July Tips: VEGETABLES

July Tips: VEGETABLES

Show off your gardening abilities by exhibiting fresh vegetables,
flowers, and fruits at local fairs. You might even win a blue ribbon!

Continue to use Bacillus thuringiensis for caterpillar pests, such as

imported cabbageworm. Follow directions for application on the label.

Make successive plantings of beets, beans, and carrots to be able to
harvest into fall. Direct seed cool-season crops, such as broccoli,
cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, into the garden.

Continue to monitor your squash vines for squash vine borers. The
moths lay their eggs on the stems, then the emerging larvae bore
into the vines, causing the squash vine to wilt and die. Contact your
local Extension agent for control recommendations.

To obtain maximum pleasure and value from your vegetable garden,
continue planting during the growing season. This provides a harvest
until cold weather kills the plants.

Uncaged tomatoes can be damaged by sunscald. To prevent this, lean an
old window screen over the plants to protect them from the sun.

Before you spray an insecticide on your vegetables, check the label.
Each insecticide has a time you must wait before you can harvest.

To prevent okra from becoming slimy while cooking, leave the stem on
the pod.
The stem is edible, or you can remove it before serving.

Dry weather causes Swiss chard to bolt or go to seed.
Water your plants to extend the season.

Cucumbers develops a bitter taste if the soil is not kept
consistently moist.
Harvest for pickling whole when 2 to 4 inches; for table use, when
longer than 5 inches. Remove any overripe cucumbers to encourage
continuous production.

For bigger and better Brussels sprouts, pinch out the top of the
plant when sprouts at the bottom are fully grown. The smaller, upper
sprouts will grow larger than they would otherwise.

Okra, one of the most showy blooms in the vegetable garden, bears
flowers that last only one day. If the flower has been pollinated, a
miniature okra pod can be seen beneath the wilted flower.

Leave the casaba melon on the vine until the blossom end softens and
rind turns yellow. Crenshaw melon is ripe when the dark-green skin
develops yellow streaks. Pick honeydew when the blossom end softens
and white skin turns cream color.

Most of your spring crops are out of the garden, and weeds are
beginning to encroach on what once was a productive space. Plant
another crop in those empty spaces to be harvested at the end of the
growing season. Try beans, kale, turnips, mustard, broccoli, cabbage,
spinach, or even corn varieties that mature in a short season.
Remember to restore fertility to the soil before planting your fall
crops by working in a light layer of compost or aged manure or a
small application of a complete chemical fertilizer.

Shredded Chinese cabbage is a good, hot-weather substitute for
lettuce in salads and sandwiches. A second crop may be started now
for fall harvesting.

Although tomatoes are self-pollinating, they need movement to
transfer
pollen. If it is hot and calm for several days, gently shake plants
for assured pollen transfer and fruit set. Hot temperatures can also
interfere with blossom set.

Overwatered okra will produce more leaves than pods.

Water stress in sweet potatoes can result in cracked roots. A
potassium deficiency causes long, slender roots. Too much nitrogen
reduces yield and quality.

Drought and hot, dry winds can cause pepper and tomato blossoms to
drop off.
Try misting plants twice a day to cool them and help the blossoms set
fruit.

Too many cucumbers, zucchini, or tomatoes? Think pickles, relishes,
and tomato sauces.

Cucumbers have a very short "vine-storage time." Under warm, humid
conditions, the fruits on the vine may remain in prime condition less
than one day. So pick early and often.

For the best flavor, pick ripe tomatoes as needed; flavor peaks
within three minutes of picking. If you must wait to use garden-fresh
tomatoes, don't refrigerate them. Fruit texture and some aroma
compounds deteriorate quickly in the cold.

You can prolong the storage life of fresh okra by dipping it in 500
ppm of ascorbic acid for five minutes. This concentration is
approximately the same as dissolving 500 mg of vitamin C in a quart
of water.
Then air dry and pack in plastic bags for storage of up to one month
in your refrigerator.

To get more vitamins out of your vegetables, keep the outer leaves on
your cabbage heads. They are high in vitamin C. Grow yellow corn
varieties; they are higher in vitamin A than those with white
kernels.
Wash, but don't peel, cucumbers -- most of the vitamin A is in the
skin.
Harvest some green leaves with broccoli heads and stalks; the leaves
have more vitamin A than the head and are richer in vitamin C, too.

