I gardened for years before I realized why my summer squash always fizzled out in production by the end of August or beginning of September. They were tired! The hot July heat and heavy production that most summer squash produce tires the plants out and they either die, get diseases or drop drastically in production.

photo credit: steevo2005

So I did a little research and found that many people plant a second crop in late June or early July. A second crop will supply a nice crop in late September and into October depending your frost dates or if you protect them from the first light frost or two.

I find that the second crop of produce may be a little smaller but they seem to have a more delicate skin and the timing is perfect for using with tomatoes, peppers and onions, which are in full production from August through October.

I tend to use summer squash either as a soup puree or cooked with a lot of vegetables so production the entire season is preferred. Even with the second crop I plant radishes that I let bolt and flower near the base of the plants to protect them from squash bugs. (I have no squash bugs in my gardens.)

I even like to plant a second crop of the dreaded Zucchini plants. Zucchini makes a great jam, excellent mini pizzas and fun lasagna. I also tend to use my zucchini at the size of two to four inches long so a plant can produce like crazy and still not produce a large crop when you are harvesting the zucchini so small.

Small zucchini are great steamed, with the blossom still attached when they are harvested small. I also like them sliced in salads when small and tender.

If you plan to plant a second crop of summer squash you can find these plants on sale at this time of year and most people have planted their one crop. You can also start them from seeds and still get a nice sized harvest. I would suggest buying the seeds earlier in the year because by late June most garden centers have removed their seeds from the store.

Summer squash is one of my favorites vegetables. There are so many different varieties, sizes and colors to chose from, which makes serving them in salads and vegetable platters pleading to the eye. And most have a slightly different taste.

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Summer flowers and bedding plants add instant color to your lawn and landscape. They also offer the opportunity to change the look and atmosphere of your yard by adding new flower varieties. Summer flowers start appearing in garden centers in the early spring and may or may not be available during the rest of the summer season. Availability depends or your climate and growing season.

photo credit: kevindooley

When first planting flowers or bedding plants as they are often referred to, you should be careful to plant only after the danger of freezing weather has passed. A frost will either kill or severely slow down the plants ability to flower.

Another time to plant flowers is late June and into July. This gives you the opportunity to fill in any holes in your flowerbeds and to add new color to the garden areas. Plants are often on sale at this time of year so you may have the opportunity to try new plants in your landscape. This is actually my favorite time to get flowers. Buying later in season tends to make you try new plants you would overlook earlier in the growing season.

It’s also a great time to add window boxes, container gardens and hanging baskets. I tend to overlook hanging baskets when getting my gardens planted. Later after the garden rush is over I add more decorative accents to the yard.

You may also want to add more perennials and herbs to your landscape design too. Adding perennials later in the season usually means they will not grow as well this year. They will be putting their energy into growing roots during the hotter summer days, but the following year your new perennials will thrive.

I am fortunate to have a perennial gardening center near me that offers perennials at $2 a shovel. All you do is supply your own containers .By buying plants here I can try new varieties and add to my gardens. I also split the plants up and trade these varieties with friends for new plants or shrubs.

Just remember for beautiful garden flowers it is essential to prepare your flowerbed appropriately before planting. Till the soil thoroughly, remove any weeds and fertilize the flowerbed before planting. If you use a lasagna gardening method for planting make sure the beds have the added nutrients needed for the flowers to grow well.  For heavy flower production I make sure to add fertilizer or compost.

For heavier flower production fertilize your flowerbeds one month later in the growing season. I also use mulch in all my flower gardens to help to preserve moisture. And an added benefit is that it helps to control weeds!

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An easy way to compost and a way that will triple your compost pile is by using a straw bale or hay bale composting pile.

photo credit: Valerie Everett

It is easy to set up. You will need at least four bales. Six bales would be better and if you want a complete square you will want eight bales.

Place the bales to form a “U” shape or square with an open center. Fill the center with old leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, and any other yard residue. You can add table scraps; old vegetables, coffee and other kitchen waste as long as the materials do not include grease or meat.

