Lots of herbs are ready for harvest. Cut back flowers to keep them on producing. Eat your herbs fresh or pick them on dry day (if we ever get one!) for drying to keep in your pantry. Harvest the tops of your basil to keep your basil plants bushy. Remove an entire section of leaves at a time. You will see two sets of smaller leaves on the stem – those will become entire branches post harvest. This will make your entire plant much bushier. To see how, check out my video.

Save your peppers and eggplants from the tomato tangles to come.  As they grow get your tomato plants  up on the trellis to free up space in your vegetable garden. To get the tomatoes on to the trellis, you gently wrap the growing end of the vine around the trellis netting. Any branches that do not fit on the trellis need to be cut off so they don’t crowd the other plants in your garden. Make sure to also remove suckers to focus the energy of the plant. Suckers are the small branches that grows in the crotch of the other tomato branches.  Watch my video to identify suckers.

Most lettuces will have started to bolt. Bolting means that they start to produce a long spike that is a bit alien looking. The lettuce then turns bitter and is less tasty. Harvest them and clear up that space for your peppers and eggplants. Continue to harvest kale and Swiss chard by cutting outer leaves and leaving inner leaves. Bok choy can be harvest as a whole head. For tatsoi you can remove the outer leaves and leave inner ones or harvest the whole head for a stir fry. Add those greens to your salads, stir frys, eat them as a side dish or add them to soups.

Stay on the look out for leaf miner and flea beetles in the garden. Reduce risk of pest and disease by keeping your garden clean remove and dead or yellowing leaves. And of course your presence is the best method of prevention so get out and brave the rain and enjoy your garden! 

Happy harvesting and  weeding! 😉
-Urban Seedling