Island News & Views
General · 5th August 2010
susan
Suggestions and Information from our Garden Guru - Eileen
Plants and weeds have really taken off these past two weeks with the long hours of daylight and the warm weather. Who knew pumpkins and squash would grow so fast or rampage so far? The warm weather has also brought the cabbage white butterflies to the garden this past week. A check on the underside of a leaf that had popped out from the Remay revealed some eggs. They are white, about one millimeter long and will be scattered on the underside of the leaves. You can rub them off if you have the patience. It is too late for Remay now but you can spray with Btk, a bacterial solution which is recognized as an organic control. The caterpillars will eat the bacterium when they munch on the leaves and over a couple of days the bacterium multiplies inside the caterpillar, killing it. Please try and get rid of the caterpillars before they pupate in the soil or there will be a real infestation next year. When you pick organic greens, it is a good idea to soak them in salt water for about 15 minutes to kill any bugs in there. This will work against slugs and caterpillars but with broccoli and cauliflower, they can get stuck among the flower head and need careful inspection if you know there is an infestation of caterpillars. By the way, you will eventually smell them on the plants as they grow.
It would be beneficial to keep a list of what bugs we are finding to try and evade future attacks next year. I found a wonderful large green cutworm in the middle of a cauliflower when I soaked it and have lost some onion plants to the onion fly. It attacks in the spring only so I have planted some leeks in the gaps between the onions. I have seen no slugs yet but they will come eventually and I hope some grass snakes come with them as they are great at eating slugs. They will need a rock pile for hibernation and to encourage them to stay.
The ground seems to be more productive than our soil analysis suggested and some plants such as brassicas ( broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc) seem to be doing very well and taste so good. Squashes really appreciate the sod piles they are growing in and potatoes look good although we will not know how good until they are lifted. When you lift them depends on the variety you are growing. If they are early potatoes, you can lift them after they flower but mid and late season potatoes should be lifted once the foliage has died down. I have found a fork with flat tines works well and digging at right angles to the rows seems to be best. You are going to spear some no matter how careful you are so use those first. Chose a dry day in the morning and leave the potatoes on top of the soil until they dry off, usually a few hours later. I store mine in big cardboard boxes lined with newspaper in a cold but frost free area. Shut the boxes and cover with newsprint to keep out the light. Chose a few, disease free, midsized ones for next year’s seed potatoes and leave them in the light for a few days to green up. Then store as above. One more word about digging, you are not going to get them all so dig over the area at least twice more and you are still guaranteed to miss some.
If you have bare ground, you could still plant some things like fall broccoli or winter carrots but the soil might benefit most from sowing a cover crop to dig in after 6 weeks or so and then re-sow.
Watering may become a bit challenging so make every drop count. Don’t sprinkle on top of the leaves with a fine spray as most of it is going to evapourate and not even reach the soil. Use a soaker spray or course spray and put the spray nozzle under the leaves so water is reaching the soil. Once plants are established, they do not need to be watered every day. A good soaking twice a week when it is very hot, preferably early in the am is much better for them as it encourages deep roots. Poke around in the soil about an inch deep to find out how wet the soil is before deciding to water. It is at this time of year that the benefit of mulching is evident. If the soil is really dry and the water is running off the top, water lightly one evening to dampen it down and then heavily the next morning when it will soak in much better. Weeds are also much easier to pull out when the soil is wet. Watering is really a black art!
Rebar is wonderful stuff. You can now buy it in 2 feet lengths at the local building supply store and at Home Depot. It is great for driving in next to the boards around your beds. It does not rot and really keeps the boards upright for years. I have used it around the demonstration bed if you want to look at it. Please drive it until it is level with the top of the board to avoid accidents i.e catching your foot on it.
That is all that springs to mind just now except for a suggestion that you draw a map of your bed and where things are growing so you can rotate crops next year. If you have any questions, contact me at 285 3194 or emackayconnected.bc.ca as I am always ready to talk about plants.