I fill the straw bales up past the top of the bales and water lightly. The pile will settle and I add more clippings, leaves and other composting materials. I also add old fertilizer. If I start a pile in the spring and add to it until fall it’s basically broken down and the pile is large.

Late fall I usually break the bales apart on the side, add a lot of grass clippings, any leftover garden plants and more leaves. Then I top with the bales that I broke apart and add fertilizer on top. Water well, cover with plastic for a week to generate a lot of heat and then uncover the pile.

A compost bale pile that I break down I will let sit until spring and use it in early March on my raised beds and flower garden areas.

If I let the pile set all winter without breaking it apart I will top with another row of bales in early spring. I place bales around the edges, add fertilizer and leaves in the center and let sit for a month. Then I will plant directly in the square pile as if it were a raised bed. This bed makes a great garden for gourds and melons. The soil is rich, well aerated and will hold moisture well. It’s the perfect conditions for plants that like a rich soil and need nutrients for better production and size.

photo credit: Valerie Everett

After I use the bale compost garden for a season I will add more clippings, leaves and fertilizer and break the rest of the bales down. After two years, the compost pile is enormous and well rotted.

I have used baled composting for years. I usually have several piles going on the property at all times. This gives me my compost and soil for garden beds, container gardening and for starting perennials and shrubs in.

Bales can usually be found at the end of a season for a reduced price. Especially if they were rained on and not considered suitable for farm animals.

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Going green is a direction in gardening many are trying. As people think of going green one topic is, “what do we use as a fertilizer?” How about Compost?

photo credit: Aka Hige

There are many store bought fertilizers that can be found garden centers and many are quite good. But most contain chemicals of some sort and these chemicals may have adverse affects on the soil, insects or water supply. So if you use a store bought fertilizer, purchase with care and do a little research on the chemicals in the product.

One easy way to fertilize your gardens and plants is with a homemade fertilizer. And one of the easiest fertilizers is a compost tea mix made from fresh compost you make in your own backyard.

Compost is made from the remains of yard and kitchen waste, which could include coffee or tea grounds, fruit and vegetable peels, leaves, weeds and grass clippings. Virtually any type of organic material can be added to your compost and used as a free source of fertilizer to nourish your plants. Many of the yard waste products can be picked up in larger supply through friends, farm and lawn landscaping centers.

I have a local business where I can pick up sawdust and leaf mold (old leaves that are broken down from age) any time I want for free. It’s just my cost for gasoline to and from.

To make your own compost you’ll need a compost bin, which can be purchased from most home improvement stores or you can make you own from a pail, wood pallets or hay bales.

Toss food scraps and other materials in your composting area, and in about a month, you’ll have a natural fertilizer that’s completely free of chemicals. Just remember the golden composting rule: no meat or grease. Both will attract mice or rats and make a smelly compost pile.

Tip: You can tell if your compost pile is healthy because it will not have an odor.

If you need your fertilizer in a hurry, or you have plants that need some extra attention, consider the 2-week speedy compost or vermicomposting.

Vermicomposting involves adding a supply of earthworms to your compost pile, which speeds up the composting process and creates extra nutrients for your garden. Plus you have the added advantage of worms that can be used in garden area, for fishing or sold.

Composting is a natural way to recycle yard and kitchen waste. It will reduce the amount of trash that ends up on your curb by up to 75 percent. This means less pollution added to landfills and the benefit of recycling material into healthy soil for gardens and fertilizer.

And according to the US Department of Agriculture, compost also offers a much wider array of nutrients than chemical fertilizers, and can absorb 10 to 1,000 times more water. This means healthier plants and less wasted water.

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Many people have decided to raise a garden is small space or an urban setting. The reasoning for this is better quality food, going green and helping our environment and saving money.

Creating a garden in urban areas can tend to be a challenge due to lack of space. But with proper planning its amazing what you can grow in small spaces.

You will find that many gardeners have become quite creative in making use on any available space. Those who live in small apartments or in cities have created container gardens or balcony gardens. Other have removed much of their lawn and turned the yard into a lush garden.

