New England Gardener » Vegetables

Bottom End Rot and Other Better News

Tim Kelley — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:27:20 +0000

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.

LOOK OUT FOR LATE BLIGHT

Amy Sinclair — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:32:03 +0000

Keep An Eye Out For Late Blight In Your Garden

Many of us lost tomatoes and to a lesser extent potatoes due to widespread Late Blight last year. Everyone had their fingers crossed that the dreaded disease wouldn’t make an encore performance, but it’s back in New England this summer. I know outbreaks have been confirmed in mid-coast Maine and the spores can travel for 40 miles on the wind, so it doesn’t take long for Late Blight to get around. Once it does, those heirloom tomatoes are gonners because plants must be pulled.

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

Abbondanza- Fruits, Vegetables, and Weeds

Tim Kelley — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:29:00 +0000

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!
.

THE FRONT YARD IS DELICIOUS TOO

Amy Sinclair — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:58:10 +0000

Edible landscaping certainly isn’t a new idea, but I’ve always considered it to be a backyard pursuit, quietly tucking strawberry plants, herbs and pea structures into my ornamental beds. What exactly was I trying to hide? The fact that my family likes homegrown fresh food? Finally, this spring a light went on as I was lamenting the state of a diseased row(leaf spot) of red twig dogwood shrubs along my front fence.

My local YMCA branch in Freeport, Maine has a lovely hedge of mature high bush blueberries right next to the parking lot and I thought…I can do this at home.

I chose three high bush (cultivated) plants, 2 Bluecrop and 1 Patriot, and 5 low bush (wild) blueberries. I went with Brunswick on the low bush because they’re supposed to provide a dense ground cover. I think blueberries are a great bet in New England because they’re extremely hardy, provide delicious kid-friendly fruits, require little maintenance, and hold their own in the looks department. The leaves turn bright red in the fall which should look just great against our white fence.

The key to happy blueberries is acidic soil…requiring a ph of 4. to 5.5. A more dilgent gardener would have tested the soil before planting, but I decided the blueberries would be ok because they’re planted in the same stretch of soil as my acid loving Rhododendrons. I did, however, augment the soil with an organic compost that’s well suited for berries.

Other great options for front yard foundation plants might be gooseberries and currants. Or, if you’re hoping to keep animals (or neighbors) at bay, you might try growing a thorny hedge of blackberries or rasberries.

This latest adventure reminded me to question my preconceived ideas about gardens. Somewhere along the garden path, I decided food plants belonged in the back yard. Nonsense. Another advantage to front yard edibles…the deer are less likely to go there.

When To Plant?

Amy Sinclair — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:12:16 +0000

Alyson H wrote in with a great question that I’m posting here so that all may benefit.

QUESTION: “I am wondering if there is a single resource- like a big chart maybe- of when to plant different crops in New England. I am in southern NH and never know when to start things or what to put in next, etc.”

ANSWER: Hi Alyson,
Thanks for your question. For region specific information about planting windows, time to maturity, frost dates etc. you can’t do any better than your local Cooperative Extension service. The Cooperative Extensions were created to make sure the public has access (usually free!!) to information and resources from their state universities. I checked out UNH’s cooperative extension website and immediately found what you’re looking for. Just download the “Planting and Maturity Dates of Vegetables in New England.” Cooperative Extensions are also a wealth of information when it comes to pest problems too. Happy Gardening,

Amy

Goodnight Garden

Amy Sinclair — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:24:19 +0000

It's All Over But The Brussel Sprouts

My absence from the blog for the last month pretty much reflects my life as a gardener. I’m wildly enthusiastic in May and June, celebrating every shoot and pod. By July and August, my enthusiasm gives way to methodical labor; weed-water-harvest-replant. By September and October, I’m down to a few quick harvesting missions.

Just Add Water Garden In August

So when my son asked if I was sad to say goodbye to the garden today, I said no without a second thought. I’m a four season girl and it’s time to put the garden to bed.
Sure, I’m jealous of the warm weather folk when I visit my Florida in-laws in March. (I swear I can smell the soil over the jet fuel when I get off the plane in West Palm Beach.) But year round gardening would become a chore for me.
And so on this chilly October Sunday, we ripped out the brown shriveled basil, lamented, briefly, the third crop of beans that never produced, untangled the squash vines, and left the last two brussel sprouts that should produce a few more few side dishes.

And Just as we did back in early May, my husband, son and I shoveled manure from a nearby horse farm onto the raised bed. The difference now is that my almost 4 year old has become a farmer. Without questions or whining, Zach went to the shed, grabbed his wheelbarrow and shovel, attacked the compost pile, only asking for direction once with a jaunty “where do you want it, Mommy?”
Now I can’t say for sure that it’s a summer’s worth of fresh organic vegetables that made the difference, more likely the passage of time, but it was a pleasure watching him grow along with the Just Add Water garden over the last six months.
I look forward to gardening with all of you again next spring!

Beauty and The Beast in our Trees

Tim Kelley — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:29:12 +0000

Scituate MA October 5, 2009

All the talk is of how this fall foliage season in as good as it gets here in New England. The cold wet summer of 2009 was torture for tomatoes and pumpkins, but good for a bounty of beauty in our hardwood Forest. This golden tree is always first to turn in our neighborhood. But not all trees are beautiful. Do you notice a red vine running up some trees around your home? The red vine may be pretty, but the tree it’s climbing may be doomed.

