New England Gardener

Question:
I garden in Providence Ri. I recently returned from an unexpected and extended trip, and found, as I expected, many of my plants had bit the dust. Are there any flowers/veggies/herbs it would be safe to put in the ground over the next few weeks, that might have a chance at blooming through fall? I was thinking sugar pea shoots, more basil, zinnias and mint. How about kale and spinach? Any other flowers? Does anyone have any good techniques for growing pea shoots?
From: Danielle

Answer:
Hi Danielle
It’s always the right season to put some time in the garden. You can do what I did this week.
I went to Ron & Cindy Simon’s Nursery in Scituate and got a great deal on Summer and Fall Blooming Perennials. Ron told me it’s been a tough summer to keep the potted plants watered, so he is eager to get rid of left overs. The six inch pots are going two for $7.99. I got 4 Chrysanthemums for less than twenty dollars. These mums are a little different though. Montauk Daisies look like regular Daisies, but they are bigger and tougher and bloom all fall, and they are mums. Ron says we should cut them in half next July to keep them from getting unruly next fall.
Also I found some yellowish hearty perennial flowers (forgot the name). And also a red mum that looks like no mum I have ever seen. I will get pictures of these to post when they bloom next month.
And yes, you can plant fall peas, lettuce, and spinach. Hopefully we get some rain soon. We would hate to have these fall flowers wilt and fade too.
Happy Digging, Tim

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Filed under: Ask The Garden Team

Bob Leone says his first ripe tomatoes looked great from the top, but were all black on bottom. The same thing happened at his Newton Massachusetts neighbor’s garden. Bob says, if it happens to his, expert gardener buddy Joe DeCicco, it can happen to anyone. I guess so, it happened to me too.

Bob and Joe did some research and found this is Bottom End Rot and sometimes happens to early ripening tomatoes. They confirm that the latest tomatoes, this week of July 28, 2010, the tomatoes are no longer showing BRE. That’s good news.. after last year’s blight, the last thing we need is another bad tomato year.

Our North Attleboro Gardening Weather Watcher, Terry O’Neil, has posted a picture of his early season pumpkin. Nice one Terry! But guess what? Look what I have yup, a Ripe Pumpkin in July! What is our secret? Luck. His grew from seeds left from last year’s Jack’O'Lanterns.

My trick is to plant on the first day of spring, March 21 ish. The best pumpkins I get are from the early planted seeds. Even when I buy saplings from the nursery and put them in in May, the ones from seeds in March do better.

I have a pumpkin question, should we prune pumpkin suckers the same way we prune tomato suckers? Lats time I asked questions in the blog, we got no answers.. but I am trying anyway.
What about Hydrangea, what to do with the over grown huge heavy blooms? After years of letting them go, this summer I chop chop chopped.

Half went into vases, half to the compost pile at Go Green Landscape Supply. Another option is to stake and tie them, to keep them from bending to the ground.

The Rose of Sharon are all in bloom, early. With August fruit and flowers in July, does this mean we should plant Mums in August? I am tempted. The pansies in the pots are baked, I need something to put in there. Any suggestions? What is the name of those fall blooming daisies.. I am getting them in the ground this year.

Filed under: Vegetables

Children are fascinated by the life cycle of butterflies, so when two Swallowtail caterpillars were discovered munching on dill in our community garden over the weekend, we decided to hold on to them in hopes of sharing their metamorphosis with the kids in our Garden Explorers program. My friend Christine thrust the dill stem swaying with the weight of two fat caterpillars into my hand saying “just put the stem in some water. They’ll be fine.”

Now, I know caterpillars aren’t as complicated as children or puppies, but so far, I’ve failed completely in butterfly rearing. First of all, they ate through the dill stem in about two hours, sending me back to the garden in the dark feeling around for the right kind of dill. Second, they’re finicky. They wouldn’t touch the basil, carrot greens, or oregano, instead craning their heads away from my offerings like a one-year-old faced with a spoonful of strained peas. Third, like heck they stay put! I found one half way across my dining room floor before I (by “I” I mean my husband) got smart and built a box with a viewing window.

Here’s when things got sad. I found one, not sure if it was Henrietta or Sinclair, hanging off the outside of the box. Those of you who have reared caterpillars are shaking your heads at my stupidity, but I ripped it off the side wondering why it was sticking so firmly to the box. YES, I KNOW THIS INFORMATION IS ON THE INTERNET, but I didn’t know last weekend. Duh. Henrietta was starting to pupate and I interrupted the process. I tried to put her back on a leaf, apologizing profusely, but she wouldn’t attach. Now, she’s laying at the bottom of the box. Sinclair, seems to have attached himself to a stick in the “J” formation so he may be on his way.