The following you tube is a gardener who transformed his front yard into a very compact and large garden.

By using raised beds, small gardening area sections and vertical gardening you can make better use of space.

Walkways have also been placed to help with the garden layout and to help take care of any lawn maintenance.

One other point that was brought up in creating garden bed was the width. Many people suggest 4-foot wide beds. Over the years I have found that narrow garden beds work better for me. I have trouble reach in to wider beds. I have also found narrower beds fit better in most garden designs.

There were many great points brought up for garden layout and design, which benefit the look and use of small garden spaces.

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When the gardens are planted and crops are starting to be harvested it time to turn your attention to the “fun” aspects of gardening. Garden art falls readily into this category. How about creating a moss landscape rock or garden statue?

photo credit: Ingorrr

Moss will make certain garden elements look and feel aged and as if they have been part of the landscape for years. Moss also adds tranquility to any shade garden. The trouble with garden moss though, is that sometimes it may not even grow at all on its own. And if it does, it may take a very long time to become established.

Here is an easy way to accelerate and establish a beautiful green moss cover for your garden rocks and concrete features. This project is a favorite of children and will encourage their interest in gardening, landscaping and nature.

This method doesn’t work well on resin statues and artificial landscape rocks. I have found natural items, old item with cracks and crevices and stone or cement work the best. Wood will also work but the moss will retain moisture causing the piece to deteriorate quicker.

To create a moss garden piece or sculptures stir a fist size clump of porcelain clay into three cups of water to form a thin paste. You can harvest clay from nature but purchasing porcelain clay from a local hobby shop can be easier.

Combine the clay mixture with one cup of undiluted fish emulsion and one cup of fresh, shredded moss. Fish emulsion is a plant fertilizer made from whole fish. It’s usually available at retail nurseries and garden centers. (I also use fish emulsion as a liquid fertilizer in the gardens and on houseplants.)

Mix the clay, fish emulsion and shredded moss together in an old bowl or pan. Next paint it on your rocks, sculpture or concrete objects with an old paintbrush. Place your mossed garden art in your yard or garden and keep the piece lightly moist by misting it. Take care not to wash the mixture off while the moss mix is rooting and starting to grow.

Moss grows naturally in patches, likes the North side of objects, and takes readily to cracks and crevices. It will prefer a shady area, rock gardens or shade gardens.

If you use this moss formula in shady gardens and in moist locations you will probably have moss on your garden statues and landscape rocks in a few weeks.

Add a few annual flowers near the moss art and you will have an instant focal point in your gardens and backyard

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I was wondering what style of gardening you use?

This year with my busy summer its all container gardening, straw bale gardening, or a raised bed mulch garden. I need a no fuss – no weeding garden this year.

I also have heard my summer will be cool so I plan to grow under glass in a greenhouse this summer. With raised beds for my other garden areas I can also cover them if the nights are cool.

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I tend to have too many gardening styles. But a straw bale garden is usually in one of my garden plans.

photo credit: Ryan Somma

This year I have plans for two mini straw bale gardens. One will be for melons or gourds. I like to make a Square bale garden form and fill the center with compost. Melons or gourds will produce much better with abundant fertilizer so the straw bales are laid out in a square with the center hollow so that it can be filled with compost or fertilizer. I also make sure I add the water to this section of the garden.

And to make sure my plants have warm roots (gourds love a warmer climate than I have I wrap black plastic around the outside of the bales to keep them warmer. This will make the bales break down faster so this garden shape may only last one year. (Often straw bale gardens will work for two years.)

The melons or gourds are planted in the straw bales after they have been treated, fertilized and have aged for 10 to 14 days. Make sure you add compost or fresh garden soil to the top of the bale fro added nutrients. I like to add 3 to 4 inches of soil. The soil also helps hold moisture in the bale.

My other garden will be for flowers and will be set up like a fence or border. I haven’t decided on what flowers I will plant but I think I will place sunflowers behind the bales and have a couple of bushel basket container gardens just for fun and décor placed near the straw bale garden.