Enjoy your garden and eat well.
Eileen Mackay
Plants and weeds have really taken off these past two weeks with the long hours of daylight and the warm weather. Who knew pumpkins and squash would grow so fast or rampage so far? The warm weather has also brought the cabbage white butterflies to the garden this past week. A check on the underside of a leaf that had popped out from the Remay revealed some eggs. They are white, about one millimeter long and will be scattered on the underside of the leaves. You can rub them off if you have the patience. It is too late for Remay now but you can spray with Btk, a bacterial solution which is recognized as an organic control. The caterpillars will eat the bacterium when they munch on the leaves and over a couple of days the bacterium multiplies inside the caterpillar, killing it. Please try and get rid of the caterpillars before they pupate in the soil or there will be a real infestation next year. When you pick organic greens, it is a good idea to soak them in salt water for about 15 minutes to kill any bugs in there. This will work against slugs and caterpillars but with broccoli and cauliflower, they can get stuck among the flower head and need careful inspection if you know there is an infestation of caterpillars. By the way, you will eventually smell them on the plants as they grow.
It would be beneficial to keep a list of what bugs we are finding to try and evade future attacks next year. I found a wonderful large green cutworm in the middle of a cauliflower when I soaked it and have lost some onion plants to the onion fly. It attacks in the spring only so I have planted some leeks in the gaps between the onions. I have seen no slugs yet but they will come eventually and I hope some grass snakes come with them as they are great at eating slugs. They will need a rock pile for hibernation and to encourage them to stay.
The ground seems to be more productive than our soil analysis suggested and some plants such as brassicas ( broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc) seem to be doing very well and taste so good. Squashes really appreciate the sod piles they are growing in and potatoes look good although we will not know how good until they are lifted. When you lift them depends on the variety you are growing. If they are early potatoes, you can lift them after they flower but mid and late season potatoes should be lifted once the foliage has died down. I have found a fork with flat tines works well and digging at right angles to the rows seems to be best. You are going to spear some no matter how careful you are so use those first. Chose a dry day in the morning and leave the potatoes on top of the soil until they dry off, usually a few hours later. I store mine in big cardboard boxes lined with newspaper in a cold but frost free area. Shut the boxes and cover with newsprint to keep out the light. Chose a few, disease free, midsized ones for next year’s seed potatoes and leave them in the light for a few days to green up. Then store as above. One more word about digging, you are not going to get them all so dig over the area at least twice more and you are still guaranteed to miss some.
If you have bare ground, you could still plant some things like fall broccoli or winter carrots but the soil might benefit most from sowing a cover crop to dig in after 6 weeks or so and then re-sow.
Watering may become a bit challenging so make every drop count. Don’t sprinkle on top of the leaves with a fine spray as most of it is going to evapourate and not even reach the soil. Use a soaker spray or course spray and put the spray nozzle under the leaves so water is reaching the soil. Once plants are established, they do not need to be watered every day. A good soaking twice a week when it is very hot, preferably early in the am is much better for them as it encourages deep roots. Poke around in the soil about an inch deep to find out how wet the soil is before deciding to water. It is at this time of year that the benefit of mulching is evident. If the soil is really dry and the water is running off the top, water lightly one evening to dampen it down and then heavily the next morning when it will soak in much better. Weeds are also much easier to pull out when the soil is wet. Watering is really a black art!
Rebar is wonderful stuff. You can now buy it in 2 feet lengths at the local building supply store and at Home Depot. It is great for driving in next to the boards around your beds. It does not rot and really keeps the boards upright for years. I have used it around the demonstration bed if you want to look at it. Please drive it until it is level with the top of the board to avoid accidents i.e catching your foot on it.
That is all that springs to mind just now except for a suggestion that you draw a map of your bed and where things are growing so you can rotate crops next year. If you have any questions, contact me at 285 3194 or emackayconnected.bc.ca as I am always ready to talk about plants.
Enjoy your garden and eat well.
Eileen Mackay