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Summer Gardening Tips
Patrol the squash patch every day for squash bugs. Most of the time they will need to be handpicked. Look for their little brown eggs on the underside of leaves. Keep some dirt piled around the area where the main stalk enters the ground to discourage the Squash Vine Borer. Pick squash when less than 6 inches long. Larger squash contains a lot of moisture and it will make your casseroles mushy. However, the larger squash is good sliced and fried. Watch for gophers in your potatoes and onions. If you have gophers, learn how to use a gopher trap. Don't let your basil flower or it will become bitter. Simply clip off the flowering buds as soon as they form. Basil is always eaten fresh. Put it on potatoes and Italian dishes after they are cooked. Harvest Parsley from the inside of the plant first so it won't bolt too early. When pulling leaves from your Sweet Bay Laurel for stews or gumbo, pull the older leaves first, as they have more oil. Also, harvest the leaves in a way that you won't damage the new leaf that will come out to replace it. That means pulling upward or snipping with a pair of sharp clippers. Allow Dill to seed out. You may see butterfly larvae hanging on it right now so do not disturb for a few more weeks, even if it looks a little ratty. You can plant new dill plants all season long. Don't forget the culinary uses of Rosemary. Rosemary limbs make great skewers for the grill. Cajun spiced giant shrimp and veggies put on a Rosemary skewer and cooked on the grill are wonderful. A cool tea made from rosemary, lavender, and mint makes an awesome body rinse after a hot day in the garden. Crushed lavender blossoms in a glass of lemonade made with sparkling water is a refreshing alternative to sodas. Peppermint or Spearmint leaves put on a chocolate cake before serving work well, and if you haven't had a sprig of mint in a glass of iced tea in years, it's time to give it another try. Add oregano to any red sauce and you can call it a meal. Be sure to purchase culinary oregano when buying plants, as there are lots of ornamental varieties available. Start collecting seed from your early spring blooming annuals like larkspur, calendula, snapdragons and poppies. Poppy and snapdragons seeds are best planted in mid winter after the ant activity has slowed because ants love them. Most other early spring blooming annual seed should be planted September through December.
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Although cucumbers love hot westherl, they can dry out pretty quickly. Lack of water will cause the fruits to get deformed. The small ones used for pickling should be picked when they are a few inches long. The slicers can be picked until they at about 6-8 inches long. After that its up to personal preference, but once you see yellowing of the fruit the taste will be bitter. The burpless type can get two feet long and not lose their flavor. Remove all old fruit from the vine. Cucumbers are best eaten within a few hours of harvest, because they will start to lose moisture very quickly. That layer of wax you see on commercially grown cucumbers purchased at the store is applied to keep them fresh by sealing in moisture. A cool slice of cucumber placed over tired eyes is really a neat experience, even if it looks silly.