Most fertilizer recommendations are for 100 square feet, so keep your

garden's square footage a simple fraction of that. For example, a 4 x
12 1/2 foot garden is exactly 50 square feet and would require
exactly one half the fertilizer required by a garden of 100 square
feet.

Intensive gardeners know that closely spaced plants may yield less
per plant, but the yield per square foot is increased because so many
more plants are grown. The same idea can be used in container
gardening. USDA research has shown that tomatoes grown in 3 1/2-inch
pots yielded
smaller and fewer fruits than those grown in 11-inch pots, but the
total yield per square foot was almost twice as high because three
small pots could be grown in the space of one large pot.

Try a slippery plastic fence for keeping raccoons out of vegetables,
especially sweet corn. Construct one by stapling plastic sheeting (6
mil thickness) to stakes spaced every 10 feet so that the stakes are
on the inside of the plastic, toward the corn. The plastic should be
30 to 36 inches wide, and the lowermost 3 to 6 inches should rest on
the ground. If you already have a fence around your garden, try using
spring-type clothespins to clip the plastic to it. Put the fence up
shortly before the corn is ripe to give the animals less time to
figure it out. Raccoons trying to climb the slippery plastic soon
give up.

A garden needs 1 inch of rain or water each week.
Early morning is the best time to water. Evening watering is less
desirable because leaves that remain wet through the night are more
susceptible to fungal diseases. Mulch plants to reduce water loss and
improve yields.

Keep peas, beans, and berries cool while you pick them by spreading a
damp cloth over your harvest basket.

For a fall harvest of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels
sprouts, set transplants in late July. For a fall harvest of lettuce,
radish, carrots, beets, turnips, kale, and spinach, sow seeds in late
July to early August.

Fall is the best time to grow Brussels sprouts since their flavor is
enhanced by a mild frost. Sow seeds directly in the garden early in
the month, or set out transplants. Brussels sprouts are heavy feeders
so make monthly applications of 5-10-10 fertilizer from the time the
plants are 4 inches tall. Apply at a rate of 1/2 cup per square yard.

In summer, dry soil may make working the soil difficult and inhibit
seed germination. Plant your fall vegetables when the soil is moist
after a rain, or water the area thoroughly the day before you plant.
Seeds may be planted in a shallow trench to conserve moisture. Cover
the seeds about twice as deeply as you do in the spring. Early
maturing varieties are best for late plantings.

Gardeners in the mountainous regions of Virginia should start
planting fall vegetables this month. Request publication #426-334,
Fall Vegetable Gardening, from your Extension agent for guidelines on
planning and planting fall crops.

One of the most important advantages of the home garden is the
opportunity to have high-quality vegetables. Harvest your vegetables
at the peak of maturity. Don't allow them to become too old before
you pick them. Harvest summer squash when it's about 6 inches long.
Use sweet corn as soon as it is picked. If it is held under warm
conditions, the sugar changes to starch, and the corn is much poorer
in quality.

Stop vine crops from taking over your garden or lawn by pinching off
the fuzzy growing tips. This also directs the plant's energy into
ripening fruit rather than producing more vine.

Implement all the best cultural practices to reduce pest problems,
but be prepared to spray as needed to control insects and diseases.
Some pest control usually is necessary to insure the production of
healthful, high-quality vegetables.

Swiss chard can outproduce the gardener. If it becomes overmature,
cut it back to about 4 inches. After cutting, it will send out
tender, new leaves.

Plant Chinese cabbage in July about 90 days before the average date
of the first fall frost in your locality. This will allow crisp, firm
heads to form in the cool days of early autumn.

Side dress crops like corn and cabbage with 2 pounds of 5-10-5
fertilizer per 50 feet of row about a month after growth starts.
Scatter the fertilizer between the rows and scratch it into the soil
with a rake. If your garden is on an infertile sandy soil, side dress
all of your vegetables to promote vigorous growth.

If your potatoes are visible along the soil surface, the portion
exposed to light will turn green. Green-skinned potatoes will taste
bitter and can cause sickness, so protect tubers from light by
covering them with soil or mulch.

Withhold water on storage potatoes when they begin to die down. Water
and fertilizer late in the season may disturb dormancy necessary for
good storage. They can cause regrowth or cause potatoes to crack
prior to harvest.

