Hello,

Sorry (again) for the late newsletter. Time keeps on tickin’, tickin’, tickin’…

Our seedlings are growing and our fall replants are officially underway! We are removing beans, broccoli, cabbage, onions in the raised bed and garlic. If you do not have any of these vegetables in your garden, you will not receive a replanting visit. We will also remove plants that are really not doing well. If you would like us to replace some plants and do not think you will be getting a visit please let me know.

I am really excited to get the lettuce, spinach, beets and carrots into your gardens for a great fall harvest. This summer was a tough one for fruiting vegetables since there were a lot of overcast or rainy days. There just wasn’t enough sun or heat to really get the veggies ripening up early or often. We do still have two months left, hopefully this hot sunny weather will stick around for a bit to turn things around for those green tomatoes!

At this time of year it is normal for fruiting vegetable plants to start to look..well…”ugly”. They put all of their energy into producing and ripening their ‘fruit’ and start to sacrifice their leaves. If your bottom tomato leaves are yellow or ratty looking, you can just cut them off. Cucumber and zucchini leaves may be starting to yellow and shrivel as well. Removing these sacrificed leaves is not absolutely necessary, but can help the plant ‘focus’ 🙂

My favourite summer salad: Maybe you saw this already on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/urbanseedling.semisurbain, or on Twitter https://twitter.com/UrbanSeedling I just love sharing it. The picture is taken is on my clover “lawn” and is purple and green basil, marketmore, lemon, and greenfinger cucumbers and rose de berne and black cherry tomatoes. Delicious! I put some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper and crushed garlic on before enjoying with dinner.

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

Did you know that there is no such thing as a green pepper? The green peppers you see in the store just aren’t ripe yet! All peppers will turn red, orange or yellow if you leave them on the plant long enough – even jalapeños. However, feel free to pick them green if you like them that way.

For the powdery mildew, the milk mixture does not seem to be working well for some people. You can switch to a 1 tablespoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon dish soap (dawn original) in a litre of water. Spray on the leaves of affected plants, top and bottom. Remove dead or badly affected leaves. Do not remove more than 30% of the leaves at a time.

The first two weeks of September we will be coming by to plant some spinach, lettuce, beets and carrots. Please harvest any beans, onions, garlic, broccoli and cabbage. We will also replace any plants that are not doing well with leafy greens or root vegetables.

Harvest your vegetables early and often. Your zucchinis are best around 6″, same with cucumbers. Don’t let the lemon cucumbers stay on the vine too long. They are great when they are bright yellow, and about the size of a lemon, but get really hard and tough as they get older.

If your tomatoes are not ripening, you can cut off some leaves or branches to let more sun and air circulation get to your tomatoes, it will help speed up ripening.

The calendula, chamomile, cilantro and dill are finished and should be taken out of your herb garden. Collect the chamomile for tea, and the cilantro and dill seeds as a delicious spice.

Tereska Gesing

Hello,

Shawn found a couple new pests in our garden this week – a green cucumber beetle. It is called a northern corn worm, but as far as I can tell it is a different variety of our good old cucumber beetle. You will find it in the yellow flowers of the cucumber, zucchini or melon plants. You should keep an eye out for these beetles as well as regular beetles during your daily trips into the garden. Hand pick and destroy.

We have also seen squash bug. They will suck the life juices out of the leaves, stems and fruit. If you see this bug, you should also trap and destroy before it has a chance to reproduce.

If you still don’t have zucchini or cucumber you may not have enough sun. Less than 6-8 hours of sun per day may give you a later harvest. Be patient, if your plants have nice green perky leaves and lots of flowers, your fruit should be coming soon.

Otherwise, you may not have enough bees to do the pollinating. Here again is the link on how to hand pollinate for a better harvest.
http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/plants-trees/how-to-pollinate-zucc…

When you do see zucchini and cucumbers, make sure to pick them before they get too big. Leaving a large fruit on the plant will slow production of more fruit. Pick early and often.

Cucumbers in your garden have spikes on them when they grow! This is perfectly normal, you can simply rub them off with a soft cloth, or your fingers. The round yellow cucumbers are lemon cucumbers. They taste just like regular cucumbers, and should be enjoyed accordingly.

