I still wake up with a pinch-me feeling about the garden. That we built it, that it’s thriving, that it gives us so much food and peace and play and abundance.
It’s early summer and right at the equinox, so I wanted to give you a glimpse into what’s going on in my garden (and what you can be thinking about too). We are harvesting like crazy and we even have enough to share with the neighbors. It’s very reminiscent of my early days gardening when we went door-to-door with veggie bundles sharing our harvest.
The garden is in high-performance mode now and a lot of your hard work is coming to fruition, as the demands for your second and third sowings of many things. I gave a presentation a couple of weeks ago at The Homestead Festival in Tennesee on how to replace the grocery store with your garden and this seam in the season is when everyone starts to get stressed. I got so may questions about panning and succession sowing. Because right now you get a glimpse into how well you planned, you can see gaps in your space, you begin to wonder why you didn’t plant more of one thing and less of another.
What I’m Sowing Right Now
Even in the heat, I’m sowing seeds in the greenhouse and in-ground. Warm-season crops are cropping and there’s plenty of runway to get them up and running.
I’m sowing cantaloupe, more cucumbers (though my burpless are pumping out more than we can eat), sunflowers, pumpkin, and winter squash. You could do peppers, corn, zinnias, and okra too!
In Tennessee where we are, there are four more months of heat so we really have all the time we need to get these last crops in.
Jobs to Think About
Right now we’re thinking about three things: pests, heat, and production. We’re seeing the bugs come out and it’s good to figure out who is eating what so that you have a prevention plan for next year and a vision for organically eradicating whatever is ailing you now. Often it’s just a matter of being on top of harvesting thing before the bugs or bunnies do.
With water, I go with a less is more philosophy. I try to keep the garden strong by watering it on the lesser side. But as days drag on with heat, keep an eye on things. Don’t forget that early morning or dusk watering is best to keep everything from evaporating.
Lastly, production. This is where ‘tending’ comes into play. I’m currently staking my pepper plants to keep them from flopping over, pruning squash plants that need more airflow, and pinching off the suckers from my tomatoes. Yes, I do that. I actually fully prune tomatoes as well since I plant my beds so densely. We need that space for other things, especially as clearing some leaves away will encourage more fruit production.
I hope this helps you get into summer mode and if you have any questions, let me know!
xo
B
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