When muskmelons are 1/3 to 1/2 their mature size, decrease watering.
Overwatering reduces sweetness and may cause the fruits to crack
open. From half-size to maturity, 1 inch of water per week from
rainfall or overhead irrigation is plenty. Likewise, trickle
irrigation should be reduced.

Dried onion flower heads make marvelous additions to winter flower
arrangements. For this reason, you may want to allow some buds that
appear in your onion patch to develop instead of pinching them out as
is useful to ensure large bulbs.

Continue to make successive plantings of crops like beans, beets,
cabbage, and sweet corn to provide a continuous harvest until fall. A
small garden will produce a large quantity of vegetables if
replanting is done throughout the summer.

Pumpkin and squash blossoms are both beautiful and edible. To prepare
squash or pumpkin blossoms, pick them after they open. Remove insects
and dirt by washing and draining. Dip the blossoms in batter and fry
until golden.

Ornamental kales and cabbage are among the showiest of all winter
plants, and as the weather cools, the color intensifies.
Transplants of these beautiful winter ornamentals are available at
garden centers and nurseries now.

Summer squash with a bitter taste should not be eaten as it may
contain a natural toxin, curcurbitacin E, that can cause food
poisoning symptoms, such as stomach cramps. Often these fruits are a
result of self-seeded plants.
Avoid this problem by not saving self-seeded squash plants.

Turning cabbage a quarter to a half turn if they start to crack will
reduce the water uptake that causes splitting. Or use a shovel to cut
through the roots on one side of the plant. If that doesn't work,
better harvest them.

Daytime temperatures above 90 degrees F prevent snap bean flowers
from
developing.

Begin to sow cover crops between rows and in vacated beds now. Sow
clover, rye, and vetch. These will return humus and nitrates to the
soil when dug under later.

Grow your own Enjoy a bountiful fall vegetable garden — with this expert advice

Grow your own
Enjoy a bountiful fall vegetable garden — with this expert advice
By Marina Blomberg
Sunday, October 7, 2007



We’re sure you’ve heard that before, and maybe you’ve already discovered the benefits on your own. Or perhaps you wonder why so many professional growers, garden writers and Master Gardeners preach that autumn is truly the best time of the year to plant.

Jim Stephens, 71, professor emeritus with the horticultural sciences department of the University of Florida, draws on a lifetime of vegetable gardening — and 42 years of teaching — to offer some tips for the cold-weather gardener north of Ocala.

His book, “Vegetable Gardening in Florida,” covers the whole spectrum of growing edibles in Florida year-round, but he particularly likes winter gardens because they are the easiest — the weather is suitable for working outdoors, there aren’t as many weeds, and pests and diseases are less of a bother. In fact, for these reasons, fall is the best season for growing organically, Stephens says.

What grows best?

“In the fall garden, there are some crossovers from the summer that keep on growing — tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes. But by October, there are totally different vegetables that go in.” he says.

When choosing cool season vegetables, “personal taste will tell you what to plant. You can grow mustard, turnip and collard greens, but you have to like these things,” he says.

For best performance, garden soil should be prepared at least a month before by incorporating at least one pound of compost or aged animal manure per square foot of planting area . One pound is approximately a half-gallon milk carton full.

Organic fertilizers such as Black Kow or Black Hen (2-3-2) can be used as side-dressing as the plants grow.

Stephens is partial to organic mulches — straw, leaves, sawdust — versus black plastic for home gardens, even though the latter does help in keeping soil warmer and ground-hugging vegetables cleaner. Mulch moderates soil temperature and moisture, and suppresses weeds. “But weeding a garden is therapeutic.”

Pest control should be minimal. “There are few to hassle with during the winter. If you have cabbage/cole crops, you are going to have worms, but Bacillus thuringiensis or horticultural soap is the only thing you will need to use.”

Same for diseases. It’s not a big problem in winter crops. If you get some yellow spots on a cabbage leaf, just cut it off. If a plant gets a wilt, pull it up and dispose of it.”

Watering is critical in fall and winter, when it is generally drier than spring and summer, particularly at transplant time.

Choosing healthy plants at the outset will assure even the novice gardener with a productive garden. “Get the healthiest plants you can, and keep the roots moist.”

