HERE COME THE HOT MONTHS!
Inland,it’s a different ball of sunshine. June tends to be one of the summer months,the heat and dryness will only get more pronounced as July arrives and givesway to August… I don’t want to go there yet.
Onthe coast, if you didn’t get your planting done, go right ahead and plant. Setout more tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, beans, corn and squash. Inland,wait’ll next year because you’re too late, unless you are in a place that getsocean breezes or have some other mitigating factor. You can try to plantlettuce, because we want tomatoes and lettuce together, of course. Shade thelettuce, plant it to the north of some larger plant or using a stake, rest awindow screen over it to keep it cooler. Plant ‘Jericho’ or ‘Summertime’ andhope for the best.
Mulchyour plants to conserve water around them and buy a hammock. Lay in the hammockwith a garden hose to spritz the garden (and yourself). Bestir yourself to pickoccasionally and eat your fresh local produce. Laugh at the price of tomatoesand peppers in the market; yours are closer, practically free (you don’t chargefor your labor – the work saved you from membership in a health club and youare healthier because of it – in fact, you should pay yourself the fee forhealth club membership!) and you know what was put on them. Besides you and Iboth know that there is no better tasting food than the food you grew yourself.
Keepyour fruit harvested. Zucchini and other summer squash are tastiest when small.Left on the vine, the can quickly grow to something close to half the size ofMontana and are woody. Zucchini bread is not a delicacy, but a way to use uphuge overgrown zucchini – and if you think I’m joking when I say they can growhuge overnight, you’ve never grown zucchini. If it’s ‘almost big enough to eat,’ pick it now – tomorrow will be toolate. Close to being picked, zucchini grow at an astonishing speed.
Andone plant can really be productive – if kept picked. Most of the summer viningcrops are like that: Keep them picked and they keep producing. Stop picking andthe plant begins to spend energy on making seed inside the fruit you did notpick and stops producing new fruit. So pick often and early – you’ll havesweeter and more tender fruit. This applies to zucchini and all summer squash,cucumbers and beans. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are less inclined to slowproduction because of fruit on the vine. Their production is tied to the amountof water, nutrients and warmth available. Don’t drown them, but keep the soilunder your mulch somewhat moist and do not over fertilize them and you shouldhave a bountiful harvest.
Thisis a great time of year in the Garden. Come the Fourth of July, at The LearningGarden, we’ll host our third annual Ice Cream Social in the afternoon – all theice cream will be made from the fruits in the Garden – we’ll have plum sorbet,and apple, apricot and fig ice cream made on our patio. Some really decadentstuff. If you want to have a taste of summer as it was in my mid-western childhood, drop by prepared for sugar shock!
Staycool in your garden and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Grandson of a Great Plains farmer, DavidKing is the Garden Master at the LearningGarden, on the campus of Venice HighSchool. He shares his love of the land and musicthrough teaching, writing and playing in a folk/country band. Contact: greenteach@roadrunner.com