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Vegetable Gardens are Sprouting, Time for Maintenance

By Jos Van Hage

Most gardeners who put in a vegetable garden have already done so by now. I am sure that some people who planted early are already enjoying eating fresh lettuce, radish, green onions, and spinach. Other gardens that were planted later (long May weekend) are just beginning to appear above the surface. 

This is the time when you can go through the garden and reseed any seeds that may not have germinated. The weather has been good for gardening so far until this past week when temperatures have cooled and rainfall has gone up. Some vegetables enjoy cooler temperatures such as spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.

Once seeds have germinated, it is important to keep gardens weed free so that the young plants do not need to compete with weeds for important nutrients, moisture, and space. Weeds are also a place where unwanted pests and diseases can be harbored. The best and easiest way to rid a garden of weeds is hoeing them when they are small. Do not let them get big and form a large root structure or let them go to seed, which will only increase the weed problem. Going through the garden every 2-3 weeks with a hoe will save time in the end as well as loosen the soil.
 
Checking the garden on a weekly basis for pests and disease is important, as you want to catch any problem early on to prevent it from becoming widespread. Check cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage for root maggots that attack the plant under the soil surface. Onions are another plant that should be checked for maggots as they go into the onion bulb killing it if left unchecked. If there are maggots, you need to treat them with a suitable solution available at the garden center. Carrots are prone to worms and if you had them in your carrots last year chances are they will be back again. There is a carrot seed available called ‘Fly Away’ which do not get worms but if you have already planted regular carrots you can cover them with a sheet of reemay that will prevent the carrot rust fly from laying its eggs on the soils surface. It is these eggs that later hatch into worms that crawl into the carrot that you want to stop. Reemay is left on the carrots until all signs of the carrot rust fly are gone which is usually the beginning of July. 

Vegetables need lots of nutrients and moisture to help them produce a good healthy harvest. When watering the garden you want to soak once a week so the moisture goes down rather than sprinkle it with water every day. This will ensure a deep strong root system on plants so that they will not be knocked rather than a shallow root system. Water the garden well when the first one to two inches of soil becomes dry. 

Fertilizing the vegetable garden is also important. A good fertilizer to use is 8-20-20, which is a slow release fertilizer that will continue to feed plants for 3-4 weeks. This means that the garden should be fertilized every 3-4 weeks!

-Jos-
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