All of the following vegetables can take the cold — even below freezing. As a precaution, Stephens recommends watering the soil deeply before a predicted cold snap and covering with a floating row cover; the water will then radiate heat upward.

Vegetable gardens need a minimum of six hours of direct sun a day.

Don’t plant the garden all at once. By staggering plantings of lettuce and cabbage you will get harvest over a longer period of time.

Here are some veggies that prefer October over March:

# Broccoli: Plant transplants now through December. Heads of densely packed flower buds are ready to harvest starting 60 days from planting. Cut the central head and subsequent smaller sprouts will be produced. You can harvest for about a month. Steaming until the color is bright green is the best way to cook.

# Brussels sprouts: This cabbage family member produces heads that look like walnut-sized cabbages all along the stem. Harvest can begin about 85 days from planting seeds; shorter from transplants. Forget what you remember about store-bought Brussels sprouts; the home-grown version is far sweeter and nuttier. Frost improves the flavor, as sugars are rushed from the roots to heal any damage.

# Carrots: Long and thin or short and stubby, carrots love winter. Work the garden soil deeply to allow the roots to penetrate without running into clods or stones, thereby becoming forked or twisted. Seeds sown directly in the garden may take two weeks to germinate. Thin to one plant per inch or two by cutting the tops off unwanted plants; this way you won’t disturb the neighboring plants by pulling. While baby carrots can be harvested when they are a half-inch in diameter, they are usually not as sweet as those harvested starting 50-60 days from seeding. Carrots now come in yellow, white and purple hues as well as familiar orange.

# Cauliflower: Newer varieties produce leaves that tightly cover the curds, keeping them white and creamy. And then there’s purple and naturally green types, too. Lots of organic matter and sunshine will help these plants mature in 60 to 70 days after transplanting in the garden. These are fussier about temperatures and will bolt (go to seed) if an extended cold spell (35-50 degrees) is followed by warm weather. They also don’t like the moisture content to fluctuate widely.

# Chinese cabbages: Also called pak choi and bok choy, these prefer cool weather and short days. Depending on variety, they can mature as early as 40 days to as late as 75 days after planting. They will bolt (flower and go to seed) if there is an extended warm spell. Harvest by cutting the entire plant or snipping off outer leaves.

# Collards: These are basically non-heading cabbages. They can be grown in our warm season as well as cold, as they are very frost hardy. Flavor improves with frost. Harvest leaves when they are big enough to use. Some gardeners cut the whole plant when it is a foot tall; others harvest outer leaves as needed. Older leaves become tough and woody and require a lot of cooking to render them palatable.

# Kale: A powerhouse of nutrients, kale is often relegated to simply decorating a plate. This thin-leafed cole crop is as decorative as it is tasty, with most varieties exhibiting savoyed (crinkled) leaf edges. Kale germinates in about a week and matures in two months.

# Kohlrabi: If unusual vegetables are your thing, kohlrabi needs to be in your garden. The thick, round stem right above ground level sprouts leaves from its upper half. The crunchy, tangy stems— which can be green, white or purple — can be harvested about two months from direct seeding, when they are about 3 inches in diameter. The leaves are also edible.

# Lettuce: There are too many lettuces to include here, but all of them grow like crazy in the winter. There are four major types: crisphead, butterhead (Bibb), leaf (Red Sails, Oakleaf) and romaine or cos. Stick with butterhead and looseleaf types rather than crisphead, also called iceberg; the latter doesn’t have much flavor anyway.

# Onions: Bunching onions, leeks, shallots and bulbing onions — the GranX types that produce Florida Sweets and Vidalias — need to be planted in October in order to form the swollen roots next spring. Be sure to get short-day varieties. Garlic should also be planted in winter. Chives grow best in cool weather, too.

# Peas: English peas, which need to be shelled, and sugar peas and snap peas, which have edible pods, thrive in cool, moist weather. Most need support via trellising, which makes it easier to harvest. Harvest every few days once the pods have filled out but the peas are still immature. Sugar and snap peas will continue to produce until the plant fails, usually late spring. If pods get fibrous, shell the peas.

# Spinach: This vegetable prefers very cold soil to germinate; if needed, refrigerate fresh seeds for a week or two before planting in the garden. Leaves can be harvested as soon as they are big enough to use; cut from the outer edge to allow new leaves to grow in the center.

