Abundance in the Garden

Abundance in the Garden: August tips

By the first of August the gardens spreads filling every corner with leaves, blossoms, vegetables, and fruits. Pick everything as it ripens. Continuous harvest, picking and eating or freezing and canning will prolong the abundance into fall provided you continue to water and the sun continues to shine. An application of blossom fertilizer (the middle number of the NPK label) will help invigorate the plants. Look for a natural fertilizer designed for blossom production because they have longer lasting effects. Liquid Alaska Fish makes a great one for blooms.

There will always be squash that grows beyond bounds. Overgrown squash won’t have as much flavor as normal size, so chop it to noodle size and pour on the pasta sauce or bake it like lasagna. I also like to stuff squash. Microwave squash halves, then stuff with a mix of rice, cottage cheese and some spices, and bake with grated cheese on top.

This year I am going to buy tomatoes and try freezing them. The deer have eaten my tomatoes that I hid amongst the potatoes and they ate all my potato leaves for the first time ever! So hiding tomatoes in potatoes did not work well! Fortunately I have Pike’s Market for local tomatoes.

If you want large pumpkins, you will need to pinch off the ends of a runner. Once a pumpkin has set and is several inches in diameter, cut off the end of the runner so no other pumpkin can form on that branch. Can’t help with melons because I have never lived where it gets warm enough long enough to ripen.

I have never taken a picture of my vegetable garden. I think I am embarrassed because I grow should a free form willy-nilly garden. I experiment on how to hide the tasty vegetables from the deer, so the garden by this time of the year looks like a jungle where a machete might be needed to find lettuce and celery. Pick, eat, can, freeze and enjoy!