June 2017
Pickaway to Garden
Gateway to Garden
By Paul Hang
We’ve heard
of gateway drugs, Gateway to the West but how about gateway to garden? I submit
that the fruit we call a vegetable, the tomato, is the gateway to garden. I
think more gardeners got the bug (pun intended) by growing tomatoes than any
other plant. Tomatoes originated in South America and were domesticated in
Mexico.
Tomatoes are
pretty easy to grow and most people like to eat them and swear that homegrown
tastes better than store bought. In addition to eating them fresh you can also
can them for soups and pasta throughout the year. You can dry them for many
recipes or just for a snack. Enjoy them fresh on a sandwich, in gazpacho, or just
a slice on a plate with salt and maybe pepper. Some folks swear by fried green
tomatoes. If you haven’t tried tomatoes with basil and balsamic vinegar you are
missing another way to savor them.
Tomatoes come
is all sizes from tiny cherry tomatoes to several pound beefsteak types and
shapes from round, pear, pepper, and egg. They can be red, pink, orange, yellow,
purple and almost black. Some are even green when they are ripe. Tastes vary
from quite acidic to very sweet. There is a tomato for almost everyone. If you
want to try growing tomatoes it’s not too late. Here are a few things to know
about growing tomatoes. There are determinate tomatoes that produce fruit all
at the same time and then stop. These are popular with canners. The Roma type
tomato is an example of a determinate tomato. Indeterminate tomatoes continue to
grow until frost or disease or something else kills them. They continue to
produce fruit until they die. You don’t need a lot of space. You can grow them
in a container. They need lots of sun, at least 6 hours daily.
You can buy
hybrid tomatoes or heirloom varieties. Heirloom varieties are open pollinated
and many people save the seeds year after year. Heirloom varieties have been
around for years. Hybrid are crosses of two or more types of tomatoes and are
bred for different qualities, from early producing, taste, or shipping. Hybrids
are less disease prone and recommended for beginners. When reading the label on
plants bought commercially they usually have a series of letters after the name
such as AB, F, V which stands for resistance to diseases such as Early
((Alternaria) Blight, Fusarium Wilt and Verticillium Wilt respectively. There
are about 15 diseases that can attack tomatoes but most are rare.
For more
information on transplanting and care of tomatoes go to www.ohioline.osu.edu
Fact Sheet HYG 1624 (or search “growing tomatoes”) for complete and up to date
instructions. Go to ww.growingagreenerworld.com Episode #803 for an interesting
video on growing tomatoes.
June 14th
the OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, Pickaway County, will hold its fifth
annual Founders Day Celebration. It’s free and the public is invited. The title
is “A Romp through Ohio’s Flora and Fauna” with Jim McCormac, retired
naturalist from ODNR, Columbus Dispatch Columnist and author. The program begins at 7pm at Trinity Lutheran
Church, Noecker Hall on E. Mound St. Circleville.
Things to do in the garden:
The gardening
season is well under way and we can be overwhelmed with all there is to do.
Take the time to enjoy this leafy month. Gardening is a process to be enjoyed.
First, if you
haven’t started a garden it is not too late. When choosing plants, choose
strong vigorous green ones. Avoid the yellowish leggy specimens. Plants of
tomato, peppers, eggplant are the best bet for early June planting.
Some plants
that can be planted from seed in early June are: green beans (successive
plantings to mid-June can extend the harvest), beets, carrots, Swiss chard,
corn (depending on the variety), cucumber, lettuce, lima beans, muskmelon,
winter and summer squash.
To avoid the
wilting of cucumber and melon vines cover the new plants with row cover
material until the plants flower. Then remove the cover so that the pollinators
can do their work. Mulch vegetables in mid-month after the soil has warmed up. At
the same time you can fertilize all vegetables, corn two times, this month.
Weed and thin
planted crops. Crowding plants more than is recommended usually results in all
the plants doing poorly. Water deeply (not a little each day) one inch per week
all summer. It is best to apply the water to the base of the plants rather than
on the foliage. If you must use a sprinkler, water very early in the day so the
foliage can dry before nightfall. Wet foliage overnight can encourage fungal
diseases to develop.
Remove seed
heads from perennials. Don’t allow fancy hybrids to ripen and self-sow as their
offspring will not come true. Dead head flowers for more blooms. Iris can be
divided and replanted after blooming. You can pinch back mums for bushier
growth once they are 4 to 6 inches tall. Continue to pinch back until mid-July.
If your
daffodils didn’t bloom well it could be because they are now growing in the
shade of trees or shrubs which were small when the bulbs were planted. Or perhaps
the daffodils are too crowded. Once the foliage turns yellow you can dig up the
bulbs and divide and/or move them.
Fruit trees
often shed small fruits in early summer called June Drop. Thin apples to one
per cluster and one fruit every four to eight inches. This will cause bigger
fruit. Pick up all fallen fruit whether caused by nature or man. Only compost
fallen fruit if you have a “hot” heap. Otherwise dispose of the diseased fruit
in the trash.
If you notice
a “volunteer” tomato plant germinating in your garden resist the temptation to
let it grow. You can’t be sure what variety it is. Yank it out or transplant
it. Good gardeners, like good farmers, rotate their crops. By allowing a
volunteer to grow in last year’s tomato area you are allowing disease to
accumulate in that spot. Mulch under tomatoes keeps the soil from splashing up
on the fruits, during those occasional downpours. Soil on the fruits promotes
disease. If you don’t stake, trellis or cage your tomatoes and just let them
sprawl on the ground, mulch will keep the fruit off the bare ground. Mulch
keeps the ground from drying out and suppresses weeds. It also moderates the
soil temperature. Several layers of newspaper topped with organic mulch,
leaves, untreated grass clippings, coarse compost, shredded bark etc. should do
the trick.
The Master
Gardener Volunteers Helpline is open for your gardening questions. Call
474-7534 with your question or go to www.Pickaway.osu.edu, click on "Ask
an expert." Master Gardener Volunteers will get back to you with answers
to your questions. Try to provide as much information as you can.
June
sometimes begins our droughty summers. Water your roses well but hold off on
the geraniums. They will bloom best when kept somewhat dry. Newly planted trees
and bushes should be watered well each week if the weather remains dry. Give
them a good soaking. Don’t give them a booster feeding of fertilizer this year.
Force those young roots to search for food by stretching out into the soil.
No comments:
Post a Comment