Weather has turned nice enough to work outside in the garden, finally.  A good thing too because this month there’s lots of heavy duty planting going on.  September in Zone 9 is like another spring.  Here’s this month’s list.

Warm Weather Veggies

• Beans – bush, pole, lima
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Southern peas – crowders, black-eyed, yard-long
• Peppers
• Summer squash – yellow crookneck, zucchini, pattypan
• Tomatoes

Cool Weather Veggies

• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Celery
• Collards
• Endive/Escrole
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Mustard
• Onion – bulb, multiplier, bunching
• Peas
• Radish
• Turnip

I’ve been battling with aphids, massive herds of them. Have tried everything… and have finally found something that is working great for me.

I mix some DE (diatomacious earth – food grade) with water and a little bit of dish soap (so that the DE will mix well with the water and so that the mixture will cling to the leaves) in a spray bottle. Spray it on the aphids and next day they are gone… just gone! Totally amazed me.

I haven’t measured – just put enough DE in so that the resulting mix is milky. Got to keep the bottle shaken because the DE will settle to the bottom. And do be aware that the DE is juuuuust gritty enough that it will destroy the trigger mechanism in your spray bottle – one reason I started using a pump sprayer.

Works so well that I’ve started putting it in my 2 gallon pump sprayer and just soaking everything – particularly the undersides of the leaves. Being careful to avoid good bugs – like ladybugs and their larvae.

I’ve not tested it on other bugs yet but I see no reason why this wouldn’t work on many others too.

Aphids on a very small okra leaf

Pump sprayer (around $10)

Pepper plant after being sprayed

Underside of pepper leaf the day after being sprayed with DE (this leaf was more heavily infested than the okra leaf pictured above

If you’ve been planting seeds for any length of time, have you noticed that sometimes they come up in just a day or two or three? Other times it takes a week, two weeks or so? Well, it does. Same seeds, same dirt, same everything, but vastly different germination patterns.

Why?

Could it be the moon? If you ask old timer gardeners they will say, “Of course it’s the moon.”

The monthly moon cycles of waxing (from new moon to full moon) and waning (from full moon to new moon) has profound affect on many things on this earth – ocean tides, crime rates, bleeding, sap rising, women’s cycles and conception and births… and that’s a short list. Why not seed germination?

Since the moon also affects fluid movement in plants (fluid which contains hormones and nutrients) it’s reasonable that an internal environmental change could speed up or slow down growth changes in a seed. Also make certain times better for pruning and harvesting and weeding and cultivating.

The only way to find out for sure is to do some experimenting of your own. You’ll find the current moon phase right over there to the right, and here are a couple of websites with interesting information and charts you can use. I’m going to give it a try… hope you do too.

http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/moonplanting.htm

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moongrow.htm

Leave a comment or send me an e-mail with your thoughts

After the last slooooow few months, August is here now and things are going to get reeeeally really busy in the garden.

You’ve still got a couple of weeks, like two, to get your garden beds ready before it’s time to start putting seeds and transplants in the ground.  If your garden is looking anything like mine, there’s a lot of work to be done.  The leaf mulch I put down has kept weeds at bay, so that’s not a problem (hope you’ve mulched your garden too).  But there are plants that need to be yanked out and the soil needs enriching.

I have another BIG chore – one that you may have too and not even know it yet… root intrusion from neighboring trees, shrubs, and other plants.

All of my vegetable planting area is raised beds (boxed in by wooden boards)  Seems the trees growing in my yard (large Chinaberry and ear trees mostly) are very opportunistic – yours probably are too.  They perpetually grow their roots under the raised beds and then up into the nice garden soil!!!!  AAarrrggghhhh……..!!!!!

The only way to prevent this from happening is to enclose the bottoms of the raised beds.  We’ve done this on four of the 4′x8′ ones (dug them out to a 12″ depth, lined them, including the bottom and up the sides to the top of the boards, with 4mil construction plastic, then filled them in again)  Works wonderfully, no erroneous roots in those beds.  There’s the added advantage of moisture retention too.  Hardly ever have to water those four beds.  Would really like to do this in the other 16 beds, BUT, digging the beds out just about half kills us, very hard work, and in this heat… just ain’t gonna happen.

