GardenHelp.org

I haven’t been writing nearly as much as I do during the colder, dormant season. It’s much more fun, and profitable, for me to spend time in the garden rather than writing about the garden. Yet, as I’m looking down the barrel of summer solstice, I want to share a few quick gardening tips that may prove helpful. Solstice marks the time when days following, sadly, start to become shorter. Plants are greatly in tune with this, and your work, based on timing,  can make a huge difference in your gardening successes (and failures):

• Pinching perennials: Not only will deadheading help extend your flowering season for most perennials, but if you tip back (aka a pinch-to-a-node) late flowering types (Mums, especially) with alternating cuts, you can create bushier plants with more blooms that are less likely to flop over when they get top-heavy with blossoms. But, stop tipping around solstice or you may not get any blooms at all.  If you’re dealing with plants that you don’t want to bloom, like basil, keep on pinchin’!
• Pruning: Don’t prune plants that bloomed in late winter/early spring or you risk cutting off next winter’s blooms. If you haven’t sheared your hedges, which is best done in late winter/early spring, you’re running out of time. If you shear too late, you risk looking at choppy cuts all winter or forcing soft growth that gets killed in early frosts.
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  Big Harvest in June for the Foodbank

  Seeding and Planting: You still have time to seed many hot season crops, but again, your time is running out. Get those last rounds of tomatoes, basil, peppers, squashes and beans in the ground now to extend your harvest period. Plus, now’s the time to start seeding those fall/winter crops to get them ready to set out for winter harvesting — think kale, broccoli, chard and cabbage.

• Harvest, Eat, Preserve: As your crops roll in, stay on top of harvesting even if that means you end up making sauerkraut in June or giving away lettuce to the foodbank. By doing this, you’ll make room to rotate in new crops and reduce the likelihood of inviting pests and disease and self-seeded bolting crops into the garden by leaving past-their-prime edibles in the soil.

And finally, enjoy these long days. Soon enough we’ll all be wrapped in polar fleece, snuggling near a warm fire, desperately seeking a bloom somewhere to discuss in the many posts we have time to write up during winter. For me, for now, I’m off to put out more mammoth sunflowers, zinnia, basil and late season tomatoes to enjoy into the many remaining months of summer.