# Swiss chard: This leaf vegetable is highly decorative: ‘Ruby Red’ and ‘Rhubarb’ have dark red leaves and crimson stems; ‘Dorat’ has beautiful light green leaves; ‘Bright Lights,’ a 1998 All-America Selections winner, is actually a mix of chards whose rainbow-colored stems include crimson, orange, pink, white and yellow. Leaves range in color from green to red. You can harvest leaves 60 days from seeding; steam the leaf and chop the midrib. Don’t cook Swiss chard in an aluminum pot; the chard contains oxalic acid, which will discolor the pot.

# Turnips: These mature in two months from direct-seeding; they germinate in less than a week. Harvest green tops by cutting; if the growing point is left alone, more greens will grow. Pull roots (botanically they are swollen stems) when they are 2-3 inches in diameter, before they get woody.

To read the full article: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20071007/MAGAZINE01/71004038/1099/MAGAZINE?Title=Grow_your_own

Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden

Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden
The path to a picturesque potager is just a few pleasant steps from the pea patch you're already tending.
By Jack Staub

http://www.organicgardening.com/featureprint/1,7759,s1-5-19-1434,00.html
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-19-1434,00.html?cm_mmc=OGNews-_-2009_05_06-_-growingatoz-_-plan_a_beautiful_vegetable_garden

When I began my initial foray into the world of vegetables, I was a weekend gardener with limited time and no garden education. My only knowledge of vegetable gardening was definitely of the big-square-plot-of-dirt, row-each-of-tomatoes-beans-lettuces-etc. school of kitchen gardening. That was how I thought all vegetable gardens looked. Big. Plain. Rectangular. Aggressively functional with a nodding proximity to Tobacco Road.

Since then, I've learned that this strictly utilitarian model was a 19th-century invention. It developed as people moved away from rural life and home gardens to the cities, as production became centralized on industrial-size farms, and as machines that worked best when moving straight ahead replaced human labor. Then the whole thing got retrans- lated back to the backyard. The older, far more pleasing, approach, which reigned in backyards across the globe as long ago as the pleasure gardens of Babylon and right up through the 18th century, was based on smaller, more intimate plots, often divided into garden "rooms," incorporating a scheme of multiple raised beds planted with a diverse mixture of herbs, vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers.

To read the full article: http://www.organicgardening.com/featureprint/1,7759,s1-5-19-1434,00.html

Gardening 101: May Gardening Tips - Vegetables

May Tips: VEGETABLES

Silver Choice is a new cultivar of white corn that is
15 to 20 percent sweeter and matures two weeks earlier
than Silver Queen, according to Today's Garden, August
1993. The ears are 8 inches long, with 16 rows of
tender kernels.

Plant sweet corn and beans every two weeks through
June for an extended harvest.

Tomato cages are an inexpensive way to support your
long-stemmed perennials.

To store seed packets, place them in a small file box
labeled with the date they are to be planted. After
planting and labeling the plants with variety and date
planted, return the empty packets to the file for
future reference.

If you plan to can, plant determinate tomatoes so the
fruit will ripen all at once. If you prefer your
tomatoes fresh from the vine, plant indeterminate
tomatoes so the ripening will be staggered.

If spraying fruit trees near a vegetable garden, cover
the vegetables with a large sheet of plastic to
protect them from the spray.

When it is time to plant lettuce (early spring, about
one month before last frost), the climate is also
appropriate to plant chives, mint, oregano, parsley,
sage, sweet marjoram, tarragon, and thyme.

To control weeds in a garden: prevent weed seed
germination, destroy weeds that sprout before they
bear seed, and do not use mulches or compost
contaminated with weed seeds.

Chickweed is full of nutrients and has a nutty flavor
when eaten raw.
You also can eat it steamed with butter or other
flavorings.

Gourds of different shapes can be used to create
animals or birds by sticking legs and heads on them.
Try scratching a child's name into the skin when the
gourd is half grown. The gourd forms a scab over the
scratches, and as it grows, the name grows bigger and
bigger.

When tomato seedlings have five to seven leaves, they
are ready to transplant into the garden.

Successful eggplant development is dependent on a span
of temperatures (80 to 90 degrees F) and plenty of
water. Water well when the plants are young.
Water at least two times a week when temperatures are
high and there is no rain.

