July is a good time for the gardener to assess plants’ future survival
Spider mite damage is visible on these green beans in one of Kathy’s previous gardens. But any worse than this and the plants should be pulled — they wouldn’t recover. Kathy Morrison
This is another installment in our Food In My Back Yard series, devoted to edible gardening.
One of my fellow community gardeners asked me to diagnose some of her vegetable plants the other morning. What I found was a sad sight: Grean bean plants victimized by spider mites, to the point that the leaves and even the beans were mostly white, with just a little green remaining. No green, no chlorophyll, no food-producing mechanism for the plant.
Can they be saved? she asked. Highly unlikely, I replied. Better to pull them out now and maybe replant, or start something else there next month.
We turned to her pumpkin plants. Spider mite damage was visible there, too, but the leaves were still mostly green, and the little pumpkins were unharmed. These plants had a good chance of surviving until harvest. But I warned her that spider mites love hot and dusty conditions, which could be expected to continue this month. My advice: Wet the plants down in the morning, especially the undersides of the leaves, to help keep the pests under control.
This illustrates the decisions that gardeners of edible plants may be facing in the coming weeks, as July heat takes its toll on summer vegetables. Every garden is different, as is every gardener's level of patience, but here's some guidance on assessing:
Dig it up or pull it out if:
-- The plant no longer is producing new shoots. Don't worry about a lack of flowers. The plant avoids producing them or discards them when stressed. But if some of the plant is yellow or brown, yet it has been getting regular watering, examine it for evidence of new growth. If you see nothing new AT ALL on the plant, it's probably time to pull it. And some vegetables, such as corn or determinate tomatoes, might be done with their life cycle anyway.
-- It's under attack from a disease or a pest that's affecting production. A bit of leaf miner damage will not prevent a pepper's fruit from growing, for example, but a serious spider mite infestation will affect a plant's ability to photosynthesize, as in the example above. Pull and toss it into the trash, not the compost. Trying to halt an attacker at this point might be costlier, in time and product, than the value of any harvest that might yet be possible.
-- You're tired of it. Too much zucchini already? It's OK to dig it out, really. Remember to add compost to the soil afterward, so nutrients are renewed for the next crop at that spot.
Let the plant be (for now) if:
-- It was planted late and didn't produce much before July's heat hit. If the plant has vigor, even if very little fruit, leaving it in place into the fall could produce a crop when the temps are a bit lower. I found this to be true with a Black Plum tomato I was ready to give up on .
-- It’s still producing flowers. The pollen might be dried up, but the plants is still trying. This plant may be heat-resistant, even if it was never advertised as such. Lucky you! Make a note on that for next year, too.
-- You just aren’t sure. The plant’s just sitting there, but it’s clearly not dead. It may have gone into a temporary dormancy. If you’re interested in seeing what else it will produce, there’s no harm in leaving it there for a few more weeks. Be sure to keep watering it on the same schedule, and fertilize once the triple-digit heat stops. Good luck!
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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
WINTER:
Jan. 13: Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Jan. 6: Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Dec. 30: Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
Dec. 23: Is edible gardening possible indoors?
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
WINTER
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden checklist for week of Jan. 18
Make the most of these rain-free breaks. Your garden needs you!
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* Plant bare-root roses and fruit trees.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees, except cherry and apricot trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Give them an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t fertilize your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Doing that while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
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