GARDENER'S READING ROOM
Edibles

Dig in to Summer Vegetables

The handle of a fork feels cool and smooth in the hands. Push it into the damp, rich soil, loosen, add some compost, then mix. Now you can plant your vegetable seeds or starts at just the right level, sprinkle on the correct amount of fertilizer, water and grow on. The potential of a single bean seed or plant to become mouthfuls of delicious beans is amazing. You can bring life to life.

This time of the year Sky Nursery is especially overflowing with summer vegetables. We carry many different types of vegetables in all sizes, colors, heirlooms and hybrids. For successful vegetable growing you will need healthy soil, good plant locations, and smart watering practices. For soil that is sandy or compacted,amend with twenty-five percent compost. When you add compost you are adding life to your soil. We can assess your soil texture if you bring in a sample of your soil and offer solutions based on plant needs.

Strategically planning your vegetable garden will maximize sun exposure. Most leafy crops such as lettuce, spinach, and chard can handle less sun – about four hours or more. If you are planting root crops, including carrots, radishes, and rutabagas, they can grow in partial shade to full sun. Finally, your fruiting crops (which include tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers) prefer six hours or more of full sun per day. If you can designate a warm west or south facing area with reflected heat to your fruiting crops you are on the right path. Many people plant in raised beds because the soil heats up quicker.

Summer vegetables capture the warm rays of the sun. Picking vegetables directly from the garden gives you the most nutrients because they have ripened to the perfect stage. What is nice is you can harvest what you need from day to day. Some store-bought vegetables are prematurely plucked and taken on an arduous journey traveling from hand to box to hand and along the way held in cold storage.

So pick your fancy and plant away. If you like beans choose from: green beans, bush or pole, yellow wax beans, scarlet runner beans for you to eat and the humming birds to dine on the flower nectar, and filet beans with flattish pods to sauté with fresh garlic. Plant corn where it can soak up both heat and water. If you enjoy cucumbers, for a small space look for a bush crop. You can easily plant a vining cucumber next to a trellis or twine on a fence. We carry a wide variety of cukes, from Armenian to a small, snappy pickling cucumber.

Eggplant is so striking, you can plant it among purple petunias as well as in with your other vegetables. As for tomatoes, we have more varieties this year than ever before – over fifty! Colorful peppers to perk you up grow happily in a warm full sun spot. Crunchy bell peppers in a light salad, sweet bananas, or kick in the pants Serrano peppers chopped in a punchy salsa with cilantro can be delicious summer treats.

Trying to find the pumpkin to fit your fancy? We’ll carry sugar pie, a baking pumpkin, Cinderella, Jack-be-Little, Ghost, and Atlantic Giant to name a few. Also look for squashes of many different flavors, Delicata, Hubbard, Flying Saucer, Zucchini, and many more delectable varieties. Pick up your fork and dig in.

By Kristel Dillon
Skylights Spring 2010, Vol 25, No. 2

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