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.