The red vine is one of the many invasive vines spreading throughout the northeast.

What’s wrong with this big barren tree in Norwell Massachusetts? Once thriving, I believe Birch, tree is now dead. The reason? Invasive vines choked it off.

Norwell MA October 5, 2009

Here in the NECN woodlands we have a nice looking hardwood near the southeast corner of our parking lot. This tree may be a birch too. from a distance it looks healthy.

Newton MA October 5, 2009

But check out the trunk.. how many different vines can we identify? It appears maybe some clematis and perhaps honeysuckle? Any experts in the house?

My dilemma is.. Do I let the tree choke to death by the grip of the invading vine.. or do I dress in my landscape outfit (instead of weatherman suit) and get to pulling the roots out from around the base of the tree in effort to save it’s life?

The tree is not my problem, the land in not owned by me or even NECN. It is Commercial Real Estate. We have a beautiful office park here in Newton Massachusetts, but these trees fall between the cracks. As observer of the vine, it appears to be my responsibility to save the tree.. and the one next to it, and the one next to it. A nice spruce is also getting overtaken just a few yards away. I will let you know which way I go. (I have spent hours and hours doing this around my yard, now I may have to go on the road with my invasive vine termination effort, anyone want to join me )

On a related note: The New England Wildflower Society is hosting a discussion on ‘Invasive ID, Ecology and Control’ in Framingham MA on Sunday October 18, 2009, see detail here.

Crisp air, fall foliage & apple picking go hand-in-hand

Allison Sonfist — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:45:37 +0000

NECN’s Anya Huneke says apple picking season is officially underway in Vermont, and as of now, this is looking to be a terrific year.

For her day off of work, Allison Hale of Burlington, Vermont, decided this would be the perfect activity. Around lunchtime, accompanied by their appetites, she and Mike McGonegal made the trip to Shelburne Orchards to welcome in fall with a bag of hand-picked apples.

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Orchards across Vermont are starting to bustle with activity, as crowds turn out to pick what many farmers say is looking to be a bumper crop — in part because of, not despite, the rainy summer weather that has plagued many other crops.

Another likely beneficiary of this summer’s wet weather is the fall foliage, just starting to show its colors in Vermont. Tourism officials say moisture is a key ingredient in bright displays, and the warm days and cool nights we have had recently, have only helped.

Holy Cross students go back to their ‘roots’

Allison Sonfist — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:07:32 +0000

Some college students at Holy Cross are digging deep in a major effort to help feed the hungry.

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Take Notes Now

Amy Sinclair — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:50:09 +0000

Just Add Water Garden Early September

By mid-September, I’m all about harvesting and not much else in the garden. I overlook weeds and watering and only ponder insect infestations if supper is threatened. But experience has taught me that it pays to take a few minutes to review the season’s successes and failures before the leaves fall. Taking notes now will prevent me from attacking the garden catalogs like a sailor with scurvy come February.

As you know, I started the season with seed suggestions and a 10′ by 10′ layout from the great gardeners at Johnny’s Selected Seeds here in Maine. For the most part, their varieties and succession planting ideas worked well, but I will make a few changes next year based mostly on personal preferences. (Click on layout to the right if you’re curious about what I grew.)

A Bouquet of Carrots, Red Lettuce and Chard.

Working with their plan encouraged me to try some new veggies. I’ve discovered that I like chard and LOVE summer squash. We’ve been doing ratatouille with squash, zucchini, basil and (sigh) canned tomatoes for the last month in my house. Even the little guy likes it. I’ve also concluded that for me, kale will go back to being an ornamental plant. Are we sure it’s food?

I had bad luck with some transplants. Neither my cuke or basil seedlings fared as well as the plants that were sowed from seed into the garden. Next year, I won’t bother starting those indoors.

The peas, beans, lettuces and spinach have all been delicious. All will be invited back.

Thanks to the confines of the 10′ by 10′ space, I found I was much more disciplined about succession plantings. In the past I tucked veggies all over my garden beds and sometimes forgot about them. Not this year. Even in mid-September, every inch of the Just Add Water garden is still producing. Beans are coming up in the tomato graveyard. New rows of lettuce and spinach are launched next to the beans. I tucked in some discounted celery and cauliflower seedlings where the peas once grew. Those will be harvested in the coming weeks. The buds on my brussel sprouts are starting to swell. And the chard, carrots cucumbers and squashes are growing like gangbusters.

Cauliflower On The Way

Regrets. I’ve had a few. I’ve already said too much about the tomatoes, but that was the nadir. I also regret not planting several crops of carrots. Johnny’s layout called for only a mid-summer planting, but in my house, raw carrots are served at every meal. Next year, I’ll start sowing carrot seeds as soon as the ground is warm enough. That reminds me, I plan to lay black plastic down next spring and purchase a soil thermometer. I definitely would have forgotten that idea over the winter!

What lessons does your garden have to share? If you’re like me, you won’t remember them in February and by then your garden won’t be in the mood for conversation.