Channel Your Inner-Barber

There's nothing like a clean shave or haircut to get you feeling good and put a little bounce in your step. Well, think of it the same way for your garden plants. Sure we want our plants to be one with nature, be in harmony with mother earth, etc. But let's not go overboard into the dirty hippie category.

A great garden is a groomed garden. The weather is warming up so the plants are taking off and sprouting all new directions. Now is the time when you have to start putting a lot more effort into keeping your growing plants looking sharp. Did I say sharp? What a great segway into...

Tip #1: Have a sharp set of garden/kitchen shears. Personally I have a set of Wusthof kitchen shears from my knife set. They are sturdy and perfect for the garden. I think they cost about $30. A good pair of shears makes pruning and harvesting very easy.









Tip #2: Look low. I find it's important to keep your plant well groomed at its base near soil level. The lower leaves and branches can be a nuisance for a couple reasons. Pests and disease can can live on the ground. If your plant has leaves near or touching the surface, that creates a freeway for unwanted entities to hop on your plant and cause problems. Second, more leaves and branches that exist on the plant make the plant work harder. By cutting off weak or diseased leaves, the plant can focus on sustaining the stronger leaves and production of fruit.









Tip #3: Look high. As plants shoot upwards, look for things like suckers growing on tomato plants. Same with the bottom leaves, eliminating suckers and other damaged leaves allows the plant to focus nutrients towards the strong leaves and fruits. As for root plants, you want to clip off the tops of the plants. For example, with onions you want to clip the green shoots to about 3 inches in height (below pics). Clipping the tops tells the plant to focus on the root system, which in the case of onion plants is the actual onion. The same can apply to other root veggies.









Tip #4: When it comes to herbs and leaf plants....pick, pick, pick!!! The more you cut or pick off your plants, the faster and larger they come back.

This weekend I went to town with the cutters on the plants. I always comb my tomato plants for new suckers to pinch. I trimmed the base of all my pepper species (middle pics), cut off the white blossoms and stunted bottom leaves on the basil (top pics), sheared off half the onion tops, and picked a ton more sugar peas. Jalapenos are growing fast, the tomatoes are getting bigger, and the cucumber/squash plants have blossomed.

It's a fun time in the garden!!!

A Neglected Garden (and Blog)

What kills a garden quickly? No farmer around to take care of it. The combination of McCain campaign embed, two weeks in St. Paul, MN for the RNC, Hurricane Ike, and a couple half week trips to Cleveland, Albuquerque, and Maine have left the poor garden neglected and fading. My boss also mentioned that the neglect has also fallen on my blog.
This weekend, it was time to catch back up and give the garden a little pep before it goes dormant in a couple months. Today, I picked all the ripe tomatoes, a bell pepper, and two cucumbers. I also cut off damaged tomatoes and some bell peppers attacked and eaten by ants.


I figure the more I can trim and pick off, the less the plants have to worry about supporting.
It had been a good month since I fed the plants, so I took 30 minutes to do that as well. Hopefully with a fresh supply of food and cooler, dry temperatures, the garden can come back alive and give us some more goodies before Thanksgiving.

The Basil Was In A Bad Need Of A "Haircut"

Just A Little Off The Top, Please

Snipping The Buds Helps The Rest Of The Plant Below

Ever hear the phrase, "Less is more."? Well that applies to gardening, too. Unfortunately, I haven't done a very good job of that this year with tomatoes, but I'll save that for another post this week. But one plant that needs pruning is basil. One way to get more out of your basil plant is to continually pick the leaves. The faster you pick, the faster it grows back. I guess it's like gray hair.

Other than picking leaves, you also need to snip off all the flower buds along with the top couple sets of young leaves on the stems. Doing this will keep the plant focussed on growing large and tasty basil leaves. And eventually, you can use those basil leaves for homemade pesto.