In the Garden

Summer Returns

By Ray mikula

Warm days are in the forecast and air conditioners get their tune up this month as Mother Nature re-turns to Summer. Farmers Markets are in full swing and garden plants are for sale. You can pick your favorite varieties of tomato plants, squash, peppers, herbs, annuals, flowering hanging baskets, Dahlias, and cut flowers. Spring vegetables and fruits are for sale along with homemade products like jams, honey, and even mushrooms.

Our area is graced with several Farmers markets so it's easy to get a start on summer. Every May I try a variety of heirloom tomatoes to grow. You just need a sunny location, some dirt and some water. I grow mine in pots and make sure

I put them in a spot with at least 6 hours of sunshine. I add a little garden lime to each pot to keep the ph closer to 7 or neutral. (They don't love acid soil.) I start them in a pot bigger than the one they came in. I'll remove bottom leaves and plant them deep and they will develop a good root base. In two weeks I transfer them to a larger pot and plant them deep again. Two weeks later, they get into their final pot, a three gallon size. This is their final home. Now they get a cage around the pot and they are ready for the rest of summer. They'll produce tomatoes from June til September Visit and water your plants daily. Water your plants at the base to help keep disease from the leaves Look for signs of disease that can turn leaves brown. If you see this, you can remove the brown leaves and discard them away from the plant. This can slow the advance of diseases.

Peppers and squash can also be planted in pots or raised beds as well as in a garden

May is the time to put your annuals in as well They usually bloom all summer long to produce as many seeds as possible because they will die in the fall. Therefore they bring a stable color pallet for the entire garden while your perennials flower and fade. They are also fun to mix in planters to display around your house. Trailing annuals like petunias and pinks go great with upright flowers like snapdrag-ons and geraniums. The shade garden can be bolstered with annuals like wax begonias, torinia, coleus and caladium

While you're in the garden planting, take time to enjoy the beauty of your perennials that have come back to grace your yard with their lovely blooms. It is the time for azaleas, viburnum, roses, lilac, and ephemeral plants like bleeding hearts, May apple, Jacob's ladder and shooting star

I will be at the Gordon Rd Farmers Market on May 6th and 20th along with other Master Gardeners and all throughout the rest of the summer answering questions about just about anything you can grow. Stop by and visit us.

RayMikula is a Master Gardener.He has several acres of garden space & has been gardening for 62 years. Before retiring Ray was a Earth Science & Astronomy Teacher