Black spots on the bottom of your tomatoes indicate that you don’t have enough calcium in your soil. You can correct with organic crab fertilizer. You can find it at the Coop de la Maison Verte http://www.cooplamaisonverte.com for sure, but probably other garden centres as well.

Keep the soil in your garden free of debris and dead leaves. They make great hiding places for pests and a great place for powdery mildew and other funguses to get started.

Beautiful lemon cucumber and zucchini salad
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Minted-zucchini_-pea-and-lemon-cucumber-sal…

A nice recipe for zucchini bread
http://www.simplebites.net/how-to-make-the-best-zucchini-bread-ever/

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

Sorry for the late newsletter – I don’t know how the week evaporated so quickly!

In these dog days of summer, things in the garden are in a bit of a holding pattern. You should start seeing harvests from most of your plants already, or in the near future, so your garden maintenance should consist of watering (zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers especially are heavy drinkers), weeding, checking for pests such as cucumber beetles, slugs or caterpillars, and checking for any ripe tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, beans.

Make sure to harvest as soon as things are ripe – this is the power of your vegetable garden. You have food that you can pick and eat at its peak. Fresh picked vegetables are among the tastiest and most nutritious foods available. Taking back even a little bit of the control over what you eat from big industry should be empowering. You know exactly what goes into growing these gems and not relying entirely on big agriculture for your nourishment, I believe is a political statement to your own independence and power.

Excuse me while I digress a little bit. I just finished a great book “Ishmael: An Adventure in Mind Body and Spirit” by Daniel Quinn http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227265.Ishmael. The central premise is that the world does not belong to man, but man belongs to the world, and the more space we can share with the species creatures around us, the greater chance we have of saving the world. I feel like ‘greening the city’ and producing your own food is a big step in the right direction.

We are currently planting seeds for your fall seedlings. I am really looking forward to getting the root vegetables, lettuce and spinach in your gardens – and in my own!
Here is my favourite summer recipe for this time of year. I dream about it in the winter time…

Tomato, Bocconcini, Basil salad

Ingredients:
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove crushed
Ripe tomatoes cut into thin wedges
1 220 gram container of Bocconcini cheese cut into chunks
1 cup of large basil leaves torn

Step 1:
Place oil, vinegar and garlic in a small screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper. Shake until well mixed.

Step 2:
Arrange tomato, bocconcini in a shallow serving dish. Top with the basil, drizzle over the dressing to serve. *Bonus: Drizzle balsamic reduction over the salad instead of adding balsamic vinegar to the dressing. Delicious!*

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

Your cucumbers probably have many male flowers. They come out one or two weeks before the female flowers to attract bees to the garden. The female flowers should be coming out soon. Female flowers are the ones with a little cucumber underneath, the male flowers without. We are now in the second crest of the cucumber beetle wave. You absolutely need to search for them and kill them every time you go into the garden. Now is the time when they are mating and unchecked they can reproduce very fast. Cucumber beetles usually hide inside the yellow cucumber or zucchini flower. Don’t be shy to sacrifice a flower to kill the bug inside. More flowers will grow.

Japanese beetles are a problem too this year. Try your best to keep them off of your plants as much as possible. The best organic fix is is to apply parasitic nematodes (available in most garden centres) in the next couple of weeks. This will drastically reduce their numbers next year. For this year, shake affected plants over a bucket of soapy water in the morning. Spraying with neem oil can help as well.

Your peppers are probably getting nice and big now, or will be soon. You can pick them while they are still green, if you prefer green peppers, but if you wait they will mature to red or orange depending on the variety. Same goes for the hot peppers.

If you are spraying for powdery mildew with 40% milk / 60% water or 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 1 gallon of water, it will stop the spread of the fungus, but will not remove it from the affected leaves. Eventually you can remove the affected leaves but be careful not to remove more than 30% of the leaves on the plant at once.

If you have garlic in your garden it will be ready soon. Once the leaves start to turn brown you can start harvesting at anytime. I suggest picking it as you need it, and leaving the rest to grow bigger.

The red cabbage seems to be taking quite a bit longer to head up. It should start to form a nice head in the next couple of weeks.

Your tomatoes are going to be ready soon. If the cherry tomato plants surpass the top of the trellis, you can either loop it back down the trellis, snip it off or let it grow…

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

It turns out I did two #11 newsletters in a row. So we skip to #13… oops

A couple more notes on how to deal with pests and diseases, then harvesting your summer garden!

