Article: A Walk Through The Late Summer Garden.(Vegetable Gardens Needs Special Attention In Summer)

[Guest guest]

With the end of summer approaching for many of us here, I figured this

might be a timely and informative article.

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

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Mother Earth News

A WALK THROUGH THE LATE SUMMER GARDEN.(vegetable garden needs special

attention in summer)(Brief Article)

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1279/1999_August/55226126/p1/article

..jhtml

Author/s: John Vivian

Issue: August, 1999

As summer begins to wind down toward all, the spring-planted garden

changes character. Once bright green and limber, the foliage darkens and

dries, fairly leaps with insects and makes a rasping, rattly sound as

you wander through. Your plants are entering the seed making phase and

require a little special attention to prolong their productivity.

First, if the soil is dry an inch down, water it well. Late corn,

tomatoes, lima beans and cabbage are still ripening even if their

plants' leaves are turning brown on the edges. Fall viruses and fungi

are eager to spread, so don't spray foliage. Instead, water the roots

(we run a soaker hose down the rows). And, even if you're getting a

little bored with the garden after most of the harvest is in, hoe down

fall weeds before they go to seed--especially those between the

rows--lest they sap the food and water needed by late crops. Let the

weed growth lie where it falls; it'll act as a moisture-retaining mulch,

not to mention a hideaway for bug-consuming garden toads.

You may notice a few tomato plants, already loaded with ripening fruit,

beginning to put out fresh end growth and suckers; some will flower and

set clusters of new fruit berries. Snap off all the lush, new looking

growth as it sprouts so the plants will put energy into the maturing

fruit already on the vines. Then poke the stem ends of several of the

most vigorous sprouts into a rooting medium and set them in moist sand

to take root (small-fruited varieties do pest). Periodically inspect

undersides of leaves and remove any little white cocoons to prevent an

infestation of whitefly. Once rooted, transplant the sprouts into large

pots filled with a rich growing medium. Placed under lights or in a

sunny window, the plants will vine out long with small leaves in

winter's reduced light. If you pollinate flowers, one to the next, with

a little brush, you may have fresh tomatoes to start the New Year. Or at

the very least, if you remove new growing tips early in 2000, propagate

them just as you did the parent sprout, then set out the months-old

plants next May or June, you'll have the earliest tomatoes in the county

next season--guaranteed.

Moving down the rows, be sure to cut off the main head of every broccoli

plant, even the dwarfs. Nip off the secondary sprouts before they've a

chance to turn into little sprays of yellow flowers. Keep the roots

watered and you'll have fresh, if strong flavored, winter broccoli until

Thanksgiving. For Brussels sprouts, twist out the leafy, still-growing

tops and enjoy fresh sprouts, picked in the snow, till Christmas. Or

wait until the first frost, then pull plants, roots and all, and hang

them in the barn. They should last into the new millennium.

Some pole beans will keep producing new end growth and flowers until the

first frost. Pinch off this new growth in late August to ensure that

plants' energies go to developing beans that are already set. Also, be

sure to pick pocks before they begin to swell with developing beans.

Once a vine has made a few seeds, it retires.

If a freeze hits before all the crop is in, hustle out and pick the

frost-tinged pocks, steam-blanch them for three minutes, then chill.

Next, string them on a stout thread and dry the lot in the fall sun or

over a woodstove to make old-time " leather britches. " To later refresh

the dried pods, place them in cool water overnight. Discard the

freshening water and add the flavorful, nutritious,

still-leathery-textured beans to winter stews for a hint of summer past

and a promise of summer to come.

Finally, as the harvest dwindles to just a few green beans of varied

sizes and odd shapes, one last cauliflower with a stunted head, a

handful of broccoli sprout buttons, a spindly out-of-row carrot or two

and an odd lot of cucumbers and zucchini in peculiar end-of-season

shapes, don't waste them, even if there's not enough of any one to make

a side dish or salad. Instead, turn these odds and ends into a " mixed

refrigerator pickle. " Cut off the bitter little crooked ends and spiky

hides of the cucumbers, as well as the bitter skins and green shoulders

of overaged carrots. Shell out beans from any oversized green bean pods

and slice the rest. Steam-blanch your vegetables for two minutes, chill

in cold water, drain and cover with your favorite pickling brine. I like

to use a half-and-half mix of cider vinegar and water, plus salt and a

little sugar. You can also throw in some fresh garlic, dried hot peppers

and a pinch or two of mixed pickling spices. Boil the brine and dried

spices, then cool. Add husked garlic and chopped produce (along with

slices of fresh sweet onion if you like) and keep chilled. The veggies

will take on the pickle-brine taste overnight and will keep for several

days in the refrigerator.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Sussex Publishers, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group