September means gardens are now heading into the season finale with harvests of tomatoes, beans, squash, cukes, onions, potatoes, and peppers leading the way! Wet weather has been hard on some veggies and flowers this summer but there are some special techniques to keep plants healthy despite the saturated soils. This is a good time of year to apply foliar compost tea and your own homemade biofertilizers. It’s also a good time to get a soil test so you know…
June brings better gardening weather, what a welcome change! Vermont spring is unpredictable but recent rains have created a great time to get new plants into their garden homes for the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and salad greens have mostly been planted out. It’s time for heat loving plants like basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, sweet potatoes, & peppers to be in the ground. Annual flowers like geraniums, petunias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and snapdragons will do well outside now. …
We are in peak garden season and there’s a lot happening out there. The rainy start of July made two practices essential: weeding and disease control. While you enjoy some satisfying harvests and flowers, stay alert to slugs and new pests to prevent damage and plant disease introduction. There are some more things that can be planted now too. Garlic harvest is almost here so let’s look at the best way to harvest, cure, and select your crop. Weeds are…
June brings better gardening weather, what a welcome change! Although it’s been dry for Vermont spring, recent rains have created better conditions to get new plants into their outdoor homes for the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and salad greens have mostly been planted out. It’s time for heat loving plants like basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, sweet potatoes, & peppers to be in the ground. Annual flowers like geraniums, petunias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and snapdragons will do well outside…
Garden planting and transplanting is now in full swing and everything we want to grow can be planted out including favorites like tomato & pepper plants, squashes, potatoes, onion sets, broccoli, herbs, or greens. But one question remains, which plants make good garden companions with each other, and which do not? Plants affect their neighbors and the soil around them so we should try to place compatible or non-competitive plants near each other when possible. A similar principle applies when…
June brings better gardening weather, what a welcome change! Although it’s been dry for Vermont spring, recent rains have created a great time to get new plants into their outdoor homes for the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and salad greens have mostly been planted out. It’s time for heat loving plants like basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, okra, sweet potatoes, & peppers to be in the ground. Annual flowers like geraniums, petunias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and snapdragons will do well…
As plants enter their peak vegetative growth phase in June their nutrient requirements increase so they can get bigger and prepare for fruiting (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, etc.) or storage (carrots, beets, onions, etc.). We’ve had some badly needed rains and things should start to look good out there. Also, this can be when plants in deficient soils run short of essential nutrients and show signs of poor health. In order to promote strong growth and avoid nutrient shortages now…