It is important to deal with any problems you may come across right away, since a small, easy to deal with problem can over take your garden before you know it.

You may be starting to see some powdery mildew on zucchini, summer squash, melon or cucumber leaves. The best way to deal with this is to remove any diseased leaves and spray the rest with a milk mixture. The strongest recommended is 40% milk to 60% water. Spray the tops and bottoms of leaves at the hottest, sunniest part of the day possible. Repeat every 10 days or so.

Powdery mildew

Cucumber beetles may be appearing in these same plants. Make sure to deal with as soon as possible since they breed very quickly. Trap and destroy as many as you can. Some people recommend taking a handheld vacuum cleaner into the garden! (Although this is not something I have tried) Sticky traps sold in hardware stores to protect your clothes against mites work well (also found on leevalley.com) Make sure to tuck traps in beside the affected plants so that they don’t trap other wildlife as well.

Cucumber beetle and sticky trap

Little black bugs on your tomato plants are tomato flea beetles. They shouldn’t damage the tomato too much, but it is best to control their population so they don’t become a more significant problem. You can easily defend against these little pests with a homemade insecticide spray. Alcohol and soap spray os made by combining 2 parts rubbing alcohol with five parts water and 1 tablespoon of dishwashing soap. Garlic and hot pepper spray works as well: about 6 cloves of garlic crushed and blended with a whole bunch of hot sauce, or crushed hot pepper and combined with 1L water. Let sit overnight, strain out the liquids and combine with a tablespoon of dishwashing soap and vegetable oil in a spray bottle.

Tomato flea beetle

If your zucchini don’t have any female flowers yet, don’t worry. The persistent rains, and hot hot heat have made the zucchini plants conserve their energy and the female flowers should pop any day now that the heat wave has subsided. Same goes for cucumbers. If you have lots of cucumber flowers, but no cucumbers yet, it is probably due to the difficult weather resulting lower than normal insect activity. Cucumbers should follow the nice weather pretty soon.

Harvesting:

Zucchini and summer squash should be harvested before they get too big. Around 4″ for patty pan and 6″ long for zucchini. Take a sharp knife into the garden and cut about 1′ down the stem. The more you harvest the more will grow

Beans: Pick early and often. Go into the garden with a bowl, and simply snap them off the plant with your fingers just above the stem. Early and often applies here too. The young and tender beans are the best. Make sure to check under the leaves, as beans like to hide from view.

Peppers: Won’t be ready for a while yet. Most sweet peppers will get to be more than 5″ long, and will turn yellow or red when they are ready. You can also pick them when they are still green if you prefer them this way. Cut the stem with a sharp knife.

Cucumber: Pick around 5″ or 6″. Taste and texture start to suffer when they get to big. Some varieties have spikes all over the cucumber, just rub them off with a soft cloth. Cut the stem with a sharp knife.

Eggplant: Is ready as soon as it gets to a size you are happy with. Squeeze gently, once it gets a softer texture and the skin has a nice shine to it. It’s best to pick the fruits when they are immature because the flavor is better and it stimulates the plant to continue producing. Cut the stem with a sharp knife.

Tomatoes: will turn colour when they are ready. Give them a gentle squeeze. If they are rock solid, they are not ripe yet. Slightly soft to the touch and they are ready to go. The trickiest one is the Green Zebra, if you look closely though, the stripes turn yellow when the tomato is ready. You should be able to pick them easily with a little twist.

Kale, chard and arugula: Continue to pick the larger outer leaves and let the inner leaves continue to grow.

The chamomile is done for the year. Remove the plant. Dry upside down and remove the flowers once they are fully dry for a heavenly loose leaf tea.

Dried chamomile flowers

Best,
Tereska Gesing

With less bees around to pollinate, you may have to do the job yourself. If your zucchini are shrivelling and dropping off instead of growing, it is because they are not getting fully pollinated. Check out this link for instructions: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/plants-trees/how-to-pollinate-zucchini/ Tereska Gesing

Hello,

This hot and dry weather (this afternoons thunderstorm not withstanding!) means that the amount you water will have a very big effect on how well your garden is doing. The gardens with regular watering be humming along with plants flowering and leaves growing. Gardens with lots of water (say 1 hour per day on a timer) will already have cucumbers and zucchini growing and extra large tomato plants with tomatoes just about ready to ripen. Those of you with irrigation systems can add an extra watering cycle at the end of the day (9:30 -10:00pm say)

Each one of the plants in your garden needs it’s own space. Any plants hiding under errant tomato branches, or extra large zucchini leaves will get shaded out and will not perform well. If your garden is getting out of control, we can come by and help. We offer a 1 hour maintenance visit to clean up your garden for $50.

