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Judi Segabarth
Friday, August 04, 2000 Page: 14
As July melts into August, the to-do-list gets longer by the day.
Here are today’s garden chores: harvest from A to Z, artichokes to
zucchini.
Pick the beans and beets, the corn and carrots, the dahlias and the dill.
Pick the basil and blueberries, the peppers and the parsley, tomatoes and
tomatillos.
Pick the squash and sage, don’t forget the rosemary and thyme.
Deadhead spent lavender (save for fragrance if you wish). Deadhead roses to
first “5 part leaf” or to vigorous new growth. (I always leave a branch or
two of forming hips on new roses to judge the individual attractiveness of
hips.)
Sow a buckwheat cover crop on empty beds.
Clean garlic and move to dim, dry area for continued curing. Separate large
from small, saving the largest, healthiest bulbs for planting in October.
Pull some weeds.
Plant some lettuce.
Save a kitten. Neuter your cat.
Bounties and the beasts
Yes, you read right! Save a kitten neuter your cat. Today, as I started my
gardening morning I heard a small mewing from beneath the barn. Next to all my
garden’s bounty I found a starving kitten. I try to contain my anger at the
likelihood of a lowly beast who drove by and abandoned the unwanted life by
the side of the road. It took me an hour to tend to it before I could return
to the garden. I gave the skinny little thing a drink of water from the rain
barrel, then a bit of bread softened in warm milk. Now it is napping in my van
to prevent it from following me to the house.
I just don’t need another cat. But I cannot allow it to die.
Beasts of bugs and beetles
The garden to-do list continues with the more onerous jobs of the day. The
small, yellow and black striped cucumber beetles worry me now that the first
of the squash plants has sadly drooped from the wilt disease these beetle
beasts carry.
I incarcerate, then execute a dozen or so inside a male squash blossom. I
leave the fruiting blossoms alone – they are easily recognized by the infant
squash already visible behind the girlish skirt of the unfolding female
blossom. Keep plants weeded, well watered, and mulched for optimum health.
These beetles lay eggs in the wonderful protection of soil beneath the
scratchy cucurbit plants so they can be pesky to control.
Close behind the cucumber beetles another bug-attack is forming – this time
it’s the squash bug. Much larger than the striped beetle, the large brown
adults are stalking about the leaves while the juveniles, looking like huge
gray aphids, rollick beneath the expanding canopy of leaves. These beastly
bugs are easier to control since they don’t fly like the cucumber beetles and
their eggs are the obvious orange egg-shaped masses on leaf surface or
underside. Remove eggs from the leaves by scraping them off or tearing off the
bit of leaf they are attached to. I often gingerly clip off an entire leaf
that is covered with the smaller bugs and carefully carry it to the
“henitentiary” (Chickens relish the squash bugs). If you don’t have
chickens, a squash with the foot is a good substitution.
Deal with slugs and Japanese beetles in the early morning hours. Don’t
overlook dew-dampened turf next to garden beds. There you’ll find slugs
elongated and sliding across the slippery grass. They’re easy to see and easy
to stomp on. The Japanese beetles can be knocked into a container of plain
water early, before they fly well.
The best defense for disease and pests is the perfect match of good soil
and healthy plants. Composting, mulching, cover cropping, proper plant
selection and proper soil pH are the basics for a bountiful, healthy organic
garden.
Make date with fairs, farmers
August is a month full of county fairs and farmers markets. For those with
electronic access there is a convenient Web site listing county fair dates by
regions (www.pafairs.org or www.nyfairs.org). Check out these wonderful day
trips that honor the commitment and hard work of our farmers, gardeners and
4-H members.
Susquehanna County (Harford Fair) Aug. 20-26
Sullivan County (Forksville) Aug. 30-Sept. 4
Wyoming County (Meshoppen) Aug. 30-Sept. 4
Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market, Public Square. Thursdays, 10:45 a.m.
Montrose Farmers Market, Fridays through October on the Green from 11:30
a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 278-6854
Montrose Blueberry Festival. Today and Saturday on the Green, Montrose.
278-1881
Victorian Garden Party sponsored by the Penn State Master Gardeners of
Bradford County. Today, 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon. Elliot and
4th St. Towanda. 265-2896.
Now it’s time again to feed the hungry, orphaned kitten.
Speaking of hunger, don’t forget to donate some of your extra produce to
the needy. Contact your local Cooperative Extension or County Social Services
for the location of food pantries near you. May we all be fed and some of us
neutered.
Judi Segebarth is a master gardener and owner of an organic, educational
center near Zone 5 Wyalusing. Write to her in care of the Arts & Leisure Team,
The Times Leader, 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0250.
PHOTO COURTESY JUDI SEGEBARTH
The bounty of nature has arrived.