Vegetable Gardens Sprouting Goodness

By Jos Van Hage

Vegetable gardens are well on their way and some vegetables are ready to eat. Vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, radishes, and green onions are already large enough to harvest and if you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse you are probably eating fresh tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Many of the other vegetables are growing quickly which in part has to do with the good growing weather we have been receiving.

To keep gardens healthy and growing make sure that you keep up on the water not allowing things to get too dry. You want to water less often with long deep irrigation rather than short and often. By allowing the first few inches of soil get wet you will make the plants roots go down rather than stay on the surface which is where they will dry out more quickly if the soil becomes dry. Also fertilize plants with a good quality flower/vegetable fertilizer such as the 8-20-20 which is a slow release meaning that it will slowly and continually fertilize the plants for 3-4 weeks. This is important in keeping plants growing at a steady rate. When fertilizing you want to fertilize around the plants roots on the soil rather than getting fertilizer on the plants leaves which can cause damage by burning the leaves.

Vegetables can get insects and disease so you want to check your garden every few days so that the problem does not get ahead of you. Root maggots are a common complaint among cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli. The maggot is under the soils surface and found in the main stem of the plant where it burrows in and eventually kills off the plant. Onions can also get maggots which is a 7-8 mm long white grub worm that tunnels into the developing onion just below the soils surface. If the onion or cauliflower, etc. is not treated the plant will die. A product called ‘Sevin’ will kill these pests. You mix it with water and spray the affected plants.

Carrots are another vegetable that can be bothered with an insect called carrot rust fly which lays its eggs on the soil surface where they will hatch and dig down into the soil and then burrow into the young developing carrot. This can be prevented by placing a protective blanket of ‘Reemay’ over the seeded carrots so that the rust fly can not lay its eggs on the soil. The reemay is left on the carrots until mid July when the carrot rust fly is no longer active. If you already have the rust fly then you will need to spray with sevin so that you can kill the young worm.  

One other thing that should be done to maintain a healthy vegetable garden is to keep the weeds down to a minimum. I like to go through the garden every couple off weeks with a hoe so that I can hoe out the young weeds before they become too much of a problem. When weeds become out of hand they compete with the vegetables for important nutrients, water, and light. Weeds are also a place where insects can hide, so you want to keep weeds out of the garden.

This season so far has been good for gardens with the warm temperatures and moderate moisture. Let’s hope it continues.  

-Jos

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us