The Farmers’ Almanac tells us that July 3 – August 11 are Dog Days, a period of particularly hot and humid weather. Guess they got that right for Delaware this year! It’s also an important time for our vegetable gardens, when so many of our plants need our help with water and pest control to survive and when the last of the spring crops as well as many of the summer crops need to be harvested. The “dog days” also finish just at that time when we need to get our fall plantings into the ground, for the succession planting that ensures you will have garden harvests long into the fall.
Harvesting:
Does it seem as though the worms, birds, and chipmunks know when your crops will be ready to be harvested a few days before you do? They do in our demonstration garden; we have gotten into the habit of reaping our plants just before they are most delectable to other living creatures. We are willing to share but it seems those other garden dwellers don’t have the same ethic. To harvest, you need to know the signs that your vegetables are almost ready.
Potatoes:
The red and white varieties should be harvested after they flower, and as the plants begin to turn yellow.
Garlic:
Garlic will create “scapes” which then flower, and after that, the leaves will start to brown. You can use the scapes as garlic substitutes in your cooking, and then keep an eye on the leaves. When the lower one-third of the leaves are browned, the heads should be pulled out to be cured.
Greens:
By now the spring greens and some of the herbs are well gone. They will have flowered, which we call bolting, and have lost their flavor or become bitter. Lettuce will often seep a milky liquid from a broken leaf. If you haven’t pulled them already, these plants can be relegated to the compost pile and the soil readied for a new planting of cool weather greens. Be sure to amend the soil with an inch or two of compost before replanting after greens and any heavy feeder crops.
Green Beans:
Pick beans while still brightly colored and tender. If the pods stay on too long, they become fibrous and woody and lose their taste. Further, since fully mature bean pods makes the plant thinks it has completed its job of reproduction, leaving beans on the plant too long can lead to fewer new buds being created.
Eggplants and peppers:
These vegetables in the solanaceous family are likely still fruiting. Harvest when the fruits reach a mature size and color. Check the plant label or seed packet to determine what that is. For example, some peppers are always one color, while others are ready to be harvested when they turn color (e.g., from green to red). Meanwhile, be sure the plants don’t dry out, and maybe give them a mid-summer dose of compost or fertilizer designed for fruiting veggies (higher in phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen).
Tomatoes:
Pick tomatoes when they’re not fully ripe if you have a lot of birds that will find them and peck them before you can pick them. If you expect a heavy rain, you may want to pick them before it rains, even if not completely ripe, since too much watering all at once can cause them to split. This time of year, tomato plants need to have evenly wet soil – don’t let it dry out and then soak it. Straw or plastic mulch helps, as well as a drip irrigation or soaker hose systems. These plants also benefit from a mid-summer dose of fertilizer, for fruiting vegetables along with a bit of calcium or lime if you’re seeing blossom-end rot.
Harvesting can be just what we need to stay engaged with the garden in these dog days. Remember also that once a vegetable crop is harvested, you are ready to clear the area, add additional compost to replenish the soil, and use those areas to start your fall crops, either from seed or with seedlings you started earlier in preparation.
