Dunsmuir Community Garden Group

CARROTS So why feature carrots this week? Well... because CARROTS are great for succession planting. We all plant them and then have delicious bounty. We put a row in the ground, let them start, thin them out and voila... wait. What we often don't remember is that we can keep planting them every two weeks from Spring to mid summer. So break out that seed packet and repeat!   What about those little thinning carrots you have pulled? Those little thinning can be replanted! So don't just throw them out try thinning and taking the little guys to a new spot. How? Select a spot and push a pencil down about the depth of your little carrot sprout, pop it in and repeat every inch or so.  I will be trying this out next week... As it looks like I have a carpet of carrots growing in patches.

July In the Vegetable Garden Why is it time to pick your courgettes? ... Because if you don't they will become Zuchinni's... ha ha ha! Sometimes,  when I arrive at my plot I water, I weed, I harvest then… I fuss with something that was not on ANY to do list. I treasure that time, the absolute sense of peaceful purpose.  Yet, like every gardener, I am forever learning. I like reminders and refreshers so I thought I would look up what other gardeners thought should be done in July.  I also  explored what else we can be planting or planning.    Squash:  Nip off the growing tips of squash and courgette plants to encourage branching. Cucumbers:  train stems upwards instead of trailing over the ground, to make the most of the space available.  Aubergines:  pinch out the growing tip once they have 5 or 6 fruits. You can expect to start harvesting young plants mid- to late summer. Broad Beans:  Tackle blackfly by pinching off any affected growing tips. Cabbage:   check for white butter