It's Not Too Late to Dig into a Summer Garden Project
By John Voket
So you are staring at that corner of your
yard again and wishing you had the energy last spring to plant a simple
vegetable garden. I have some good news for you.
In many regions across the country, July and even early August are fine for
planting new veggies. In fact, according to Carl Wilson, of the Colorado State
University Cooperative Extension, (www.coopext.colostate.edu) squeezing
vegetables in before fall frosts makes good use of garden space available from
the harvest of lettuce and other spring crops.
Wilson suggests greens
like cabbage, collards, endive or green onions can all go in the ground by mid
July and be ready to harvest before average mid-October frost in the Denver
area.
How about roots, and fruiting veggies?
Get your carrots and
turnip in by late July, or consider beets by the first week of August, or radish
as late as the first week of September. Hurry and get your cucumber, cauliflower
and summer squash in by mid -July, or aim for planting broccoli by month's
end.
Hill Gardens of Maine (hillgardens.com) says you can plant a crop of
short-season sweet corn during early July for a really delicious late crop just
before frost. They also offer thios tip for reducing raccoon damage to your
corn:
As the corn seedlings break ground, inter-plant winter squash every
few feet. Squash vines have sharp, needle-like spines all along their stems and
leaves that repel raccoons. They very much dislike getting tiny, painful
"stickers" in their paws...and will quickly learn to avoid the
discomfort.
If you are not up for corn, Hill Gardens says Oriental greens
and vegetables will grow and perform very well when sown even as late as six
weeks before first frost.
Just remember, when all your neighbors' gardens
are buttoned up, you need to plan for watering, cultivating, weeding, staking,
tying, thinning, picking and bug-squishing well into October in most of the
northern half of the country.
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