Summer Vegetable Care
In midsummer, vegetable gardens hit full stride, yielding an abundance of delicious and healthy fresh produce. It's a wonderful time of garden abundance. It should also be a time of diligence - giving plants all the care they need to keep them producing on into fall.
Here are some tips to keep your vegetable garden healthy and productive.
Water regularly. If you let vegetable plants dry out, many will stop producing, and if they don't, the quality of the harvest will suffer; tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will get blossom-end rot, cucumbers will be bitter-tasting, ears of corn will not properly fill out and beans will be tough and stringy. So keep the soil evenly moist, especially during hot spells. Water deeply, give the soil time to partially dry out, then water again.
Mulch. Laying down a 2 to 3 inch layer of organic mulch, like compost, around the base of plants will keep the soil cool, reduce evaporation and reduce weeds.
Pull weeds. Don't let them get the upper hand. They compete with vegetable plants for light, water and nutrients. And they usually win the competition.
Harvest often. Most vegetable plants, including beans, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and eggplant will stop producing if not harvested frequently. Harvest every 2 or 3 days. If necessary, share the bounty with neighbors.
Keeping planting. Where growing seasons are long, there's still time to make another planting of quick maturing summer vegetables like early corn, beans, cucumbers, and squash. Towards mid-month, sow seeds of cool-season crops like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. All will mature in fall.
Fertilize. Keep late ripening vegetables growing vigorously with occasional applications of nitrogen fertilizer. But don't overdo it with plants that are already producing. Over-fertilizing vegetables such as tomatoes can reduce yields.
Control insects. Keep a close eye out for build-ups of insect pests. If you have a few insects, you can hand-pick and destroy (stomp on them or drop in a jar of soapy water) tomato hornworms, cucumber beetles and grasshoppers whenever you see them. If problems persist, spray with Bayer Advanced™ PowerForce® Multi-Insect Killer Ready-To-Spray. On some vegetables, it can be applied right until the day of harvest. Check the label to see which formulation you need.
Products Mentioned In This Article
Bayer Advanced