Southern peas require very little fertilization; too
much nitrogen encourages vine growth and delays pod
set. When peas are fully formed, harvest ripe pods to
encourage continuous production.

Extend your corn harvest by planting successive crops
when the previous crop has three to four leaves, or
plant early, mid-, and late-maturing varieties all at
the same time.

Cilantro, the green plant, is sometimes confused with
coriander, its seeds.
The leafy part has a strong taste distinctive in
Spanish and Mexican dishes, and chutney. The seeds
have a subtle orange flavor called for in bread,
pastry and pickle recipes. Cilantro and coriander are
not interchangeable, but cooks may become confused
when "fresh coriander" is called for, meaning
cilantro.

Inspect cauliflower every few days. Cut off the curd
when the flower sections begin to separate.

Keep beans and peas well watered to ensure maximum
nitrogen fixation.
Even mild, water stress can significantly reduce
nitrogen fixation.
Weight and number of nitrogen-fixing root nodules
decrease as water stress increases, and nitrogen
fixation ceases completely during extended dry
periods.

Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service have
found that many plants respond favorably to specific
wavelengths of reflected sunlight.
Different-colored mulch materials reflect different
wavelengths of light and have produced noticeable
results. Tomato harvests increased significantly in
both size and quality when plants were grown over red
plastic. Potatoes and green peppers produced best when
the plastic was white. Commonly, plastic sheeting is
available only in black or white, but gardeners may
want to experiment with ways to color their plastic
mulch.

To get early germination of okra and cowpea seeds, try
increasing seed moisture by placing seeds and dampened
vermiculite in plastic bags at room temperature for 3
days before planting in cold soils.
Early harvest and increased fresh-pod yield per plant
are more likely inplants grown from seed treated this
way.

Hops, a fast-growing, perennial vine, can become a
multiple asset in your edible landscape plan. In
addition to using the seed pods to flavor beer, poach
the flowers and serve them with butter or cream
sauce. Tender, spring shoots can be served like
asparagus, and trellised hops vines make good screens.

Another garden use for plastic milk jugs -- seep
irrigation. Simply use a large nail to punch holes in
the sides of a jug, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
Bury the jug, leaving the neck protruding from the
soil. Fill the jug with water (solutions of liquid
fertilizer may be used to water and fertilize at the
same time) and screw the cap on firmly. The water will
gradually seep out, providing a slow, deep irrigation
for surrounding plants.

When crops like squash or cucumbers are planted in a
circle or hill, place a stick upright in the middle of
the circle and leave it there. Later on, you'll know
where to water the main roots hidden among the vines.

Allow more space for pumpkins than for cucumbers or
melons. When the desired number of fruit have set, the
end of the vine can be pinched off to prevent
additional fruit production and encourage large fruit
size. Harvest when rind is hard enough so it can't be
penetrated with a fingernail.

To ensure pollination of sweet corn, plant several
rows together in a block, rather than in one long row.
Side-dress with 3 Tbsp. of 10-10-10 per 10 feet of row
when 12 to 18 inches high. Keep well watered,
especially from tasseling time to picking. Hill corn
plants by pushing a few inches of soil up around the
base of the plants when they are fertilized. This
provides stability, but take care not to disturb the
roots or remove suckers.

Regular sweet corn, super-sweet varieties, and popcorn
should be isolated from each other by at least 200
feet to prevent cross-pollination.

Green skin on potatoes means that sunlight is reaching
them. To prevent this condition, which causes
bitterness and is also toxic, pile more soil over the
hills or add a thick mulch of straw.

From an authority at Peto Seed Company: If you are
storing seeds for just a year or two, no special
packaging should be necessary if the sum of the
temperature (degrees F) plus the relative humidity is
always under 100. If the temperature and humidity sum
consistently exceeds 100, store seeds in airtight
containers with a desiccant to absorb excess moisture.
Powdered charcoal, milk powder, and rice are effective
desiccants. Dry desiccants at a low oven setting
before
use.

Cabbage loopers and imported cabbage worms are green
worms that eat large holes in the leaves of plants in
the cabbage family.
They are difficult to see, but the holes and green
"frass" or excrement on the plants are tell-tale
signs. For control, caterpillars may be hand-picked or
sprayed with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a natural,
non-toxic preparation available by various trade
names.

