Mulch Ado About Nothing

So much for spring. Now that summer is officially here, so are the hot temps and high humidity. My lawn isn't one to enjoy this time of the year, but the garden is flourishing. That is, as long as I stay on top of things and give it all the attention it needs.

Drooping Leaves on The Acorn Squash Plant Means It Needs Water

The culmination of heavy early season rains, high temperatures, longer days, bigger plants, and fruit on the vines has the garden very, very thirsty. No longer can I go a couple days between watering. In fact, this week the garden is almost needing daily water. Although I don't mind getting up fifteen minutes earlier everyday to yank out the hose, I need to find ways to make the water go further. (Remember, the best time to water your garden is in the early morning!!!) And with vacations coming up, I'm not going to be around everyday to water.

So here are some steps I took today that may help our plight to quench the garden.

1) Continue to prune- I cut away some low-hanging branches, yellow-colored leaves and branches, dead vines, etc. By eliminating these dying parts, the plant no longer must worry about providing for these leaves. It can focus water and nutrients to the healthier plant parts and developing fruit.

2) Pick mature veggies/fruit- If there are veggies ready to pick...do it. Again, this is one less thing the plant must provide for and keep its attention on other developing fruit.
3) Add more potting mix- Over time, some of the potting mix can erode away from watering and things like squirrels digging holes in the pots. As the plants get bigger, I also see small roots exposed from the soil. Adding more mix raises the soil level, adds support for the roots, provides more nutrients, and cools off the older potting mix.
4) Feed the plants- It was time for the garden to get its two week feeding. With the fresh potting mix layer, the nutrients will not filter to the bottom and eventually out the pot. The new mix will hold the nutrients and give the plant roots more opportunity to utilize the nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous.
5) Mulching- This is the big step. I'm hoping this will solve most of my watering and heat problems. Mulch is extremely valuable in the garden. First, it keeps soil cool in the summer heat and warm in cooler season temps. Second, it helps keep moisture in the soil from evaporating in the daytime sun. Third, it holds water and slowly dispenses it into the soil or ground. Knowing this, I ran to the garden center and grabbed a large (but cheap) bag of shredded wood mulch. Make sure when buying mulch not to get stuff treated with chemicals or a colored-dye.
After the new layer of mix and feeding, I spread a thin layer of mulch in the pots with the larger plants. I showered the mulch down to cool it off and keep from absorbing any moisture and nutrients underneath.

Mulch can provide other great duties such as preventing weed growth and warding off pests. Plus, it looks nicer than dried up dirt.
My suggestion: get out in the garden now and spend a good, long morning preparing your garden for the long and hot summer season. Trust me, a little work now can save you a lot of work down the road.

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"

"Feed Me, Seymour!"

I finally got around to feeding all the plants today. The food I use is Miracle Gro's Tomato Food. Despite the name, it works for vegetable plants other than just tomatoes. When looking for vegetable food, the three important elements to look for are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Each nutrient serves a very important purpose. Nitrogen helps build green tissue in plants. This makes the plants grow stronger stems and leaves. It gives the plant leaves a dark green color. A lot of all-purpose plant foods are very high in nitrogen. That's great for other plants to grow all season. But we don't want vegetable plants with just big, green leaves. Phosphorus helps build strong root systems. So naturally, this is important when the plants are young and developing. Potassium is essential because it helps the plant develop fruits, flowers, and toughens it up against diseases and pests.

You Can Find This At Home Depot for $5

The Miracle-Gro tomato food ratio for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium is 18-18-21. That is a very nice balance between the nutrients. So I use it all the time rather than going heavy on nitrogen and phosphorus early in the season and potassium late. Plus it's pretty cheap. Each box costs about $5 at Home Depot. I'll probably go through two boxes this year.



Watering Soil Level Gets The Water To The Roots Faster

I feed the plants every 10-14 days. It's pretty simple; I take a scoop of the food, dissolve it in a gallon of water, and spread it with my watering can. It's very important to water your plants at soil level at the base of the plants. Watering the leaves doesn't do much good. The water needs to get to the roots for the plants to fully utilize it. Also, I prefer to water in the morning for two reasons. One, during the hot summer the plants dry out fast and watering in the morning give them more of a chance to use as much water to keep cool and hydrated. Two, plants use the combo of water and sun to photosynthesize. Watering in the morning gives the plant the most opportunity to use as much water as possible while the sun is out. If you water at night, that's eight hours of the plant absorbing water with no sun.

So that's my take on feeding and watering. A little TLC and NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) go a long way in having a healthy garden with big, tasty vegetables.