If your squash or zucchini plants are falling over when you water them, or look like they need some extra help, you should mound up soil around the base of the stem.This will add support, and also help to protect against squash borer or other insects that may want to snack on your plants.

This is a really good time to get rid of any pea plants you may have left to make space for your tomato plants. Pea production has slowed down, or will very soon, and your tomatoes will be getting big enough that they need the extra space on the trellis.

You should still be harvesting your kale, swiss chard and roquette. Remove the large outer leaves and chop them for a fresh salad, or steam briefly for a nice side dish.

You can continue to harvest from your herb and flower garden, or let it go wild. This will provide extra food and shelter for the beneficial insects in your garden.

Best,

Tereska Gesing

Hello,

Some important garden maintenance to take care of this week. Each vegetable needs its own space in the garden. This means that you may have to do some extra harvesting of kale, chard or roquette, or may mean that you need to cut off some non-edible leaves to make space. Please make sure your cucumber plants are growing up the trellis, and not into the garden.

If your squash leaves are starting to grow over your other vegetables, cut them off to make more light in the garden. Same goes for your tomato plants. It is important to cut off any branches that you can’t fit on the trellis. If not they will shade out the other vegetables in the garden and make it hard for them to grow well.

Zucchini flowers are delicious to cook with. The ones with the small zucchini at the base is a female flower, the ones without the zucchini are male flowers..they both need to be open to pollinate and produce fruit. If not pollinated..that small zucchini will shrivel up. If you have a LOT of male flowers, you can go ahead and pick some of those but keep in mind that the flowers only last one day.Usually you use the male flowers to cook with, but if you remove them all, you risk not getting any zucchini off of your plant.

Your onions may be about ready to harvest. Once the leaves start to fall over or yellow it means they are almost ready. Leave them in the ground another 10 days to fully mature. You can either leave them in the ground and harvest them as you need them, or you can harvest them all at once. In this case you need to ‘cure’ them. Rinse off the soil and leave them lying in a sunny spot (for example a patio table) at least until the roots and leaves dry out completely. You can then store them in a cool, dark, dry place.

The bottom leaves of your pea plants may already be starting to yellow. This indicates that the pea production is starting to slow down.You should remove them from the trellis to make room for the tomato. I suggest you cut the pea vine near the soil level and cut the vine in to pieces to make removing it from the trellis more easily. The pea greens are delicious cooked, in salads, on pasta etc.

Your cabbage may be ready to pick as well. You can pick it when it is big enough to your liking. Make sure to harvest the large outer leaves if they are shading out neighbouring vegetables.

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

This week we will take stock of your early-summer garden.

Flowers are starting to form on your tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumber and zucchini are starting to flower. If you still have floating a floating row cover protecting your cucumbers and squash, it is time to remove it to let the insects in to pollinate. It is a great time to add some extra compost to give these plants a boost. You can remove the first couple of flowers to let these plants get a little bigger before they start producing.

The tomatoes need to be trained up the trellis, wrap the top of the tomato plants around the trellis string. Also remove the suckers found between the leaf and the central stem to keep your tomato plants neat and tidy. If your tomatoes have not grown at all since they were planted, please let me know and we will come by and take a look.

If you are a member from last year and have garlic planted in your garden you will have some nice round garlic scapes growing. It is important to remove these scapes before the flower develops so that the garlic plant’s energy will be focused on developing a big head. Snap the scapes off with your fingers just above the leaves. Here are some great ideas of how to eat your scapes:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/06/the-crisper-whisperer-what-to…

If you still have lettuce in your garden, you should harvest it this week. It is starting to bolt because of the heat. Also your squash should be getting to a size where it will need the extra space.

