Category Archives: Summer gardening

Lemon balm in your square foot garden

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lemon-balmI thought it might be nice to report on something I did for the first time this past season. Where I live the water tastes particularly bad in the summer. I find myself adding slices of lemon for glasses of water to hide the chlorine taste coming out of the tap. I wondered if adding a few leaves of lemon balm would do the trick.

It did. And I made some delicious lemonade with it as well. As I did some reading, I found that this fun herb can be used for all sorts of things ranging from what I had done to making tinctures for folks who have a hard time sleeping to adding it to smoothies and more. It does spread so if you’re planning on growing this in your square foot garden plan on it taking up an entire square. And even then I had to trim it back by seasons end. I included this in my delivery baskets for 6 weeks and they all wanted more!

This was a solid performer with a large yield! One plant was enough to provide 3-4 people with several sprigs for 6 weeks. Trim it back at the end of the season and it will regrow the next spring. Its a nice lush, green, and bushy plant that I think you’ll enjoy[ois skin=”3″]

Time to start plantings for fall lettuce

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cherokee lettuceYes? Unless you are in the warmer climates of Arizona, Nevada, or So. Cal, this is the perfect time to prepare for fall lettuce.  And you’ll be so glad you did.  Temperatures are coming down in our state to the low 90’s.  That’s still too warm to germinate lettuce seeds but this is one of the advantage of the square foot garden.  Because your gardens are limited in size, it becomes easier to do certain things, such as protection.

By having the ability to cover a small patch of garden real estate more possibilities open up to you.  A simple structure that can hold shade cloth can be put together to do just that.  This keeps the hot rays of the sun of your plant, and it helps keep the soil cooler-a very important things to keep in mind when growing lettuce in summertime.  There’s still a few more things you can do to increase your chances of successfully doing this, which is the topic of my next ebook that I’ve been talking about for a year.  Soon!

This particular variety is mottistone, a bavarian lettuce crop.  With night temperatures starting to come down to the mid to low 60’s, it really is a good time to begin your fall garden.  I would put it all in during the next couple of weeks.  You’ll be rewarded handsomely.  And then if you decide not to have a winter garden this year, you can pull it all up and put it away until spring.

I do think you would like the experience of growing fall lettuce, along with other tasty salad greens.  And if there are any seed packets left on the shelves in the store-there usually is-you can usually buy them for .50 each.[ois skin=”1″]

Still time to plant zucchini in some locations

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goldmine zucchiniThey say 1 zucchini plant will feed an entire family. I’m a believer in that. My experience has been this: the original zucchini plant does well and then finally dies, but there’s still a fair amount of warm weather available. Why don’t I just plant another one? The reason why is that now its too late in the season. I like to plant another zucchini about 4 weeks after my first planting. That way I’ve got plenty enough to take me until frost. Here in zone 6, we still have time to plant one more zucchini before it’s too late.

Like you, I’ve grown many different varieties of zucchini. Black beauty is a standard and its easy to grow and a good producer. Because its so readily available, I now grow a few other varieties.

This is goldmine-a yellow zucchini with a nice white stripe down the length of the fruit. It goes great with its companion safari-a green zucchini with a white stripes. If you’re looking for a way to mix it up a little bit with zucchini, these are great additions.
For those in the area, I will be teaching the seasons first winter low tunnel garden class. I would love to have a greenhouse but it doesn’t work for me. They are expensive, and usually permanent. You can do virtually the same thing with a low tunnel, although you will be harvesting in challenging weather sometimes. If you’re interested registration is simple. We cover how to build a structure that holds up under snow load, what crops do best in our climate, and when to start them. Class is about 75 minutes long.

Growing leeks

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leeks 070816I’ve already begun to think about the fall harvest season. That means starting a couple of things inside for transplants to go out in the garden soon. Lets talk leeks. If I were to wait until fall for planting them it wouldn’t allow enough time to harvest them this year.

There’s many different varieties of leeks, and I’ve tried lots of them. These are a variety that only take 75 days from seed to harvest. Many leeks take upwards of 110 days. My method of growing leeks is a little different. A chef would tell you that the most desirable part of the leek is the white stalk. The more white portion the better. I would encourage you to visit the produce section of your supermarket and check out the leeks. The white portion is usually pretty short: 3-4 inches. I try for 6-8 inches of white, and its very easy to do.

I start by placing leek seeds in a container as shown. The container itself isn’t very deep, and it’s got 4 holes on the underside for drainage. After a short time you’ll end up with skinny little transplants. I get mine to a certain size before transplanting. When I see leek roots beginning to come out of the drainage holes, its time for them to be transplanted. Hardening off is not necessary.

From here I will plant each individual leek start in a hole thats been made with a pencil. How deep do you plant them? I like to plant them so that about 2 inches of the leek remains above ground. I don’t even backfill the holes with dirt. As I water the holes fill up naturally and without even trying I can get a good 6 inches of white on my leeks-sometimes even more.

Now is the time to plan for things like leeks, green onions, kale, cabbage, and brussel sprouts[ois skin=”3″]

Square foot gardening-keep growing summer greens!

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braising greenIn addition to the many designer lettuces that I love to grow in the summer months I also add some different things-like these braising greens.  Planted 16 per square for a dense harvest, they are delicious and come up quickly.  After 45 days you can either harvest the entire square for a saute, or clip them about an inch above the grown for a cut-and-come again crop.  The second cuttings aren’t as clean looking but they still taste great and grow back quickly.

All week long we’ll have temperatures in the 90’s.  Looks like summer has arrived early.  I’ve begun plantings for summer lettuces in anticipation of a long, dry, and hot summer.  Trying to grow lettuce in this environment is a huge challenge-many gardeners don’t even attempt to do it for that reason alone.  I’ll have an ebook coming out very soon that will teach you how to grow lettuce right through the summer months.  It takes a little more effort, but it is so worth it.  Since nothing can beat the taste of those just harvested off-the-vine summer tomatoes, you might as well have the best tasting lettuce around to go with them.  I’m hoping to finish it in a week.

Writing doesn’t come easy for me.  It’s taken 2 years to put this ebook together.  Much of the material was written in a timely fashion, but it’s all other things that bog me down.  I won’t bother going into it, but I think you’ll be pleased with the information contained  in the book.  Aside from the growing techniques taught, I think the best part is that I’ve actually done what I’ve written about.  And I’ve done it successfully for a long time.  So, keep an eye out.

For folks that live in northern Utah I’ve got a couple of classes being offered in the next couple of months.  If you’re not a square foot gardener but would like to be, there’s a class for you.  If you’re interested in learning how to have a winter garden in our zone, there’s another class for that as well.  Please pass the word along to friends, neighbors,  and family members who would be interested in attending.  Thank you[ois skin=”3″]