Garden Notes - Summer Solstice June 21, 2011

Upon my return from a Florida trip to see family, I am relieved to be in a temperate environment where the soil is naturally fertile, however I am a little envious of the long growing season southern growers enjoy.

The little guys I continue to nurture along are cabbage, carrots and red onions. I'm a little disappointed at the slow growth of the red onions, but since this is my first experience with them, I have to keep reminding myself that they are a root veggie and wouldn't mind growing well into the fall.

The cabbage closest to the swing (a miraculous survivor from last year) just needed a stick for support since it had essentially grown like a grafting from the old stem. The wind broke it off, but not completely. It isn't showing any signs of going to seed.

The carrot carry-overs from last year appear to be genetically programmed to go to seed, so I yanked all but one seed plant and carefully re-distributed all the carrot seedlings to fill blanks rather then simply thin them.

The leek survivors aren't so eager to seed. Five of the larger ones went to seed, so I yanked all but one of them since the growth was all "up" not "down" into the bulbous part of the plant. However, the smallest ones from last year look like they may ignore their programming to seed. Let's wait and see on that. I planted two broccoli in place of some blank area left by the ones I yanked. It sounds crazy, but I have had successful broccoli planted in mid to late June before. They like growing into the fall and tolerate frost very well (as do cabbage and brussels sprouts).

I had many a nice tabouli salad from the second growth of parsley into early June, but they all started going to seed with long stems and few leaves. That whole bed got yanked and I started some new parsley seedlings. I have plenty of seeds for now. Maybe I will let one mature with seeds next year.

The bone meal I tried this year is Organic Choice (by Miracle Grow) at 6-9-0 NPK (nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium). I sprinkle epsom salts in a ring around peppers and the one tomato plant I have. Much debate goes on about the effectiveness of this, but I have seen my peppers improve with more veggie production and less leaf production in the past. The salts add magnesium to the soil.

As for pests, I have just noticed today, lots of small, red bugs on the ground all around the winter squash, but I haven't identified them yet. I dosed them with diatomaceous earth using my "pest pistol" and a dust mask. And, just today as well, I saw a white butterfly lite on my biggest cabbage plant. I will have to dust that with DE tomorrow!