Greeting Gardening Friends,
I hope you are all harvesting and enjoying the rewards of your edible garden this summer. I am harvesting cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, potatoes, lettuce, scallions, basil, chard, collards and kale. The slicing tomatoes and winter squash are just about ripe. Here's some information on pruning your tomato plants now for optimal harvest.
I intend to continue harvesting my existing chard, collard, and kale plants throughout the fall. This year I discovered that if I harvest my scallions by trimming just the greens off the onion plants continue to produce more green tops over and over. Its like the cut-and-come-again harvest method for lettuce. I love it! I've gotten so much delicious green leafy tops daily from the same plants I planted in June. Awesome! And I am thinking these same scallion plants will continue to produce for me all fall.
Hopefully by now you are thinking about planning and planting for a fall and winter vegetable harvest. Here in the Portland metro area in our mild maritime northwest climate we can grow and harvest vegetables year-round! Proper timing of planting is key to optimal harvest success. That means planting in July and August. Here's some helpful information about what and when to plant for your fall and winter harvest.
For a fall and winter harvest earlier in about mid-July I planted celeriac from starts. During the next week I will plant from starts: florence fennel, cilantro, parsley, lettuce, and radicchio. I will plant from seed mache, mesclun mix, and radishes for fall salads.
As we are harvesting our first potato varieties of the summer-yukon gem and jester-we will save a few of the tubers and replant right away for a fall into winter potato harvest.
Powdery mildew is sticking around on our summer squash plants and beginning to spread onto the cucumbers and winter squash. Here's some great information to help you troubleshoot cucumber and squash problems like powdery mildew.
When September rolls around we turn our attention to planting garlic & shallots, overwintering vegetable varieties, sowing cover crop seeds, and garden clean-up. It is an excellent time to sheet-mulch for next year's garden and start a compost pile. Learn about all of these fall garden tasks plus so much more by joining me for a Fall Care of the Vegetable Garden Class on September 7 or September 28 at Portland Community College. These are my last gardening classes until 2020.
Enjoy the remainder of your summer! I hope to see you at a gardening class in September.
Happy Gardening,
Jolie