Montreal Flowers-Flowers From The Heart

By June the big push is over. You probably have most of your garden planted, except perhaps for tender transplants and sequential plantings of crops like lettuce, and now it’s time to start maintaining what you’ve put in.

This means staying on top of the weeding and watering. A good rule of thumb for watering both vegetable and flower gardens is to provide one inch of water a week, if the rain doesn’t do it. It’s better to soak the soil around plants heavily every few days rather than watering lightly to encourage deep rooting.

Try not to water in the evenings or late in the afternoon as this promotes foliar diseases because leaves stay wet all night. As plants grow older and get larger, they will require more water, especially as the weather gets hotter. If you garden on sandy soils, you may need to water nearly every day if there is a long period of time with no rain

If you planted thickly, thin rows of carrots, beets, and other vegetables and flowers when plants are still small to avoid damage to the roots. Allowing adequate space between plants provides better air circulation and helps prevent disease infestations.

You also need to be vigilant about checking for insect pests. Cutworms, for example, are a threat to newly transplanted seedlings of melon, tomato, cole crops, and cucumber.

Placing a cardboard collar around the base of the plant (one inch in the soil and two inches above) will discourage these pests. Other pests to watch for include cabbage worms, cabbage root maggots, and flea beetles.

If you have had problems with these pests in past years, consider placing floating row covers over your young crops before these pests appear.

In mid-June, when the soil has warmed up, apply a thick layer of straw, leaves, or black plastic mulch to control weeds and retain moisture. Weed the area well before laying down mulch.

You can lay newspapers (at least 10-sheet thickness) under mulch or between rows to help with weed control. The paper will lay down easier if wetted first. Avoid colored or glossy paper. Regular newsprint contains soy-based inks, which should cause no problems in gardens.

If you don’t have a compost pile, this is a good time to start one for next year’s garden.  Locate your pile in a convenient spot near your garden. The proximity to the planting area makes it easy to add compost to the soil in a year or two, when the pile has completely decomposed.

You can add any organic materials to the pile–leaves, straw, hay, or vegetable matter–but avoid diseased vegetable plants, grass clippings that were treated with herbicides, bones, and greasy kitchen scraps.

You may want to enclose the pile with wire fencing to stop materials from blowing away and to keep the pile looking neat.