Slugs love cool, moist weather and succulent, leafy
crops, especially lettuce and cabbage. Debris in the
garden provides them with a place to hide and should
be removed promptly. To see if your garden is under
attack, put out a board or invert a flower pot in the
garden.
The next morning, see if there are any slugs clinging
underneath. If so, begin removing them by hand every
few days to decrease their population.

Newly transplanted plants should be protected from
cutworms with collars. Cut strips of cardboard 2
inches wide by 8 inches long and staple them into a
band which is placed around the plants. Press the
collar about 1 inch into the soil.

Lettuce, tomato, bean, and pea are self-pollinating
annual vegetables from which seed can be easily saved.
Make sure the plants are open-pollinated (not hybrids)
or next year's plants probably will not resemble the
parent plants.

Plan vegetable gardens with nutrition in mind. Compare
the nutritional values of your crops with the amount
of space allotted them.
For example, your family will get more vitamins and
minerals from a block of spinach than from an equal
amount of lettuce.

Consider planting some ornamental gourds in the garden
this year.
After harvest in the fall, wash and dry them
thoroughly and paint them with clear shellac. Place
the gourds in a basket or bowl, and you'll have an
attractive centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

When thinning beans, watch for 'snake heads',
seedlings that have lost one or both of their
cotyledons and produce poor weak sprouts, and 'bald
heads', seedlings that have the growth point damaged
so severely that they can't develop. Both types of
seedlings will be
weak and delayed in growth and should be removed.

Stay out of the garden when foliage is wet. Walking
through a wet garden spreads disease from one plant to
another.

When planting large-seeded lima or butter bean seed in
heavy soils, it may help germination to plant the seed
on edge, facilitating the emergence of the large
cotyledons, or seed leaves. On light sandy soil, this
is of little value because such soil offers little
resistance to sprouts.

Deep transplanting is good for tomatoes. Tomato plants
can be set so deeply in the ground that only a little
tuft of leaves shows above the surface.
Remove all leaves that would be under the soil. New
roots will sprout along the stem. Don't try deep
transplanting with other vegetables or flowers.

Drive stakes for future support at the same time you
plant tomatoes.
If you try to install stakes later, you may damage the
plant roots.
Tie the plants to the stakes with a soft material such
as stockings or worn bed sheets that will not cut into
the stems.

Trellis and stake downwind from the prevailing winds
so plants will lean against the supports when the wind
is blowing.

According to USDA tests, amaranth is an excellent
substitute for cooked spinach. It does well in
midsummer heat and harvestable leaves are produced in
just 30 days from sowing.

Frequent picking of cucumber, summer squash, bean,
pea, lettuce, and greens while they are small and
tender will improve the quality of the produce and
increase the yield of each plant.

After planting seed from this year's packets, store
leftovers in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator.
Add a desiccant such as a layer of tissues in which 2
tablespoons of powdered milk have been wrapped to
absorb excess moisture from the air.

Four to five layers of newspaper will serve as an
effective mulch in the garden. Cover it with sawdust
or straw to reduce the white glare and prevent it from
blowing away.

Flea beetles can severely damage newly set plants.
Protect plants with a currently recommended
insecticide (check with yourlocal Extension agent) as
soon as these small, shiny, black, hopping insects are
noted. Floating row covers will prevent flea beetles
from damaging plants.

Spinach leaf miners tunnel between the surfaces of the
leaves of beet, spinach, Swiss chard, and lettuce and
leave white trails etched in the leaves. The tiny,
white grubs hatch from white eggs aid on the underside
of the leaf by a small fly. You can prevent the fly
from laying eggs on your plants by keeping them
covered with a cheesecloth tent or spun polyester row
cover. If you cannot cover your plants, consult your
Extension agent for recommended insecticidal controls.

When selecting green leafy vegetables, keep in mind
that, generally, the darker green the leaf, the higher
the vitamin content.
For example, romaine and looseleaf lettuce contain
more of vitamins A and C and calcium than either
crisphead or butterhead. Fresh spinach contains large
amounts of potassium, iron, and vitamin A.

Don't use a weed-and-feed type fertilizer in the
garden. Weed killers don't know a vegetable from a
weed. They may injure or contaminate your crops.