Starting Fall Sowing, and Around the Garden! August 2016

Dear Folks,

Yesterday I sowed some sugar peas, carrots, beets and radishes to kick off fall sowing in the garden.  I am using my cardboard tube and chicken wire hats to keep the critters off the seeded areas.

First up, though is a bee visiting my "Lemon Queen" Sunflower.  Every single critter loves the sunflower and so do I!  A light, but bright yellow color, with a head about 5 inches across, this is just a wonderful sunflower.  I got the seeds from Baker Creek.  If the birds leave me any I will try to harvest some. Although these 'domestic' sunflowers don't always breed out true it will be worth it to try.  Sow sunflower seeds February through July for a bloom most of the year.

I am keeping my fingers crossed on the heirloom "Bradford Watermelon" growing and getting bigger by the day.  This "newly found" southern beauty is reported to have the sweetest taste and a very, very tender rind which made shipping it impossible.  Wish me luck folks.  If I get to harvest ripe and ready I will harvest the seeds, and add to my seed bank.

Using my chicken wire hats and paper towel tubes I planted 3 sugar peas around a pole for later climbing.  You can find my two short videos on using the "hats" on my youtube channel.  Once the peas getting going well I will ease the "hat" off.

Next I used a chicken wire hat as a row cover to shield my carrots, beets, and radishes.  I planted just under a foot of each seed.

I will do successive sowing of all of these seeds every 2-3 weeks through about December for a continuous crop.

My 2017 Month-By-Month Wall Calendar is out, with an early bird pricing AND the publisher just put out a discount of 25% that is good through August 24th (11:59 p.m.)

Edible Landscaping 2017 Calendar Desert Southwest & Deep South

The DISCOUNT code is case sensitive -- AUG2016

Do you have family who want to garden more successfully in the desert southwest or USDA Zone 9b and above?  This calendar makes a great gift.  AND you and they can start using right away, the monthly gardening information can be used going into our fall and winter.

We are nearing the end of our Monsoon  (shifting in winds) which means cooler morning and overnight temperatures.  It also means your tomatoes will start to set fruit again as soon as the nights stay below 80 degrees.  Early September you can start pruning, over the coarse of several day, the sun burn from plants like tomatoes.

Cooler nights also means the aphids will begin (if they have not already) showing up and you need to be very, very diligent in watching for them.  Hard hose off and then use the safe soap spray (1 teaspoon each dawn and vegetable oil to 1 quart of water) or Neem spray to control them.   Repeat the spraying every 5 days for a total of 3 times, then monitor regularly.  Live and egg bearing aphids are both possible.

Flea Beetles also may show up and they are harder to keep under control.  Dust plants with DE and repeat if the plants get wet from rain or irrigation.  You can see flea beetle damage because the leaves look like they were shotgunned.  They can kill a young plant.  Mature plants can weather damage better.

Have a great week in the garden!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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