- Succession planting doesn’t stop if you want to keep a steady supply of crops well into the fall. This includes carrots, beets, beans, leaf lettuce, bib lettuce, mesclun mix, radishes.
- Tomatoes need your support – no, this is not a call for charity. Stake your tomatoes and double your harvest by getting tomatoes up off the ground and improving airflow. Spray them with some Bordo copper spray while you’re at it to prevent blight.
- Apples, pears, peaches, & plums (orchard crops) need spraying, too. Hit them with End-All and Garden Sulphur now and again every two weeks until a week or two before harvest.
- Give your perennial crops space, such as asparagus and rhubarb. Resist the temptation to “clean them up” – they will branch out and get ugly for a while as they drive energy back into their roots for next year’s crop.
- Harvest your garlic scapes! Garlic scapes are the things that look like pigtails sprouting from the top of our garlic plants right now. Cut them at the bottom where they meet the plant, and use them for ultra-punchy garlic scape pesto. Not only does garlic scape pesto pack a punch for the garlic lovers, harvesting garlic scapes at this time of year is shown to produce larger bulbs later in the season.
- Lettuce, radish, kale should all be given a good harvesting before the hot summer heat forces them to bolt. We have noticed that many gardeners wait too long to harvest their radish, leading to split radish bulbs. Get them now while they are smaller and more flavourful.
- Feed your onions, leeks, and garlic. As they start to “bulk up” they will benefit from a top dressing of 5cm of compost or earthworm castings. While you’re at it, spread some organic love to the tomatoes and peppers.
With thanks -
Ben and Mark Cullen
Merchants of Beans and Beauty
