Everything (except Fruit Trees) will be 20% Off!! ...yes, 20% (or 17% if you pay with Credit Card)
Certified Organic Veggie & Herb Seedlings,
Organic Potting Soil, Compost, Worm Castings, Fertilizers,
Pest Control Products, EarthBoxes & Smart Pots, and all
Strawberries and Blueberry & Raspberry Bushes!!
It's time to get your Pumpkins in for Halloween,
and those additional Heirloom Tomatoes which
will carry you through the Fall and beyond,
so we hope you join us!
Oh, and don't miss Sweet Potatoes!! They're super-easy to grow...and VERY LIMITED!
Happily, it's a very long season! We’ve been planting lots of “second rounds” here in our own garden - Corn, Beans, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Butternuts and Tomatoes.
Plus LOTS of Sweet Potatoes!
I like to grow quantities of those things that
keep well; Winter Squashes and Sweet Potatoes
will keep for about 6 months!!
Summer is a busy time in the garden...
The main growing stage is complete, fruit
is ripening, and now harvesting, fertilizing, and keeping watch on all sorts of flying, chewing, infesting creatures become significant rituals.
...here are a few tips:
* If your Tomatoes are being bird-pecked or squirrel-sampled, bring them in a little early; they'll ripen nicely on the kitchen counter.
* Be sure to keep the first 8" of your Tomato plants free of foliage: this will aid in air circulation. Powdery Mildew and Early Blight are worse when leaves dip down into wet soil and the foliage is too dense.
* Be sure to harvest your Beans every day (or at least every 2 days); this encourages them to produce like mad. Since I'm always outside, I check our beans a couple times a day. I pick what's ready and store them in a plastic bag (not closed tight) in the crisper drawer of our fridge. Then by the end of the week, I'll have close to 2 pounds to cook up!!
* An excellent tip I got years ago from our friend and early mentor, Yvonne Savio (who taught more people to garden in the greater L.A. area, through the Master Gardeners Program, than one can even imagine!!): Put a few drops of Mineral Oil on the Corn Silks once they're nice and full. This prevents Ear Worms from going in and eating all the tender kernels.
Alas, I forgot to do that on our first round of sweet corn this year, and sure enough, the worms were in there having a field day! Of course, you can simply cut off the bad part and enjoy them anyway (those worms are not stupid...they know homegrown corn is the best!!) And you can bet I won't forget with the second batch!!
* Not sure your Corn is mature enough to pick??
Here's an easy way to check: Without removing it from the stalk, just peel back a portion of the husks, far enough to expose the first kernels. Puncture a kernel or two with your thumbnail:
...if the liquid is clear, it's not ready (simply close up the husks and check again in a few days.) ...if there is no liquid, it's dry and way past being good as fresh corn, BUT you can cut the kernels off the cobs and roast them with potatoes and other veggies...yum! ...if the liquid is milky, it's perfectly ripe!! Harvest NOW, even if you won't eat it for a few days; it's better to keep in the fridge than to leave on the stalk where it will over ripen.
* Cucumbers and Summer Squash can hide! Be sure to check from every angle...just last week I found 5 not-so-baby Baby Persian Cucumbers hiding in the back, at least 3 times the size they should have been! Nothing goes to waste here, though, and they became part of our Breakfast Smoothies for a full week.
* While many Melons "slip" from the vine when ready, Watermelons do not. How to know when they're mature? First, be sure you're not jumping the gun according to the "Days to harvest" number; it's a good idea to note the date you plant things... Check for a yellowish spot on the underside of the watermelon where it lay on the ground. Then, very importantly, check the "pigtail"...that's the curlicue closest to the fruit itself; it should be completely dry. And if the melon has a nice sound when you "thump" it, I say, go ahead and harvest!
* It's a very good idea to feed your plants every 4 weeks or so. Just "side dress" the fertilizer around the plants, scratch it in a little and water well. Or if you're an EarthBox gardener like us, you can simply pour some undiluted Liquid Fertilizer or Great Big Tomatoes (we sell both) right down the watering tube; it'll mix itself up with the water in the reservoir below. Either way, your plants will appreciate the boost!!
It's time to harvest the Garlic!
I think we can all agree: it's been a strange Spring so far.
In our garden, the California Early White was ready about 2 months earlier than normal! Happily, it was huge and really fabulous.
The Hardneck varieties aren't quite ready yet, though. We cut the "scapes" last week - these are the false seed heads that shoot up out of the Hardnecks and curlicue around themselves; they don't produce viable seed, and are a drain on the main bulbs which are sizing up right now, so it's best to remove them.
We'll wait another 2 weeks or so before lifting them out of the soil. Ooh, there is nothing like the smell of freshly-harvested garlic, straight from the warm soil!!
Be sure to cureyour garlic for a few weeks in a shaded, breezy location, and then review our little video on "How to Clean your Garlic" so it will keep for many months!