Here’s my question for you butterfly pros. Should I assume Henrietta is dead, or as I told my son tonight, is it possible she’s just sleeping, meaning in the early stages of pupating?

What an ordeal!

Filed under: Just Add Water Project | Kids Garden | Uncategorized

Keep An Eye Out For Late Blight In Your Garden

In order to keep your plants safe, the experts say it’s ESSENTIAL to apply fungicide PRIOR to infestation. That means now is the time to treat your plants. The Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association offers some organic options. The Cooperative Extension Services also provide good fact sheets Here’s another helpful link from the UMass Extension Office.

–Amy

Filed under: Just Add Water Project | Late Blight | Organic | Sustainable Gardening | Uncategorized

Paul Demeo sent us this photo of Blueberries that are clearly established and ready to pick. (unlike my little mail order bushes that looks years away).

Paul took this photo and sent along with this note..
Blueberries are ripe for picking by the quarts. There is an abundant crop of the sweet fruit ripening daily.
This photo was taken out in Ashburnham MA which is known to have an abundant amount of berry bushes.
Next weekend I’ll try to have an update for you on the apple crop. I do know for a fact from Al Rose that there was some frost damage to the crop in the lower areas of the farm. This long hot dry spell is having an effect too. I’ll let you know.
Paul DeMeo

Thanks Paul!

Last week we received a number of ‘Ask The Gardener’ questions that we need some help with. Perhaps some of our readers, like you, may be able to help us answer some of these questions. If you have any help for us, please post a comment below for us all to read.

Pam Chaplin: We have a woodchuck that just loves our bush beans. We have a fence all around the garden and the devil avoids the trap that we have set. Any other suggestions?

Rozetta Hughes: I have a ten year old kousa dogwood that has flowered for the past four years, this year we have not had a flower. The dogwood looks very good.
Why no flowers???

Nicole Inglis: What should I do to keep my roses blooming all summer? How should I prune them to keep them blooming?
Thank you.
Nicole

And we have advice from Muriel:
Hi, Tim Kelley… Really enjoy your “take” on TV… and appreciate your sharing your interest in gardening…
I learned this a few years ago and thought you might like to share it with your listeners (as well as apply it to your garden)!
Keep up the good work.
Muriel Thomas, Centerville, MA
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/secrdets.htm

Filed under: Ask The Garden Team | Uncategorized

Suddenly it is mid summer. The heat last week was most extreme in about a decade. Our yards are parched, but our Gardens are doing great. Thanks to a warm wet spring and a hot dry summer, along with plenty of watering, we have an abbondanza of healthy fruits, flowers, vegetables, and weeds. Janet picked our first almost red sweet one hundred Friday July 9, 2010. The strawberry’s are still coming, I hope these are the variety that keep blooming all summer.. not sure.

How about the blueberry experiment?
The tiny blueberry plants we ordered in the mail.. are still tiny. Here you can see two of them, mixed well with the weedy shamrock. I choose not to pull the shamrock because they are fun little plants with pretty yellow flowers. But when I cleaned this bed for the blueberry, there were no other plants. So I did give the blueberries a private spot in the sun. The blueberry add says we will get four pints a day of berries! They did not say what year. My older (four foot tall) blueberries are yielding ripe berries, but they are in a comeback year after the painful blight of 2009. I expect much more from the next year.
The heavy rain storms of Saturday July 10, 2010 was not evenly distributed. For example, at Cambridge Massachusetts, just north of Boston, three and a half inches of rain fell. Just south of Boston at The Great Blue Hill, only one one hundredth of an inch fell. The good news that we have a cooler week ahead with more frequent thunderstorms likely. Hopefully you do not have too strict of a watering ban in your town. Our town is on a even/odd day on/day off water restriction. Is some yards the greenest party of the lawn is the Crab Grass, how does this happen!?
Roses have come and gone. You can keep them coming by ‘dead heading’ the old flowers. Just cut them a few inches below the dead bloom, just an eight of an inch above another five leaf branch. New rose flowers will show in a few weeks. I spent hours in the Rosa Rugosa doing just that.

Look what I found, tons of rag weed.. already to bloom ragweed. They are easy to pull. And a lot easier to pull now that after the flowers release pollen. Like all the blooms this wet then hot year, ragweed’s are a couple weeks ahead of schedule.
Gesundheit!
.

Filed under: Vegetables