As with all my gardens over the years, I do plan them but they also seem to change and grow different directions than I had anticipated. Sometimes that’s due to climate or the plants I have and sometimes I just think of a new idea and want to try it out.

Four reasons I think straw bale gardens are popular are:
1.  They don’t have to dig the soil, a plus for those who have no tiller or plow.
2.  They can be set up rather fast
3.  You can grow a garden in an area that would other wise be unusable.
4.  Once you learn how to treat and prepare a bale the garden is easy to get ready for a new season.

One other great use for a straw bale garden is it looks great as garden décor if your growing pumpkins and going for a fall garden theme. When my brother grew pumpkins and had them for sale a garden style like this would have been a fantastic theme.

Note: some people use hay bales and create the hay bale garden.  Hay bales are cheaper but do tend to bring weeds into the garden area and yards. But if the bales heat up enough the seeds can be cooked. I have used both straw and hay and each has its own pluses and minuses.

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We have had our first serious warm spring rain and the grass has that brilliant green. The yard also has that “I need my first haircut” look. Yes, spring is finally here and it’s already time to start mowing.

photo credit: LadyDragonflyCC – Explore MY World

There are many signs of winter being over and spring settling in. I know there are about 3 weeks of winter left when the Canadian Geese move out of the swamp and onto the banks of the Conewango Creek.

And every one always looks for the Robin. I am happy to say that was about three weeks ago. Yes, spring is early in Warren County and I am one happy gardener.

So here are a few wives’s tales that many gardeners and farmers have used as guidelines for planting for many years.

1.  It’s time to plant beets, lettuce and peas when the first leaves appear on the lilac bush.

The lilac bushes are just getting their leaves so these early season crops will be going in. One other tip for a more successful pea crop is to start the seeds in pots or indoors. Peas will sprout in the cold temperatures but more seeds will rot. By planting indoors you will have almost a 100% success rate. And as soon as the seedlings appear, move them outdoors.

2.  Plant corn, beans, and squash when the lilac blooms.

Corn, beans a squash are part of the Three Sisters native garden and grow well when planted together. Besides growing well in a group they make a pretty and unique small space them garden.

3.  Plant cabbage when the dogwood is in full bloom or when apple blossoms bud.

To control cabbage worms I place pantyhose on the cabbage heads when they are young. The white flies cannot successfully lay eggs so the vegetables stay insect free. This also works for Broccoli and Cauliflower.

And it gives the neighbors something to talk about!

4.  Plants the first corn crop when oak leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear or elm leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear. And to keep a fresh crop of corn all season long plant s new crop every two weeks. The size of the plot does not need to be large but you should have at least 4 rows of corn to get an even pollination.

5.  Set out tomato transplants when the first ladybugs appear. (I cheat with my tomatoes and set them out earlier so I can’t verify if this is true of not.)

And if you live in the North East the spring weather prediction is an above average temperature for April and May with below rainfall. Unfortunately they are calling for a dry but cold summer. That means I will be growing under glass this summer.

If you have any interesting gardening folklore let me know.

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Its garden tool time! Time to sort through tools, make sure they are clean and decide what to do with extra tools.

photo credit: Andrei!

You only need a few tools but garden tools seem to build up and before long you have too many. At least that happens to me.

So, this weekend I spent time sorting tools, making sure they were clean and hanging them up.

And yes, I had extra tools. Confession time – it was more than a few. I just can’t turn down tools at sales, especially if they are free or only 50 cents. So I looked at the extras and sorted those. A few will head to the flea market but most will have new uses.

I need a few tool handles replaces on my favorite tools so I chose tools with better handles to replace my old handles. And I will save the tool part for other uses.

A few tools will be used for garden art. They will be made into garden tool animals and tools picket fences for growing vines on. Both the animals and picket feces are perfect for almost any yard.

I will also be offering a few garden classes, one up at the Chautauqua Institution, and I will show how to make the garden tool fence there.

There’s always a use for an unused or unwanted garden tool. And this is the time to check your tools for the upcoming season.

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