Make sure to keep your garden weeded and well watered even with the frequent rain the sunny days will dry out the soil quickly and can stress out your vegetables and leave them vulnerable to pests and disease. If you let weeds get big, they can compete with your vegetables for valuable resources, water and nutrients. If the outer leaves of your cabbage or broccoli are getting too big for their squares, remove them so that your other plants are not shaded out.

If your herb and flower garden is getting over grown, you may want to root around and remove any plants that are not getting enough sun and move them to somewhere else in your yard, or in a pot. If you want to have more of a particular herb, there is still time to get some in a garden centre to supplement what you have in your own garden.

For more details, take a look at my early-summer gardening video:

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Hello,

As the summer progresses, and the bugs get more established in your garden we are starting to see some more persistent pest problems. This week I’ll give you some more details on organic pest control for your garden.

We still want to develop and preserve a healthy ecosystem in the garden, and invite and keep as many beneficial insects into the garden as much as possible. Sometimes however, you can get infestations of some of the more persistent pests. Aphids, slugs, cucumber beetles and caterpillars are our biggest challenges at this time of year.

The best way you can protect your garden is to spend some time poking around, and getting familiar with your plants and keeping an eye out for potential problems before they become an issue.

Signs of trouble can be ragged holes in leaves, curled leaves, or burned looking trails or leaf tips.

APHIDS

Aphids can be light green, red, black, or white. They are small and soft bodied. Take a closer look if you see lots of ants crawling over your plants: ants farm aphids for their sweet secretions. They will actually carry the aphids into your garden. If you find a small amount of aphids in the garden, simply knock them off with a strong jet of water.

If you have a more serious infestation try this all purpose home-made organic insecticide. It is good to use on infected plants but please don’t spray it too widely as it will kill beneficial insects as well, and you want those good insects around to eat any future pests that show up.

Try straight 70% or 90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Spray the affected plant, being sure to thoroughly wet all surfaces. Repeat every 3 days for about 2 weeks.

Garlic Pepper Pest Control Spray works wonders as a target insecticide

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 large red chili peppers, finely chopped (A whole bunch of hot sauce works well as well)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon liquid dishwashing soap
• 1 L of tap water

Place the chopped garlic cloves, chopped chili peppers and water into a large container and let sit for at least a couple of hours. Pour mixture through a strainer and place into a large glass container. Pour in the vegetable oil and liquid dishwashing soap. Stir until everything is combined. Use an old funnel and pour mixture into a clearly indicated spray bottle.

Compost tea works wonders as well. Take a handful of worm castings and tie it up in a piece of cloth and put it in a bucket of water. Stir vigorously every 3 or 4 hours to aerate for at least one day. Compost tea is a wonderful fertilizer and can be used as a soil drench to feed the roots, a foliar spray to feed the plants, and as a preventative insect repellent.

CUCUMBER BEETLE

If you get cucumber beetles in your garden it is very important to deal with them as soon as possible. They breed very quickly and can destroy your cucumbers, melons, zucchini or squash. The best thing to do is hang a folded sticky trap tucked in beside your affected plant. Make sure that it is not hanging to far out in the open as passing wildlife can get caught up in the trap. To make it extra effective add a cotton ball soaked in oil of clove, cinnamon, cassia, allspice or bay leaf, all of which act as a powerful floral attractant.

STICKY TRAP

SLUGS

The only way to deal with slugs in an organic garden is to remove and destroy. Keep an eye on the underside of leaves especially of lettuce, swiss chard, and other leafy greens around dusk, which is when they come out of hiding for a snack.

Other tactics include leaving the rinds of citrus, or melon in the garden at night and dispose of it in the morning once the slugs hide inside. I have reports of animals being attracted to the rinds as well, so if you have problems with critters best to use another method.

Beer traps work well as well. Dig a small plastic container into your garden, leaving a lip of at least 1/2″ above the the ground and fill it 2/3 full of beer. Empty the container of dead slugs and refresh with beer regularly

Watering in the morning instead of at night can help a lot too. It is much more difficult for slugs to travel over dry soil than wet soil.

CATERPILLARS

It is a safe bet that any caterpillar in your garden is munching on your leaves. Keep an eye out on the underside of leaves especially of any plants with chunks missing. Pick off caterpillars by hand and destroy.

Best,
Tereska Gesing

Please take a look at this video as well. Especially if you haven’t been covering your cucumbers and squash plants!