Here is what you can start planting later this month:

Cool Weather Plants

• Broccoli
• Celery
• Collards
• Onions – multiplying and bunching

Warm Weather Plants

• Beans – pole
• Corn
• Eggplant
• Southern peas – crowder, black-eyed, yard long…
• Peppers
• Pumpkin
• Summer squash
• Winter squash
• Watermelon

Your yard and patio is full of microclimates (warmer and cooler spots) and I encourage you to experiment – nothing to loose and lots to gain.  And besides, it’s great fun.

One more lazy month in the garden… as far as what’s recommended to plant.  Still looking at only

• Okra
• Sweet potatoes
• Southern peas – like crowder and black-eyed-peas and yard-long beans (asparagus beans)

BUT it is time to get ready for autumn planting!  Come August you can start planting some warm weather and cool weather veggies: pole beans, corn, eggplant, southern peas, peppers pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash, watermelon and broccoli, celery, collards, multiplier and bunching onions.

Most of the things you can plant in the August garden can be started from seeds planted in flats or little pots now, getting a head start on the season.  You should get your tomato seeds started this month too so that they will be a nice size to put in the garden in September.

This is an ideal time to get your garden soil amended with compost, blood and bone meal, dry molasses to feed the microbes, etc. Water it in good and let it set.  In a month or so it will be ripe and ready to receive your plants that you started from seeds this month.

Still lots of maintenance things that need doing.  Pulling out plants that have gone by (matured, gotten old and started to decline), replenishing mulch, WEEDING – there’s always weeding, watering, feeding, harvesting, seed saving…

The heat could be taking a toll on your fruits and veggies.  It can be so intense that it burns the fruit… so intense that it can literally cook things, like tomatoes, right on the plant.  Some shading can solve the problem.  Even something as simple as draping a sheet over plants can make a BIG difference.

Remember to take care of yourself out there… don’t get over heated, work early in the morning or late in the afternoon.  I work in the parts of my garden that are shaded.  As the sun moves and the shade moves, I move.

Now get out there and have fun!  Play in the sprinkler!

We’ve had a lot of rain lately but after just a couple days of hot dry weather your garden might be thirsty again.  Might have to water.

What’s the best way?  A lot of people have a lot to say about that… a controversial subject.  Overhead vs root zone.  Drip or flood.  Morning or evening.  Rain, well, or city.  Oscillating or impact (Rain Bird)…  There is no right answer.  But I can tell you what I like best and why.

I prefer the rotary sprinklers, like the one in the picture.  Rotary sprinklers have arms that spin and water comes out of holes in the ends of the arms.   I like these little green plastic ones, like in the picture.  They have adjustable tips, are very inexpensive, and I’ve never had one malfunction.  The biggest reason why I like them best is that they give the greatest imitation of natural rain drops.  By that I mean a constant dripping of drops in a changing pattern like rain – as opposed to an oscillating sprinkler (ones that go back and forth) which drops the water in intermittent waves, or a static sprinkler that continuously drops the water in the same spot.  A rain gauge check also shows that this type of sprinkler delivers more water too, gives the garden a really good soaking in a shorter period of time.

I set mine up on overturned buckets or big flower pots and use bungie cords to attach them so they don’t slip off.  Doing this lifts the force of the spray above the plant foliage so it doesn’t beat up the leaves and it also gives a greater simulation of rain and causes the sprinkler to cover a larger area.

Get out there and check your garden this weekend.  Wouldn’t want to loose it now for the want of a little drink of water.

June is another slow planting month in the garden. But there are a lot of other things to do in there.

You should be harvesting the last of the cool weather veggies (cabbage, carrot, Brussels sprouts, radishes, most greens…) and harvesting lots of warm weather veggies (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, cucumbers…)

You might have noticed on some plants that you are getting a lot of beautiful blooms but no veggies. Not to worry.  There are some veggie plants that have male and female blossoms (squash, cucumbers, melons…).  Temperature has a little to do with which are formed and you will usually get a lot of male blossoms blooming (that will not bear fruit) before the female blossoms start forming. The first picture up there shows the male and female blossoms of a yellow crookneck squash. The female blossom that will bear fruit has a miniature little squash at the base of the blossom (which hasn’t opened in this picture). The male blossom has a plain straight stem (down and to the left of the female blossom in the picture)

Another reason you may not be getting fruit from these plants is poor pollination. I’ll show you in another post how to do this by hand.

