
This is the time of year for watching, weeding and picking. The garden is green and the plants are growing quickly. The urgency to get seeds in the ground is gone and it is more about monitoring, maintaining and enjoying the harvest.
While I still need to build my cucumber trellis and stake my tomatoes, I am able to spend much of my time pulling out the weeds (important since they compete for sun and nutrients), and even enjoy the beginnings of the harvest.
Trips to the garden are to check daily progress. The constant rain has been great for the garden, it is lush and the early crops are ready to be picked. Friends who drop in for dinner get a fresh salad picked minutes before the meal.
2. Fresh Salads & Staggered Crop Planning
This month, growing greens seems appropriate. This year I discovered Vesey’s Baby Leaf Blend. It’s a really nice mesclun mix that you can pick for weeks.
Last year I made the mistake of planting just one crop. This meant the crop wasn’t steady. It all matured at the same time and all went to seed mid July. I was not able to keep up with the huge crop, and it all turned bitter at the same time. This year, I seem to have figured out a more manageable plan.
To avoid the problem of your crop maturing all at the same time, plant a fresh batch of seeds every three weeks. Then, start picking when the leaves are 3-4 inches tall. Just cut the leaves at soil level and you’ll get two to three harvests.
The first batch planted in May is doing very well and I’ve been picking from this batch since early June. The second batch, planted early June, is just coming to maturity. And the late June batch is just beginning to sprout. Using this cycle should give us fresh greens right through until fall.
3. Getting Rid of Unwanted Guests (Pests) – Eggshells & Seaweed
One other challenge I’m facing with the greens is keeping away the pests. To date I’ve used ground eggshells to keep them at bay. I have my kids grind down the dried shells in the mortar and pestle and then once fine, I sprinkle them around the borders of my lettuce patch. This has kept the slugs away.
Another thing I’m using this year for pest control is fresh seaweed. An advantage to living in Nova Scotia is that we have a huge supply of natural fertilizer and pest control at our fingertips. Just head out to the beach after a storm and you’ll find it lining the shores. I’d recommend double bagging, or a bin with a good seal since the odor can be very strong as you drive home on a hot day.
Seaweed has many natural plant hormones. It is loaded with carbohydrates, which the plants use as a building block; and, it feeds large populations of beneficial micro-organisms. I usually use eelgrass, which works well in my garden.
Last week I headed to Crescent Beach with my children and as they played in the water and built sandcastles, I gathered eel grass that had washed up in the storm the day before.
The eelgrass has many uses. You can add it directly to your compost where it will do a great job breaking down the organic matter and heating up your pile. The other use I have found is in the garden as a ground cover. It seems to work well to keep the slugs out of the beds as well as keeping the weeds at bay. To use eelgrass as groundcover:
1. rinse off the eel grass to get rid of the sand and some of the salt;
2. line the borders of your beds with it;
3. place it between rows;
4. and even line your tomato plants with it.
I figure it’s the high salt content that keeps the slugs away. I’ve also been told it will keep the cats out of the garden - another “pest” in urban gardens!
Happy gardening!