My cantaloupes are starting to have a little burned look on the leaves. I thought they might need something, but I wasn't sure what. After a posting on Gardenweb, it seems they might need a bit of potassium. (Gardenweb ROCKS!) I searched all over for the fish emulsion I had been using, but to no avail. Nor could I really find an organic fertilizer high on the potassium side. Almost everything was high on the nitrogen side, which is not helpful for my tomatoes and peppers either. Grr... I finally gave up today and got a tomato fertilizer which isn't Miracle Grow, but isn't exactly organic either. It's 4 - 12 - 6. I fertilized the cantaloupe, peppers, eggplant and Roma tomato in the raised bed. I noted that my Roma is starting to have some purple veining, so I'm hoping that the fertilizer will give it the boost that it needs. I also noted that I need to add more grass clippings to that row as well as the rest of my cucumbers.
Friday I planted squash, 2 hills of butternut, 1 of yellow, and 1 zucchini. My last two hills of beans are up now as well as a few of the sunflowers. I saw a ton of ants on my eggplant and realized that it had an aphid problem, so I sprayed it with Safer soap. It still has some ants on it today, but I think the aphids are pretty much gone. I also deadheaded the daisies today. They are seriously taking over. I will definitely need to divide them this fall or spring.
Being the planner that I am, I did a basic plan of next year's garden and calculated out my fall planting. Our first frost is about October 21, and our first freeze about November 1. So, I did some counting back and estimating as well as looking at seed packet suggestions when available. It looks like I can go ahead and plant collards and kale. In July, I will start broccoli, mustard, and romaine. In August: radishes, beets, turnips, and peas. And I will try planting spinach in the raised bed again in September. Of course, I plan to plant garlic in the rose bed in October, and I might plant new roses as well. I read in Organic Gardening magazine last night that planting a cover crop of vetch or crimson clover in the tomato bed helps the tomatoes fight fungi and produce longer. So, sometime in October I will also be planting cover crops in the square bed, the newest bed, and the rose bed.
More to the present, here's what I need to do this week:
- Deadhead roses
- Rake grass clippings & mulch rest of cucumbers, more mulch to Roma, eggplant & peppers
- Spray eggplant with insect soap again
- Transfer spearmint to bigger pot
- Plant collards & kale
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