Another problem you may be seeing in your garden is powdery mildew – particularly on squash, cucumber, and melon vines. Spraying the leaves – top and bottom – with an alkaline solution (2 tsp sodium bicarbinate [Arm and Hammer bicarb from the kitchen, also called baking soda] and 1 tsp dish soap in a 1 gallon of water) may help. The powdery mildew fungus doesn’t grow well in an alkaline environment and the dish soap helps the liquid stick to the leaves rather than just run off.

I’ve been having some good luck with using a milk solution. Full strength or diluted 10:1 water to milk. Any kind of milk will do; fresh, sour, whole, skim, powdered, canned… I put it in an inexpensive pump sprayer ($10-$20 at Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc.) or you can use a spray bottle – spray bottle is just a little hard on the hand.

And there is one more thing I want to talk to you about. This is the time of year that creatures establish territories and mate so many are on the move. Most you will never see or notice because they are small and secretive. Some, like birds, can give you pleasure. But some you need to be cautious of. Specifically alligators, large snakes, and BEARS! Even if you live in the middle of town or the suburbs it’s still possible to find these creatures. Read about our experience here at Mango Cottage Life I think you will really enjoy it.

As far as what you can plant this month:

• Okra
• Sweet potatoes
• Southern peas (crowder, black-eyed-peas, asparagus/yard long beans…)

Other things going on in the May garden… bees.  Lots of bees ‘should’ be out there pollinating your veggies and herbs and fruits.  And if you have your own bee hive you not only have a supply of pollinators to assure your veggie flowers turn into veggie food, but you also have the bonus of honey.

Here is an example of some of the honey we harvested from our backyard hive this afternoon.  So delicious… dark amber, sweet rich flavor… mmmmmmm good.

Something for you to consider.

Gardening activities really slow down for the next 3 months.  Just too hot and humid.

Lots of maintenance and watching for bugs and disease, watering, weeding,  and feeding is in order though.  Some plants may need a little sun protection via shade clothes – tomatoes, peppers.  Keep a check on plants that have fruits laying on the ground such as cantaloups and melons.  Might be prudent to slip a small pot under them or a brick/block to keep them off the ground.

And harvesting, lots and lots of harvesting.  You could consider preserving your bounty too.  Learning how to can, pickle, make jams and jellies, and my favorite – dehydrating.

Good time for repairing and sharpening tools.

Planning for the late summer/early fall garden should be started during these slow summer months too.

The few things that are still safe to plant now are

• Okra
• Southern peas (which include yard long/asparagus beans)
• Sweet potatoes

Do be careful out there… best not to garden during the heat of the day and do stay well hydrated.

April marks the beginning of the end of the spring planting season in Central Florida’s zone 9. Not much to plant this month, BUT, since we’ve been running a little cooler than normal this year you could try extending March’s plantings a couple of weeks into April.

You should be well into harvesting veggies from plantings you did in late fall and winter… like the cauliflower pictured here.  The heads seemed to just appear over night!  And the taste… oh so good, sweet and creamy.

Here’s the list of seeds you can plant in April.  A very short list.

Cool Weather  Plants

• None

Warm Weather Plants

• Bush beans
• Pole beans
• Lima beans
• Cantaloupes
• Okra
• Southern peas
• Sweet potatoes

A few tips -

Soak the okra seed in warm water overnight.  Plant the ones that sink

You can grow sweet potatoes from the sprouts on old ones you may have in the kitchen.  Place the potato in a container with water coving about half of the potato… either on it’s end or on it’s side.  When sprouts grow, let them get big enough to form some roots then break them off of the potato and plant them.

Beans aren’t only green beans.  There are kidney, yellow wax, black turtle, etc. that can be eaten like green beans.

Southern peas are black-eyed-peas, crowder, and even asparagus (yard long) bean.

Get out there and get planting before it gets TOO HOT!!!