Weekend of June 29, 1996
This column is about your garden.
The writer—professional gardening editor/writer Dorinda Beaumont—
lives smack in the middle of our region—Rosendale.
So it’s about your zone, your soil, your plants.
Once a week Dorinda will chastise you, commiserate with you,
tell you what you absolutely can’t leave for another week,
all the while drawing inspiration from the daily journals she’s been
keeping for several years about her gardening experiences here in the Hudson Valley.
I notice we've moved outdoors, although I'm not sure just when we did so. At some point it became more pleasant out than in, and so collecting books, papers, portable phone, and discarded clothing from the yard has become a regular evening chore. We still sleep inside and occasionally have to come in to use the computer, but we cook, eat, work, and relax outside. This makes it possible for me to do a good deal of gardening while I'm procrastinating about other things.
Were I to begin gardening on a new property, the first thing I'd do is ignore all the good advice about making site plans and starting with a good design. I'd collect all the crummy old furniture I could get my hands on and use it to arrange outdoor places to be. I'd keep my arrangements temporary and portable while I discovered where all the best places are: sunny places for early mornings and cool days, shady places for hot afternoons, private places for naps, and a sheltered place for rain. Once I knew where I wanted to be, I'd know where to put my gardens.
VEGETABLES AND SMALL FRUITS
Early morning is the best time for me in the vegetable garden. There are no mosquitoes and it's not yet hot. If I carry my coffee out there first thing, I find the tomatoes are tied before I have to run to get ready for work.
Continue to train tomatoes and give them a shot of fish emulsion or tomato fertilizer. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizer for tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other fruiting crops; it encourages too much leaf growth at the expense of fruit.
Sow brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale., lettuce. Susan, Pea Queen of Ulster County and contender for the Carrot Crown, tells me that carrots sown now are sweeter than spring-sown carrots because they grow to full size in the cooler weather of late summer. I'm afraid it won't help with the vole problem, but I'm going to try it anyway.
TREES, SHRUBS AND VINES
Even with this year's normal to slightly high rainfall, trees and shrubs that were planted this year may need extra water. Removing grass and weeds and mulching them will help them make a strong start. Keep mulch a few inches away from the trunks.
FLOWERS AND HERBS
If you've been keeping up with weeding, staking, and deadheading, the flower and herb gardens should be almost self-sufficient by now. It's not a great time to be moving or dividing things, but it is a good time to make notes about such activities for late summer and fall. Oriental poppies are one exception; divide or transplant them as they go dormant but before they disappear.
Sow seeds for perennials in a nursery bed. They'll be ready to move to their permanent spots next spring. It's still a bit early to sow spring-flowering biennials; they may grow too big to overwinter well. Sown in mid-July, they're usually the right size for moving in fall.
RETURN TO Gardening Index
This page created and maintained by 
FAIRSTREET NEW MEDIA
276 Fair Street, Kingston NY 12401
E-Mail: kingston@fairstreet.com
Phone: (800)642-8922 or (914) 331-3110